CHAPTER 27

* * *

Donovan

“Where the hell have you been?” Trent sat back in his chair and put his fork down.

“Sorry I’m late. I couldn’t get a client off the damn phone.”

“I’m not talking about being late for lunch. I came down to your office twice this week to see if you wanted to order in some dinner, and your door was shut and the lights were off.”

I grinned. My friends didn’t yet know that Autumn and I had gotten together. “I had more important shit to do.”

Juliette’s brows rose. She covered her full mouth with a napkin and leaned over to feel my forehead. “More important than work? Are you sick?”

“Nope.”

“Then what is more important than work right before the upcoming partner vote?”

“My girl.”

“Holy shit,” Trent said. “Are you smiling over a woman?”

“I am.” I’d also had her underwear in my pocket the last three days, but I didn’t share that part.

“So there’s a woman out there who passed your tests?”

“With flying colors.”

“Wow,” Juliette said. She turned to Trent while pointing to me. “He’s smitten. Our little playboy is growing up so fast.”

I pulled the container with my lunch out of the bag. “Poke fun all you want. I don’t even care.”

Trent wiped his mouth with his napkin. “I never thought I’d see the day. We should double date.”

“I don’t think she has any sixteen-year-old friends for you,” I teased and bit into my sandwich. “But I’ll ask.”

“I wasn’t asking you to fix me up, jackass. If you’d been around lately, you’d know I have my own girl.”

I stopped chewing. “Not a blow-up one?”

“Fuck you. A real one—and she’s smoking hot, too.”

I was glad to see my buddy happy, but that wouldn’t stop me from busting his balls. “Not underage, not a blow-up doll, and she’s smoking hot? So you’re paying her, then?”

Trent threw his napkin at me. “I met her at the bar a few weeks ago. She’s Juliette’s friend. You actually talked to both of us on your way out. She has excellent taste, so she met you first but came home with me.”

I raised an eyebrow. “What’s her name?”

“Margo.”

Hot damn—the woman I’d sent his way after whining to her about Autumn. I wasn’t about to mention that she’d hit on me first. I nodded. “Margo…sounds familiar. Brunette?”

“Yup.”

“You two hit it off?”

“Spent almost every night together since then.”

I nodded. “Good for you.”

Juliette and Trent looked at each other funny.

“What?”

She shook her head. “You’re acting weird. Only a few jabs at Trent and…you’re smiling too much.”

I clasped my hands behind my head. “That’s because I’m happy to be alive, ladies and gentlemen.”

Trent turned to Juliette. She shrugged. “Don’t look at me. I checked his head. No fever.”

Trent finished chewing. “Alright. I’ll bite. Tell us about this magical creature who seems to have stolen your brain. What does she look like? How big is the unicorn horn on top of her head, and does she let you play with it?”

I might’ve gotten a little starry-eyed. “She’s gorgeous—red hair, green eyes, alabaster skin.”

Juliette’s face scrunched up. She pointed to me as she looked at Trent. “Did he just use the word alabaster?”

My buddy shook his head. “He’s definitely lost his mind if this is what I think it is. Red hair and green eyes? Please tell me this isn’t Blake’s girlfriend.”

I smiled. “It’s not.”

“Thank God.”

I grinned. “Because she’s not seeing The Dick anymore. She’s all mine.”

Trent tossed his fork on the table and looked up at the ceiling with a groan. “Shit.”

“You should be happy for me. I finally met someone. All you ever do is bust my balls because I won’t settle.”

Trent shook his head. “Let me get this straight. You spent seven years working your ass off to make partner at this firm. And a few weeks before you might actually get there, you start taking half days, slacking on billable hours, and banging the girlfriend of a partner whose vote you need in order to get to the finish line.”

“Relax, buddy. They were casual, and she called it quits. Blake has no idea we’re seeing each other. He doesn’t even know we’d met before I picked up that pro bono case he assigned me. And I haven’t been slacking. My billable hours are down, but they’re down to what normal workaholics trying to make partner bill.”

“Uh-huh.” Trent nodded. “You’re venturing onto some thin ice, my friend. Didn’t you ever hear the saying ‘what’s done in the dark always finds its way to the light’?”

I shrugged. “I could care less if Blake finds out in the long run. Part of me is looking forward to it. It’s practically his damn fault, anyway. If he hadn’t been too lazy to take the pro bono case he dumped on me, Autumn and I probably would never have seen each other again. Besides, I only need to keep it under wraps for a little longer. Then I’ll be a partner, and tough shit on him if he doesn’t like it.”

Juliette shook her head. “I don’t have a good feeling about this. You better be careful.”

“Stop worrying. It’s fine. There’s no way he’s going to find out.”

Trent puckered his lips and made a loud kissing sound.

I smirked. “No more kisses for you, buddy. I’m a one-woman man now.”

“That wasn’t me blowing you a kiss, dude.” He shook his head. “You said there’s no way he’s going to find out. That was me kissing your luck goodbye as your cocky ass blew it out the door with that rush of hot air.”

***

The following week, my life went from great to phenomenal. If I knew a better word than that, I’d use it, but I hadn’t had much reason to bolster my vocabulary of superlatives relating to the state of my life in the last thirty years. Sure, I was successful—and until a few months ago, I thought that was what it took to make me happy. I hadn’t even known I was unfulfilled until, well, until I got my fill of Autumn.

On Sunday, we went to Bud’s so Storm could do the work he’d agreed to do in exchange for the bike. Autumn and I did some painting inside while we were there, and I managed to sneak her into the garage and cop a cheap feel while we made out like two horny teenagers. At night, I served dinner with Bud. He still had his cast on, but he wanted to help—and by help, I mean he wanted to boss me around like I didn’t know what I was doing after fifteen years of doing it with him. But it made him happy, and I was glad he was in good spirits again, so I didn’t give a shit.

On Wednesday night, I took Autumn out to dinner—at a bowling alley, where she proceeded to spank my ass and bowl a two hundred and six. Apparently, her father had a bowling team for his law firm, and she’d always joined them growing up. Normally, I was super competitive, and a loss to anyone would have bruised my ego, but this time I didn’t give a shit if my girl handed me my ass in a game, because she smiled all night. Also, every time she got a strike she jumped up and down, which I liked a lot.