Parker shifted her feet and stared at the ground.
Ramsey shook his head and started to walk toward her. “They don’t hate you.”
“They don’t treat many people very well,” Parker said. “I mean, they were rotten to me for years.”
Ramsey turned to look at Parker, who promptly closed her mouth.
Lexi shrugged. Great. Now, she was being compared to Parker. Well, it wasn’t the first time.
“At least I have years then, I guess,” Lexi said. She knew it probably sounded bitchy, and the words had only tumbled out of her mouth because she was so thrown by the situation.
Parker pursed her lips, and Ramsey took another step toward Lexi.
“Can I talk to you?” Lexi asked.
“Yeah, let’s go,” Ramsey said, taking her hand. “See you tomorrow, Parker.”
“Bye, y’all,” she said softly as they exited the office.
Ramsey walked next to Lexi down the hallway. He opened the door to his office for her and flipped on the lights. Once the door closed behind him, he turned back around toward Lexi, who had moved to the center of the room.
She felt pretty shitty for saying that to Parker. Nothing was going on. But it was hard not to feel upset about it all, especially after the summer. She just wanted to forget everything about it. She really just wanted a life without Parker, but it wasn’t one she could have. Ramsey and Parker were working together. They had opened a company together. Lexi had said she was okay with it. So, she just needed to be okay with it.
“Sorry,” she said immediately, shaking her head. She was flustered, and it sucked! “I got off work early. I wanted to surprise you. I feel dumb.”
“Lexi, it’s all right. You’re not dumb. I’m glad you’re here.” He walked across the room and pulled her into his arms.
She breathed in his peppermint scent and let it calm her nerves. This engagement was making her a spaz. She needed to chill.
“You know there’s nothing between Parker and me,” Ramsey stated calmly.
“I know,” she said. “I know there’s nothing. I’m not worried. I just feel dumb.”
“Stop calling my fiancée all of these terrible things. She’s wonderful and beautiful and mine,” he whispered before he leaned forward and kissed her.
Lexi tilted her head back and opened her mouth to meet him. God, he tasted heavenly. She wound her hands behind his neck and let him press his body flush against hers. Their lips moved together, breaths intermingled, hands desperately held on to each other…to forget everything else.
She wanted to push the moment. She wanted to take this feeling and stretch it to infinity. Because here, right now, she didn’t feel anything but his lips on hers. She didn’t overanalyze, she didn’t reconsider, she didn’t freak out. She just felt Ramsey—her fiancé. She actually allowed herself to feel rather than think.
He broke away before she was ready, and he laughed when she tried to pull him back down to her.
“I think your phone is buzzing.”
“Shit!” she said, digging through her bag and pulling it out. “It’s my boss.” Lexi answered the phone. “Chuck, how are you?”
“I just got a hold of my friend, the divorce attorney you were bothering me about,” he said with no preamble.
“Oh, that’s great. Thank you, sir,” she said, a smile spreading on her face.
“His name is Richard Brian with Brian & Hancock. I’ve given him your information. He’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Thank you very much. I look forward to his call.”
“Yes, well, don’t forget to work on the Bryant case.”
“I’m on top of it, sir.”
“Good. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
The line went dead in her hand, and she placed the phone back into her purse.
“What was that about?” Ramsey asked, his eyebrows scrunching together.
“I asked my boss for a recommendation for a divorce attorney, and he just called me back with a name.”
“A divorce attorney…” Ramsey said. He crossed his arms over his chest and stared down at Lexi as if waiting for an explanation.
“Yeah,” she said, the excitement over getting the name draining out of her.
Ramsey didn’t look happy about it.
“Lexi, why are you getting involved in that?” he asked, shaking his head. “I’m assuming that’s for Jack.”
“It is.”
“I just…don’t see any possible gain from you getting involved. If Bekah really has information on him cheating on her, then the best possible thing for you, your career, your future…fuck, our future…is to just stay far, far away.”
“I’m not involved,” she said stubbornly.
“He called you when he found out. He wanted to talk to you about it. He wanted your advice. And now, you’re getting him an attorney,” Ramsey said, ticking these things off on his fingers. “You’re already involved.”
“Well, that’s the end of it anyway. He is doing everything after this point.”
“Are you sure?” he pleaded.
“Look, what do you want me to do? Your sister…” She shook her head and glanced away. “She’s going to try to bury him six feet under. She knew Jack’s past. I f**king told her about his past. After accepting that and marrying him anyway, she is going to try to divorce him over it? That’s just twisted.”
“It’s their problem. Please don’t make it our problem, too.”
“It’s not my problem. It’s not your problem. But at the same time, we are invested in it, Ramsey. It would be stupid to think we aren’t. Bekah is your sister. Jack is one of my closest friends.”
“No,” Ramsey said, putting his foot down. “We can’t get involved in this. Promise me that you’ll stay out of it, Lexi.” His voice softened at the end, and he pulled her back in for a kiss.
She let him kiss her with the unanswered promise hanging between them.
Chapter 8
Lexi stood outside of the conference room in the rented office space where the Bridges medical wing team was working. She had thought it was strange that they would rent space when they had all of Bridges Enterprise to use for the conferences with Global as well as the contractors, architects, and various other businesses they were working with to get this building up and running. But Ramsey had told her that when they had first gotten the place, they had wanted something semipermanent near where they would break ground.
Apparently, the location of the new Bridges tower was far enough away from the rest of Bridges Enterprise to warrant this. Lexi thought it was ridiculous. The plot was already being cleared, but it wasn’t like they would be looking up at a skyscraper next week or anything. Why waste the money? Besides the fact that they could
This was why she had never gone into business. She found it incredibly boring—not that law didn’t have its moments, but this whole thing just looked like a headache.
Some days, she was happy that Ramsey was keeping her in the know about every little detail, and other days, she felt herself zoning out. Really, he could settle with what was important and stick the rest through some kind of filter.
She yawned and sank back into a chair. Ramsey had said the meeting wouldn’t be that long, and she could come with him if she wanted. This was her last Friday before she started her new job, and she had thought she would get to spend some time with Ramsey, finish unpacking a few of the stray boxes from New York, and get prepped for the big day on Monday before heading out to the D-Bags show with Jack later that night. But one meeting had turned into three, and she still couldn’t believe that three hours later, she was wasting the day in meetings.
Lexi had sat through the first one, but when it had become clear that it was a bunch of gibberish that she couldn’t comprehend, she had lost interest in trying and dipped out. The battery of her smartphone was dying a slow death, and if it didn’t last to the end of this meeting, she was definitely going to leave.
Shuffling in the other room brought her out of her thoughts, and she stood, praying to anyone who would listen that they could leave. She was never agreeing to this again.
Several contractors walked out of the room without so much as a glance in her direction, and then the door closed. Lexi sighed and fell back into the chair. Seriously? She could not handle waiting. It was the worst thing ever.
A second later, the door opened again, and John walked out. Lexi raised her eyebrow when he looked over at her still seated.
He smiled brightly when he saw her. “You want to get out of here?”
“Desperately,” she said, lifting her eyes to the ceiling and leaning back in the chair.
“We could go get something to eat,” he suggested.
She didn’t even have to glance at him to know he was smirking.
“You want me to walk out on you again?” Lexi asked
He chuckled, and she did look at him then. He had on dark dress slacks and a gray button-up, rolled up to his elbows. His dark hair was neat, but he was sporting a five o’clock shadow that really worked on his cut features.
“They’re sticking around to talk for a few more minutes. I needed something to drink. Could you at least manage a walk to Starbucks?”
Coffee. Heaven. Life force. “Yes, I think I can manage anything for coffee.”
Lexi stood and stretched with a yawn. She wasn’t even tired, but she had been sitting there so long that she almost felt exhausted. Plus, the mention of coffee had made her brain seem to slow down as if it couldn’t function properly on her caffeine addiction without the stuff running through her veins.
They walked out of the building and down the steps to the sidewalk. She stuffed her hands into her pockets and ducked her head against the wind. John looked at her questioningly with humor in his eyes.
“What?” she demanded.
“How are you cold? This weather is beautiful.”
“You live in New York. You’re used to the freezing weather.”
“Didn’t you live in New York for the past three years?” he asked.
“I never adjusted to the temperature change,” she said with a shrug.
“Well, I think you’re crazy. Sixty degrees is not freezing.”
“In the South, it is.”
“Right. It’s not where I grew up in Michigan. It’s laughable,” he told her.
“Laugh all you want,” she grumbled. “I’m still cold.”
“Good thing we’re here then, huh?”
John opened the door to Starbucks, and Lexi walked inside, shaking off the cold that had sunk into her cardigan.
They walked up to the counter. John ordered a chai tea latte and then allowed Lexi to order.
“Just a venti coffee for me.”
“Cream and sugar?” the associate asked.
“No, thank you. Black is fine.”
John smirked at that, too, and she didn’t even bother asking him about it. Most guys didn’t expect girls to drink their coffee straight. With as much as she drank, she would gain a million pounds if she added anything to it. Not to mention, she had gotten used to the taste in college and had never gone back.