Page 12 of One Night Collision

He shakes his head. “I know Calvin. Known that asshole my whole life long. Never could stand him, and he’s never done anything to change my mind. So, while I don’t know all the ways your ex fucked you over, Maggie—and you don’t have to tell mebecause you’re entitled to privacy—there’s no way in hell you came out of it unscathed.”

“Is that your professional opinion?”

He shakes his head. “This is all personal, but I’m not here about your ex. I’m gonna tell you something so there’s no misunderstanding… I’m not looking for some casual thing with you. No fuck buddies. No friends with benefits. I like you. And I don’t give a fuck who knows it… As for this barbecue… there’s a small chance I’ll get to see you in a bikini. That alone should tell you how much I’m hoping you’ll show up.”

“Do I need to bring a side dish?” I don’t know why I asked it. I don’t even know that I actually made the decision to go. But it’s out there now and I can’t take it back.

“Only if you want to… I’ll pick you up at three. No court tomorrow.”

Chapter

Nine

Damien

"Do you think this is okay?" Maggie asks as she walks through my bathroom, into my kitchen. I've been waiting on her to get changed for what feels like an hour, but I'm doing my best to keep my expectations realistic. Glancing up, my eyes widen. If I wasn't seeing this right now, I'd never know she had the hot little body she has underneath the clothes she always wears. "Umm, yeah, it's fine, as long as you don't mind me drooling over you."

She giggles. "So it's okay?"

Never before has she struck me as the type of woman who needs reassurance, but I'm here if she does. Slow rolling it over to where she stands, I wrap my arms around her waist, holding on tight. Her hands come up to my chest, fingers tangling in my T-shirt. "It's perfect, a lot like your lips." Dipping down, I take her mouth with mine, my tongue claiming every square inch. Her breath catches, and she melts into me. The moan ripped from her throat is enough to get me to break the kiss, because if it gets out of hand, we're not making it to the cookout.

"Are you ready?" she whispers against my lips.

"Yeah, let's go." I grab her hand with mine, entwining our fingers together. "Let me grab the charcuterie board I bought to take over, and then we'll go out the back door." I point. I'm going to have to let go of her hand, but I don't want to. Instead, I drop a kiss on her forehead, grab the board, and tilt my head to the side. "Can you get that case of beer, too? It's an IPA that Cody and I have wanted to try, and I splurged."

She grins. "You and your friends are so cute."

"Don't call us cute, we're fuckin' men," I grumble. "Granted, we can be in polite society, but let us have our beer and meat."

"Oh, trust me, Damien. You can definitely have your meat."

Son. Of. A. Bitch.

------

"Yeah, Damien, why don't you tell him how you decided to become a lawyer?" Cody tilts his head toward his son, JT, and locks his eyes on mine.

This motherfucker. "Why don't you?"

Emma laughs from where she sits on the side of the pool, rubbing at her stomach. She looks happy, but miserable at the same time. I can't wait until they have this baby as thirtysomethings and have to survive on little sleep. Well, Cody at least. Emma doesn't deserve it.

"I'm not the one who made the decision, now am I?" He raises his eyebrows.

"Fuck, alright."

Maggie tucks into my side. "Oh, I can't wait to hear this." She snickers, taking a drink from her can of High Noon.

Sighing, I take a drink of my beer. "Basically, we were partying in a field, and the sheriff came. When he did, he threatened us with some bullshit that didn't even make sense. He gave us all tickets and told us we had to appear in court. Well, my thing when I was a teenager was being the smartest little shit in the room."

"Funny how that hasn't changed..." Troy mumbles, causing me to flick pool water at him.

"Anyway, he gave us all these tickets, and when I bitched, he said something to the effect that if I could find a lawyer who could find the loophole—he didn't saya, he saidthe—he'd let us off with warnings. I knew he wasn't jacking us around, because of the words he used. I've always taken people and things as literal and at their words." I finish off my can and throw it into the trash can. "So, I researched, and I found it. Took me a week, but I found it. When we had to go to court, I represented myself and all these chuckleheads. Lo and behold, I won. The prosecutor told me if I didn't go to law school, I was a dumb fuck. If there's one thing I never want to be, it's a dumb fuck. I went to college and paid my way by being a paralegal. It helped me learn from the best, and now here I am."

JT looks at me, his lips pursed. "So let me get this straight. You actually did break the law, and you found a loophole so that you weren't charged?"

"Damn straight. That's what a good lawyer does."

Cody laughs. "And that's why he's my lawyer today, but..." He looks over at JT. "Don't ever think you can do the same shit we did."

---