Page 77 of Just A Little Fling

“I know they drive you nuts, but they obviously love you very much.” I’d been thinking about it all night, so it was time to clue Nico in on my nefarious plan. “You should know I’m going to steal Nonna.”

Nico’s soft chuckle warmed me like nothing else. “Noooo, you can’t steal her, but I might be convinced to share.”

“Deal, love.”

CHAPTERNINETEEN

LEVI

For someone who didn’t want domesticity, Nico had certainly settled into it. Beyond the morning spankings that had become perhaps my most favorite part of the day, he’d started using my house as if he were supposed to be there. When I got home first, he’d pop into the house to say hello before going home to change his clothes and then return. When he got home first, he changed and then waited for me inside my house. It was no longer a question of whether I would invite him to come over for dinner. It was a foregone conclusion that we’d be eating it together.

Nico’s easy acceptance of this…whatever it was…made it easier for me to compartmentalize it. The closer we became, the more I realized he was a man I could fall in love with, but I didn’t feel a rush to say the three little words. What we had was enough.

“Earth to Levi,” Jack said as he entered my office.

“What makes you think I’m not paying attention?” I asked.

“Because you asked for the Wellington-Chaumont file, and now you’re smiling. If you were actually paying attention to it, you would be cursing because that woman is, uh, let’s just say she’s determined to make my life a living hell.”

“Oh yeah, I know. Maybe one day she’ll be divorced, and then she won’t hire us again for the next one if we’re lucky.”

“But the settlement agreement came in last week, or at least I thought I did. Am I getting myself confused with a different file?”

“Young grasshopper, you have much to learn. This case will never be over because even though that settlement offer did come in last week and was absolutely everything she wanted, I got an email late last night that said she’s had more time to think about it, and it doesn’t work for her.”

“What is she getting now?”

“What she wants and what she’ll get are two different things.” I leaned back in my chair and stared at the ceiling. It was much more pleasant to think about Nico than this clusterfuck of a case.

“All right, well, let’s start with the basics. What does she want?” Jack asked.

“The weekend house on the San Juan Islands that they’ve gone to every year since they were married and has been in his family for I don’t know how many generations,” I answered.

“What is she getting?”

“Not that. I emailed her early this morning, explaining that it was willed to him by his parents before the marriage. She has no claim on it.”

“What about money that was used for the upkeep? Couldn’t she claim something through that?”

“Yes, if they’d used marital funds for the upkeep. However, his parents established a self-funding family trust prior to the marriage to pay for that upkeep. They wanted to make sure this exact scenario wouldn’t happen. She can’t claim that either, although she instructed me to try in the email.” Jack and I both stared at each other in silence. We both knew what was coming next.

“How much you want to bet she shows up today?”

“I’m not going to make a bet I’m guaranteed to lose. That might work with your kid, but I’m not gonna fall for it.”

“Given that my kid is an infant, I haven’t started gambling with her yet.”

Jack returned to his work, and I continued to stare out the window, thinking about Nico.

Unfortunately, thinking about Nico wasn’t conducive to accruing billable hours. Technically, I knew I could force the recording part off on Jack, but he had enough to do without adding that to his burden. It wasn’t a hardship for me to do it myself. The only thing that broke my concentration was the raised voices outside my office door.

My time of reckoning was here.

“You are an employee here, and I am a partner. You will not tell me I cannot go into an office,” Mr. Weatherly said as he slammed my door.

“You wanted to see me?” I tried to keep the sarcasm out of my voice, but given his droll look, I doubted I was successful. “May I help you?”

“It’s my understanding that your client contacted you this morning with their dissatisfaction about a provided offer.” Of course this would be the case that killed me.

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