Page 8 of Resisting the Lawyer (Dirty Hot Resistance 3)

Lucas

“Go on a date with me.”

The look on Elise’s face is stunned like she doesn’t quite know how to process this request. “I-I…“ She stammers out, her cheeks turning pink. “W-what?”

I could laugh, play this whole thing off as a joke, but I don’t do it.

Why should I when she threw this opportunity into my lap?

All I need is one foot in the door.

The lawyer in me scents blood in the air, an opening, and I go straight for the jugular. I hold her gaze. “I want to take you out. On a proper date.”

“Are you sure you don’t just want me to bake you a pie?” she asks.

I had expected perhaps an outrage, but I hadn’t been expecting this particular reaction and I burst into laughter.

She gives me an insulted look.

I laugh even harder. “I’ll take the pie, too.” I tell her, chuckling now.

She swallows and there’s wariness in her eyes. “Why do you want a date with me?”

“Because I like you,” I say simply. Because telling someone you might be in love with them without even going on a single date, might not be a good idea.

She looks around desperately as she searches for an excuse. Her eyes move downwards and rest on her sleeping daughter and she begins, “I just had Sophie and—”

“It’s been six months,” I cut her off, “You’re allowed to have a life outside of Sophie.” My tone is gentler now as I continue, “Motherhood isn’t a punishment, Elise. I know you have had no social life ever since you got pregnant. You owe it to yourself to have one night of relaxation, where you can dress up, go to a fancy dinner with a man and then let him talk you into going dancing on the pier. And you can go home with no expectations of you.”

That gets Elise’s attention and she studies me warily. “Just a simple date? No strings attached?”

I nod. “If you don’t have a good time, then I’ll back off politely and we’ll just go back to being friends.”

“Just like that?” she asks, slowly.

“Just like that.” I nod.

The unspoken part of this statement hung in the air but both of us didn’t touch it.

Sophie stirs and Elise immediately runs her hand over her hand, soothing her back into a dreamless sleep. She goes quiet for a few seconds, before turning to look at me. “I’m not ready to get into a relationship, Lucas. I didn’t know you were even interested in me like that but you need to know. I have too much to lose.” She releases a discontented sound. “And after what happened with—” she cuts herself off abruptly, suddenly looking anxious.

Any man would have allowed her the slip of the tongue and refrained from asking. But I’m not any other man. Since I’ve known her, this s the first time that she’s brought up someone that might be the father of her child, and I press, “Sophie’s father?”

The way Elise’s face hardens is something like a shock to me because I’ve never seen her wear such an expression before.

“That man is not her father,” she spits out. She struggles with herself trying to regulate her breathing.

I can see her trying to rein in her temper. It’s a fascinating sight to see for me because I’ve never seen her lose her cool like this. I fi

nally say, “I’m not him. I’m not looking for a fling.”

She purses her lips and stares at me intently. “What are you looking for, then?”

And it hits me that I’m not really sure of what I want. I’m in my mid thirties and Elise is clearly in her late twenties. Am I ready to settle down or do I just want to date Elise? But the more I think about it, and ever since I’ve befriended her, whenever I imagine a future, she’s in it.

What does that tell me?

Once again, not something I can say to her when she’s not even agreed to a date. So, I grin, even if it’s forced. “For now, just a date.”

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