Page 83 of Mr. Flirt

“Fine.” She kept her eyes focused on the roses.

“Fine, what?”

I needed to hear the words.

Lucy kept her eyes averted and drew a deep breath while I glanced around her bright and cheery kitchen.

I leaned against the granite counter and smiled, taking in everything about Lucy. Her hair had been swept back into a messy bun. She’d changed out of her work clothes and sported a pair of joggers and an oversized red sweatshirt. Everything about her pushed a future into my world that needed her in it. As I lay in bed last night, I fantasized about her coming home late from a trial while I had dinner laid out for us to eat, movies lined up to watch, and a new bed for us to cuddle in.

Cuddle!

I wasn’t a cuddler until I met Lucy, and now all I wanted to do was cuddle with her, and she would never give me the opportunity. Instead, she was busy orchestrating some crazy idea to keep me at a distance while also keeping me near enough to toy with my heart.

And I refused to believe this wasn’t toying with hers.

Lucy turned to me, sucking on her bottom lip and concentrating on something very hard before she finally said something.

“Since we’re at the point in this endeavor where we’re up for renegotiations, I have a request,” she said.

I nodded. “Let’s hear it.”

“I don’t want you to be with anyone else while we’re seeing one another.”

Her words felt like the biggest gift in the world. Maybe my hunch was right. Maybe I could be the one to break down her walls, to melt her icy heart.

I smiled. “I think that’s more than fair, but I have a request. I ask for the same.”

Her eyes lit up, and she nodded. “Okay, so it’s set. You’re no longer my teacher. You’re my...”

“Well, we can’t say lover because we’ve never gotten there.”

Lucy laughed. “True, and we may never.”

“I think you enjoy torturing me.”

She smiled even wider. “I think I enjoy it too. Are we starting over? Dating as if we’d just met? No more high-speed challenges to get me to the next level?”

“You’re already at the next level,” I teased. “I’m pretty sure you could teach me some things.”

“I’m nervous,” she confessed, and I could see it in her eyes. This was asking a lot of her.

“How about this?” I slid my arms around her waist and gently pulled her into me. “How about you let me take you out for Valentine’s Day? It falls on a weekend, so clear both days for me.”

“I don’t think I can...”

I saw the panic rise in her eyes and let out a deep breath. “Clear both days and keep your laptop with you. I’ll let you bill as many hours as you want as long as you’re sitting in front of me.”

Lucy slid her hands up my chest and rested them there as she looked into my eyes.

“Why are you being so nice?” she asked.

“This is being nice? It’s wanting to spend time with you. If you’re working away and need a glass of water, I want to be the one to run to the kitchen and get it for you. Hungry? I’ll make nachos for you. I just ask for one thing in return.”

“What’s that?” she asked softly.

“Don’t ice me out. Don’t put me in the same bin as your clients’ exes that you’ve gone after in court. Let me be Shep and make my own ridiculous mistakes. Don’t make me the enemy.”

She let out a deep breath and rested her cheek on my chest. “That’s going to be hard, but I’ll do everything in my power to stop letting the negative in.”

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