Page 153 of Tempting All The Way

I roll my eyes. Of course Dani is more punctual than I am. “Thank you.”

Terri has been my secretary for the past few years. I don’t know what I’d do without her and I don’t plan to find out. She doesn’t know it, but that woman could negotiate one hell of a salary increase out of me if she wanted to.

Standing, I pick up the case files and walk towards the conference room. As I enter, I see Dani already sitting across the table from Mr Peterson, a middle-aged billionaire who’s divorcing his wife of twenty years.

“Mr Peterson, sorry to keep you waiting,” I say, shaking his hand.

“No worries. Miss Hutchinson here was great company for all of the three minutes I’ve actually been waiting,” he jokes.

“Great.” I walk around the table and claim the empty seat next to Dani. “I’ve gone over all of Mrs Peterson’s requests, and I have counteroffers for you to review.” I open the file and hand my client a few redlined documents.

“She wants the Bondi house? She hasn’t been there for over ten years. It was me who took the kids there during summer holidays,” he seethes.

“I know,” I tell him.

He continues reading through the papers until he gets to the end. “She has to be fucking kidding me.” He tosses the documents onto the table. “I’m not giving her a dime.”

Dani stiffens next to me but doesn’t say a word.

“She cheated on me. I was loyal, faithful. I gave that woman everything she ever asked for. But this…? I won’t give her this,” Mr Peterson says.

“I know, but there was no prenuptial agreement in place. We can negotiate, but you’re going to have to give her something. This doesn’t end with her walking away with nothing, unfortunately.”

“She was fucking her trainer for six months before I caught them,” he says.

“I’m aware, and if this goes to court, that will work to your advantage. However, these things are always best to settle amongst ourselves,” I remind him.

This is the exact reason I’ll never commit to one woman. After twenty years of what Mr Peterson thought was a blissful marriage, he’s about to lose half of his fortune to a cheating fucking soon-to-be ex-wife. I watched my own mother do it to my father. She used us kids as leverage, sucked every penny out of him. Left him depressed and half the man he was. I refuse to let that happen to me.

That’s precisely why I need to start putting distance between myself and Dani. I won’t take her home tonight. I won’t call her and beg for her to come and warm my bed this weekend.

Maybe I need to go out and fuck someone else, prove that my infatuation with the woman is all in my head. That there isn’t anything special about her. I’ve never spent this much time obsessing over anyone before. I don’t want to start making it a habit now. It needs to stop. It doesn’t matter if the thought of never having her again makes me physically sick. I need to build those barriers back up to prevent her from making a fool out of me. To make sure I don’t end up like my father.

I’ve worked too fucking hard for everything I have, to lose it to anyone.

“Okay, here’s what we’re going to offer…” I go through each asset the Petersons have acquired and divide them between the two parties.

“I don’t like it,” Mr Peterson says.

“I can go back to her lawyers with a flat-out refusal, then we’ll end up in court, and you may lose more than just a few assets.”

“I’ve already lost my wife. My family. These are just things. I know that, but I don’t like the idea of her and her trainer living a life of luxury supported by years of my hard work. Offer them half of what you have written down there,” he says.

“Okay, I’ll draw up the paperwork and send it over.”

“Thank you.” Mr Peterson stands, we shake hands, and he exits the conference room.

I pack up the documents and return them to the file. I can feel Dani’s gaze burning into the side of my neck. I can’t look at her. If I do, I’m going to sayfuck itto everything and just take her home.

Again.

So, instead, I grab the files and walk out of the conference room without giving her a second look.

“What do you mean you want to go out?” Nathan squints his eyes at me.

We’re at Xavier’s house drinking whiskey on his back porch. I never thought I’d witness my two best friends become so domesticated. Watching them with their girlfriends, I get a pang of envy. But I know better. I don’t want that. I want the idea of it, not the actual relationship. I’m dreading the day either of them comes to me to file for a divorce. They’re not married yet, but they’re both heading in that direction.

My money is on Nathan to tie the knot first. He’s insistent that he’s already engaged. Don’t get me wrong, Bentley is a great chick. But they all start off great. It’s when they get that ring on their finger that they change.

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