Page 52 of Cocky Counsel

Twenty Four

Eva

I was, by nature, a planner. Yet I hadn’t planned to go to dinner with Graham, Soraya, and Ethan tonight. I hadn’t planned to take him up to my apartment. I hadn’t planned to let him see my vibrator—let alone let him watch me use it. I hadn’t planned to climb on top of him and ride him like a jockey trying to win the Kentucky Derby. Nor did I plan on asking him to stay the night with me after having sex in the shower.

My body was the most relaxed it had been in—well, I had no idea how long. Maybe when I was a fetus? It could have been the bottle of wine that we opened after the shower or the multiple orgasms I had in the few hours he had been here, but either way, I was feeling good and enjoying his company as we sat next to each other on the couch, watching tv. A commercial came on, and I took it as an opportunity to ask him about something that had been weighing on my mind tonight but that I hadn’t gotten up the nerve to say.

“Can I ask you something?” I said, tilting my head up to look at him. He leaned to the side and looked at me, smiling.

“Of course.”

I took a deep breath and leaned back against his chest, allowing the sound of his heart beating to calm my anxiety.

“What did you talk about with Graham?” I paused for a second before adding, “about us?”

I expected to feel his body tense beneath me, but instead, he stayed relaxed and trailed a finger up and down my arm as he spoke.

“I don’t remember word for word what I said, but I’m pretty sure I was a blabbering idiot and that’s why Soraya took pity on me and wanted to help. Overall, I confessed that I was falling in love with you but that I had fucked up my chance to be with you because of the whole Cora thing. They don’t know about the sexual harassment lawsuit, just that she was a fling that came back, claiming to be pregnant.”

I felt his chest rise and fall behind me as he took a deep breath.

“I hadn’t planned on talking to anyone about it. I thought I could figure it out on my own because I’m a smart guy, and until now, I’ve never not gotten what I’ve wanted. I always find a way. But it was so incredibly frustrating when I realized that there wasn’t anything that I could do to force things to go how I wanted. I couldn’t make you love me or want to be with me. And if you did decide to be with me, there was no way that I could force you to stay if it turned out that I am the father of Cora’s baby. There was so much weighing on my mind when I should have been focused on helping Graham, that I couldn’t get my head on straight. He stepped in and asked me about what was going on, and honestly, I’m glad that I talked to him because it helped.”

“I’m glad that it helped you to talk things out with him,” I said, feeling somewhat relieved that he had found some comfort in talking to someone that he trusted. In reality, it wasn’t much different than me confiding in Brittany, Lucy, or Gabi. They knew everything that happened in my life, and I would probably go crazy if I had to deal with stuff on my own.

“He was easy to talk to and he didn’t judge any of it. Maybe it’s because he and Soraya have their own situation going on with his ex, Genevieve—I don’t know. But it felt nice to know that he could relate, and so could she. I knew that she wanted to talk to you, I just had no idea what it was about. For all I knew, she was going to pull you aside and tell you to run for the hills before you got caught up in all of my bullshit.”

I laughed and shook my head.

“She didn’t say that.” I rolled my eyes as I looked up at him. “She just reminded me that relationships aren’t perfect and if you want to be with someone, you have to make it work. It takes both people to put in the effort though,” I added in, thinking back to my relationship with Jeremy. I had worked my ass off to try to make things work between us, and yet he put in no effort, because he didn’t care. Even the countless therapy sessions that I attended to make me a better person couldn’t save a relationship that he didn’t want to be in.

“I’m willing to put in the work,” he said, freeing me from my thoughts.

“Me too,” I said sadly, not meaning for my mood to change so suddenly.

I pulled myself up and sat next to him on the couch, afraid that my bad mood would seep out of me and go directly into him if we were touching. It was a ridiculous thought but still, I didn’t want to sour the evening that had been going so well.

“Hey, have you heard anything from your sister about Art? Has she reached out to him yet?” he asked, changing the subject for me.

“Yeah,” I said, clearing my throat. “She has a meeting with him on Monday and then they’re meeting at Jeremy’s office on Tuesday to start mediation. Which I forgot to ask, is it okay if I take a longer lunch that day to go with her?”

He let out a heavy sigh and squeezed my hand.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

I pulled my head back and tilted it to the side to look at him.

“Why not? If it’s about the time I’m missing in the office, I’ll stay late to make up the hours.”

His face softened as he looked at me. It was like he was trying to figure out how to break the news to a child that they couldn’t have ice cream for breakfast.

“Eva, it’s your ex-fiancé and your sister. There’s no way that you can attend the meeting without letting your personal feelings get in the way and that could completely jeopardize things for your sister. Art is an amazing attorney—the best of the best. But he can’t do his job if you create additional complications that he can’t fix. The last thing you want is your ex taking out his personal feelings on your sister’s case.”

I closed my eyes and leaned my head back against the couch. He was right. I knew this before I even asked, but something about hearing him confirm it, made it even more solid advice.

“I didn’t think about it that way,” I admitted. “She’s my baby sister and she needs help.” I opened my eyes and threw my arms in the air. “How can I not help her? I have to protect her.”

“You are helping her by staying out of it. She has the best lawyer in Manhattan, let him do his job, and you’ll see that he’s helping her through this.”

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