Page 10 of Theirs to Take

“Like what?” he asked.

“So upbeat? I mean, it’s great and all, but don’t you get tired of being so positive all of the time?” she asked.

He shrugged, “I guess it’s just my nature. My brother, Rod, used to give me shit about being so damn happy all of the time.He used to call me Mary Poppins, and God, I hated that. He said that I was perfect in every way, just to piss me off.”

“Your brother sounds like he’s more my speed,” she said.

Alex spun around and stood in front of her. “You are not going anywhere near my brother, Nova,” he almost shouted. “He’s not your speed or anything close to it.”

“Geeze, Alex,” she grumbled, “it was just a joke.”

“Well, it wasn’t funny. My brother just plays with women and then drops them. You’re too good for him. Hell, you’re too good for me too, but I’ve decided that I don’t give a fuck.”

“I think that you’re giving me too much credit here, Alex,” she said. “I’m not as good as you think I am. I’m sorry that I teased you.”

He nodded and pulled her into his body, wrapping his arms around her. He was acting like a complete asshole, but he couldn’t seem to help it. When Nova said that about his brother, he saw red. The idea of her with Rod, or any other man for that matter, made him crazy.

“I’m sorry that I acted like an ass,” he whispered into her ear. “God, honey,” he breathed, “what are you doing to me?”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“You drive me half crazy with need. Every time I see you, I want to touch you. Hell, I want to fuck you. And when we’re not together, I find myself counting down the damn minutes until I get to see you again. That’s crazy, right? I mean, we only met yesterday.” He sounded like a lunatic and half-expected Nova to run for the hills when he told her how he was feeling about her—but she didn’t. She just cuddled into his body and nodded against his chest.

“I thought that I was the one who was losing my mind,” she whispered. “I feel the same way about you, Alex, no matter how hard I try to fight it. I shouldn’t feel like this—you’re my boss, but what we did this morning, in your office, felt right.” Hearingher say that made him feel a bit less crazy. It was good to know that he wasn’t in this thing—whatever it was, alone.

“What do we do now?” she asked.

“Now, we look at these apartments to see if any of them fit the bill. Then, you’re going to let me take you out on a date—to dinner.” He left off the part where he hoped to take her back to his house to spend the night in his bed. Alex wasn’t sure that she was ready to hear that part, even if she just admitted to wanting him.

They toured five apartments all across town, and none of them were right for what Nova needed. She was the first to admit that no judge would consider any of them nice enough to move Jack out of his father’s house.

By the time they got to dinner, Nova looked like she was about ready to drop, and he hated seeing her defeated like that. “We’ll find you a place, honey,” he said, reaching across the table to take her hand into his own.

“I’m not sure that I can find the kind of place that I’ll need to convince a judge to give me back my son. I’m going up against a man with unlimited funds,” she said.

“Did you get anything in the divorce?” he asked.

“Not really,” she admitted. “I get a small amount of money monthly from him. It’s not enough to pay my car payment.” He had seen her car—it couldn’t have cost that much monthly, and Alex wondered what the hell happened in her divorce case. “Who was your lawyer?” he asked.

“Um, his name was something like Hank Mullens. He was cheap and said that he’d be able to help me, so I hired him. Iwas desperate at that point. Simon had cut me off from all of our assets, bank accounts, and credit cards. I was out of options.”

“I see,” he said. “I’ve never even heard of Hank Mullens,” Alex said. That was saying a lot too. He had heard of just about every damn lawyer in town.

“He has a little office not far from here,” she said. “I’m sure that I can dig up his business card.”

“If you can find it, I’d love to talk to Hank about your case,” Alex said.

“Okay,” Nova agreed. “In the meantime, I guess I’m back to apartment hunting tomorrow. Thanks for helping me tonight. I know that I gave you some pushback, but I really appreciate your help, Alex.”

“My pleasure,” he said, pulling her hand up to his lips to gently kiss the back of it.

“Well, look who’s cozied up to my ex,” a man said, standing over their table. Alex looked up to find Simon staring him down. The guy had obviously had one too many and he worried that things would quickly escalate if Alex let them. He needed to keep his calm because the restaurant was full of witnesses that might help Nova’s custody case.

“What are you doing here, Simon?” Nova spat.

“I was told by McTavish’s office that I’d be able to find him here.” Simon tossed a big manilla envelope onto their table, nearly knocking Nova’s glass of wine onto her lap.

“I got these from your office today,” Simon shouted at Alex. He turned to stare down Nova again and Alex hated the way that she actually cowered in front of him, giving the asshole just what he wanted.

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