Page 26 of Scripted for Love and Poison
“Yes. He’s a bit obnoxious but a very nice person, and we’ve been friends for decades. I think you’ll like him.”
“I reserve the right not to do it. I’m not a jealous person but only to a point,” Luke said, and Sol knew he was trying to keep the conversation cordial. He wasn’t a fan of the exes.
“But I never had the intention of introducing you to David,” Sol continued. “Divorce is never easy, but I hadalready done it once with Miquel, and I naïvely thought that it could be the same with David. Hard, yes, but we could get through it in a civilized manner and remain friends. But the breakup with David wasn’t exactly amicable. The divorce was an absolute legal nightmare. He did everything possible to make the situation unbearable. His family got mixed in the negotiations. Whatever good memories I may still have had from the first years we spent together were shattered after months of accusations and bickering. And when the conversation about what money belonged to whom started, things got very ugly.”
“You never told me about it.”
“I don’t like talking about it. It’s a period of my life that I don’t like recalling. I don’t know what I’d have done if it wasn’t for Lola and her family. But they took me in, cheered me up, and fed me.”
His mouth curved in a quiet smile. “I like them.”
“I like them too. Even if Lola is nosy as hell, Alex has the ability of only speaking at the most inconvenient moments, and, to this day, I don’t know what the hell Geoff does for a living.”
Luke snickered. “He’s an actuarial scientist for an insurance company.”
“A what?” Sol asked, perplexed. “Never mind, not important. What I was trying to tell you is that coming to Los Angeles has brought up memories about my past relationship and hasn’t helped with my present one.”
“Why did you introduce me to David? You said you never had intention of doing it,” Luke asked.
“You needed the contact for the case.”
“If I’d known everything, I’d never have contacted him. You may introduce me to Miquel, andperhapsI’ll find him agreeable.”
“You’ll love him, believe me. He has that effect on people.”
“You’re not really helping. I don’t know how I feel about a guy who was married to you and makes everyone around him fall in love with him,” he said, his jaw clenched again.
“Don’t worry about Miquel, I have lifelong immunity to all his charms,” Sol explained. “You, on the other hand ...”
“Let’s stop talking about your ex’s charms, or I’ll stop not being jealous,” Luke said. “What I was trying to say is that, after what you’ve told me, there’s no way I’m ever going to tolerate David.”
“You shouldn’t,” Sol confirmed.
“I know this is a bloody pain, cara,” Luke said, caressing Sol’s cheek. “There are still two extremely inconvenient cases to solve, no sign of your suitcase anywhere, and the prospect of another night spent on a very uncomfortable mattress.”
Sol shuddered at the mention of the torturous sleeping device.
“There’s something else.”
Luke’s eyebrows shot up, and he seemed to be bracing himself for another bit of bad news.
“Julie sent me an email. I just saw it before dinner. She wants me to stay in Los Angeles for a few more days. There’s another thing she wants me to take care of,” Sol explained. She realized Julie’s request hadn’t helped her mood. And the worst part was, Sol hadn’t been exactly truthful in her description to Luke of what Julie had asked her.
“So we still have no clear return date to London.” It was Luke who was shuddering now. “But we both want to go back to London, right?”
“Believe me, I absolutely want to get back to London. I have an appointment with my colorist that I absolutelycannotmiss,” she said, and he let out a soft laugh. The kind reserved just for her.
“I know we’re not exactly thriving right now. But are we at leastfine?”
“Definitely fine,” Sol admitted as he knit his fingers through her wet hair strands. “And I suspect that we could even be upgraded to a perfect match with a flourishing relationship once again if we finally had sex.”
“This may sound a bit far-fetched or desperate ...” Luke said.
“But . . .” Sol continued.
“I’ve seen people eating in their cars, napping in their cars, even shaving or putting on makeup in their cars in this city. I can only assume a car is a perfectly acceptable place to indulge in a steamy exchange with another human, right?” Luke said, his hungry eyes fixed on Sol. “If we make sure to return it in pristine condition to Lola afterward.”
“Right,” Sol answered, not even thinking about what she was doing. After the lousy few days she’d had, after having to revisit a failed relationship she’d vowed to keep buried, after the exhaustion that lonely walk in tears had caused, the only thing she wanted was to feel alive. And she always felt young, beautiful, sexy, happy—and very much alive—when he held her close. When his body enveloped her. Plus, they were currently parked in a dark enough spot of a non-transited dormant street, no?
