Page 27 of Laws of Love
“Nothing but my patience.”
Aiva smiled at him again. “I understand that.”
Knox shook his head. “No, you don’t.” Aiva furrowed her eyebrows at him. “There’s something I want to ask you, but I can’t until I’m no longer a married man.”
She allowed his words to sink in, and when they did, she wasn’t sure how to respond. He’d just told her he planned on asking her out, and while she didn’t date her clients, it seemed Knox planned on waiting until he was no longer attached and she was no longer his lawyer.
“Enjoy the rest of your day, Aiva,” Knox told her with a smile that said he knew she was thinking about what he’d just stated before walking toward his vehicle.
She slid into her car, hoping for a quick end to this divorce.
14
“Yeah, that man definitely plans on asking you out,” Meila stated, before sipping her mimosa. “At least you won’t be surprised when he does it.”
“True, but I was a bit surprised when he said it. You know I don’t date my clients.”
“Like any good, self-respecting lawyer. However, if he’s waiting for his divorce to be finalized, he wouldn’t be your client any longer.”
Aiva knew that was true, and she knew that was why he was waiting to do so. That and the fact that him doing so before the finalization of his divorce could be misconstrued and used against him when they went before a judge.
It’d only been two days since mediation, but Aiva was not hopeful that Mia would roll over and accept the stipulations she’d agreed to in their prenup. Aiva was preparing all her evidence for court and had a list of all the witnesses that Knox had given her.
She was honest with Mia when she told her they would request child support from her. But Aiva failed to inform her that she was also going to get the prenup invalidated so Knox wouldn’t have to pay her a thing if they went to court. Though she knew that might be hard to accomplish, she at least wanted to cut the payout to half.
Aiva wasn’t typically one that changed terms, especially when her client was okay with paying for the ones listed. However, Mia rubbed her wrong far more than anyone she’d ever had the displeasure of sitting across from.
She’d represented many people in her career and seen many people do things they shouldn’t to get what they wanted from the situation. She had never blatantly seen someone so heartlessly use their child to get what they wanted.
Aiva had seen people attempt to be sly about it. She’d been the center of it as a child, but Mia had shown her the very worst a parent could be because she hadn’t only been using Yasmine as a bargaining piece. She’d been willing to sell the child for the right price. And Mia claimed she loved her daughter more than anything; all Aiva had seen was a woman willing to give her up quickly for the right price. It was disgusting. She took a sip of her mimosa coming out of her thoughts.
“So, will you tell him yes when he asks?” Meila questioned, cutting into her omelet. “It wouldn’t hurt to dust those cobwebs off your coochie.”
Aiva glared at her sister momentarily before stabbing some eggs with her fork and eating them. “First,” she started as she swallowed. “We’re in a public restaurant.” Meila rolled her eyes at that. “Second, I don’t have cobwebs. It just hasn’t gotten any action in a while.”
“Mhm,” Meila responded. “You didn’t answer my question.”
Aiva sighed. “I want to, but who’s to say that isn’t a bad idea?”
“Accepting a date from a tall, attractive, retired football player. Yes, that’s the most horrific idea that has ever been spoken in the history of ideas.”
Aiva rolled her eyes at her sister. “Your sarcasm isn’t needed.”
“Neither is your overthinking.”
It was quiet between them for a few moments as Aiva took more bites of her food. It wasn’t as if she weren’t attracted to Knox. The man was fine, that was for sure, and her attraction to him had been there since the day he walked into her office. She also knew he wasn’t a bad guy because, in her opinion, he was being more than generous in his settlement with Mia.
“Yeah, I’m going to tell him yes,” Aiva responded after her musing.
“Good, you need a little fun in your life.” Meila paused for a moment. “About something that’s less fun. Dad’s birthday party is next weekend. Are you going?”
Aiva took a drink of her mimosa. “Why would I subject myself to that torture?”
Meila shrugged. “I was just asking. I might pop in to see the horde.”
The horde was what Meila had affectionately coined their group of siblings since there were so many of them. Aiva thought about it for a moment. She didn’t care to see Edison, but she wouldn’t mind seeing her siblings even if they had planned a trip with most of them in a few months.
It was after four that afternoon when Aiva walked into her house. She and her sister enjoyed their brunch with bottomless mimosas and then went to the theater to see a movie. Luckily, there were no cheesy chick flicks for her sister to rope her into watching.
