Page 4 of Already At Risk
I definitely shouldnotbe thinking about the way he’d pulled me onto the dance floor.
Or how he led me into the hallway next, outside the single stall bathroom that had one too many dicks drawn on the walls and a toilet with the handle you had to jiggle three times and cross your fingers to get to flush.
I didn’t need to think about the way he’d pushed me against the wall or dragged his lips up my neck until they hovered over mine,waitingfor permission.
He never got it.
He’d given me a second to think, and then reality had cut through the alcohol haze, reminding me who I was: a single mom who had made a promise to herselfnotto do this. I’d only gone out for a short celebration, something I’d wanted to do for myself but also had done at the behest of my daughter and my therapist, who both told me, in a different array of words, that I needed toloosen up.
But instead, I’d spiraled and then locked up in a handsome stranger’s arms. It had been the consequence of a surge of arousal and then the crash of awareness that I was out of my depth when it came to casual, sexual encounters in the twenty-first century—because yes, it did feel like my failed marriage lasted for an entire century and then some.
Now, that stranger was here, in front of me. And he wasn’t a stranger anymore.
Cameron Bryant, Attorney at Law.
MyAttorney at Law.
Shit.Shit, shit, shit, shit.
“Dr. London.”
His deep voice brought me back to reality, out of the memories of that drunken night that he was acting like didn’t exist. I glanced up at him to find a passive expression, patient as he waited for me to respond. Again, no…awareness. No curiosity, no trying to puzzle out if maybe I was a face he’d seen before but couldn’t place. His gaze was steady. Professional. No hint of recognition.
“I—I’m sorry,” I stuttered. I couldn’tbelieveI’d just stuttered, but I wasn’t used to talking to men this attractive, certainly not ones who knew the sensitive spots on my neck. And I especially wasn’t used to men who called me Dr. London in contexts that had nothing to do with medicine. “Can you repeat the question?”
Mr. Bryant—if he was going to be respectful and formal, then so was I—flashed a generous smile that made heat rush to my cheeks.
God, what waswrongwith me?
Actually, I knew what was wrong with me. He had dimples, perfect indents in his light brown skin that made me want to melt. Everything about him was warm, just like I remembered, and despite how he was acting, he felt oh so very familiar. His smile was still kind, still picture-perfect, and his suit remained tailored precisely. The only thing that was different was perhaps his insistent professionalism and his short, black hair, which had grown a little since I’d last seen him, enough that there was a bit more curl to it now.
“Of course. I just wanted to confirm the information from your email. You have full custody of Chloe at the moment?”
I cleared my throat. “Legal, yes.”
And I’d naively thought that after our initial custody proceedings ended last year, that wouldn’t be contested. But here we were.
“Which is, of course, the only acceptable arrangement,” Noah muttered beside me.
Cameron glanced at him, a twitch of his lips. But then he directed his attention back to me, ignoring my brother.
They were friends. Or friends of friends, I guess. Noah went to college with his sister, as I understood it. And one of Noah’s other friends from college, Julian, also worked at Gardner Law Firm. But clearly, my brother and Cameron weren’t close enough for us to have ever met before.
Not that I met a lot of my brothers’ friends, considering how busy work kept me now and how isolated my ex-husband made sure I was for years.
“And joint physical?” Cameron checked with me.
I nodded. “He gets two weekends a month.”
Blake, my oldest brother, muttered something under his breath about how it was two weekends too much.
“And a full week during winter and summer breaks,” I added.
“And you’d like to maintain this?” Cameron checked with me.
“Yes,” I confirmed. “I mean, I wouldn’t mind if it was less. Which, I think, is what got us into this mess in the first place. When Korey had to request permission to move a few hours away, I suggested that maybe we consider reducing his visitation or that he should be the one who is doing the driving.” A heavy sigh fell through my lips. “Which, of course, pissed him off. I should have known better. Because now he’s gone way off the deep end and is trying to turn the tables, so Chloe lives with him instead.”
Cameron nodded, taking that in. If he was surprised by Korey’s unusual, slightly extreme behavior, he didn’t act like it. “Do you think Chloe likes the schedule as it is now? Is there anything she talks about wanting to change?” he asked, adjusting his tie a little.
