Page 9 of Three Sweet Nothings (The Blindfold Club)

Chapter

FOUR

RUBY

How the fuck did my glasses always get so dirty? I rarely wore them. I’d forgotten to order contacts and torn the last pair I owned this morning while trying to put the left one in. Fuck my life. The black rimmed glasses were cute, but cheap.

I was still polishing them during the elevator ride up, then into the opposing firm’s lobby, and all the way to their conference room. The smudge would not come off, and it made me look like a crazy person. I’d wipe the lenses, peer through them up at the light, and then go right back to wiping.

I sat in a chair and didn’t even know where we were. Henry was the lead on this case, and he grabbed me out of the pool of junior lawyers, mostly because I was a woman, and therefore, assumed I would be excellent at taking notes. Sexist pig. He gave me no information other than the guy was a football player and hot shit.

We rode in the elevator together, and it turned out Hot Shit’s name was Tariq Crawford. He looked unhappy and uncomfortable in his gray suit, but I figured it was from the legal proceedings about to occur rather than his attire. I didn’t pay much attention to sports, but I knew professional players had to dress nicely when they traveled. He probably had a closet full of expensive suits.

Or maybe a hotel room. I wasn’t sure what kind of divorce this was.

He was attractive. Tall and lean, with dark skin and beautifully black, expressive eyes. He wore his hair in clean dreads which were gathered in back, and gave him a professional and serious look.

The conference room wasn’t empty. A tiny blonde woman sat across from me. The only thing in front of her was her phone, and her pained gaze flew to Tariq. So, obviously, the wife. She was cute, and I would bet when she smiled, she was dazzling. But she wasn’t smiling today. Her eyes were full of sadness.

Sitting next to her was a gorgeous piece of man. His charcoal slim-fit suit hung perfectly on his shoulders, and the purple-plaid tie was knotted exactly so at his neck. A short beard, if you could call it that, wrapped around sexy lips. His brown hair was mussed nicely, calling me to run my fingers through it and make the curling ends lay just a little flatter. The maple color of his hair and scruff set off the blue in his eyes.

Which were staring at me with something like horror trapped inside.

Oh.

My.

Shit.

“Kyle?”I eked out.

He seemed to swallow hard. “Hey, Ruby.”

No way. No fucking way. I tore my gaze from him and glared at Henry. He could have warned me the only man to ever break my heart was representing Crawford’s wife. Only Henry didn’t know a thing about me because he was a sexist pig, and even if he weren’t, my history with Kyle wasn’t something I liked to share.

Henry raised an eyebrow. “You know each other?”

There was a long pause where neither of us said anything. I wasn’t about to do it. Leave-y McLeaverson could.

Finally, Kyle spoke. “We, uh, went to law school together.”

That was what he’d boil it down to. I’d waited five years for contact, waited for his apology. So when I finally got to hear his deep, sexy voice and the first words weren’t, “I’m so fucking sorry that I’m a piece of shit asshole,” I almost reached across the table and slapped him. Instead, I glanced at the door. How much trouble would I be in if I bailed on Henry? I wasn’t sure I could stay here.

Not with the way Kyle made a tidal wave of memories crash against me.

Or the way he looked now, wearing the hell out of his gorgeous suit.

Henry attempted to clear his throat, but it was obvious to everyone this was his call for my attention. I put my reluctant gaze on him and watched one of his bushy eyebrows lift. His expression said it all. “You fuck this guy?”

I ignored his questioning look, and glared back to Kyle, choking on my temper. I forced myself to be professional. “What happened to New York?”

His lips parted as if about to say something, but he produced no sound. I didn’t know why I was surprised. He’d left me without saying a thing. Ten amazing months with him, and I didn’t even get a goodbye. Not a goddamn word.

No, I wasn’t bitter at all.

“It’s . . . not relevant right now.” Kyle straightened his pad of paper and turned his attention to Henry. “Should we get started?”

Fucking unbelievable.

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