Baby, I Do Read online

  “Touché,” I conceded. “But how did Autumn know?”

  He sighed. “From what I’ve been told—I can’t believe I’m actually going to explain this like a fucking high school girl—Aurora went to her sister’s bakery to fume over your meeting. Ariel mentioned it to Becket’s wife Lia when they met for lunch. Then Lia bumped into Belle, Aurora and Ariel’s other sister, at the gym. Then Belle called Autumn to get the scoop on you. And of course, my wife told me.” Drew’s tone had been deadpan as he explained, and I could practically see him checking off each thing on his fingers.

  “Impressive,” I heard Autumn murmur to him.

  “Thanks, Sunshine. You going to reward me later?”

  I cringed at his insinuation. Drew was like a brother to me, making Autumn like a sister. I did not need images of their sexcapades in my head.

  “Yes, yes. You’ve honed your gossiping skills and will soon grow a pussy and turn into an old woman,” I grumbled.

  “You want me to tell you about Aurora or not?”

  “Fine, you’re practically Bruce Wayne; now tell me what I want to know.” My patience was at its end, and I snapped out the last words.

  “If you promise to be nice, so I don’t have to kick your ass, I’ll let you talk to Autumn.”

  I promised and waited for a minute until I heard Autumn’s voice over the line. “Hey, Will.”

  “Autumn, lovely, will you please help me out?” I pleaded. “I need to convince Aurora to spend some time with me. To explain my past and current job and make her realize we belong together.” If it had been just about anyone else, I wouldn’t have added that last part, but Drew and Autumn had fallen in love the instant they met, so I knew she wouldn’t balk at me.

  “You’re lucky I know you so well, Will. And I think you’d be really good together.”

  I audibly sighed with relief. Now I was getting somewhere.

  “First, I should warn you, her overprotective brother is our head of security. He’s likely to try to kick your ass if he knows you’re sniffing around his sister.”

  I scoffed at her insinuation that I couldn’t handle this guy. I might look like a nerd, but my black belt in multiple disciplines, as well as the numerous MMA titles I held, said otherwise.

  She went on to tell me more about Aurora, and I soaked up every word. By the time Autumn was done, if I hadn’t already been head over heels for my girl, I would’ve fallen right then. She was sweet and spicy, strong and independent, while still remaining a hopeless romantic.

  Then Autumn gave me the most important piece of information I needed. “If you want to win over Aurora, or even have a chance at it, you’re going to need help from her sisters.” She gave me some advice about how to accomplish that feat, and I thanked her enthusiastically before saying goodbye and hanging up.

  Autumn had also mentioned that there was a wedding at the chapel tonight, and it would be over around eight. Armed with everything I’d learned, I closed up the office and ran a few errands before arriving at the chapel a half hour before Aurora would be finished for the night.

  Either I had great luck, or Autumn had done me another favor—for which I would owe her more than I could ever pay back—and warned Aurora’s sisters that I was coming. They were waiting for me in the front vestibule and quietly motioned for me to follow them. We ended up in a back office that was meticulous, with everything in its place. I grinned, knowing instantly that it was Aurora’s workspace. I couldn’t fucking wait to get her messy and seduce her into giving up control.

  “So,” Belle, the brunette, started. “Autumn told us you’re interested in our sister and gave you quite the recommendation.”

  Yeah, I officially owed Autumn a lifetime of eternal servitude. Although the only woman I would actually be serving was my wife.

  “I knew the second I saw her that we were meant for each other.”

  Ariel, the slightly taller redhead, eyed me up and down. “I don’t know. No offense, but you’re kind of stuffy. I think Aurora needs someone who is her opposite. Someone who will break her out of the wall she’s built around herself. You seem a little too straight-laced and buttoned up.”

  I raised a brow and cocked my head to the side. “You’re saying that if I were less clean-cut”—I used air quotes to make my point—“you’d be more likely to see me worthy of your sister?”

  Ariel shrugged. “I guess you could put it that way.”

  “Would the Harley in my garage convince you? Or the fact that my MMA skills mean I could kick your brother’s ass? Or how about these?” I rolled up the long sleeves of my white button-down to reveal the ink that covered every inch of my arms from elbow to wrist. They actually went to my shoulders, but the fabric wouldn’t roll up that far.

  Both women gaped at me, their jaws gone slack. It was pretty funny, and I grinned, used to this reaction when people learned what was under the glasses, suit, and clean-cut appearance.

  Just then, the door to the office swung open, and both girls jumped when it slammed into the wall. I pivoted to see a furious Aurora glaring at me. “What the hell are you doing here?” she snapped.

  I was momentarily distracted by how fucking hot she looked, and it cost me. Her mood blackened, and she let out a little growl as she stomped around me to stand behind her desk.

  My body followed her movement, turning so that I ended up facing her. I was grateful there was a chair in front of her desk and put my hands on the back and leaned in, hiding the evidence of how she was affecting me. “I’m here to convince you to have dinner with me. To let me explain some things.”

  Aurora sniffed haughtily and put her hands on her hips. “I have no interest in anything you have to say to me.”

  I opened my mouth to argue but was interrupted by Ariel. “Hey, sis?”

  Aurora’s eyes flew to the side of the room, clearly just registering the presence of her sisters. “What?”

  Ariel smiled, a little bit of evil lurking in the curve of her lips. “I double dog dare you to have dinner with Will.”

  3

  Aurora

  I glared at Ariel, clenching my teeth to keep myself from screaming as I gritted out, “Tell me I’m imagining things, and you did not just do that!”

  “Who me?” Ariel widened her eyes and pressed her hand against her chest.

  “Yes, you,” I huffed, barely resisting the urge to stomp my foot in frustration.

  “What? I thought I was helping!” she protested, as though she didn’t see anything wrong with how she’d just thrown me under the bus.

  “Helping?” I pointed in Will’s direction. “How in the heck did you think it would be helpful to use a double dog dare for this guy’s benefit? He opened a quickie divorce office around the corner from our wedding chapel!”

  Ariel gave up on the innocent act and shrugged her shoulders. “Don’t blame me. It’s all her fault”—she pointed her thumb in Belle’s direction—“since she’s the one who double dog dared me to move in with Maddox. I just wanted to get in on the action, and this seemed like the perfect chance.”

  “Perfect chance?” I echoed in disbelief. “Belle double dog dared you to do something you would’ve done anyway. She just hurried the process along a little bit.”

  “And your point is what exactly?” Ariel asked.

  “That you’re daring me to do something I never would’ve done because I have no interest in going on a date with him!”

  “I am standing right here, you know,” Will drawled dryly. I ignored him and kept on ranting. I wasn’t being one hundred percent truthful because I absolutely, positively would’ve jumped at the chance to go to dinner with Will...if he hadn’t been a divorce lawyer whose office was located in the perfect spot to give my clients an out to their marriage. Unfortunately, my sisters knew me too well. Ariel made a tsking sound and looked at Belle who shook her head and sighed, “It’s sad, really.”

  “Yeah, I think Shakespeare said it best in Hamlet—the lady doth protest too much, me thinks,”
Ariel agreed.

  “Oh, for crying out loud,” I groaned, pinching the bridge of my nose between my forefinger and thumb while taking a deep breath.

  I dropped my hand and turned to stare at Will when he jumped back into the conversation. “It sounds to me like you and your sisters have a long-standing verbal contract in regard to double dog dares. As a lawyer, I have to advise you to come to dinner with me so you don’t violate the terms of the agreement.”

  “I…You…” I sputtered. I couldn’t seem to get a full sentence out, and I blamed Will for it. He’d just amped up his sexiness factor even more with how smoothly he’d taken advantage of the door my sisters had opened for him. Smart, witty, and hot were a lethal combination.

  “Look at her; she’s speechless,” Belle whispered to Ariel.

  “Yeah, if I hadn’t already double dog dared her to go out with him, I would now.”

  “Right? It’s so rare for anyone to get the better of Aurora,” Belle laughed. “I’m liking this guy more and more for her.”

  I swiveled my head and narrowed my eyes at my sisters. They grinned at me, not even the tiniest bit bothered by my irritation. “Alright, you two. I think you’ve ‘helped’ enough.” My glare turned a little evil when I added, “Don’t think I’ll forget this. I will get even with you two.”

  “I guess that’s our cue to leave.” Belle tugged on Ariel’s arm when it looked like she wanted to stay put and watch the fireworks between Will and me.

  “Fine, I guess we’ll go,” she grumbled.

  When the door closed behind them, Will started to say something. Striding over to the door, I interrupted him. “Hold on a second.” I yanked the door open. Ariel almost fell into my arms, and Belle crashed into her back.

  I pushed them back a few steps and hissed, “I thought you said you were leaving?”

  “Aww, c’mon,” Ariel cried. “You can’t blame us for wanting to eavesdrop on you guys.”

  “Maybe not,” I agreed. “But I can make it harder for you to get away with it.”

  “Okay. Okay.” Belle held her hands up in a gesture of surrender. “We’re really going this time.”

  I watched them walk down the hall and around the corner. I waited another minute to make sure they didn’t just turn around and come back, and then I shut the door again. Turning toward Will, I said, “I’m not sure how you did it, but you somehow got my sisters on your side. Which means I’ll never hear the end of it if I don’t have dinner with you.”

  “I’ll take a yes from you any way I can get it.” He flashed me a panty-melting grin and ran his hand through his blond hair. The action brought my attention to his arms, and I finally noticed the bunched-up sleeves of his dress shirt and the black ink they’d been hiding. Between those and the muscle tone he was rocking, I was getting a bad boy vibe under the good guy exterior. If he kept getting exponentially hotter every time I saw him, I was going to be screwed—most likely, literally and figuratively.

  Going over to my desk, I pulled open the bottom drawer and grabbed my purse. A quick glance at the desktop confirmed that everything was in order so I could dive straight into my to-do list tomorrow morning. After powering down my computer, I turned to Will and said, “Let’s go.”

  Will took my hand to lead me outside and down the street to the small restaurant inside the hotel and casino that Becket Parker, who I knew from when he worked as a dealer for shits and giggles at the Lennox, owned with his brother. The hostess balked at the idea of seating us since they were usually booked months in advance until I said, “You should have my name down on the list for the owner’s table. Lia added me to it a while back in case I ever wanted to come over for dinner. Look for Aurora Dawson.”

  “And Will Scott should be on there, too.” He flashed the girl a grin that made her blush before she ducked her head and tapped on the screen of the tablet she used to check reservations. Then he turned to me and explained, “Becket told me that I’d earned a spot on the list since I lasted the longest in a round of poker against his wife about two weeks ago.”

  Holding your own with Lia was quite an accomplishment since she was one of the best professional poker players in the country. The hostess must’ve agreed that his hotness factor was off the charts because she was looking at him with goo-goo eyes when she said, “Your name is on the list, Mr. Scott. Sorry about the mix-up. Please follow me to your table.”

  “How much do you want to bet she didn’t even bother to look for my name?” I mumbled as Will placed his palm against my lower back to guide me through the restaurant.

  Will chuckled, not bothering to answer since he knew I was right. The hostess left us after a long, lingering glance at Will, and I asked, “How do you know Becket?”

  “Drew Lennox and I went to college together, and he introduced me to Becket shortly after I moved to Vegas.”

  “Huh.” I smiled at the waiter as he set a couple of glasses of ice water on the table. Will and I gave him our drink orders, and I finished the thought after he walked away. “I’m surprised we haven’t met since you’re friends with Drew and Becket. Our circle is kind of close-knit.”

  “I just moved here about a month ago.” His dark green eyes twinkled with humor as he added, “I’m sure we would’ve met through them eventually...if you hadn’t already come storming into my office this morning.”

  At the verbal reminder of what he did for a living, I leaned back and crossed my arms. “Yeah, you mentioned something about wanting to explain some things to me. Now’s your chance.”

  “You want me to dive right into it, huh? No wasting time on any more small talk.”

  I nodded. “Yup.”

  Will waited until after the waiter dropped off our drinks and took our food order to say, “I used to work in mediation and specifically divorces involving children. I loved being able to help kids when they needed it, but some of the cases I had were rough.”

  “Oh, wow,” I murmured. “Yeah, I can see how that would be a lot.”

  His eyes were haunted as he continued, “After a while, the bad started to outweigh the good. A few months ago, I took a case”—he ran his hand through his hair again before scrubbing it down his face—“that was flat-out awful. From beginning to end. I felt like I failed that child as much as the system did, and I just couldn’t do it anymore. So I walked away from my firm without knowing where I was headed or what I was going to do next.”

  “And you ended up in Vegas because of Drew?” I prodded, wanting to hear the rest because my heart hurt for him now. I wasn’t so much angry about the focus of his law office here anymore.

  “Yeah, he knew what’d happened and offered me space to open my own shop,” he confirmed. “I know the whole quickie divorce thing pushes some buttons for you, but I’m not doing it because I’m out to destroy marriages. My aim is to help couples who’re having doubts right off the bat so they don’t turn into a messy divorce five, ten, fifteen years down the line when kids are involved. Better to take care of it now when they’re the only ones who’ll get hurt. Or in some cases—like a drunken, spur-of-the-moment wedding—when nobody will get hurt because neither party wants to be married.”

  Dammit. His explanation actually made sense. Any hope I had of resisting him just went out the door.

  4

  Will

  As I explained my situation, Aurora’s expression softened and even turned a little sheepish. “Okay,” she sighed. “So maybe you aren’t the devil like I thought.”

  A smile spread across my face, and I winked at her. “Don’t underestimate me, baby. I can be very wicked.”

  Aurora’s cheeks turned pink, and she squirmed in her seat, making my grin widen. Before I could say anything else, our food arrived. Once our dishes were served, and we were alone again, I started to speak when yet another shadow fell across our table. I looked up to see Zack, the manager and half-owner of the restaurant standing in front of us.

  “Will,” Zack greeted me before turning to my dinner companion. �
�Aurora. What brings you two in tonight?” His lack of surprise told me that the gossip train had reached his station.

  “The same thing that brings in everyone else,” I grumbled, annoyed at the interruption. “Food. Now how about you let us get back to our date before our meal gets cold?”

  Zack’s eyes widened just slightly, but enough for me to infer that he hadn’t realized this wasn’t just a friendly dinner.

  Aurora chuckled and shook her head. “This is so not a date.”

  I glared at her and put my hand on her knee under the table. She shivered, and I eyed her smugly. “This is absolutely a date.” I patted her knee before removing my hand, letting the tip of my fingers slide along her skin as I pulled away.

  She opened her mouth, probably to argue with me, when Zack spoke again. “Knox know you’re out with his sister?”

  I glanced up at him and rolled my eyes before shrugging carelessly. When I looked at Aurora’s face again, she was studying me with an unreadable expression. “You aren’t scared about my brother finding out about our date?”

  “Date, huh?” I grinned triumphantly, and Aurora’s cheeks dusted with pink. She was fucking adorable when she blushed. I hadn’t seen it spread down past her face yet, though, and I couldn’t help but wonder what it would take to make it happen. Now it was me squirming in my seat, trying to find a comfortable position with a damn baseball bat between my legs.

  “Whatever,” she mumbled, making me laugh.

  “To answer your question,” I continued, “no, I don’t give a damn if your brother knows about our date.”

  Zack gave a low whistle, and when I glanced at him, he shook his head. “I would be if I were you. He’s a scary motherfucker most of the time, but when you mess with one of his sisters?” He shrugged. “It’s your funeral.”

  Aurora giggled, and I was so enamored by the sound that I almost forgot Zack was even there. She smiled at me, and her beautiful blue eyes twinkled with something like admiration as she stared at me.