Hard No: Secret Baby Enemies to Lovers Romance by Hazel Parker (fun to read txt) 📗

“A little louder, Scott—I don’t think they heard you down on the ground.”

“But that’s great!” he insisted, not dropping his voice at all. “I am happy for you, man! This is a good thing, isn’t it?”

I say nothing again, thinking.

Scott scrutinizes my face. “I mean, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know what kind of ‘thing’ it is,” I say at last. “This is different than anything I’ve been through before.”

“Even different from Sharon?”

“Oh, god, yes, especially Sharon. Steph doesn’t begrudge me working long hours. Sharon never stopped harping on it there at the end.”

“I remember. No offense, but seeing her leave was like, ‘good riddance.’”

I shake my head. “That’s the thing, Scott. She was right, at least a little bit. Maybe more than that. Maybe a lot. She wanted to spend more time with me, and I just kept giving her less and less until she was getting nothing at all.”

“Don’t try to play pin-the-blame on Trent Stone,” he retorts. “She knew what kind of person you were going into it. She knew the life she was getting into.”

“Did she? I’m not so sure. When she and I first met, I was still only working five days a week, coming home at normal human hours. That changed after we were married.”

“All right, I see what you’re getting at. You’re gun-shy about making the same mistake with White.”

“Yes, I am, not to put too fine a point on it. She knows the life, too. Hell, she lives it, but I wonder how much she’d put up with.”

We have reached the top of the climbing wall. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, the city stretches out before us in all directions. People coming, people going. No one is still, except for Scott and me.

“Don’t second-guess yourself too much,” he cautioned. “There’s only one way to find out what’s going to happen.”

“And that is?”

He laughs. “You jump,” he says, and pushes off from the wall while opening up the descent clip on his climbing rope.

As Scott rappels away below me, I wonder what kind of safety rope Steph is using when it comes to us, or if she even has one at all.

I don’t want either one of us to get hurt, her especially. I can already tell that she has a large heart, and while she doesn’t necessarily wear it on her sleeve, it’s still pretty exposed.

And what about my own heart? It has been a year since my divorce from Sharon. I have made only a few half-hearted attempts at dating since then. Could I really hope to be on the cusp of something as good as this seems?

Scott’s right about one thing, though. There’s only one way to know the future.

But am I ready to jump?

After I get home from the gym, I spend an hour on the computer, looking for the best restaurants in town that aren’t overseen by a certain knockout chef. It’s surprisingly difficult. The ratings system always seems to point back to Steph’s establishments.

She’s the best in the business. How do you give the best to someone who’s already at the top of their game?

Curtis notices my plight. “May I make a suggestion, sir?”

“Please. If you know of a restaurant with a rating higher than five stars, let’s have it.”

“Not exactly, sir. If I may say so, your handling of the flowers delivered to Ms. White’s home was excellent because it had your personal touch to it. It would have been easy enough to arrange, but you took care of it yourself. Effort like that shows through in the end. You’d do well to follow your own example for this upcoming outing.”

“I hope you don’t mean I should cook for her, Curtis, because that’s the worst possible thing I could do.”

“Not at all, sir. I’m only saying that Ms. White will likely have a greater impression made upon her if you have a more direct hand in the evening’s events.”

“That still sounds like you want me to cook for her.”

“Surely there must be a happy medium between doing everything on your own and having others do it for you, sir?”

I mull this over for a few moments, then a flash of insight hits me.

“Curtis, you are a genius.”

“Hardly, sir.”

“I insist, you’re a genius.”

“If you say so, sir.”

I shut down my computer and push back my chair. “Come on. We have work to do.”

“I take it you’ve had an idea for the evening, then?”

“Oh, yes…and it requires us to scout locations.”

Curtis brings the car around, and I outline my plan for him as we head into the city’s business district.

“A wonderful idea,” he approves as we drive along.

“It’s a wonderful concept,” I say. “It’ll only be a wonderful idea if I can actually pull it off.”

I take out my phone and call Tomasso.

He’s at home, recovering from his surgery, but he accepts my call, sounding only moderately grouchy.

“Stone?” he wheezes into the receiver. “I’m not up to any more surprise missions right now. Frankly, I feel like hell.”

“I wouldn’t ask that of you,” I assure him. “I do need something equally valuable from you, though.”

“And what might that be?”

“Your opinion.” I pause to let the flattery sink in, then tell him of my plans. Then I ask him for his recommendation on the outlets that would best suit my needs. He is able to give them without hesitation, because after all, who in the city would know better than him?

“Since I’m giving my opinion here, you mind if I keep going?” he asks.

“Go right ahead.”

“I think it’s a hell of an idea. Good for you.”

Chapter 15 - Steph

As if to compensate for what almost feels like playing hooky tonight, I go in