wasn’t an option for him. Neither was hurting her again.
Besides that, giving her an explanation—the one she deserved—meant revisiting a place he had sworn he was done with. A place that made him feel like nothing more than the scared kid he’d been instead of the accomplished man he’d become.
There was a sound on his office door that barely passed for a knock. Linus turned to see his partners hovering just past the threshold. Their wary expressions brought a much-needed smile to his face. Despite the smile, he had to wave them in before they moved any farther beyond the doorway.
“Este says you’ve been in here all afternoon.” Tig referred to Linus’s assistant, Estella Mays.
“Yeah,” was Linus’s only confirmation.
Tig looked helplessly to Eli, and both men appeared to be holding out little hope that their friend’s mood had improved.
“So how’d the rest of the meeting go?”
Linus’s query seemed to be the olive branch Tig and Eli needed. Noticeably more comfortable, they moved a little farther into the office.
“All went well. Everything seems in order,” Tig said.
“Any pop in here, Line?” Eli asked on his way to the mini fridge.
“Yeah, help yourself.”
Eli gave a nod and sent Tig a sly look across his shoulder.
“So it looks like Maxton’s cool with us taking as much time as we need at the villa.” Tig moved into the roomy living area that occupied over a third of the office space.
“Sounds good,” Linus said, joining him.
“Me and E were thinkin’, since we’ve got so much work to do with going over the rest of the proposals, it might be a good idea to just keep this strictly a business trip.”
“Right.” Linus settled into his preferred recliner. The smile curving his mouth gave away the fact that he was all too aware what had prompted the change in plans. Still, he pretended to be confused. “What about playtime with playthings?”
Tig cast aside the idea with a wave. “Sophie’s already taken three weeks of her eight-week leave. Best to save the rest for when we come up with our master getaway to pay back Rook and Veev for Mexico.”
“Mmm-hmm, and what about Clarissa?” Linus asked Eli, who was on his way to the living room with three bottles of soda in tow.
Eli smiled at the mention of his girlfriend, Clarissa David. “She’s already feeling guilty for leaving Ray with so much of the workload—first the getaway to Cortina and then Mexico for Tig and Sophie’s wedding. She’s trying to get the woman to take some time for herself.” Eli referred to Rayelle Keats. In addition to being Clarissa’s best friend, Ray served as general manager for her late aunt’s franchise of gentleman’s clubs that were transitioning into dance studios.
“Trust us, it won’t be all work,” Tig said. “We’ll take Rook and Bark along. Since Rook’s new job keeps him up to his ears in snow for most of the year and if the weather guys get it right, we’ll be getting our fill of it in a few weeks, so I don’t think it’ll be hard to convince Barker. We could make it a guys’ getaway—hell, we’re entitled to those, same as the girls,” he added.
“Sure we are.” Linus gave a half shrug. “Thing is, guys’ getaways are a lot more fun when girls participate. No offence, but Rook and Bark aren’t exactly the playmates who’d put that fun in motion.”
“Yeah, well, it wouldn’t be much fun if everybody didn’t have a playmate,” Tig observed.
Linus grinned, the gesture sparking his faint dimple. “You know, I won’t have trouble finding one of those to bring along.”
“Mmm, but not the one you want.” Eli held his bottle poised for drinking while regarding his friend with quiet amusement. “Who is she?” he asked.
Linus’s grin remained, but the gesture appeared just a tad forced. “Do you really need me to talk about my list of conquests now?”
“No. Just the one who’s got you in this mood.”
The grin vanished. In its place was a series of muscle twitches along the jawline. Linus left his recliner and began to pace the living area.
“We don’t mean to pry, man.” Tig winced. “If you don’t want to talk—”
“It’s okay.” Linus shook his head. “I should’ve told you guys about her a long time ago.”
“Girl from your past?” Tig guessed.
“Way past,” Linus confirmed.
“We know her?” Eli asked.
“Yeah.” Linus turned then, folding his arms over his chest while he leaned against a wall. “Paula Starker.”
Tig and Eli exchanged looks.
“Paula?” Tig blurted.
“DA Paula Starker?” Eli emphasized.
Linus’s lazy grin returned. “Yes and yes.”
“Get the hell out of here!” Tig ordered, after silence had held the room in its grip for half a minute.
Eli roared with laughter. “Damn, man, if you didn’t want to talk about it, you could’ve said so!”
“It’s not a joke,” Linus insisted, though he fully understood his friends’ disbelief.
“She’s the DA.” Tig apparently felt the need to reiterate that fact.
Linus only smiled. “She wasn’t always.”
“How is this possible?” Eli wanted to know. “We’ve been friends since the crib.”
Linus laughed heartily then. “Does that mean we have to know everything about each other?”
Eli shrugged. “I’d say everything else pales in comparison once you know someone crapped their pants up through first grade.”
Laughter exploded between the old friends.
“Lies!” Linus roared. “That only happened when they served that green pudding for lunch.”
“I gotta agree with E, man.” Tig’s tone brought a touch of seriousness back to the conversation. “Soph and Paula are best friends. She’d have mentioned it.”
Linus grew more serious then too. “Guess she’s done as good a job keeping it from her friends as I have from mine.”
Eli leaned over to set his bottle on an end table. “What happened?” he asked.
“Lost my temper.” Linus knew it wouldn’t take much more than those words to give his friends a good idea of how things had derailed. Questions remained, however.
“Did
