Avoiding Temptation (Avoiding #3)(52)
Author: K.A. Linde

“I was worried.”

Jack had called it.

“Yeah.”

“Lexi,” he said, walking down the steps and into the sand, with his hands splayed out before him, “I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened with me. I love you. It shouldn’t have happened. You just overreacted—”

“Don’t,” she said, holding up her hand. “Don’t tell me I overreacted.”

“Okay. You didn’t. I was in the wrong.”

“Yes, you were. You want me to be okay with Parker, with you working with Parker, after everything we went through. Then, you have a conversation like that with her…and you…” Lexi shook her head. The very thought still made her angry. “Then, you call me her name.”

“I know.”

“No, you don’t know! I really, really want to be okay with Parker because this is the real deal, Ramsey. Jack asked me if you made me happy. If you did, then he said we should come back because you would be worried. Well, I’m back because you do make me happy. I just can’t figure out what to do with this relationship while Parker is still in love with you.”

“But I don’t love her. I love you,” he said earnestly, taking another step toward her.

Lexi sighed heavily. She stayed in place and allowed him to approach, but she didn’t move toward him. “Then, how can you tell her that you’re not over it?”

“Because what happened between us f**ked me up for years. Not knowing still kills me. It’s not her. I don’t want her. I want you. There’s just history between us. Surely, you can understand how hard it is to let go.”

“I understand how hard it is. I don’t understand why you would then blame me by saying I’m insecure about our relationship. I think I’ve been pretty f**king understanding.”

“You have been, and I’ve been an idiot,” he said, reaching out for her. He ran his hands down her sandy arms. “Two years ago, you put your trust in me again, and I have been a hundred percent honest with you since then. I shouldn’t have had that conversation with Parker, but I didn’t say anything that meant I didn’t love you or that I didn’t want to be with you. Please let me continue to show you that I do.”

Chapter 19

“Me?” Ramsey whispered. “I’m what’s wrong?”

“Yes. No. Yes. I don’t know,” she said, storming away from him.

“I’m not following. That a**hole had you pinned against a wall, and you looked scared out of your mind. Somehow, I’m the problem?”

“It has nothing to do with John or this moment. I’m just freaking out.”

“About what?”

“The wedding. It’s not you. It’s me. I know that sounds stupid and cliché. God, it sounds cliché,” Lexi said, pacing. “But my head isn’t on straight. I keep freaking out about it, and I try to keep it under wraps, but I can’t. It’s all coming up so soon, and I feel like I’m not doing anything for it. I can’t find a dress, and I didn’t want to find Chyna’s bridesmaid dress when I was up here. I feel stupid for being so messed up about it, but I can’t seem to make it stop. What’s wrong with me?”

“There’s nothing wrong with you, Lexi,” Ramsey said softly. He kept her from continuing to pace and held her gaze. “I love you. If that means that I marry you in October or I marry you next October or the one after that…it doesn’t matter to me. You matter to me. Marriage is a piece of paper. You’re my lifetime.”

“I know.”

But still that feeling crept through her. She just imagined standing behind Chyna, being so happy for her friend and feeling absolutely none of it for herself.

“If it’s just the wedding, then we can postpone. I don’t care that we’ve already sent save-the-dates. We can retract them. We can say f**k it to a real wedding and go to the courthouse or Vegas or wherever and just make it official.”

“But you wanted a wedding.”

“I want you. I don’t know how many times I have to tell you. I want you to be mine. I want you to be Mrs. Bridges.”

She had known that he wanted to marry her. It wasn’t like this was all a secret or a big surprise to her. Ever since that night last June, when he had made the mistake of calling her Parker, Ramsey had been the perfect boyfriend. They had never discussed marriage in much detail, but she didn’t completely cringe away at the thought. She loved him. They were happy. That was what was important. That was what had encouraged her to tell him yes.

“That’s what you want, right?”

Lexi opened her mouth, ready to tell him yes. She was ready to confirm that and clear away his doubts. But how could she clear his doubts when she had so many of her own?

The wedding planner poked her head in at that moment with a smile. “Time for pictures.”

“Thank you,” Ramsey said tersely.

“I’ll see you later,” Lexi said, reaching up and kissing him lightly on the lips.

He tried to pull her in to deepen it, but she had already backed away and turned to walk out of the room. As she walked back to the rooftop, she couldn’t believe that they had just had that conversation. Were they postponing the wedding? Was that even what she wanted?

The rest of the wedding had gone off without a hitch. John had been cleaned up, and luckily, there was only some swelling, and nothing was broken. The wedding planner had rushed him an ice pack as soon as the pictures were complete. Lexi had apologized about a thousand times over even though he had told her repeatedly that it wasn’t her fault. He had said it was her “psycho boyfriend” that should be held responsible.

Chyna had laughed when she heard what had happened. Quintessential Chyna. She had told Lexi that John had probably had that coming for a long time. While likely accurate, Lexi had still felt so pissed about the whole situation that she couldn’t join in with her friend’s laughter. Chyna had been in such a state of bliss with Adam that someone getting punched at her own wedding hadn’t even affected her.

Lexi hadn’t been able to talk to Ramsey at the reception, and even after that, the anger had just festered inside of her. He had suggested pushing back the wedding again, but she had just waved him off. She hadn’t wanted to make a decision when she was this angry. Sleeping on it would be a better alternative to making a quick decision now and regretting it later.

Ramsey had tried to make it up to her, but she wasn’t having that either. Mostly, she had just wanted to be alone…and call Jack…and sleep.

She didn’t get to do any of those things though.

The workdays after the wedding were some of the worst Lexi had experienced since she had closed the Bryant case last year. Months of work had come to a head during the weekend, and she hadn’t been there for any of it. That meant her life when she came home at a reasonable hour was nonexistent. It also meant that the time that she really needed to be spending with Ramsey was nonexistent.

When they returned to Atlanta, she spent all Sunday night and Monday preparing for a rushed court date. Then, the next two days, she had awoken at the crack of dawn and spent all day in the courtroom and her office before collapsing back into bed, exhausted.

She was so excited when court released early on Thursday. After spending a few more hours preparing for the next day, Lexi’s boss finally allowed her to leave the office. It was already getting dark outside, but at least it wasn’t approaching midnight. That had been her hell week.

“Lexi,” her boss called, turning the corner into her office.

She tried not to cringe as he said her name.

“Yes, sir?” If he asked her to stay late another night, she might have a meltdown.

“Stay on call tonight, okay?”

“Do you think I’ll be needed?” she asked, hoping and praying that she would get a few moments to breathe.

“We’re waiting on some last-minute sensitive material to show up, and if it comes in tonight, we’ll need you here to review it before the morning.”

“Yes, sir,” she said, wanting nothing more than to turn off her phone and pretend like she hadn’t heard any of that.

He left the doorway, and she sagged into her chair. Great. If that information came in tonight, then she was screwed. Tonight was the one night this week that she knew she wouldn’t be working until all hours of the night before still coming in bright and early.

She wanted to talk to Ramsey about the wedding. She had decided to postpone. With this brutal schedule, there was no way she was going to be ready for a wedding. Another six months to a year wouldn’t be the end of the world. She needed more time. He was okay with more time. Chyna had done an extended engagement, and that had worked out for her.

Yes, that conversation needed to happen tonight. She couldn’t put it off any longer.

She threw the last of her paperwork into her messenger bag and rushed out of the office before her boss could hold her over any longer. She made it through the elevator and out the front door before her phone started ringing.

“Fuck!” she cried.

No, he couldn’t be calling already. She needed time away. She needed to leave!

Fishing the phone out of her purse, she stared down at the number on the screen and slumped in relief. “Jack,” she said in greeting. “Thank God you’re not my boss.”

“Hey, Lex. Were you expecting your boss?”

“I haven’t gotten a moment’s peace all week. This case is almost as bad as that one from last year. I can’t even see straight. I fear I’ll be back in the office really early,” she told him as she walked to her car.

“That sucks. How long do you think they will keep this up?” he asked.

“Not sure. Last time it was at least two weeks of this hurry-up-and-wait business.”

“We just got our divorce date.”

“That’s great!” she said, not able to hide her enthusiasm because she was too brain dead. She was quite ready for Bekah to stop torturing Jack like this. “When do you have to be there? I doubt it will be like what I’m doing right now. They try to wrap up divorce trials pretty quickly.”

“Three weeks from tomorrow.”

“Three weeks! They gave you three weeks’ notice?” she squeaked, sliding into the driver’s side and pulling out of the parking lot on the way back to her place.

“It seems that Bekah’s father knows the judge and got the date scheduled as soon as possible.”

“Of course he knows the f**king judge,” she grumbled. “Is Richard prepared?”

“Yeah, we’ve been working on it for months now.”

Lexi sighed. At least there was that. She hadn’t heard from Bekah since the mediation session back in February. It had been blissfully quiet, which just made her a bit anxious. Being the masterful manipulator that she was, Bekah being quiet meant that she had more time to plot.

“Okay. Well, I hope that this is as painless as possible, and you can just…move on.”

“Yeah. Thanks for still talking to me after what happened last month. I probably shouldn’t have gotten that drunk and—”