“It’s a hard case for them,” John told me and Lex the next day in the same conference room we’d been in three days before. “The law is stacked in our favor. The US doesn’t afford much protection for designers. Bryson’s team will say the motif was original art, but familiar shapes, arguably including chevrons and hearts, are not subject to protection.”

I’d absorbed about three words. “So you’re saying we’re going to win.”

He paused. “There are no guarantees.”

“I don’t understand why Bryson would even do this,” Lex said.

“Publicity. The small chance it isn’t thrown out. They want to get a share of the spotlight.” John leaned back. “Their first chair is Evan Clarke, but my guess is Nathan Townsend’s doing the heavy lifting. He’s just an associate, but given it’s his father’s firm, I don’t see them hanging him out to dry on this.”

“Wait, his dad runs the firm?” I blurted.

Unbelievable. The name on the card should’ve been a clue, but I was so distracted by other things …

I’d been able to put him out of my mind until I’d fallen asleep last night, staring at the check when my willpower was getting dangerously low. But when I fell asleep?

I’d dreamed of blue eyes and dirty propositions.

By the time we finished with John, my head was pounding. An app on my phone suggested a bar six blocks away between John’s office and our apartment. Lex agreed.

“We can’t let this get to us,” she said as we crossed the street. “We make clothes. Nothing Bryson says can change that. Which is why I took your advice the other day about getting help with distribution. I know someone who’d be perfect—just part-time. You should meet her.”

I tried to remember when I’d told her that, but came up blank. “Sure, whatever you want.”

“Good. Because I already texted her the address and she’s on her way.” Typical Lex.

We skirted rush hour traffic and found the place, aptly named The Bar, ten minutes later. The long, thin space was packed wall to wall with young professionals ready to shake off a week at the office.

The venue’s namesake was chrome and ran the length of the interior. Mirrors lined two walls, reflecting patrons and light and making everything seem bigger. Black chairs and couches provided seating around the outside, while high-tops were scattered in between. It smelled faintly of leather and perfume.

“Jordan said she’ll be a few minutes since she’s coming from across town,” Lex tossed over her shoulder as we wove through the crowd. I’d worn my gray pencil skirt and sheer nude-colored sleeveless blouse pulled together with cobalt open-toed pumps, which made me fit in. I was glad I’d added a chunky yellow statement necklace with flecks of gold that made me stand out.

My eyes roamed the room for any available high-top. I stopped halfway.

“The fuck he’s here,” I muttered darkly, spotting the last person I wanted to see at a table flanked by equally good-looking bookends.

Note to self: do something about karma. Because apparently I blew up an entire planet in my past life.

Lex followed my gaze. “Damn. Is he everywhere? Well, I’m going to keep looking for a table. Find me when you’re done.”

My attention snapped to her. “What? I’m not talking to him!”

“Ava,” she said in her reasonable voice, “you’ve swapped bodily fluids. You have to at least acknowledge him.”

“I don’t have to do anything, Lex. He’s suing us. Fuck good manners!”

“I get it, but given his mission in life right now is to squeeze whatever he can out of us through the courts, you might want to stay on his good side.” She tilted her head. “For the record, A, his good side looks pretty good from here.”

“Traitor.”

Her eyes cut back across the room. “OK, that table’s definitely free. I’m going in.” Lex took off into the crowd.

When I looked back to Nate, his eyes were on me. His friends’ too.

Perfect.

I didn’t try to look enthusiastic as I wound my way over to their table. Nate looked as comfortable as he had Monday, wearing a tailored suit and a “the world is my bitch” expression.

“What are you doing here?” I asked him bluntly when I stopped in front of them.

“Lawyer bar,” he replied evenly.

“What does that even mean?”

Nate lifted his beer to retrieve the coaster underneath and held it up. The logo was black and gray and said The Bar, with a picture of a judge’s gavel.

Great. Far from him invading my turf, which is what this felt like, I’d somehow walked onto his. Next time I’d tell Google to find me a “great bar that’s at least a thousand miles from Nate Townsend and every other lawyer in New York.”

I’d been so focused on Nate, I hadn’t gotten a good look at the guys with him. When I did, angels sang. Sitting next to my least-favorite mistake was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen.

He was blond with a rugged jaw and a suit as sleek and tailored as Nate’s. His blue eyes said, “I save puppies in my spare time.”

“Are you lawyers too?” I was talking to both of them but really looking at my future husband.

His mouth lifted at the corner like we’d shared a joke. “Sadly, yes. But we’ll try to make it up to you. I’m Josh. This is Ty.”

I smiled, dazed. “Ava. Nice to meet you.”

“You should join us, Ava,” Ty said. “Nate just won in court today. Another victory to add to the Townsend legacy.”

I cut a glance across the room toward Lex, who’d managed to score a table. “Thanks. But my friend’s waiting.”

“Come on, Nate was just going to give us a play by play of the gore fest,” Ty goaded.

Josh and my imaginary future with him were forgotten as a knot twisted my stomach. My eyes flicked to Nate’s. I was suddenly picturing someone else like us who’d lost everything in a heartbeat. One courtroom, one moment. If Nate had his way, his next celebration with friends would be over how he’d crushed my new business into the ground. I wondered if he could read it all in my face, that cool blue gaze searching mine.

“I’m not sure that’s such a good idea, Ty. See, for the last three days your friend Nate has been thinking about all the exotic ways he wants to fuck me. Professionally, of course,” I added when Nate choked on his beer. “But it was nice meeting you both.”

Josh caught up with me a few steps into the crowd. “Hey, Ava. Wait. Sorry about that. I didn’t realize you were Bryson’s case. For what it’s worth, good luck. I’d console or celebrate with you anytime.”

“Oh, we’re going to win. So you can save your consoling for him.” I nodded toward Nate, who was watching with an unreadable expression.

I made my way over to the table Lex had snagged, still riled up from the brief exchange and trying to suppress the urge to hit something. The girl sitting with my BFF had dirty-blond hair and distressed skinny jeans, canvas sneakers that might’ve been white once, and a T-shirt that said “When animals attack” with a cartoon outline of a beaver. This was who Lex wanted to help us with Travesty?

“Jordan, meet my business partner,” Lex said as I pulled up. “Ava’s the most ridiculously talented person in the world.”

“Or this week, the most ridiculous person in the world,” I muttered.

“Hey, who was that?” the blond asked, nodding at Nate.

“Long story,” Lex replied.

“Not really. Fucked a lawyer. Now he’s suing us.” A dramatic sigh escaped my lips. “Shaaame on me.” I signaled for the waitress.

“Ava!” Lex hissed.

“Sorry,” I said to Jordan. “Is this a PG conversation? I meant banged. Screwed. Made sexy, sweaty hate to.”

Lex just shook her head. She’d witnessed fifteen years of my misbehavior, so this was nothing new. “Ava, Jordan’s from New Jersey. She just finished a business degree at Wharton and interned for her dad for the last year.”

“Which was …?”

Jordan shrugged, which only made her look younger. “I got bored with school. Wanted to do some real work. So I took extra courses and finished a year early.”

“Overachiever. Got it.” I glanced up as our waitress delivered the drinks. Nate was laughing with his friends on the other side of the bar. He glanced toward me as if feeling my stare, and the laughter faded. I forced my attention back to Jordan.

“So, what does your dad do?” Images of hardware stores and dairy cows danced in my head.

“Buys and sells companies. Tech and industrials mostly.” Jordan took a drink. “I helped turn around two since grad.”

“Why do you want to work with us?” I asked.

She laced her fingers together and leaned into the table. “Did you hear the part where I said my dad’s mostly in tech and industrials? He loves those companies, but it’s pretty soul-sucking. The closest I got to something interesting was a furniture line. I met Lex at the magazine since we were advertising some new chairs for the October issue. We started talking and I checked out Travesty on your website. I loved it.”

She’d seemed plain at first, but as I looked at her I realized she wasn’t wearing makeup. One blue eye and one hazel were set in fair skin, an oval face. Jordan was pretty without trying. But it was more than that. It seemed like she didn’t want to look trendy.

Lex jumped in. “I told her we just need someone to keep the distributors in line and make sure we meet deadlines. We can’t pay as well as the big companies.” She frowned. “Or the small ones.”

Jordan turned to me. “I don’t want the money. I’ll work for next to nothing.”

The first good news I’d heard all day. “Next to nothing is the going rate at Travesty.”

Jordan slid off her stool, then tipped her head in the direction of the washroom. “I have to pee. You guys talk.” She wandered away, wearing the only flats in a roomful of heels.

“What do you think?” Lex asked when Jordan was gone.

“I think she’d stand out in a crowd,” I said honestly. “Unless it’s a crowd of teenage bikers.”

“I get that she’s not what you expect. But what you might not’ve gotten is that Jordan is Jordan Briggs. Of Briggs Auto, Briggs Real Estate, Briggs Aeronautics … When I met her at the magazine, she was there to approve an ad placement for one of her dad’s companies. But we’d double booked the spot. Within twenty minutes she’d identified a new solution that would work for the magazine and three other advertisers. She might seem odd, but she’s effective.”

I wasn’t convinced, but Lex knew the business best. “All right. So we’ll hire Grunge Barbie to help part-time.”

“Great.” Lex’s relieved look was all I needed to make me sure we’d chosen right.

Jordan returned a few minutes later. “You’re in,” I told her.

We celebrated with one more round.

I was feeling the two vodka cranberries as we made our way out the door nearly two hours after we arrived, me trailing behind Lex and Jordan.

A few steps from the exit, a hand grabbed my arm. I let out a little screech in shock. I’d almost succeeded in forgetting Nate was there. Until he was on top of me.

“We need to talk,” he said in a low voice. Josh and Ty were a few paces behind him, sorting out the bill on the table.

“I can’t imagine why,” I replied, recovering from the surprise and forcing myself to stare up into unblinking blue eyes.

His brows drew together. “This situation isn’t ideal, but we don’t need to be so adversarial.”

“Adver—” I shook my head in disbelief. “Yeah, actually. We do. Because you’re on one side of this case and I’m on the other.”

Nate shook his head. “There was no way either of us could’ve foreseen this. I never thought I’d see you again.”

“So you didn’t plan this.”

“Plan to sue a girl I took home from a bar? No.” His voice was clipped. “Believe it or not, I do have better things to do.”

I stared at him. “If you say so.”

“This is my job,” he said, defensiveness creeping in. “What the hell do you want me to do?”

“Retire at twenty-five to Barbados with a Victoria’s Secret model?” I suggested.

I looked down at my arm where his hand was still on it. He dropped it like it was on fire, then took a deep breath.

“You’re pissed about the case,” Nate said, the composure coming back. “But I thought you were over it when Carl called me about the apartment.”

Maybe he was angling for gratitude. Suite 2022 was ours thanks to the generosity of one Nate Townsend. I gritted my teeth. “Yes, we took it. I’m glad you recommended it.”

“So I’ll be seeing more of you.” My blank expression caused a wrinkle in his. Then understanding dawned. “Shit. You really don’t remember,” he murmured. He looked more unsettled than I’d seen him tonight. My stomach clenched in response, sensing something was seriously off. These riddles, and his presence, actually, were not helping my state of mind.

“Remember what?”

“That I’m in 2021.”

It was like someone had turned a hose on me. Every other thought ran from my brain, and my nervous system kicked in.

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

The building Lex and I had moved into was the one I’d found myself in six months ago late at night. And early the next morning.

Ugh!

We’d have to find another place. There was no other option.

But … we’d already signed the lease. And moved. Even if we tried, we couldn’t find another apartment like that now. Which meant I’d have to deal with the fact that Nate lived across the hall. That I’d probably hear him and whatever New York hoe-bags he took home every week. I’d bet it didn’t sound as hot when the best sex you’d ever had was having it with someone else.

There was no reason he’d want me across the hall. Unless he was angling for something casual, which made no sense given how we’d left things. The way he’d left things.

“Is this some kind of twisted ‘Keep your friends close and enemies closer’ thing?” I hissed.

He slipped on his navy jacket, buttoning it without breaking eye contact. “What would that make us?” he asked. “Friends or enemies?”

A stream of people bumped me on their way to the exit, pushing me closer to Nate. He lifted a hand to steady me; instinct, not chivalry.

I looked up into a handsome face that was suddenly too close. But there was nowhere to move. I could still feel my pulse where he’d touched me.

“Neither,” I choked out. “There is nothing between us and there never will be. Because you and me, Suit, have zero in common except one fuzzy, drunken mistake.”

His eyes widened in surprise, that intense blue gaze searching mine. A second passed between us. Then five. “In that case,” he said finally, “thank you. For correcting any misconceptions about our relationship. I’ll see you around, neighbor.” The last word was soft. A promise. Or a threat.

“Not if I can help it, neighbor.” I had no clue what’d just happened, but without waiting for a response, I turned to follow my friends out to the street.

I wouldn’t run from him.

But damn if I didn’t feel his gaze on my back.