Spencer brought his irritation under control and dialed his lawyer.

They exchanged the standard greetings and assured each other their holidays were good.

“I just got off the phone with Mia,” Spencer said. “She’s threatening to sue for half of my business. Says there’s a loophole in the prenup.”

Christian made a tsk noise with his tongue against his teeth. “I guarantee you there’s not, but I’ll have someone give it another look today.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it.” Spencer had suspected that would be the answer, but it was nice having it confirmed. “I told her if she felt like she really had a case, I’d see her in court.”

“If she takes you up on that, settle. Offer her one percent of the revenue from the last three years, and we’ll negotiate up from there.”

“What? You said she probably doesn’t have a case.”

“If she has enough to file, and we can’t seek an immediate dismissal—whether her claim is founded or not—it’s going to be cheaper to pay her than to be tied up in court.”

That figured. Spencer’s legal fees could easily top the proposed settlement offer. Was he so willing to turn the spite back on her that he’d eat the cost of a drawn-out legal battle? “What are the odds she knows that?” He was asking himself as much as Christian.

“If she’s had an attorney advise her, there’s a good chance one of them will make that assumption.”

Fuck, fuck, fuck. No. He wasn’t letting her do this to him. “I’ll suck it up. If she files, push the case. I’ll give you whatever you need to get things thrown out as quickly as possible.”

“Will do,” Christian said. “And you need to make sure there’s nothing in that agreement, from your past, that she might be looking to nail you on.”

It was a pretty straightforward contract. Infidelity meant she didn’t get anything he’d acquired before they met, or anything having to do with his business, beyond alimony. “She cheated on me.”

“I remember. I’m warning you, because if such a thing exists, I need to know now, not when she brings it up.”

Spencer was clean. There was no question there. “I’ll let you know if anything comes to mind. Thanks.”

As Spencer disconnected, aggravation marched through him. Too much of the call made sense. He didn’t want to be tied up in court for years, over a loophole that may or may not have merit, but fuck it all, if he was going to let Mia take this from him. She had his sister and a piece of his pride. She wasn’t stealing anything else.

*

TRINA CLICKED Print on the authorization for the switch she replaced over Christmas. Seeing Spencer’s name on the Client Contact line sent a giddy thrill through her. She needed to stop thinking about him, because that tended to lead to a pleasant but distracting thrum between her legs.

She pushed the reaction aside, painted on her professionalism, and walked the document to her boss’s office.

Cody took the paperwork and gave it a brief glance. “Great job on this, by the way. I heard from Ride & Surf, and they were really impressed with your work.”

“Thanks.” Heat warmed her cheeks, and she couldn’t hide her grin. The compliment was nice enough on its own, but knowing who it came from... No, she wouldn’t think about him. Not at work.

“Are you interested in working on their network installation?” Cody asked.

“Seriously?” A new flavor of excitement rippled inside. There was no way she was turning down an opportunity like this. ”I’d love that. Thank you.”

Tristan was the buying agent for the sale, so she had some inside information on the details of the new building and what Spencer planned to do with it. Being involved with setting up their network was a huge chance to expand her skills and put a big notch in her career belt.

“Great. I’ll get you on the install schedule. You’ll be shadowing Mason.”

“Fantastic.” It wasn’t; things had been awkward with Mason since they went out a couple of times and she told him it wasn’t working out. He kept things professional, though, and the news wasn’t enough to dampen her mood.

She returned to her desk, fighting a silly smile.

This meant more excuses to run into Spencer. That would be fun. Probably a bad idea, but that didn’t stop her from looking forward to it.

Mostly, it was the boost it would give her career. “Yes.” She did a fist pump, then glanced around to make sure no one saw her being a goof. All clear.

Trina logged into the phone queue and took support calls for the next couple of hours, until it was time for a break. She set her status to Away and made her way to the break room, for a soda. As she drew closer, voices drifted to great her.

“I’d love that, thank you,” someone said in a falsetto. It was Doug, one of the techs who worked a few desks down. He was mimicking her conversation with Cody.

Embarrassment raced through her.

“Gods, if the door wasn’t open, do you think she would have sucked his dick?” That was Duran.

“Nah. She saves that shit for after hours.”

Trina leaned against a nearby wall, her gut churning with anger and humiliation. They really thought that about her?

“She’s actually good at her job, you know,” said Mason.

At least he was on her side. Not that his support lessened the sting of what she was hearing.

Doug laughed. “Easy for you to say. Apparently she’s good at sucking dick.”

“Not that good,” Duran said. “Not if he dumped her skanky ass.”

“Hey, now.” Mason sounded indignant.

Trina couldn’t listen to anything else they had to say. Her skin burned flaming hot, as she slunk back to her desk. Her hands shook when she put her headset back on, and she was grateful her stomach was empty, so she didn’t have anything to hurl.

She took calls on auto-pilot, spitting out the scripts without considering what any of them meant.

She could go to HR and file a complaint. Then the guys would be written up, they’d assume she was the one who complained, and her work-life would be more hellish than a simple overheard conversation.

Not so great for her.

This was one incident. True, it probably happened more often than she knew, but as long as she avoided the specific people, she wouldn’t have to deal with it.

At a knock on her cubicle, she looked up to see Doug.

“Hey.” His smile was wide and friendly.

She struggled to be as polite. “What’s up?”

“Do you have that tech profile write-up on KaleidoMation?”

Her thoughts kicked from stalled to racing. “I wasn’t asked to prep one.” She was good at keeping track of her tasks; she didn’t miss something like that.

His kindness vanished behind a scowl. “You need to watch your attitude and stop making excuses. I sent you the request last week. No one wants to work with someone who can’t pull their weight.”

No one wants to work with a misogynistic asshole. She choked on the retort. Apparently she was the only one who felt that way. “I can have it for you in an hour.”

“Half an hour. I’ve got a meeting with Cody and the higher-ups, and I’d like to go in there with info rather, than a reason why I don’t have it.”

“Sure.” She spoke through clenched teeth. If she argued, it was his word against hers.

Trina wished she knew what she’d done to earn their ire. It didn’t matter. This was a good job with solid opportunities. It was only a six-month contract, and she’d be running into assholes for the rest of her life.

She just had to ignore these two until she was done here. And push aside the gnawing in her gut that insisted she shouldn’t.