Page 63 of Whirlwind

“I’m not dating again, Ben.”

They both knew that was a lie. “It sounds like you need a break. But your baby girl is out there somewhere.”

Angel sighed. For a while there was silence on the line.

“Do you ever wonder if it’s worth it?”

“Dating?” Ben couldn’t help but think of Parker. The idea of dating him was laughable. Which didn’t explain at all why he couldn’t get the exasperatingly sexy man off his mind.

He found himself wanting to tell her about Parker, which was new. He didn’t think he’d told her about anyone he was interested in for more than a fling since college. But what the hell would he tell her?

He didn’t know himself.

“Dating. Work. Life.”

Alright, it sounded like this wasn’t the best time to bring up his own relationships, or lack thereof. He focused all his attention on her.

“Like, we worked so hard to prove ourselves,” she continued, “and for what?”

If he’d worked hard, she’d worked twice as hard, being a transwoman as well as black. They’d both made partner last year, but he was a big fish in a small pond out here and she’d clawed her way to the top in a major international firm in NYC.

He knew exactly what she was talking about, though. You couldn’t ever work hard enough that some straight, white, cis dude couldn’t waltz right in and take it out of your hands.

“Say the word and I’ve got a position for you out here.”

“You know, I’m really thinking about it.”

Their conversation segued from there into the other small parts of their lives. Ben made a commitment to calling Angel more often. In fact, he put it on his calendar with a biweekly schedule.

She dropped off the phone when Tamika came home and apparently started into a fight almost immediately. He didn’t want to hear their relationship imploding.

Instead, he sent her the job description for the opening at his firm. Then some links to a few gorgeous homes in the neighborhood which, even at the top of the local market, had to be less than what she was paying for a two-bedroom now.

A few minutes later, Parker’s messy hair poked around the corner, followed by the rest of him.

Ben looked at him with a new light. Angel’s doomed love life should have driven him away from any thoughts of relationships, but it had actually started him thinking. There couldn’t ever be anything between them, though.

Could there?

He was insane. And he hopefully hadn’t been staring at Parker for too long without saying anything.

As usual, he deflected by giving Parker a hard time. “Did you seriously just peek around the corner?”

“Yep!” Parker sounded quite pleased with himself. “No reason to take the extra steps if you weren’t there.”

Sometimes Parker was like a child. A freakishly smart child. Taking in Parker’s canvas shoes and the way he wore his tailored suit jacket like it was a T-shirt, the resemblance to Dr. Who was alarming.

The way that he hopped from playful whiz kid to aggressive lawyer or commanding Dom without any warning only sealed the deal.

Unfortunately, Parker hadn’t watched the show, and now he refused to. Though Ben quietly wondered if he’d watched a few episodes and was just denying it on principle now.

He gave Parker a disapproving frown to hide the tingling glow that he felt in his presence. He couldn’t wait to see what their evening had in store.