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“I don’t hate him,” Chloe denied out of habit. He was, after all, the father of her child. “I just don’t want anything to do with him anymore.”
“Even more reason to get back out there. And I don’t care what you say. There is no way someone like Hendrix Forrester makes house calls. Not unless he’s interested in more than your case.”
“Where exactly is ‘there’, George? Where should I get out to? Because I never enjoyed dating before I met my husband. And he was not a good advertisement for falling head over heels in love.”
Georgia squashed the sympathy from her expression because she knew her friend didn’t want it. “He’s a bastard, honey. Not all guys are like him. In fact, most aren’t.” At Chloe’s look of disbelief, Georgia spoke a little more loudly. “And dating is fun.”
Chloe laughed. “But you’re far more outgoing than I am. You actually enjoy flirting and getting to know people. I can’t think of anything worse than divulging my deepest, darkest secrets to someone I don’t know.”
“You get to know them.” Georgia reached forward to lift a loose strand of fair hair from Chloe’s back.
Chloe could see no way out of the conversation without at least appearing to agree. “Maybe. Perhaps once the divorce is through.”
Georgia rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I guess I should get out of your hair. Which, I can’t help but notice, looks particularly nice tonight. Almost like you’ve gone to special effort for your date…”
Chloe whipped around, her expression guilty. “It is not a date.”
Ellie wandered in at that point, a box of r
aisins in one hand and a hairbrush in the other. “Saved by the toddler,” Georgia winked, scooping the little girl up and tickling her tummy until she giggled.
“I knew I had her for a reason,” Chloe joked.
The sound of the doorbell had Chloe’s heart pounding into overdrive. “He’s early,” she muttered, feigning inconvenience.
“Almost like he couldn’t wait to see you,” Georgia murmured with a teasing wink. “I’ll just go let him in, shall I?”
Chloe braced her hands on the top of her table. Georgia was wrong. It wasn’t a date. It was a meeting. Sure, he’d come all the way out to Brooklyn on a Saturday night, but that didn’t mean anything. Except that he was a good guy. A guy who wanted to help her. She straightened, and sucked in a deep breath, willing herself to relax.
It was not a date.
CHAPTER THREE
Out in the small but nicely furnished lounge area, Georgia couldn’t help but subject Hendrix Forrester to a lazy inspection. Chloe had been emphatic that it wasn’t a date, and yet the lawyer had brought wine. He was also an absolute stunner, something which had probably warranted mentioning.
“How do you know Chloe?” Hendrix asked, handing the wine over and studiously ignoring the small form perched on the red head’s hip.
He had a deep voice, smooth and rich like caramel.
“We met when she moved in. I live downstairs. I help out with Ellie whenever she needs it,” Georgia smiled down at the little blonde, and Hendrix could no longer pretend she didn’t exist. Reluctantly, he drew his dark gaze to the child, and an ache he hadn’t realised he carried, deepened.
She must have been about the same age as his sister’s child. Had she lived, of course. “She looks like her mother,” he said quietly, scanning the big blue eyes and perfectly shaped mouth. The little girl was looking up at him enquiringly, and the smile he gave her was a natural response.
“Yes. I never met William, but Chloe says Ellie is nothing like him.”
Hendrix scanned the toddler’s face, looking for hints of her heritage. Though he hadn’t seen William in years, his face was permanently scorched into his memory. He could recall it with total accuracy even now. There was something, perhaps, in the tilt of her head. More in her expression than her looks. Other than that, her lineage was well-concealed.
Good.
He wasn’t sure he could have come face to face with someone more strongly reminiscent of the man he loathed and despised.
“Hello, Hendrix,” Chloe said, moving into the room with all the appearance of calm. She picked up toddler paraphernalia as she went; blankets, Duplo bricks, and a barbie doll. “It always amazes me how quickly the flat can revert to a state of toy explosion. I swear, I only just picked all of this up a moment ago.”
“She’s a prodigious mess-maker,” Georgia grinned, her eyes flicking from her friend to the lawyer. Whatever Chloe might say, there were definitely sparks between them.
“Chloe,” his smile was easy. “Nice to see you again.” And it was, he realised with surprise. Until that moment, he hadn’t realised that he’d been looking forward to this. To seeing her pretty, open face and staring into those enormous eyes of hers.
It was because she was his ticket to revenge, he assured himself. Nothing more.
