Next to me, Emmersyn swiped her hands down the front of her thighs. She’d been nibbling the side of her thumb all morning and I was thankful I didn’t have to be at the arena until after dinner before we flew out to San Jose, so we had time to meet with John when he called us.

I’d worked with John Banks since Ava and I moved to Las Vegas. He handled my contracts for sponsors. When Ava left, he’d set me up with a divorce attorney in the same firm to make sure it went through as seamlessly as possible. Banks’s firm had attorneys that handled every kind of law imaginable, and I was thankful he was on my team.

“I suppose first, I should say congratulations to the two of you.”

“Thank you,” we both said at the same time. I turned to Emmersyn and smiled, but she was focused on the attorney, stress straightening and tightening her spine and every other muscle I could see. I reached out and took her hand, held it softly in mine.

I hadn’t been joking one bit last night when I admitted I still wanted to kiss her. I wanted to do more, in every room in my house and outside for that matter, but the terrified look on her face as she admitted I had the potential of breaking her heart pulled me back.

Until I could get my own shit together, I needed to keep my mouth, and other parts, off her. But we said we’d be friends, and friends held hands, right?

I drifted my thumb over hers and slowly, the tension in her body relaxed as John tapped a stack of papers on his desk.

“So. I read through your grandparents’ will and testament along with their trust agreement you gave me last week.”

“Okay…” Emmersyn’s voice wobbled.

I hated we were here. Hated she kept having to relive this nightmare and getting money she was entitled to wasn’t so easy and Lincoln was still only making things worse.

“You had another trustee handling everything originally, correct?”

“Yeah.” Emmersyn’s nose scrunched. “Yes, sir. Bob Dickerson. He had been my grandparents’ attorney for years, and they trusted him, but he was retiring. Lincoln and I had just gotten engaged when Bob called me for a meeting. Introduced me to the partner at the firm he wanted to take over my account with them, but Lincoln talked me into moving everything to the firm his family uses. Said it’d be easier long term if everything was together.” She pushed a piece of her curled hair behind her ear and frowned. “Stupid, I know. I should have kept it separate like Bob suggested.”

“Hindsight is always clearer,” he said with a kind smile. “However, and I’m surprised Bob didn’t catch this, or maybe he knew and did it anyway, but there’s a clause in the trust.”

“What?” She sat up straight and her hand gripped mine tighter.

I followed suit and leaned forward. “What clause?”