Love/Hate: The Complete Enemies to Lovers Series

by Lilian Monroe

  Adrian laughs, and this time it sounds genuine. It’s not the schmoozy, fake laugh that he uses in meeting and press conferences. His mouth opens wider and his eyes crinkle more. Adrian shakes his head.

  “I like you, Stella.”

  “I can’t say I return the feeling.”

  “Come on. I’m begging now. Go out to dinner with me, and I won’t tell your sister about this.”

  “Would you really tell her if I don’t?”

  “If it’ll convince you to come out with me, then yes. I’ll walk out of this office and get her on the phone.”

  “You’re a piece of shit.”

  “You’ve mentioned that.”

  “How did you get past my assistant, anyway?”

  “It’s not exactly Fort Knox.”

  He leans toward me, a smile playing over his stupidly attractive lips. A strand of hair falls across his forehead and his blue eyes twinkle.

  I grimace. “I’ll bill you double for the hours.”

  “I can afford it.”

  “I have work to do.”

  He grins and stands up. “Well, I won’t keep you a second longer. How’s Friday?”

  “Whatever.”

  He laughs again, and my hatred for him dims the slightest bit. He nods at me and strides out the door. My assistant, Olivia, comes rushing through the doorway.

  “Stella, I am so sorry. He just walked past and he said something about an appointment and I tried to stop him, but—”

  “It’s fine, Olivia, really.” I sigh. “Block off Friday evening on my calendar, will you?” Olivia nods. She looks terrified, and I try to smile at her. “It’s okay, Olivia. Thank you.”

  “Okay.” She forces a smile and then walks back to her desk.

  It’s the truth, too. I’m not even angry. A part of me is looking forward to Friday night. It’s a small part of me, but still, a part of me wants to spend more time with him.

  Then, I take a deep breath and groan. The more time I spend with him, the less I hate him. That in itself feels like a betrayal. What if his annoying, charismatic smile starts to win me over? What if, by the end of this case, I don’t hate him at all? What would Ashley think, then?

  This was supposed to be professional. I was going to tell Ashley about it when the time was right, and I would explain that my hands are tied. I had to take the case, because otherwise I would lose my job.

  But now?

  Now I’m going out to dinner with him. I’m spending time with him outside of the office, and that is completely unacceptable.

  No, I need to tell Ashley. I need to explain everything to her before it blows up in my face. Just… not today. Maybe after Friday, after I see how he acts at dinner.

  Then I’ll tell her. I’ll meet up with her on Saturday for coffee or lunch and I’ll tell her everything.

  6

  Adrian

  My office is falling apart. Everything is in turmoil, and I spend every day this week just trying to keep my head above water. Agreements that I’ve made fall through, and I lose all semblance of control as mayor. My own party is turning against me, with all my staff running like rats off a sinking ship.

  It’s a nightmare. I’m hanging on by a thread. The Governor could have me removed as mayor—it doesn’t help that he knows I was gunning for his job.

  So, by the time Friday rolls around, I’m glad to see Stella. Even though it’s obvious that she doesn’t want to be here, I can’t help but smile when I see her walk into the restaurant. The hostess leads her to our table, and I stand up to greet her.

  She ignores my outstretched hand and sits down, barely throwing me a glance.

  I grin.

  “Nice to see you, Ms. King.”

  “Wish I could say the same. You might want to hurry this along. It could turn out to be an expensive dinner for you. I’m on the clock.”

  “I told you before, I can afford it.”

  She looks at me over the menu and grunts. She looks back down and ignores me as best she can, but finally I see her eyes flick up toward mine. She sighs and closes the menu. By the time the waitress comes back to take our drink orders, she still hasn’t said anything.

  This might be harder than I expected.

  “So,” I start. “How was your week.”

  “Long.”

  I try to fight a grin. “Stella, I’m not the enemy.”

  “No, you’re a client. If you’d like to discuss your case, I can do that. I won’t discuss any personal matters with you.”

  Her eyes drift over my shoulders and then snap back to my face. She takes a deep breath and then sips the wine I ordered. She nods.

  “It’s good.”

  “It’s a Shiraz.”

  “Full-bodied,” she says.

  Just like you.

  My cock throbs as I watch her take another sip. She has no idea how fucking sexy she is, or how much I want her. The idea of winning her over—of making this hard, serious woman bend over for me—it’s almost irresistible. By the look on her face, it might be a little more difficult than I thought.

  “My brother told me your sister is expecting. Congratulations. You’ll be an aunt.”

  A smile flashes in her eyes before her mask of hatred returns. She nods. “Yeah. I’m really happy for her.”

  “Do you want kids?”

  She sighs. “I never thought I did. I thought my career was everything. But seeing Ashley like this… I don’t know. It’s made me reconsider some things.”

  “You love your sister.”

  Stella nods.

  We fall silent for a few moments. I take a deep breath. “I’m sorry about what happened last year—during the election. I wasn’t thinking straight. I never meant to hurt your sister.”

  “Well, you’re paying for it now.”

  “Yeah.” I think of the nightmare that my job has become and I sigh. “I was selfish.”

  “You were. You still are.”

  “How do you know that?” I frown. I grin at her, shaking my head. “I could be a saint now. You don’t know me.”

  “You threatened to tell my sister about this in order to get me to go out with you, with no regard for my feelings or my wishes. That’s selfish.”

  I sit back. “True. Are you enjoying yourself, though?”

  “That’s not the point.”

  “So you don’t think the end justifies the means?”

  “And what end is that?” She arches an eyebrow, and my cock throbs. The end that I have in mind is my shaft buried deep inside her, and her mouth open as she screams my name.

  I chuckle. “Just two adults having a good time.”

  “I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m having a good time. It’s good wine, though.” She leans back, and her eyes sparkle in the dim light of the restaurant. I nudge my foot forward and my knee touches hers. She doesn’t flinch away. Her eyes stay steady on mine, and she takes another sip of wine.

  “So, Theresa says you’re the best in the state for this kind of case. Corruption is your specialty?”

  She nods. “She made it clear that I had to work the case, otherwise I wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole.”

  “That bad, huh?”

  “Do you have a plan? I mean, even if we avoid jail time for you, your political career is pretty much over. I can’t see you winning another term, even if they don’t remove you from office. What are you going to do?”

  I arch my eyebrows in surprise. No one has said that to me. People have criticized me on the news, but everyone close to me has talked about getting through his, recovering, moving on.

  No one has told me that it’s over. Really, truly over.

  But Stella says it, and she could be right. I sigh. “I’m not really sure.”

  “Well, what do you like to do?”

  “This.” I open my palms toward her and shrug. “I like working with people. Making deals. Getting things done. I like being in charge. I always thought politics was it for me. This is what I wanted.”

/>   “Well, surely you can start a business? If you can afford to take me out to a dinner like this, you can afford to start your own thing. You’d be in charge then, too.”

  I sigh. “I guess I haven’t thought that far.”

  “Well, as your lawyer, I would advise you to think a little further.” She leans forward, her face serious. “This is bad, Adrian.”

  It’s the first time she’s used my name, and I love the way it sounds. I want her to say it again, over and over in my ear. She doesn’t have that hatred in her eyes right now, she’s looking at me openly, sincerely. She looks like she genuinely cares.

  What she doesn’t know is that I’ve hardly got any friends. I pushed everyone away when I got into politics, and the friends that I do have are turning their backs on me. How do you start a business when you have no contacts?

  Our waitress arrives to take our food orders, and my eyebrows arch when Stella orders a steak. When the waitress walks away, I grin.

  “Filet mignon, huh? Didn’t take you for a steak girl.”

  “No? What did you take me for?”

  “Maybe a salad. Isn’t that what women usually order on a date?”

  She laughs, shaking her head. Stella picks up her glass of wine and points it at me. “First of all, this isn’t a date. Second of all, I’m not going to order a salad when someone else is picking up the bill.”

  “Feels like a date to me,” I grin. “Wine, dinner, conversation about our hopes and dreams.”

  “If this is what your dates are like, then I truly feel sorry for you.”

  “At least if you’re pitying me, you’re not hating me.”

  She smiles, shaking her head. She tilts her head to the side and stares at my face. Her eyes are bright and intelligent. Her hair, usually tied back in a neat bun, is tumbling around her shoulders. A candle flickers on our table, throwing shadows all over her soft features.

  She sighs. “Why did you do it?”

  “Do what?”

  “Push everyone away. Pursue this political career that will leave you with nothing and no-one.”

  I chew my lip and take a deep breath. “I guess… I don’t know. I’ve always been goal-oriented. Liam was always a star. Everyone knew who he was, and I was the brother of the Olympian. So I guess I just wanted to make my mark.”

  “Good old sibling rivalry, huh?”

  “Isn’t that why you’ve been reconsidering your desire not to have kids?”

  “I wouldn’t call that rivalry,” she laughs. “I’m glad for my sister. She’s happy.”

  “But you want what she has.”

  Stella says nothing. She sips her wine and sets it back down on the white tablecloth, keeping her fingers on the delicate stem. She swallows, and then looks up at me.

  “You’re different than I thought you’d be.”

  “How so?”

  “You’re lonelier.”

  7

  Stella

  By the time I leave the restaurant, my head is spinning. Adrian is a hard man to hate. He walks me over to my car and for a crazy second, I think he’s going to kiss me.

  He stands next to my car and looks into my eyes. When he’s this close to me, I realize how tall he is. He’s built like an athlete—muscular and lean. His eyes are dark, and his face is cast in shadows. He lifts his eyes up to the sky and takes a deep breath.

  “Thanks for agreeing to come out tonight,” he says, looking back down at me.

  I take a deep breath and his musky, manly scent fills my nostrils. I’m surprised at how much I like his smell.

  I nod. “Despite being blackmailed into coming, I actually didn’t have a terrible time.”

  He grins and a bolt of lightning goes through my chest. I still think he’s a bad person, but I can’t help but like it when he smiles at me. His smile widens, and my insides turn to goo. My womb aches and my knees knock together as he stares into my eyes. His tongue slides out to lick his lips, and he takes a deep breath.

  “I’ll see you on Monday for that progress meeting.”

  I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. I nod, playing with my car keys in my hands. “Yeah.”

  Telling Ashley about Adrian being a client is harder than I expected. We’re at a coffee shop—me with my latte and her with an herbal tea, and she’s telling me about her latest doctor’s appointment. Apparently, Liam is studying later and later every night, and she’s having trouble keeping up with everything at work.

  She sighs. “I just don’t know how I’ll handle it all once the baby comes.”

  “I’ll help as much as I can,” I say.

  Ashley smiles. “You’ve done so much for me already, Stella. And plus, you work more than I do. How’s work going, anyway? I’ve just been talking about myself for the past thirty minutes.”

  This is it. This is my chance to work my news into the conversation. It’s a clear opening, and I can come clean to my sister. I can tell her everything and get it over with.

  Just like a Band-Aid. Rip it off, Stella. Say the words.

  But then, her face lights up and she puts a hand on her stomach. “He’s kicking,” she giggles.

  The moment is gone, and I lose my nerve. I don’t want to ruin her day. I don’t want to pile more stress on top of her or make her feel like she can’t talk to me. She needs me more than ever. She’s overwhelmed, and things are only going to get more difficult when the baby comes.

  So, I say nothing.

  It’s cowardly, but I keep telling myself that I’m doing it for her sake. Plus, I haven’t figured out how I feel. Last week, it would have been easier. I could have explained that I despise Adrian Maguire and I’m only taking the case because otherwise I’d lose my job.

  But now, after last night… I’m not so sure. I still hate what he did and I hate how he hurt my sister. But at the same time, he’s human.

  If this was his master plan, it’s working. He’s no longer the enemy, and a growing part of me actually wants to help him.

  I regret not telling her for the entire drive back to my house. I park my car in the garage and take a deep breath, beating myself up for not having the nerve to have a hard conversation.

  I’m a grown-ass woman, a successful lawyer, a boss in my own right… and I can’t talk to my little sister about something difficult. It’s pathetic.

  I sigh and slip out of the car. I slam the door and frown—there’s a noise coming from the side of the house. It sounds a lot like banging. Dropping my purse back in the car, I make my way toward the sound. It gets louder as I make my way along the side of the house, and when I turn the corner to the back yard I exhale.

  “Mark?”

  My ex-boyfriend turns around. He’s shirtless, his blonde, sun-kissed hair shining in the late summer sun. His tool belt is hanging low on his hips, and he reaches up to his mouth to remove a couple nails he was holding between his lips.

  “Stella! Babe! What’s up?”

  “Babe?” I frown. “What are you doing here?”

  “Fixing the deck. It’s not safe, and you said you’d have someone fix it before the end of the summer. You shouldn’t even be standing on it.”

  I cast my eye around his work area—he must have been here for a couple hours. He’s got a circular saw out, and fresh timber lying beside the deck. He’s already fixed four rotting planks and is working on a fifth.

  Walking toward him, I hold my hands up and shake my head.

  “You can’t just show up here, Mark. You don’t live here anymore. We broke up a year ago!”

  “I didn’t want you to hurt yourself.” He turns back to the deck and hammers two nails in with one stroke each. His toned, muscular body is gleaming with a thin sheen of sweat. I watch as he inspects the next few planks and then moves over to remove another rotten section. “You’ll have to get this sanded down and stained again. It doesn’t look like it’s been done in about ten years. Really, you should just rip up the whole deck and start over, but at least this way you won’t break yo
ur ankle.”

  “Mark.” He ignores me, pulling out his tape measure to measure up a new plank. “Mark,” I say again, a bit louder.

  He grunts.

  “Mark!” Finally he looks at me, his eyebrows raised. His chest heaves as he inhales, and then his abs contract with his exhale. I take a deep breath. I remember curling my fingers into his chest hair, nuzzling into his body like it was where I belonged. I thought I’d be with him forever, but then it all fell apart, just like everything else in my life.

  I shake my head. I’m trembling. “You have to leave.”

  He points to the deck. “I’ve got at least a couple hours left in this.”

  “You. Need. To. Leave. We are not together. You don’t live here anymore. I will fix my own deck in my own time.”

  He frowns, sliding his hammer into his tool belt. “Stella.” He takes a step toward me, holding his arms out by his sides. “Come on. I’m just trying to help. You’ll break your ankle on this deck.”

  “I don’t even use it. I’m working most of the time, anyway.”

  He nods to the patio furniture, with last night’s teacup still sitting on the table. My cheeks flush and I shake my head, nodding it toward the back gate. “You need to go.”

  The look he gives me breaks my heart. He looks like a sad puppy, if I had just kicked it and then told it to get lost. My chest burns and tears sting my eyes. I turn away from him as he gathers his tools. He stacks the rest of the timber planks along the deck.

  “I’ll leave those there. I bought them for you, so you can just get someone else to put them in.”

  I nod, not looking at him and not saying anything. Out of the corner of my eye, I see him staring at me for a few seconds. Then, he sighs and turns toward the back gate. I can see the cab of his pickup truck parked in the alley outside the fence. It’s only when I hear him drive away that I let myself exhale. I deflate like an old balloon, leaning against my patched-up deck and sighing.

  I make my way back to my car, grab my purse and shut the garage door. Then, I go inside and stare out the kitchen window. The new deck planks look like zebra stripes against the old ones. I open the sliding glass door and step outside, testing the new wood with a foot.