Free Melt Into You by Roni Loren Page A

regular basis that Jace had shared Reid’s soon-to-be-wife with him one night. But Jace had never claimed to have tact. Plus, he’d never been able to resist getting his oh-so-calm friend ruffled.
    “You don’t need to be worrying about my woman,” Reid said, tucking the paddle under his arm and moving on to the vibrator section of Jace’s store. “Worry about your own women. I ran into your mother the other day at the grocery store, and she said you never come when she invites you to family dinners. That ain’t right, man. I ended up agreeing to stop by for one because she looked so damn sad about it.”
    Jace sighed. “Family dinners involve having conversation with my dad. And by conversation, I mean me listening to him talk about what a failure and a fuckup I am. They’ll probably appreciate your company more.”
    “Look, your dad’s a dick, but you need to tough one out for your mom. She’s looking worn down with all this. Maybe having you there will give her a boost.”
    Jace grimaced. He loved his mom and felt like a dirtbag for contributing at all to her being upset, but he hadn’t made it through a family meal since he opened up Wicked without having a knock-down, drag-out fight with his father. Seeing that wouldn’t do his mother any good. “I’ll try to make it over there for one.”
    Reid nodded and turned down the next aisle. “So how’s business looking?”
    Jace shrugged. “It’s been better. It’d help if I could get Diana to stop drawing alimony.”
    “I petitioned the court to relieve you of that obligation. Diana’s still maintaining an apartment address, but I had that PI I know follow her for a couple of weeks. She’s living with Greg full time like you suspected.” Reid grabbed a few more items off the shelf. “It’s still a long shot.”
    “Un-fucking-believable.” He’d already given her half of everything when they divorced and had paid a monthly stipend for two years. It’d been more than she deserved since she’d been the one to walk out on him. But he’d been so numb after she’d left that he’d just agreed to whatever instead of going through a nasty court battle.
    Reid grabbed a G-spot stimulator and a pack of nipple clamps then handed all of the items to Jace. “I know, man. I’m doing the best I can. But it might be worth it to try and talk with her. Nicely. Appeal to her reasonable side.”
    Jace scoffed as he walked to the front of the store and dumped Reid’s selections on the counter so his cashier could ring them up. “Diana doesn’t have a reasonable side.”
    Reid tossed his credit card on the counter. “You better find one. Otherwise, she’s got a decent shot of syphoning more money from you.”
    “Dammit. Isn’t there a point where I stop getting fucked over? You’ve barely lost a case in your life. Can’t we win?”
    Reid frowned as he took his bag from the cashier. “Look, I’m going to do everything I can, but it hurts that you didn’t take her to task during the initial divorce. She doesn’t look like the bad guy in the court records.” He laid a hand on his shoulder. “Talk to her, Jace. And I’ll do what I can on my end.”
    Jace walked Reid out then stalked into his office ready to breathe fire. Fucking Diana. Just what he needed. Hadn’t it been enough that she’d ripped his heart out and made him look like a goddamned fool? Now she wanted to suck his bank account dry, too?
    Jace stared out the second-floor window and the darkened shops across the street. Wicked was one of the few stores open this late on a Thursday night. He’d landed a prime piece of real estate tucked between high-end clothing stores, a gourmet chocolate shop, and a salon. It was the perfect shopping spot for women and couples who may not feel comfortable venturing into the seedy part of town and going to a windowless dive with an
Adult Videos
sign flashing above.
    But the tradeoff for having such a swank spot was that he also didn’t get the cheap and