Free The Deal (Trading Hearts #3) by Saskia Walker Page B

struggling with it, but she needed out. 
    Concern marked his brow. "You and I need to talk too. I have your contract."
    Again it felt like bait, like the first time he'd offered her one.  Clara had dripped her poison and even though she was backing down it was too soon. " Not negotiable right now. I need to clear my head. Consider it a dealbreaker ."
    Shock registered in his expression.
    He lifted his hands in a signal of surrender.
    She moved fast, out the door and down the corridor in case he came after her. She didn’t want to talk to him right now.
    What a mess. It annoyed her that he hadn't warned her, at the very least.
    Clara was there first, she was prepared. Had he planned it that way?
    Her thoughts were in turmoil as she stormed out of the building into the busy London street. She walked fast, and in the general direction of the nearby tube station, but when she got there she couldn't face descending into the throng.
    She needed space to think. Her home in Edinburgh – everything she knew and understood – called to her.  She kept walking, but a few minutes later found herself phoning home as she walked.
    Megan answered the shop phone.
    "Megan, hi, it's Naomi."
    "Woohoo, Is it done? Have you signed the contract?"
    Naomi cringed, remembering the last text she'd sent Megan was to tell her she was on her way to complete the contract. "Not yet. I just had to hear your voice and see how you were."
    "Is that so? Hmm. It sounds like there might be more to it than that. How about you tell me what's bugging you? I can always tell when you're fidgety… is it something to do with Lucas?"
    Naomi's paced slowed to halt and she slumped against a nearby bus shelter. "Yes, well, yes."
    "Your last text said the contract was next."
    "We did get an offer of representation." She forced herself to be upbeat for Megan. "I'm so happy."
    "You don't sound happy."
    "It's just...it's hard to explain. He arranged some meeting with me and his ex-wife. It was awful."
    "Okaaaaaaay. And did he say why?"
    Naomi began to feel silly very quickly, but she was annoyed and she needed to vent. "He wanted us to agree to be civil to each other."
    "And?"
    "We sort of did, but I am so annoyed with him! I went in there expecting to go over the contract, the final step. Instead he's negotiating "terms" between me and his ex in case our paths cross in the future."
    A muffled laugh emitted from the other end of the phone.
    Naomi pursed her mouth, jostling with passers-by to maintain her spot as the line moved to climb aboard a bus. "What's funny?"
    "He obviously wants you in his life permanently to go to such lengths."
    Naomi harrumphed. "I don’t know, he didn’t say that exactly." As soon as she said it, she remembered he had said that, right at the beginning. Was she judging him too harshly? "I didn’t hang around long."
    "So, what you're telling me is that once again you walked out on the contract."
    Her stomach turned.  "Oh...bloody hell! I suppose I did." One hand against her forehead, the other gripping the phone tightly, she turned back toward the Eaglestone offices. "What the hell have I done?"
    "You've been out for a breath of air." Megan spoke soothingly. "Chances are he'll just be sitting there waiting for you to return. But why did it upset you so much, sweetheart? You like the man don’t you?"
    "A lot." More than anything in this world.
    "Is the ex-wife vile?"
    "Well, not vile exactly. Let's just say she's not best buddy material." When she pictured Clara it was her sniveling into a tissue. Guilt swamped her.
    "That'd be too weird. Look you're struggling because you've never been out with a guy who's got a child to think of. He didn't want to upset you. Look at it from his perspective. He's trying to make it work for everyone."
    "What would I do without you Megan?"
    "You'd get there in the end." Megan chuckled. "Now hang up and go back."
    "I will. Thank you." She pushed her phone into her bag. As she did, she caught sight of herself