“I haven’t changed.”

But he has. The once rough-and-tumble fighter and carpenter is now chairman of a midsize company. New furrows mark his once-smooth brow, and crinkles adorn the corners of his eyes. His shoulders are tight, his back stiff and straight. There is no hint of the easy, carefree attitude that attracted me to a cheeky kickboxing instructor at a local gym so long ago—an attraction so strong we wound up making out in the fitness studio only seconds after the last student had walked out the door. He seems older both in appearance and at heart. But the same restlessness simmers beneath his skin. Power. Barely contained.

His mouth thins, and I wish I could take the words back. Amanda-now isn’t the same as Amanda-then. Now, I could never hurt him.

“If I’d remembered you worked here, I would have picked another firm,” he says, his voice tight. “One of the division presidents recommended the partner I was supposed to meet.”

Swallowing hard, I shrug, playing it nonchalant while inside the part of me that had always dreamed we would get back together again shrivels. “We never really talked that much about work. I don’t think you ever came by my office.” I give a tentative smile. “You’ll probably get to know me better during this case than…”

His choked grunt cuts me off, and I catch a flicker of pain in his eyes. “I don’t think…”

Oh God. He doesn’t want me on the case. And why would he? How difficult would that be? It could be years until trial.

My stomach clenches and I force my words out through a tightened throat. “Of course. I wasn’t thinking. I probably shouldn’t be involved in the case because we were…had…” I take a deep breath and steady my wavering voice. “It could be considered a personal conflict, because if you were unhappy with our service at the end of the case, you might allege I wasn’t able to properly represent you because we…we…”

“Broke up,” he says gently and, from the softening of his brow, clearly relieved.

“Yes.”

Tension eases from his body, loosening his shoulders. “I think that’s for the best.”

My heart sinks to the floor and then falls through the fifteen stories that is Farnsworth & Tillman, shattering into a million pieces in the concrete parking garage. Rejected. All over again.

Years of training enable me to remain professional, while inside I crumble. “I’ll have to ask the managing partner to take me off the case and find a replacement associate. It means you’ll have to come back another day. Is that a problem? I feel bad inconveniencing you.”

Jake shakes his head and his beautiful hair brushes over his neck. “No, that’s okay. I got the papers a week or two ago, so I think I have some time. I don’t understand the legal stuff.”

Falling back into my comfort zone, my heart rate slows. “I’ll take a look at the documents for you, just so you don’t miss any deadlines.”

He opens the backpack resting in a chair beside his leather jacket and hands me a file folder. His finger inadvertently brushes over mine during the exchange, sending zings of electricity straight to my core. Nothing has changed. He is the only man who has ever had that effect on me. One touch and I’m gone. Just like the night we first met in his class. He put his hands on my hips to steady me while I was practicing kicks with a classmate and I almost melted into a puddle on the floor.

I jerk my hand away and smooth the papers on the boardroom table. Jake perches on the table beside me, his tight ass so close to the document I have to grit my teeth to stop my finger from wandering too far in the wrong direction. The richly masculine scent of his cologne makes my pulse race. And his heat…

My cheeks burn and a shiver of desire winds its way up my spine.

“Cold?” His voice cracks on the word, and I lift my gaze to his.

“No.” I try to cover up my body’s response by lightening the mood. “Badly drafted complaints give me the shivers.”

His gaze skims over my cheeks and then fixes on my eyes again, studying me intently as if he can see into my soul. His jaw tightens almost imperceptibly and he slides off the table and walks over to his backpack. “So, what’s the damage?”

“Uh…” Shaken by yet another rejection, I force my eyes to focus on the document. “You have thirty days to respond, so you have just over two weeks left. I’ll ask Mr. Farnsworth to arrange a meeting with the new associate as soon as possible and he or she can apply for an extension. You don’t want to miss the deadline, or Duel Properties will file for a default.”

Jake picks up his jacket and shrugs it over his shoulders, transforming himself in an instant from impossibly handsome to badass breathtaking. I return the documents to him, and he tucks them into his pack and grabs his helmet.

“You brought your motorcycle.” The inane comment falls off my lips before I can catch it. “Are you still riding the Kawasaki?”

“Nah. Changed a lot of things in the last few years. Replaced it with a Blackbird when I took over my dad’s company. Stopped training at Redemption, too. It’s a whole new me.”

Stopped training at Redemption? I have to bite my tongue to stop from asking why. When we were together, Jake lived and breathed Redemption, at that time an underground MMA club but now strictly legit. After he got off work every day, he taught classes, trained, fought, and ran the underground promotions for Torment. And when he was there, I was there, helping out where I could, sneaking into Torment’s office with him for a little lovin’ between classes and getting down and dirty in the gym after it closed.