Dating A Saint by Donna McDonald

guess,” he said on a sigh. “I didn’t mean it to work out the way it did this morning. My reservations about getting involved with her kicked in, but it was bad timing.”
    Casey swore and tried really hard not to laugh. Whatever had really happened, and he didn’t for moment think Jim was telling the whole truth, it obviously was disturbing enough to have Jim thoroughly embarrassed. He had never known a man to blush so much.
    “You’re my best client, Gallagher,” he said. “So I feel obligated to help you.”
    “ Best client? I’m your only client for the next year, Carter,” Jim replied.
    “Whatever. No one is going to respect you, especially me, if you keep getting your ass kicked by a woman every week.” Casey picked up his cell, looked through his contacts. When he found what he was looking for, he passed the phone over to Jim.
    “This is a gym Alexa owns. They offer self-defense classes. There’s a guy named Allen Stedman who teaches them. If you’re interested in more than self-defense, Allen’s also got some good moves with women he might share with an old out-of-practice geezer like you.”
    Jim threw his pen at Casey, who laughed and caught it like an arrow flying through the air. Jim picked up an unopened bottle of water and threw that too, disappointed when Casey caught it easily and opened it to take a drink.
    “Now that my manhood is completely destroyed today, could we maybe focus on the contract? Hell, I need to get something positive done so I don’t go home and hang myself,” Jim said.
    “Okay. Let’s fight then,” Ben said easily. “This paragraph on page five needs to be changed.”
    *** *** ***
    Later that afternoon, Jim’s threat about hanging himself was starting to look like a good way to end the evening. He sat at the same conference table he had used just that morning to hammer out the business details of his new contract with Ben and Casey, trying to sort out his personal life with the help of the Honorable Barrett Meniski. Barrett was the first person Jim had ever let completely into his life and he knew virtually everything about everything. He was also Jim’s personal attorney as well as his business one.
    “Jim, I appreciate your faith in my work, but you have no idea the magnitude of what you’re asking of the Virginia legal system,” Barrett said. “Some of what you want has no precedent.”
    “Precedents have to start somewhere. Look, I don’t care what it costs to get it done or what it costs to pay you to find a way to get it done. I just want it done. I need you to try,” Jim said.
    “Help me understand then. Why do you have to marry this woman? Why can’t you draw up a cohabitation agreement and give her what you want her to have?” Barrett suggested.
    “It’s not about material things, Barrett. I want to marry her . What we have is not an affair , not a cohabitation , and not some friendship-with-benefits . I want this woman to be my wife—a real wife.” Jim got up to pace to the window, staring out across the streets and late day traffic.
    “Who is she then?” Barrett demanded, frustrated Jim was so obstinate about relationships. The man was too black and white for his own good. The world was full of gray. “Tell me the name of this paragon of virtue you absolutely have to marry to be sexually involved with.”
    Jim turned back to Barrett. His reluctance to share had nothing to do with Barrett and everything to do with the fact he had never broached the subject of marriage to Lauren. He doubted his angry kitchen declaration this morning counted. She wasn’t the only one with a bad temper, but hell—she started their fight looking for the damn stripper. Knowing she woke up looking for the man in her house still pissed him off.
    “Why do you have to know who she is?” Jim asked, his reluctance to reveal her obvious.
    “It might help me get an idea of how to approach this. Is she a judge’s daughter? Is she notorious like Alexa Ranger? I