# Chapter 5: The Negotiation That Felt Like Foreplay
Hello everyone, it's me again! How are you all doing? Today I will continue to walk with you and review Chapter 5 of "Seduced By My Ex's Divorce Attorney audiobook free". If you have been waiting for the moment when business and pleasure start circling each other like sharks, this is it. Chapter 5 is a masterclass in verbal sparring, denial, and the kind of chemistry that makes a woman order a pantsuit just to keep her dignity intact.
The chapter opens with Ms. Crowley on the phone with Roarke Baldwin, and the air between them is already electric. He is teasing her about not needing to know what kind of underwear he wears—tight black boxer briefs, apparently—and she is trying to shut that image out of her head. But Roarke, being Roarke, refuses to let her have the upper hand. "You want to know though," he says, and the innuendo lands exactly where he intended. She fires back about assumptions, but he doubles down: "I not only know what you want, I know what you need, Ms. Crowley." The line is arrogant, infuriating, and devastatingly effective. She slaps her desk and tries to drag them back to business: the venue. The gala. The reason she is forced to deal with him at all.
But Roarke doesn't do anything without making it a game. He suggests they meet tonight at Torrio's, their shared haunt. She refuses to commit until she sees the venue details. He says his assistant will send everything to her assistant, then insists on seven sharp. "Consider it our own personal happy hour." The phone clicks. She stares at the receiver and murmurs, "Prick." And honestly? Same, Ms. Crowley. Same.
Then Victoria and Chelsea burst in, because privacy is apparently a myth in this office. Victoria has a muffin, Chelsea is glowing with pregnancy hormones and a very good night with Dean, and the two of them immediately start dissecting the phone call they definitely eavesdropped on. Chelsea is practically radiant, her smile wide, her eyes bright. Victoria teases that by five months, that smile will be sewn on. The muffin becomes a whole conversation about bakery samples, office aesthetics, and whether Ms. Crowley is being a bitch because of Roarke. Spoiler: she is. She apologizes, but the man makes her crazy.
Chelsea then asks the dangerous question: are they all going to Torrio's tonight? No. Ms. Crowley is going alone. Roarke's assistant will send Victoria the venue information. But Chelsea, with the brutal honesty of a pregnant woman who has zero patience for denial, warns her about Torrio's dim lights, roaming hands, and sneaking kisses. Ms. Crowley tries to shut it down—this is business, Lincoln will be their waiter, she will negotiate and leave alone. Chelsea stands, drops her muffin wrapper in the trash, and delivers the chapter's most savage line: "Catch you on the flip side when you're all hot and bothered and sexually unfulfilled wishing your dildo was the real thing." Ouch. The truth bomb lands. Victoria blames the hormones, but Ms. Crowley knows Chelsea just called her out on her bullshit. She decides to wear a pantsuit tonight—armor against her own worst fear.
Then the scene shifts to Torrio's, the speakeasy with a family membership. Sam greets her. The bar is seventy percent male, a boy's club she wishes had more professional women. And there he is. Roarke Baldwin. While other men have loosened ties and abandoned jackets, he looks like he just started his day in a perfect three-piece suit, not a single strand of salt-and-pepper hair out of place. He sits facing the door, back straight, eyes on her. No wave. No condescending smile. No welcoming smile either. Just that same fleeting courtroom look he used to give her before whispering to Todd. The chapter ends on that locked gaze, with the reader knowing that whatever is about to happen at Torrio's is not going to stay strictly business.
Reader's Impressions & Star Rating: I loved this chapter because it balances sharp banter with emotional honesty. Ms. Crowley is strong, but she is also human, and Chelsea's callout exposes the fear underneath her control. Roarke is infuriatingly confident, but he never feels like a generic bad boy—he feels like a man who studies her, knows her, and enjoys the chase. The Torrio's setup is dripping with atmosphere, and that final image of him waiting in the booth is pure cinematic tension. My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 4.8 / 5 Stars.
Next Chapter Prediction: At Torrio's, Ms. Crowley and Roarke will negotiate the venue, but the conversation will slide into personal territory fast. I predict Roarke will reveal he knows more about her divorce and her ex than he lets on, and Ms. Crowley will be forced to admit—at least to herself—that her attraction to him is not just annoyance. There may be a near-kiss, a power play, or a business deal with strings attached. And Chelsea's warning? It is definitely going to haunt her before the night is over.
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