Tempted (A Player Brother Romance Book) (A Standalone Novel) (Player Brothers Book 1) (14 page)

I arrived back at the chamber just at eleven. When Aiden
and Mr. Mahoney arrived I kept my eyes forward or down, not willing to have
even a passing glance between us.

The bailiff came and collected us and we filed into
the court room. The audience area was filled with people of all walks of life
and ages. From the grandmother holding her bejeweled purse, to the biker with
the spiked collar and the long beard. I glanced over them as we took our place
at the defendants table, trying to figure out who our team might lean towards
selecting.

Across the way the prosecution took their place,
lining up next to their table. Just like last time we were instructed to watch
and take notes on how the senior partners handled the jury selection. Despite
everything else, I remained curious how the process would play out.

I had my intentions on keeping my mind focused on the
happenings within the court, and I noticed the bailiff bringing a piece of
paper to the judge. The two men conferred quietly before the judge called both
teams up to the bench. The lawyers stopped what they were doing and the other
team walked up to the judge.

'You two stay here,” Ms. Klein said to me and Aiden.
"We expected this."

Aiden and I waited while the senior lawyers spoke
briefly at the bench, Mr. Mahoney become animated pointing to one of the prosecuting
lawyers and speaking with vehement body language. Ms. Klein calmed him by
placing one hand upon his arm.

"Can you make out what they are saying?"
Aiden asked.

"No," I answered. "I wonder what it's
about."

That exchange had been the most we had spoken all day.
Our curiosity was soon answered when Mahoney and Klein returned to us. The
judge announced that the jury pool was free to go. Mr. Mahoney addressed me and
Aiden.

"The prosecution asked for a continuance,” he
explained. "The approval just arrived on the judge’s desk."

"What?" I asked.

"The court date has been pushed back for another
three weeks,” he explained.

"What about Mr. Shaw?" I asked. "He is
still awaiting trial in jail. This is not fair to him at all. What about his
family?"

Mr. Mahoney raised his hands with his palms towards
me.

"All of that will be taken into account. His bond
will be adjusted according to the time he has already spent."

I had to admit I felt a rush of relief upon hearing
about the continuance. I recalled my mother sitting back at the apartment
waiting for me. Plus I knew I needed to refocus. Today had been less than ideal
to begin the trial.

"What happens next?" I asked.

"We wait," Ms. Klein said. "Then in two
and a half weeks we rally the troops once more and prepare for opening. There
is really nothing more. The two of you are free to go."

I stood letting the sense of relief rush over me. The
day was still early, not even noon yet. I had to get back to my mother and
wanted nothing more than to get away from the situation I found myself in.

As much as I wanted to be there for Mr. Shaw, I also
felt that a break from preparation would be nice. I decided that since we were
in between cases, I could take some of my floating time off and spend the time
with my mother while she was here.

I gathered my things and after the jurors cleared,
heading for the exit down the aisle and towards the front door. The relief of
not having opening statements made me realize almost instantly that I had been
especially hard on Aiden this morning. The case wasn’t the only thing I needed
to refocus on. Time with my mother would be nice, I decided. I could finally
take the time to visit the beach and explore the city the way Kelsey had been
hounding me to do since we arrived.

I pushed through the revolving door and into the
bright sunlight, slipping on my sunglasses.

"Blair," Aiden's voice called after me. I hadn’t
walked fast enough to shake him from following me apparently. "Blair,
wait!"

I turned to glance over my shoulder seeing him jogging
down the sidewalk to catch up with me. My first desire was to run to my car and
pretend I hadn’t heard him, but instead I slowed my pace until he reached me
and fell into stride alongside me.

"You can't just ignore me forever," he said.

"I can try," I said, heading down the sidewalk
leading to the parking garage.

"Blair, please."

He placed a hand on my elbow. I turned and faced him,
but kept my eyes away from his face. I wasn’t quite ready to look him in the
eye just yet.

"Blair, come on. Can we talk about it?"

"Do we have to?" I asked.

"Blair," his voice had softened and I felt
my resolve giving way a little bit. "Come on. It's me."

I finally lifted my eyes to his. What I saw there
surprised me. He didn’t have the cocky look of someone who had reached a
conquest.

Rather he looked concerned, worried even.

I saw sincerity and kindness there.

"Okay, fine. I'm sorry I blew up at you this
morning,” I said, matching his tone.

I only did because he wouldn’t get his ass up.

We turned to walk again, both of us slowing our pace.

"Blair, last night..." he began.

"Do we have to mention last night?" I said.

"Can you listen?" he asked with a chiding
tone behind his slight smile.

"Okay fine,” I said.

"Last night was more than I could have ever expected.
And you seemed to have enjoyed yourself a little bit,” he said.

I turned my head to hide the redness I felt in my
cheeks.

"Blair, I don't want it to be just a one night
stand."

Job over boys.

Job over boys.

Job over boys.

I had to get this job.

We reached my car and I turned to face him, suddenly
aware of how close he stood, and unsure if I minded that I wanted him to kiss
me. My mind didn’t take long to wander in that direction if today was any
indication.

"Is that so?" I said, unsure how to respond.

Forming words had escaped my abilities.

"Yeah," he said. "That's so. I think
there is more going on here than you’re willing to
fucking
admit."

He lifted his hand and brushed an errant strand behind
my ear. The sensation of his fingertips brushing against my skin made my breath
catch in my throat. He noticed, because his next move was to lean in, closing
the small gap between us. My head tilted of its own accord meeting his lips
with mine.

In the back of my mind I hadn’t stopped thinking about
his kiss and then some from last night. We hadn’t even been alone for ten
minutes and here we were nearly making out in the shadows of the parking garage
like a couple of teenagers.

"Aiden," I whispered against his lips,
breaking contact. "Aiden stop."

Instantly he took a step back with his hands out to
either side.

"We can't do this," I stuttered, though my
voice didn’t sound convincing even to myself.

"I’m nothing if not a gentleman,” he said with a
small smirk. "I'll tell you what Blair. I'm going to let you call the
shots."

"Okay good,” I said. "My first call is that
we can be friends."

"Very good. Friends." He nodded and extended
a hand. I took his and we shook on it. "I don't buy it though." He
muttered still holding firm to my hand.

"What do you mean?" I asked, pulling my hand
back with some difficulty.

"You have feelings for me."

He arched his eyebrow and gave me a side glance,
letting back some of the playfulness that had been missing.

"Feelings of friendship maybe," I insisted.

"Sure, sure." He shook his head.
"Friends with benefits," he muttered.

"Aiden, seriously."

I lightly punched his shoulder. I didn’t feel quite as
overwrought as I had this morning but the sense of caution hadn’t left me.

"I want us to be friends. I want us to stay friends.
We are friends anyway. No matter what. Okay?"

He nodded at last, accepting my words. "Okay,” he
said.

"Besides, we have a case to focus on, and don't
forget we are competing with each other."

"No, of course. We mustn’t forget that,” he joked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I said.

Why was I stalling?

"Come have dinner with me tonight,” he said.
"Just as friends of course. There's something I want to do."

"I can't actually. My mom's in town."

I hoped this didn’t sound like an excuse. For once it wasn’t.

"Oh, really! How is your mom?"

As our friendship had developed as children our
mother's naturally had formed a relationship over the years. Now they remained
close friends and often spoke of each other. I had felt better about moving
five states away knowing that she had a close friend nearby in Aiden's mother.

"She's good,” I said. "She started her own
business after I left for school. She runs an online boutique out of the
garage. She had it revamped for storage."

"Ah, she always did strike me as someone who
could pull that off. What did your dad think about it? Is he still in human
resources?"

"Oh," I said. "They divorced a couple
years after high school."

"Damn, I'm sorry to hear that. I guess my mother
never mentioned it."

"That's the real reason she started the business.
She needed to support herself but she didn't want to work away from home."

"Wow,” he said.

"Hey listen. Speaking of which, I'd better get
going. My mom is waiting. I'll tell her you said hi, okay?"

"Yeah sure."

He smiled and started to walk towards his car.

"Maybe some other time?" I asked.

"What?"

"Dinner."

"Definitely."

He flashed me his charming grin and headed on down the
length of the ramp, giving me one last wave as I opened my car door. I tried to
ignore the feeling of euphoria still lingering from the stolen kiss as I press
the gas pedal and left the parking lot.

When I arrived back at my place, I found that my
mother had made herself quite at home already. She and Kelsey both perched on
the couch with hot cups of tea. When I opened the door, she put down her tea
and stood with her arms open.

"Mom!" I said rushing to give her a hug.

"Hi, Blair!" she gushed. "It's so good
to see you!"

"You too, Mom."

I held on to the hug longer than I expected. All the
turmoil and confusion seemed irrelevant since she had arrived and I felt a
small spark of peace. I finally felt that I could push my emotions and stress
aside for a bit and just enjoy a good visit with my mother. She stood back and
held me at arm’s length.

"Let me get a look at you. Are you eating
enough?" she asked.

"Of course, Mom,” I said.

"I don't know about that," Kelsey piped in.
"The way she pours over her work, sometimes I have to remind her."

I gave Kelsey a glare. They both sat back down as I
put away my brief case and took off my jacket.

"Are you finished for the day?" Mom said.
"Or is this just your lunch break?"

"I'm done for the day,” I told her. "I'm
sorry I left you stranded at the airport. The case had been rescheduled to
today, but the good news is that it's been rescheduled again."

"Don't worry about the airport. I wasn't there
long. What does it mean that it is rescheduled again?"

"That means I can actually take a few days off
while you’re here,” I said. "Maybe the three of us can have a day out.
Tour the city, go to the beach. That kind of stuff."

"That sounds wonderful! So tell me everything
about your new job."

"It's great, really,” I said. "Of course I
can't go into much detail, but we are working on a real case. They had us start
out with the hardest case they could find. I really like the mentality of the
partners. There is a real sense of mentorship there."

"So you’re doing the case all by yourself?”

“No, one of the partners heads the team. It’s been
great.”

“I'm glad that you like it."

"How is Aiden doing?" Kelsey asked. "Is
he doing okay with the case being delayed?" As she spoke I noticed Kelsey
giving me a knowing look. I tried to ignore the raised eyebrow aimed at me. It
occurred to me that she still didn’t quite know the details of what had
happened. That would have to wait.

"Aiden?" Mom asked looking from me to
Kelsey. "Aiden Player?"

"Yep." Kelsey nodded. "He is competing
with Blair for the position."

I glared at her for saying that since I hadn’t told my
mother that part yet.