Tempted (A Player Brother Romance Book) (A Standalone Novel) (Player Brothers Book 1) (15 page)

"Well, we’ll just have to see him while I’m
here."

"Mom, seriously?"

"Yes, seriously,” she said. "Call him right
now and arrange it in a few nights. I would love for us to have a night out
together, just like old times."

Great.

"Mom, I see him every day. Do I have to?"

"Yes you do. I insist."

She gave me the look. No matter how old I was or how
long I had been away from home, the mom-look would always bend my will.

"Fine," I grumbled. "I'll text him,
okay?"

"Whatever you decide,” she said.

I pulled out my phone and sent a quick text over to
his cell, and I put the phone back in my purse.

"Are you going to wait for him to answer?" my
technologically inept Mother asked.

"No, I'll just check later,” I said. "He'll
probably message back sometime when he gets this one."

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving,”
Kelsey said.

My mother solved her by making her a suggestion.

"I had thought that maybe I would make my famous
gumbo recipe since you haven't had it in a while. We could have a nice girl’s
night in."

"Homemade food sounds amazing. I'm going to
change and then we can run to the grocery store."

I ran back to my bedroom and peeled off my work
clothes leaving them in a pile at the foot of my bed. Without much thought I
pulled on a pair of cutoff jeans shorts, and my white tee shirt. I walked back
to the living room only to have my mother look me over, placing her hand over
her mouth.

"I've lost you forever," she said with a
tinge of sadness.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Look at you, all tan. You look like a regular California
girl."

I glanced down at my clothes, thinking maybe I had
gathered a little bit of sun after all. It was hard not to.

Once in the car my mom started giving me the ninth
degree about my job.

"How do you feel about defending someone who has
committed a crime?" she started out with.

"That's part of it,” I said. "Technically it
doesn’t matter if they are guilty or innocent. Our job is to try and plant a
reasonable doubt."

"That sounds fishy," she said, her go to
word for things she disagreed with. "I don't know how you do it."

"Well it's my job," I said. "But this
guy that we are defending now, I’m pretty sure he is innocent. All the evidence
points that way."

"How sure are you?" she asked.

"Sure enough to present a convincing case, Mom,”
I said. "You know most people would be proud if their child grew up to
become a lawyer."

"Oh, I’m proud honey!" she said with an
apologetic tone. "Of course I’m."

We arrived at the grocery store and exited the
vehicle. I grabbed a cart on the way inside.

"How is it seeing Aiden again?" she asked.
"You guys were so close. Have you picked up right where you left
off?"

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" I
said. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to answer this line of questioning. "No,
it's nice. It's good to see him again. It's nice to have another friend
here." My mother gave me a knowing glance as she reached for the okra.
"I mean it, Mom. Now, where do they keep the crab legs?"

We returned home and started cooking. The evening
turned out to be fun and relaxing for all of us. Kelsey made a batch of
margaritas, and much to my amusement my mother actually had a few glasses. She
was acting giggly and silly by the time dinner ended.

Though we didn’t have much of a porch to sit on we did
open the patio doors and enjoy the evening breeze. It felt good to have my
mother there with us. Her presence made me feel more stable than I had since I
had arrived.

I watched her tell some story about an email she
received from an irate customer from her boutique, the flickering of the
candles reflected in her eyes as their laughter rang across the twilight. Even
though I had almost forgotten she was coming I was extremely glad that she had.

Kelsey finally excused herself saying that she was
tired and had an early morning. She kissed my mother's cheek and said good night.

"You have a choice on where to sleep,” I told my
mother "You can either have the futon in my room, or the couch in the
living room folds out into a bed."

"I don't want to be any trouble,” she said.
"Which ever one is easier."

"They are both the same," I said. "Or I
guess you can just sleep on the couch without folding it out."

"I'll do that,” she said. "That couch is
quite comfortable, and last time I slept on a fold out I ended up with three
days of back cramps."

"We don't want that,” I said. I stood and
stretched. "Do you need anything before I hit the sheets?" I asked.

"No, I don't think so."

"I'll see you in the morning then,” I said,
kissing her cheek as well.

I wandered off to my room, checking my phone for a
reply from Aiden and feeling slightly disappointed that he hadn’t sent anything
yet. Not until I climbed into bed and had just begun to drift off, I heard the
soft buzz of my phone.

I reached out from under my blanket and grabbed it,
swiping across the screen to open the messages.
I'd love to. Just tell me
when and where and I'll be there.
I smiled at the words despite myself,
feeling a small thrill in my stomach. I turned off my phone and pulled the
blankets up to my chin. Eventually I fell asleep.

Chapter
Seven

"I'll have the chicken fettuccine," I said
to the waiter.

My mother had picked a mid-range Italian restaurant
for us to have dinner, her treat she had insisted. Aiden sat across from me
wearing a cotton short sleeved shirt, green this time which made his eyes look
like the ocean. I had settled on a lavender maxi skirt and a white blouse.

Cute but casual.

I closed my menu and handed it to the server.

"I just can't get over how good looking everyone
is here," my mother said.

I laughed a bit. "That's funny. You know I had
the same thought during my first week here. Every time I had gone out with
Kelsey I felt like the world had turned into a competition for a reality
television show."

"I know," she agreed.

"It's partially true,” Aiden said with a grin.
"Everyone is trying to break into show business. Even some of the bus
drivers have to take days off for auditions."

"Well, what about you?" she said tapping him
on the arm. "You have certainly grown into a handsome young man. Hasn't
he, Blair?"

"Mom," I said in an embarrassed tone.

"Well honestly. It's not as if it's difficult to
notice." She reached over and made a show of squeezing his bicep. "I
haven't seen you since... It's been a while. I have only seen you here and
there when you came back to visit your parents in Iowa."

"That's right,” he said.

"Well you have certainly grown up,” she said.
"And this." She rested her fingertips along the edges of his tribal
tattoo. "The last time I saw you, you only had it partially done. Just the
black part if I remember correctly."

Since when
had my mother
taken an interest in tattoos, I wondered.

I didn’t want to identify what I was feeling as
jealousy, but she seemed to have been gushing over him quite a bit. Plus I
found it strange that she had seen him so many times apparently and had never
mentioned this to me in all the time I had been away at school.

After all we had been best friends.

Our families knew each other.

I also found it strange the way she kept oohing over
how much he had filled out. I couldn’t tell if maybe I was just feeling self-conscious
since I had also noticed those things and here she was giving voice to them.

Finally the food arrived to hopefully shut her up and
I dug into my Chicken Fettuccine with gusto.

"I don't know how I’m going to finish this,"
my mother said as her plate of Chicken Marsala was set before her.
"Especially since I have filled up on bread already."

Aiden had ordered the steak, and he cut into it with
just as much enthusiasm as I had addressed my meal. "Ms. Michaels, this is
wonderful,” he said. "Thank you for dinner."

And now he has manners.

"Oh, it is my pleasure. I’m just so glad that
Blair has an old friend like you to look after her so far away from home."

"Mom, I'm a grown woman. I don't need looking
after,” I insisted.

"It was a pleasant surprise," Aiden jumps in
trying to lighten the mood. "When I walked into the lawyer’s office to
discover that my partner was my old childhood friend."

"What is it like," my mother asked, taking a
small bite of her chicken. "Working together, the two of you. It's not
distracting is it?"

"Distracting?" I ask.

That's exactly what it was.

"Not a bit," Aiden said, giving me a grin.
"Blair is professional above all else."

He gave me a knowing look across the table and I
glared back at him. I would have tried to kick him under the table but
refrained out of fear that I would accidentally hit my mom.

"So you two are competing for the full time
position?" she asked.

"Yes," I said. "At the end of these
three months the choice will be made. Me or him."

"Wow," she said.

Aiden reached over and placed an arm across my
shoulder.

"We try to keep things cordial,” he said, patting
my back.

I turned to glower towards him and he gave me a quick
wink, that infuriating smile plastered across his face.

Ohhh
paalease
.

When our meals were finished and we had all pushed our
empty plates away from us, my mother piped up once more. "You know what I
have never done? I have never walked along the beach at night. What do you say
the three of us do that?"

Not the beach again.

Last time it lead to his place.

"It's getting late, mom,” I said.

"Nonsense," she said while brushing her hand
through the air. "I'm only here for a few more days. Let's go."

As we exited the restaurant Aiden held the door open
for the two of us. Our eyes met briefly as I stepped past him.

My mother and I reached the car and he opened the
front passenger door for my mother. Earlier they had both insisted that she
take it to have more leg room. Of course she had said that she didn’t want to
cause a fuss, but in the end she had taken the seat.

I began to wonder if Aiden would somehow always be
there, in my life. It seemed as if our fates were intertwined and no matter
what I did or where I went he would be everywhere. My mind drifted back to the
night we had spent together. As much as I had tried to suppress the memories, I
had replayed the events over and over in my mind.

The feel of his touch.

The excitement I had felt.

The way we had known just the perfect way our bodies
connected.

I hated to admit it, but I hadn’t been able to get him
out of my mind, to get that night out of my mind, and despite everything I
wondered how long I could go before admitting that I longed for it to happen
again.

It felt strange having my mother here with Aiden. It
reminded me of childhood even more than anything so far. Every moment with
Aiden had taken on a surreal quality, like the moments of long ago when we had
sat at our kitchen table, Aiden and I cupping our hands around hot mugs of
cocoa while our piles of snow drenched clothes hung melting in the causeway.
Mom would be hovering around the counter, stirring the pan of hot water on the
stove, smiling over our grinning red faces.

I couldn’t recall the exact moment I had met Aiden. It
must have been through school. I tried to remember. There had to have been a
moment, two small awkward children saying hello for the first time.

We stepped onto the beach as the last vestiges of
sunlight faded against distant horizon. We walked along, my mother holding the
arm of Aiden to steady her footsteps.

Still being a gentleman.

He had to be faking this.
 

He had always been there to the best of my
recollection, and I was beginning to wonder if he would always be there. Then I
began to wonder if I would mind him being there. They had walked up ahead a few
feet, and the echo of their laughter drifted back to me. We had been friends,
and now we had been lovers. I couldn’t decide which I preferred more.
 

A week later my mother and I stood by the ticket desk
at the airport. We had spent the week laughing, shopping, eating, and
exploring. The time had been a much needed break for me, and the timing had
been perfect. Though the court date still loomed a few weeks away, I felt
recharged, refocused and ready to face anything. After gathering her tickets,
we stepped over to the security to say good bye.

"It's been good to see you Mom," I mumbled
into her hair as she hugged me.

"I feel much better having seen you out here,”
she said. "It seems as if you’re making your way. You're doing well for
yourself."

"Thanks Mom,” I said. She held me at arm’s length
giving my shoulders a squeeze as she spoke.

"Keep taking care of yourself."

"I will."

"Make sure you eat well. I don't want you wasting
away into nothing."

"Don't worry, Mom,” I said, rolling my eyes.

"And Blair, be nice to Aiden."

"Mom!" I said.

"I mean it. He's a good boy."

"He's twenty-seven. Just like me. He's a little
bit more than a boy."

"Listen to me, Blair,” she said, taking her best
no-nonsense-mom tone. "You’re a very driven young lady, and I have no
doubt that you will excel at whatever life has in store for you. But don't
forget to take time to play. Pay attention to things around you. You might be
surprised what you’re missing."

She said everything but Aiden’s name.

"Okay,” I said. "I get it and I will. Call
me when you get home, okay?"

"Of course.”

She gave me one last hug, kissed me on the cheek and
headed off towards security, rolling her carry-on bag behind her. I watched her
make her way through the gate and up the stairs, where she turned and waved one
last time before disappearing down the hallway to her gate.

I smiled, feeling a tinge of sadness at her absence. I
turned walking towards the exit, sliding my sunglasses over my face as I pushed
through the revolving door and into the bright light of the parking lot.

The days between the case dates had mostly been half
days as we had a lesser work load, and I had been able to take some time off
during my mother's stay. Other than the night we all went out, I hadn’t seen or
spoken to Aiden during her visit outside of work.

When I returned to work the next day I felt more than
eager to get back into the swing of things. I arrived and took my seat across
from Aiden. Mr. Mahoney and Ms. Klein arrived within a few minutes of each
other.