Tempted (A Player Brother Romance Book) (A Standalone Novel) (Player Brothers Book 1) (7 page)

But then my mind's drive took over slamming shut the
steel door of opportunity.

I didn’t come here for a chance at the job of a
lifetime, only to be distracted by a pretty face. I stiffened my posture and
raised my hands to stop him.

"I don't feel the same way."

With those words I saw the laughter and camaraderie
drain from his face. The light in his eyes dimmed and he stepped back casting
his gaze to the ground.

"Fair enough,” he said, rubbing his left arm.

"I guess we should go home,” I said, turning
towards the parking lot.

"Guess so," he said.

As we walked back I wanted nothing more than to find
that lightness again, that easy friendship that had proven to be so fragile.
Maybe if I punched him lightly on the arm and offered him Monopoly and
chocolate cookies we could find that again.

I doubted it.

We continued on in silence until we arrived at our
vehicles. Our cars were the only two left in the lot, framed in the circular
light of the lamp posts. He walked over to his car without even saying goodbye.

I felt badly for ending things in such a way after
having had such a fun evening. I never wanted to hurt him either, but I had to
make him believe that I didn’t have any feelings for him. This was as much for
his good as for mine. For the briefest of moments I wondered who I was trying
to convince, him or me.

"Aiden," I called after him over the top of
my car. He turned with his hand on the handle of his door. "For what it's
worth, I had a good time tonight. I'll see you tomorrow at work?"

"Yeah," he said, but the pain still
reflected in his eyes.

He pulled his door open and vanished without another
word.

The drive home left me feeling perplexed and angry. I
wanted this job more than I had wanted anything before in my life, but I couldn’t
deny even to myself that I had feelings for him.

Perhaps, I thought, these are just remnants of a
childhood crush.

That's all.

There is nothing to analyze here. Of course I reacted
the way I had when he kissed me. It would have been the same if I had met an
old movie star that I admired or something like that.

What girl hasn't fantasized about an unexpected kiss
from an attractive friend?

It was just a kiss after all, I said to myself.
Tomorrow we will have forgotten the whole thing and be focused on the case.
Other than that there is nothing else to worry about.

But the look the he had given me before he had opened
his car door told me otherwise. He had looked like a wounded animal, and I
shared that pain. Largely because I was responsible for causing it.

I arrived home to find Kelsey sitting on the couch
going over some lines, with her feet tucked under her knees and a cup of tea on
the table.

I was glad to see her.

I wanted to share my internal conflict with her and
see what advice she might have. She closed her script book, laying it aside as
I stepped into the apartment and leaned my head against the door.

"What am I going to do?!" I lamented before
even saying hello.

"It's nice to see you too, Blair," she said.
"How was your day?"

I rolled my eyes.

"I have a big, big problem,” I exclaimed.

"Have a seat," she gestured. "I'll make
you some tea."

She stood and headed to the kitchen.

I opted to change clothes first, shedding my work
clothes into a pile on the floor and pulling on my comfy cotton night gown. I
emerged from my room, having shed some of the stresses of the day with my
change of clothes, just as she finished in the kitchen. We headed to the living
room and she handed me the cup of tea that relaxed my senses immediately.

"So what's going on?" she asked.

"Do you remember Aiden, from high school?" I
asked.

"The skinny kid?" she asked.

"Yeah. He and I used to run around together all
the time."

"Aiden Player!" she exclaimed recalling his
name. "Of course!"

"He's my partner at the firm,” I said. "And
my competition for the full time position."

"You’re kidding me!" She pulled herself up
fully on to her knees clutching her teacup in both hands. "Didn't you guys
used to date?"

"No, we never dated,” I clarified. "We were just
really good friends. Most people thought we were dating though."

"I always thought you guys dated. Anyway, did
something happen?"

I took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of my herb
tea and letting myself relax.

"Well for one thing," I began. "He's completely
hot now. He grew up a little, that's for sure. But what is most unsettling I
think is that he is really good at his job. We've worked together for two days
so far and he has a knack for finding details in the evidence that the rest of
us might miss."

"Oh whatever, get to the good part,” she said
glancing at the clock. "I know you haven't been at the office working on
the case until this late at night. What happened?"

"We went out for dinner after,” I said. "It
had been a long day, so whatever. No big deal really. "

"What was it like to see him again?" she
asked.

"It was great at first,” I said. "That's
what so confusing. Here is this old friend of mine, and I'm in this new city
and I don't know anyone other than you. Of course I'm going to feel drawn to
him, right?"

"It only makes sense," she said. "I
mean you guys were pretty close back in the day."

"Yeah, we were,” I said, setting my cup down on
the table. "But this doesn’t change anything. I'm still going after this
job. I can't not go after it. Just because he's an old friend doesn't change
the fact that this is the best opportunity I've ever had. I have to take him
down."

"I feel as if you aren’t telling me everything,”
she said.

I glanced in her direction and saw her inquisitive
eyes boring into me.

"Okay fine," I said. "After dinner, we
were walking back to the parking lot. Kind of taking the long way. The weather
was nice, the city lights. We had just had this wonderful night out together,
and he kissed me."

"No way!" she gushed. "What was it
like? Did you kiss him back?"

"Of course not!" I insisted. "Maybe a
little. I don't know!"

"What are you going to do?" she asked.

"I don't know,” I said. "I mean I'm not
going to do anything to jeopardize the job, that's for sure. Besides I don't
have feelings for him. I mean it's nice to see him, sure. But I don't feel that
way about him." I looked over to see Kelsey giving me a significant look.
"I don't!" I insisted.

"I don't buy it,” she said. "It's all over
your face. This is more than just a reconnection with an old friend. Besides
you didn't really answer my question. Did you kiss him back?"

"Oh god," I said, burying my face in my
hands. "I think I did."

"I knew it," she said.

"What should I do?" I said.

"Well," she said, tapping her chin
thoughtfully. "On the one hand you have worked way too hard to let
anything come between you and that which is rightfully yours. You shouldn't let
anything keep you from that, especially a man. Even this man,” she insisted.

"Yeah," I said, my eyes drifting down toward
my tea.

"On the other hand," she said. "What's
the harm in having a little fun?"

"What?" I said at her sudden turn.

"I mean you said yourself that he was hot."

"Did I?" I asked, batting my eyes with
affected innocence.

"Yes! As long as you can keep things separate,
why should you lose out? I mean you guys have that history. It's almost a
perfect match. Why shouldn't you rekindle the friendship because of a
job?"

"I don't think it's friendship that he is
interested in."

"Or you," she said, giving my shoulder a
slight nudge.

"Come on. Don't rub it in,” I said. "What's
on television?"

I grabbed the remote and turned on the set, happy to
have a mental distraction for a little while, ready to unwind for a few minutes
before going to bed.

The next day I headed to work. I had hoped that a good
night’s sleep would have brought me closer to an answer on how to proceed, but
to no avail. I had awoken just as confused as ever, no closer to figuring out
what I wanted to do.

When I stepped into the office a few moments later, I
discovered that Aiden had already arrived ahead of me and Mr. Mahoney was
beginning to lay out the case files. I greeted them both in a cool,
professional tone, and kept up that demeanor as we began our work.

I tried to ignore Aiden, speaking to him only when I
had.

We had another full day ahead of us, and I wanted to
focus on the details of the case. Finally Mr. Mahoney stepped out for a while,
instructing us both that he would return later to view our progress.

"Blair," Aiden said as soon as the door
closed behind the senior partner. "Can we talk about last night?"

"No," I answered right away.

"Come on,” he said. "At least let me
apologize. I feel bad about misreading things."

"Look," I said in a sharp tone. "You need
to forget about what happened last night. I don't want to talk about it. We
have a lot of work to do. Let's try and focus. Okay?"

I felt him watching me as I turned my attention back
to the files before me.

"Blair," he said. "If we can't talk
about it now, why don't we get together later after work."

"No," I said.

The office door opened and Mr. Mahoney returned.

"Sorry to interrupt," he said. "I left
my report for the board meeting."

He gathered what he needed and left the office once
more. I turned back to my work. Aiden sighed and did the same, giving up on the
possibility of reaching me.

I kept my cold front up for the rest of the day and he
didn’t press the issue again. Despite the awkwardness, once we got into the
work we got a great deal finished. It seemed that our attention towards one
another had transferred into a strange competition.

Through our annoyance with each other we spent the day
actively trying to outdo the other. By the end of the day we had built a strong
case, despite our differences. Our first appearance in court wasn’t for another
couple of weeks from then, but I had begun to feel confident in our case. I
made an offhand statement that if we had to make our opening statements the
next day that I would be ready.

"No kidding," Aiden said. "I feel that
way too. A strong opening and a strong closing are going to win this case. We
have the first part. I'm starting to dream about the case as much as we have
been working."

"I know exactly what you mean,” I said.

“I’ve been dreaming about something else too,” he
quipped, leaning back in his chair and placing his hands on the back of his
head.

Then, he winked at me.

I rolled my eyes.

A grin spread across his face.

“Well, you’ll just have to keep dreaming about it
then,” I told him.

“We’ll see about that.”

Jesus.

I didn’t have time for him to come on to me.

This case was too important.

The following day we arrived to find that we would be
heading over to the prison with the partners to meet Mr. Shaw. The partners had
said that they would need us to only stay for the first part as they had some
preparation to do with the client, but that he was also curious to meet the
newest members of his defense team. We would be returning around lunch time,
and after our break we could start back into the case as we saw fit.

"Do you want to ride over together?" Aiden
asked while the partners gathered their documents.

"I'd like to, but I have to run some errands over
the lunch break. I won't be coming straight back here right away."

This statement was patently untrue, but I didn’t want
to be in close proximity with Aiden, especially since we were meeting the
client. Though I did believe that his invitation didn’t have any ulterior
motives, it was my own sense of focus that I didn’t want compromised.

“Well why don’t I run errands with you then?” he
asked, moving closer to me.

“They are kind of personal things,” I lied.

“
Riiight
,” he said,
obviously not believing a word I said.

“Yup,” I responded, looking away from his eyes since I
knew if I did I would grin he would really know it was all a bunch of lies.
“I’ll see you at the prison.”

I quickly moved away from him knowing I would finally
give in to his requests to ride together if I didn’t.