Tempted (A Player Brother Romance Book) (A Standalone Novel) (Player Brothers Book 1) (8 page)

The partners gave us directions to the prison where
Shaw was in holding until the trial and we headed out.

About twenty minutes later we arrived, having driven
in a caravan formation most of the way. The city had given way to a windy two
lane road, which came upon a large gated entrance. I had driven past this before
but never expected that I would set foot inside. Seeing the imposing entrance
made my stomach flip flop.

We all met in the lobby upon the instructions of the
partners, leaving our valuables in the car. A guard arrived to escort us to the
intake station and we each took our turn walking through the large metal
detector. Once on the other side we reconvened.

The officer motioned for us to follow him and we
journeyed down a long winding hallway, not unlike the road we had just
traveled. When we arrived at the room, he opened the door and let us enter.
Darius Shaw already sat at the only table present. I could see his wrists and
ankles shackled beneath the surface. He wore the orange jumpsuit typical of an
inmate. Despite the circumstances, he smiled when we entered.

"Good morning, Darius.” Mr. Mahoney asked as we
all took our seats, "Are you in good spirits?"

"I'm ready to get this over with,” he said. His
voice sounded soft and meek, different than I would have expected.

Truth be told I hadn't known what to expect. He
glanced in the direction of me and Aiden. Mahoney introduced us.

"Darius," he said. "These are the
newest members of your council. Aiden Player and Blair Michaels."

"How do you do, Mr. Player. Miss Michaels,” he
nodded towards us, unable to shake our hands.

"Please call me Blair," I insisted despite
the look I got from Aiden.

Even if we were to only have minimal contact during
the trial, I still wanted this man to feel comfortable with me. He held himself
in such a way that reflected an old world charm.

I wanted to respect that.

"What we are going to discuss," Mahoney
said, pausing for a brief moment. "Is some of the questions that we
believe the prosecution may bring to us. Do you feel prepared to do that?"

"Of course," Darius said.

Mahoney turned towards me and Aiden. "Of course
if the two of you have any questions for the client, now is the time to ask.
After today you will most likely not see him until the court date. Please feel
free to take part."

I could sense next to me Aiden's posture shifting
uncomfortably in the hard plastic chairs. I gave him a questioning look, but he
avoided my eyes. I felt as if I had hundreds of questions for Mr. Shaw, but I
opted to wait and watch, seeing how Mahoney and Ms. Klein handled the information
in front of the client.

Mentally I took notes as we went along watching the
demeanor of the client. He listened intently, his eyes focusing carefully when
something was shown to him. He always answered in quiet polite tones, calling
everyone 'sir' and 'ma'am'.

By the end of the morning I had a new respect for what
we were doing. I had already understood that our job was important, but seeing
his face, hearing his voice, made me realize just how important our work would
be. This man's life was at stake. I felt more determined than ever to build a
solid defense on his behalf.

That’s exactly why I had to stay away from Aiden.

I couldn’t let him break down my barriers.

I needed to concentrate on the case.

Having to tell myself that over and over told me right
there he was already in my head.

We finished a few hours later. Shaw was escorted out
first, walking in shuffling steps with a guard on either side of him. Watching
him try to move with shackles on made me cringe inside. Under any other
circumstances I would never have placed him as a suspect.

At last the guards returned to escort
us
back out to the lobby. Once more we submitted to the
metal detectors, stepping through one at a time without incident.

"I guess I'll see you back at the office around
one?" Aiden said as we stepped out into the sunlight.

"Oh, right." I had almost forgotten about
the story I had told him about running errands. "Yeah, I'll see you
then."

"You okay?" he called after me as I headed
to my car.

"Yeah," I said. "Why?"

"I don't know. You just seem a little down or
something."

 
I had hoped to
keep my emotions under wraps, but meeting Mr. Shaw had affected me more than I
cared to admit.

Apparently Aiden noticed after all.

"I'm okay,” I said. "Really. But thanks for
asking."

He nodded and I turned my back opening my door and
disappearing from his view.
  

The next couple of weeks flew by, with Aiden and
I
hard at work. The feedback we received from the partners
was largely positive. The day before the case arrived, and we were both ready.

On a personal level, I had stuck to my resolve not to
see Aiden after work anymore. He seemed to accept that as he hadn’t made any
further moves, and the kiss was no longer mentioned. Though I couldn’t help but
feel a small tinge of the memory of our night out in the back of my mind.

Luckily, I felt confident in my ability to keep it
there.

We had developed a pleasant professionalism and I felt
good about going into court working together as a team.

We ended the day on a high note, finalizing the last
details of our case. I arrived at home, and just as I was putting down my
briefcase on the couch the land line phone rang in the kitchen. As I walked
over to it I wondered who it could be since Kelsey and I had agreed to only
give that number out to family members.

"Hello," I said.

"This call is for Blair Michaels. Is she
available?"

"May I ask who is calling?" I replied with
suspicion.

"This is Rita from McGuffey Flowers."

"This is Blair Michaels," I said.

"You have a delivery of flowers and we wanted to
verify when you would be home for receipt of delivery."

"Oh, uh. Yeah." I was a bit taken aback
wondering who they might be from. "I'll be home for the rest of the
afternoon."

"Okay," she said. "Expect delivery in
the next one to three hours."

"That would be fine," I said. As I hung up
the phone I heard Kelsey coming home from work. "You won't believe the
phone call I just got."

"Who was it?" she asked.

"Apparently I'm getting flowers delivered later
today and they just wanted to verify that I would be here."

"Bizarre! I wonder who hell they are from,” she
said.

"Probably just my mom," I said. "After
all the case starts tomorrow. She's probably just sending a token for good
luck. That sounds like something she would do after all."

"What if they're from Aiden," she said with
a sly grin.

"Shut up! They aren't from Aiden,” I insisted.

"Admit it," she said. "You kind of wish
they are, don't you."

"Do not," I laughed.

Though the idea did intrigue me.

I wasn’t about to let her know that. "He's not
the flowers type."

He wasn’t.

He was buff and tattooed.

That didn’t seem like the flowery type.

"How do you know? Maybe he's developed some
panache since he was younger."

"Could be, could be. Or maybe he's just desperate,”
I said.

She laughed and disappeared to her room, emerging a
moment later in a pair of cut off shorts and a blue tank top.

"How is your case going?" she asked.
"Did you say it starts tomorrow?"

"The trial does, yeah,” I said, sitting down on
the couch and resting my feet on the edge of the table. "I think we have
built a solid case. No, let me amend that. I
know
we have built a solid
case. I feel good."

"Amend?" Kelsey laughed. "Now you’re
starting to sound like a lawyer."

"Maybe you’re right." I grinned. "I've
had a long day. I'm going to go grab a quick shower."

“Don’t think about Aiden too hard while you’re in
there,” she joked giggling.

I raised an eyebrow and after she couldn’t stop
laughing I rolled my eyes.
 

"I’m sorry!” she yelled smiling.

Yeah right.

"Do you want to order Thai for dinner?" she
asked as I was beginning to get the hell away from her.

"That sounds great,” I said, heading down the
hallway.

I felt much better twenty minutes later, toweling off
my hair, having changed into jeans shorts and a tee shirt. The firm had let us
go early, and I was thinking of something to do for the rest of the day when the
doorbell rang.

When I opened the door, the sight before me shocked
me. The bouquet of brightly colored flowers nearly eclipsed the young girl carrying
it. Her voice drifted up from behind the mountain of the arrangement.

"Blair Michaels?" she said.

"That's me, but...wow,” I said taking the bouquet
from her.

The flowers consisted of a collection of sweet
smelling wild flowers in a rainbow of colors spilling out over the edge of a
small blue porcelain flower pot. I carried it over to the coffee table and
signed for the delivery.

"Thanks," I told the girl, handing her the
signed slip.

"Any indication who it's from?" Kelsey
asked.

"Like I said, probably my mom." Kelsey
reached over my shoulder and plucked the card from the holder. "Hey!"
I said, pulling the card back and opened the envelope.

The words printed on the small white card, made my
stomach drop out from under me. It didn’t bare a name, but I knew instantly who
had sent the flowers.

"What's it say?" Kelsey asked, trying to
peer over the edge of the card.

I passed her the card, giving up on the attempt to
subvert any information. She looked at the message and read the words out loud.

"You kissed me back. Good luck tomorrow."
Kelsey's eyes grew wide as her mouth dropped open. I rolled my eyes as she
began to apply playful punches to my arm. "No way!"

"Shut up, Kelsey,” I insisted.

"No way!" she continued. "These are
from Aiden!"

"You think?" I said with a dead pan voice.

"And you did kiss him back!" she squealed
with enthusiasm. "I can see it all over your face! At least, I hope these
flowers aren't from your mom."

I felt no point in denying it at that point.
"Yeah, so,” I said.

"Well this changes everything,” she exclaimed.

"How so?" I asked.

"You like him! Come on, Blair this is so
meet-cute it's ridiculous."

"What is 'meet-cute'?" I asked.

"That's the story that you will one day tell your
grandchildren on how you met. Usually the story is cute. Meet-cute."

"I see,” I said.

"So you kissed him back. Details, details,” she demanded
while motioning for me to sit down and tell her the story.

"There's really nothing to tell," I
insisted. "I only kissed him back for like a second. Okay, maybe more than
a second. Okay, I don't know how long it was, but come on! I've wanted to kiss
him for like ever. Literally my entire life since puberty. So he kissed me, big
deal. I just don't want to go down that road right now."

"It's just so tragic,” Kelsey said.

"Tragic?" I asked. "That's a bit
much."

"No, true love is within your grasp and yet you
let it slip away." She sighed.

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh come on."

"You have to call him."

"I do not."

"At least to thank him for the flowers," she
said. "It's only polite."

"I'm not going out with him!" I insisted.

"Fine, just let him down easy,” she said.
"It seems to me that he really likes you."

“Ugh.”

I waited a full half an hour after receiving the
flowers before I called him from my cell phone. In my mind I went back and
forth, wondering if this was a genuine gesture on his part, or just another
attempt to shatter my resolve, to distract me from the true prize and sweep the
job at the firm right out from under me.

I even considered hanging up after I had hit 'send'
but I figured he would have already seen that it was my number, and hanging up
might be a little bit too much like junior high school.
 

"Hello, Blair,” he said before I had a chance to
speak. "I knew you would call."

"Don't get a big head, Aiden,” I said. "I
just wanted to call and thank you for the flowers. That's all."

"That's all? Really?" he asked. Before I
could answer he continued. "Actually don't answer that. I figured you
would call. I'd like for you to go on a date with me. A real one. I like you,
Blair and based on the evidence, I think you like me. I don't think you can say
no."