Tempted (A Player Brother Romance Book) (A Standalone Novel) (Player Brothers Book 1) (9 page)

He. Just. Wouldn’t. Give. Up.

Jesus.

I took a deep breath, feeling the familiar edge of
confusion engulfing me once more.

"Aiden, I just don't think it's appropriate. We
are work colleagues. Regardless of our past friendship it just wouldn't be
right for us to go out," I lied, hoping it would persuade him though.

"You have to go out with me, Blair,” he said.

"And why is that?" I asked.

"Because I already made the reservations for us
in two weeks."

Reservations?

“I don’t know. I’m kind of busy.”

“Busy? You got another boyfriend… Or girlfriend I
don’t know about?”

I tried to play his stupid game. “Maybe.”

I obviously didn’t.

“Shit,” he said. I couldn’t stop myself from laugh.
“Oh, you’re playing me.”

“It’s only fair.”

“Come on. You had a good time with me when we had
dinner last time, didn't you?" he pressed.

"That's not relevant,” I said, taking on my best
lawyer tone.

"Wow," he replied. "You’re good. I
can't wait to see how you perform tomorrow."

"Likewise," I said.

“So, how about that day? I already made reservations.”

“Ugh. Fine! All right, I gotta go. See you tomorrow.”

“See you then… Beautiful,” he said, and hung up the
phone.

I hung up the phone while shaking my head, and turned
only to discover Kelsey hovering at the kitchen door having heard my whole side
of the conversation.

"Are you going out with him?" she asked.

I shrugged. "It's only to get him to leave me
alone,” I explained. "Once the case is over one of us is going to be
offered this job. I have to behave with the assumption that it's going to be
me. I'm going to say it's a celebratory dinner, to celebrate out victory with
the case."

Kelsey rolled her eyes. "Right," she said.
"Just keep telling yourself that, Blair."

The next day we gathered our case files and headed
over to the courtroom, just half a block from our building. As the senior
partners walked ahead of us, I hung behind to catch Aiden as he brought up the
rear.

"I wanted to talk to you about our date,” I
began.

He quickly held his finger to his lips in an effort to
silence me.

"We shouldn't talk about that,” he said in a cool
tone.

I felt confused.

"But," I began. "When you sent me
the..."

"Shh," he interrupted my thoughts again.
"We can't talk about it. Let's just focus on the case okay?"

I wondered what he might be up to as we followed the
lawyers down the winding hallway to the room where we would wait.

Was he scared something would happen if one of the
partners found out?

What did he think, they were going to get rid of us
both?

Maybe they would.

So, I didn’t say anything more and moved on to the
case.

The first step in the process, we had been told would
be the jury selection. I had experienced this process myself, several years ago
from the other perspective, as I had received a summons in the mail sometime
during early college. I knew this was an arduous but necessary process that we
had no choice but to sit through.

A random pool of citizens had been sent a letter
requiring them to be present today. Each of the lawyers would then ask a series
of questions. If any of them felt that someone in the pool would not be a good
candidate they were then cut from the selection.

Mr. Mahoney explained that for this first case we
should observe and learn while the senior lawyers asked the questions. I felt
more than happy to do so. I had learned that building a case like we had been
doing these past weeks was far more about layering facts and much less about
high speed car chases and gun fights, like the television detective shows would
have us believe.

I felt excited to get started with the case, having
already learned so much from the senior partners.

Finally the judge came and collected us from the
waiting area. The jury pool was seated and it was our time to begin the
selection process.

I watched in fascination as Mr. Mahoney and his
partners asked various questions, and took notes. Across from us on the other
side of the courtroom the victim's family sat stoically watching the
proceedings.

It hadn’t occurred to me that behind what we were
doing held very real consequences.

The family of the victim wanted justice, but we had
built a strong case to defend the man accused of that murder. My feelings of
confidence began to wane and the butterflies returned. I didn’t want to show my
nervousness, so I sat up straight and took a deep breath, trying to pay attention
to the proceedings.

I turned slightly to try and catch Aiden's eye, but he
remained still, looking straight ahead and watching the primary lawyers. Even
having him ignore me made me feel small and nervous. I didn’t understand why
Aiden was ignoring me, and I was beginning to feel the pressure of the
implications if our case was wrong. If the man were truly guilty then we had
been working all this time to defend him. If he is innocent, as our case
indicates then the family across the way would not have closure on the death of
their loved one.

"You guys doing okay?" Mr. Mahoney asked
under his breath during a lull in the proceedings.

"Yes, fine," I whispered, though the truth
felt very different.

Aiden also answered in the affirmative, still not
showing any indication of attention towards me.

The jury pool had started out with a large group of
about fifty people. As the lawyers had asked various questions, they had
decided one by one which jurors could go and which would remain. Most of the
day had been spent dedicated to this process, but the judge interrupted and
asked both sets of lawyers to the bench. They talked for a few minutes and I
could see the look of concern on all of their faces.

When Mr. Mahoney returned to their table his eyebrows
were drawn together.

"It looks like we are going to have to delay the
proceedings," he said.

"What do you mean?" I asked. "What's
happened?"

"The remaining jurors are too few," he said.
"Several of them had to be released because of various reasons. You witnessed
the questions we asked throughout the day. This helps us to select the most
impartial panel of jurors. This happens sometimes that those randomly selected
fall into a category that makes them ineligible. They'll have to gather another
jury pool."

"How long will that take?" Aiden asked.

"At least two weeks,” Mr. Mahoney explained.
"The judge will have to contact us with a new court date."

Aiden nodded and I could see the wheels turning behind
his eyes.

What was he up to?

I found out, later that night, when Aiden called me on
my cell phone. After being dismissed from the jury selection we had all gone
our separate ways. I returned home, leaving the courtroom without
so
much as a second glance from Aiden. I felt more confused
than ever, then when I looked at my phone I saw his name.

"Hello," I answered in a cool tone, trying
to sound like I had been in the middle of something important.

"I'll have to change our reservation,” he
explained. "The new court date falls on the night we were going to go out.
I'd like for us to be able to relax and enjoy ourselves. Even if we are just
going out as friends."

This was a new angle, I noticed. I also noticed the
slight twinge of disappointment I felt at the implication that the date was
just as friends.

"Okay," I said.

"How about Friday,” he suggested. "We'll
make it a more casual event. Maybe go for pizza or something."

"Friday," I said. "Actually, I'm going
to the movies with Kelsey on Friday night."

That part was true.

"Hmm,” he considered. "Assuming that that's
true, then it's not a big deal at all. Logan and Travis are going to be in town
then."

"Really?" I asked. I hadn’t seen any of his
brothers since childhood. "What are they up to these days?"

"Logan is a professional Poker player in Vegas,
if you can believe it,” he said.

I remembered his brother's ability to fake us out
during our epic battles of practical jokes. "That doesn't surprise me a
bit. Gives a new meaning to the last name, Player."

"I guess you’re right," he laughed.

"I heard Travis went into the Army some time
back. How's he doing?"

"I think pretty
good
,”
Aiden said.

"That is fantastic,” I said.

We talked for a while longer and when I hung up the
phone I realized that I had relaxed my tone with him without realizing it.
Every time I talked to him I felt as if we were those same kids, so easy and
comfortable with each other. Taking away the imminent pressure of the case,
made me feel a bit confused as to whether or not I should be so stringent on my
resolve to avoid going out with Aiden.

Chapter
Four

By the time Friday rolled around I felt quite ready
for a girl’s night out. We had just received confirmation on the new court date
being in a week and a half since a few days had already passed by since our
previous court session, and the senior partners had all been scrambling to find
work for us.

Kelsey had decided to forgo inviting her actor
friends, since she and I hadn’t had much time to hang out since starting at the
firm.

I didn’t think much about what to wear and just threw
on a cream colored sun dress and a pair of sandals. Kelsey looked spectacular
as always in her forest green sleeveless blouse, and trendy cutoff jeans.

We thought about going to see the romantic comedy, but
ended up discovering that we both really wanted to see the sci-fi blockbuster.
We had both suggested the other movie out of politeness for the other, and we
laughed about it as we pulled up to the movie theater.

Much to my surprise I saw just beyond the large group
of people entering the lobby, a group of familiar faces. I recognized Aiden of
course, and though I hadn’t seen his brothers in years I knew their faces
instantly. A couple of girls that I didn’t immediately recognize hung on the
arm of each brother.

"Are you kidding me?" I exclaimed as we
exited the car narrowing my eyes towards them.

"What's wrong?" Kelsey asked.

"That's Aiden,” I said while gesturing to the
group through the glass. "I mentioned that you and I were going to the
movies. I wonder if he's stalking me."

"Oh my god,” Kelsey said. "Just relax. Now,
which one is Aiden? I don’t remember what he even looked like back in the day.”

"The one at the back of the line, in the blue
shirt."

For the first time since we had reconnected I saw that
he wore a short sleeved casual shirt, fully exposing his tribal tattoos on his
forearm.

Kelsey turned towards me and raised her eyebrow.

"And you’re turning
him
down?" she
asked, with an incredulous tone. "Um... why?"

"You know why,” I said without further comment.

She rolled her eyes. “Well, I’m still going to the
movie,” she informed me, hopping out of the car.

I guess I was too. At least Kelsey would be there for
moral support. I jumped out of the car and quickly caught up to her.

We stepped inside and waited in line to gather our
tickets. We had pre-ordered so we didn’t have to wait long, and once we had
them in hand we headed over to the counter for refreshments.

"Well, it looks like you’re stocking me,” Aiden
said as Kelsey and I neared his group.

He smiled at me and I tried to ignore the tingle along
my spine.

"Shocking,” I mumbled.

I turned to greet his brothers. The girl with Travis I
then recognized as the same that he had dated in high school. They had both
been a few grades ahead of us. We greeted each other, and I was introduced to Logan’s
date also, someone I had never met before.

"Why don't we all sit together?" Aiden
suggested after we all loaded our arms with huge buckets of popcorn and soda's.

I had always been partial the chocolate malt candies
and had a box stashed in my purse.

"Actually Kelsey and I were—” I began, only to be
interrupted.

"That would be great!" Kelsey said.
"Almost like a group date."

I glared at her and she flashed me a mischievous grin
as we followed the group into the darkened theater. In all the shuffling for
seats somehow the brothers each managed to get next to their dates, but since
Aiden was the fifth wheel, he landed on the end. Of course Kelsey insisted on
positioning me next to him. I glared at her once more as we all got settled.