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.
&nbs
p; "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.
"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 s
aid 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?"
Tempted (A Player Brother Romance Book) (A Standalone Novel) (Player Brothers Book 1) Page 10