Tempted (A Player Brother Romance Book) (A Standalone Novel) (Player Brothers Book 1) (4 page)

"It's great to see you Aiden," I blurted
over my shoulder. "I'll see you tomorrow."

I surged towards my car, but to no avail since he
caught up with me in the parking lot placing a hand on my elbow as he stepped
alongside me.

"Have lunch with me,” he said.

He never was one to take a hint.

I eyed him suspiciously, not sure what I was feeling.
On the one hand I was glad to see an old friend, and we had been good friends
after all. I had often regretted losing touch. Perhaps it would be nice to
catch up again.

We had been children then and now we were adults,
completely different circumstances.

I had a chance to get to know him within a whole new
context.

On the other hand, I thought, he is now the enemy.

I came into this opportunity fully prepared to use
every resource at
my dispense
to win this job, and he
was my competition. I didn’t want to get too close, even on a casual level.

I would have to be careful.

"I don't know, Aiden,” I said. "It is good
to see you. Really it is. But do you think we should be socializing? We are,
after all competing for the same position."

"Blair," he said. "We haven't seen each
other in ages. I have wondered about you off and on for years. I'd love to
catch up. Wouldn't you? I mean we have to work together, you know. Who knows?
Maybe we'll pick up where we left off."

What on earth did he mean by that?

"Okay, fine,” I reluctantly agreed, though I wasn’t
sure where exactly we had left off.

I smiled as we walked across the street to the
charming bistro. I tried to ignore the flutter I felt in my heart as he held
the door open for me.

The sun gleamed off the metal window frames and
illuminated the small diner.

Despite my misgivings I soon felt the familiar mood of
friendship that we had shared so long ago. We ordered toasted sandwiches and
kettle chips and took our food over to the table. He removed his jacket and laid
it over the back of the chair, allowing me to see just how much he had
really
filled out in the torso and
shoulders.

Surely he worked out, I thought.

He sat down and rolled up the sleeves of his white
shirt, exposing a Celtic tattoo on his left forearm. I had a hard time
believing how much he had changed over the years. I remembered the somewhat
timid boy who had once cringed at the idea of needles, and here he sat showing
off his ink.

I didn’t know any lawyers with tattoos.

Maybe they were hiding under the nice suits they all
wore.

"So what have you been up to for the past seven
years?" he said once we were settled.

"I guess it has been that long hasn't it,” I
realized. "Not since, when..."

"... just before we left for college,” he
finished.

"I went on to Florida. Florida State University,”
I said, picking at my chips.

"That's a good school,” he said.

"Then I completed law school there in the state.
I only just moved here about a week ago."

"No kidding,” he said.

"Do you remember Kelsey Anderson?" I asked.

"Wasn't she in drama club?" he asked.
"Cute red head, dated that football player for a little while?"

"Yeah," I nodded nibbling on my sandwich.
"She's my roommate."

"No way!" he said in disbelief. "How the
fuck did you guys get in touch?"

"Yeah," I said. "We kind of struck up a
friendship over the years. After high school we stayed in touch online. Then
one day she messaged me and asked if she could add me to her holiday mailing
list. I said, sure. We stayed in touch and found that we had a lot of the same
interests. We have a small apartment together in the city."

"So you just got here,” he said.

"I came for the job," I replied evenly.
"What about you?"

"I moved out here right after high school,” he
answered. "I went to college and finally decided to settle on Political
Science as a major. Then I completed my years at law school, and here we are. I
think my mom was concerned at first. Everyone thought I came to California to
party. I surprised everyone when I got accepted to law school."

"Well, good for you," I said. "I never
would have doubted you, Aiden."

"No, I would never have expected it from you.
This is nuts, isn't it? You and me, after all these years working for the same
firm. Why did we ever lose touch anyway?"

"I don't know,” I said.

But the truth was that I did know.

I had kept my mind in my studies, singularly focused
on being top of the class, getting noticed by the scholarship boards, having
the top marks. I had stayed away from distractions for the most part, but of
course I couldn’t tell him this.

It made me sound…boring.

Maybe if he thought I was boring he’d leave me alone
though.

"I know I asked about you every time I came home,
but it seemed as if you had always just left or weren't coming back until the
following week."

"We always missed each other,” he said.
"Just my luck. I know our moms are still in touch. I get an update on you
every time I speak to mine."

"Yeah," I laughed. "I think they both
remained baffled that we never got together."

"Them and everyone else,” he said with a chuckle.

We ate in comfortable silence for a few minutes. I couldn’t
help but notice how easy it seemed to be talking to him. Though the sight of
his flexing tattooed forearm as he reached for the salt did little to calm my
heart rate.

"Let me ask you something,” I said finally.

"Okay," he said giving me a side glance.

"We've know each other for a long time,” I said.
"Nearly our whole childhood, wouldn't you say?"

"Right,” he agreed.

"And I have talked about being a lawyer for about
as long as I can remember."

"Sure."

"But I have never once heard you talk about
wanting to be a lawyer. And yet here we are, years later, miles away from our
home town, competing for the same job. You said you majored in
Poli-sci
, but never once did you mention an interest in any
of that when we knew each other. Just when did you decide that you wanted to
pursue law?"

"You're acting like it's a conspiracy," he
said with a grin.

"I just want to know what you’re up to." I
waved a playful finger towards him.

His face grew serious, unexpectedly, and I waited for
his response.

"To tell the truth," he began. "It was
you."

"What?" I said.

"It was your enthusiasm and the way you had
talked about it that made me think it would be a good fit for me."

"Is that so?" I responded.

"That's exactly so,” he said.

"You didn't follow me here, did you?" I
asked, trying to lighten the sudden seriousness.

I don't know why it made me nervous, but I relaxed
when he laughed.

"No," he said. "That much was purely a
coincidence."

"Good," I said. "I would hate to think
that you were following me."

“I’m not the stalker type,” he said winking.

After lunch I began to realize what a good time I'd
had with him. I felt as if we really were able to pick up right where we had
left off. I thought back to that night that we said goodbye, when I had
squashed the moment when he had tried to hold my hand, but the truth was I had
always been a little bit intrigued by him, that scrawny boy whose family had
always included me in everything, as if I were one of the gang.

I think his mother viewed me as the daughter she never
had.

Sometimes she and I talked about having to take refuge
in the house full of twelve rough and tumble boys. Aiden had always been more
of an intellectual.

Of course he would pursue law.

He had always been the one to help her develop
arguments for me when I was on the debate team. He hadn’t noticed and developed
thoughts on things that I had missed.

Of course I had wanted him to kiss me that night
before we parted ways forever. But as was my custom, I decided I didn't want to
complicate matters.

However now I found that I was attracted to him for a
whole different reason. He had grown into an extremely handsome man, while
maintaining the boyish charm that I remembered.

The tattoos had surprised me and I couldn’t help but
wonder what else he had hidden, under his clothing or in his psyche.

Seriously Blair, put a lid on it!
I
mentally chided myself for even letting my mind wander.

We headed back to the office and spent the rest of the
day going over the extensive notes for the case. Every once in a while my mind
wandered to the thought of what it might be like to go out with Aiden in a
different capacity than friendship or even business. Eventually I decided not
to worry about that right now, as I have my whole future ahead of me.

Whether Aiden ends up being my new best friend, my
lover, or my enemy, I wasn’t going to do anything to jeopardize my chance at
the full-time position.

No matter what, I was in it to win this thing.

I would not let myself forget that no matter how sexy
the distraction might be.

I opened the door to my apartment to hear the phone
ringing. Kelsey had gone to work at the restaurant, and my hands were full with
bags of groceries. I rushed to set the bags down in the kitchen and made it to
the phone on the wall just as it rang for the fourth time.

"Hello," I said juggling the grocery bag as
I picked up the phone.

"Blair, I thought I might have missed you."
My mother's voice came like a welcome balm on the other end of the phone. I hadn’t
spoken to her since the first night I had arrived to let her know I had made
it.

"Mom! Hi,” I said, tucking the phone to my
shoulder. "How are you?"

I put the milk and eggs in the refrigerator and left
the rest on the counter for later.

"I wanted to check in with you,” she said.
"How are you? How is California?"

"Oh, it's great,” I answered walking to the
living room and plunking down on the couch. "The weather is amazing.
There's not a drop of humidity. I swear my hair has never looked better."

I heard her laugh at my description. "Have you
been to the beach yet?" she asked. "I've always wanted to see the
water, myself."

"Um... no. I guess I haven't. Kelsey and I had
talked about it, but I've been so preoccupied with my new job I haven't had
much time for recreation."

A trip to the beach sounded nice, but I couldn’t
imagine finding the time. My mind ached at the thought of trying to squeeze in
the time. Just this weekend I had passed up an offer from Kelsey to go along
with her friends for body surfing.

"Take time to play,” my mother scolded.
"Don't forget that."

"I know, Mom,” I said rolling my eyes. She had
always said this to me when I was younger. When the other kids would go out to
the movies or the mall, I was the one who stayed home pouring over books and
studying for any upcoming test I might have. Even then she had to practically
push me out the door. But I had been an awkward child, not really feeling
comfortable surrounded by the vapid faces of the girls who wanted to get their
nails done or buy the latest music.

Most of the time I would find myself knocking on Aiden’s
back door. Then he and I would either roam the neighborhood or hole up in his
family's game room. Sometimes we went back to my house depending on how many of
his brothers were home and how aggressive they were acting towards him.

He liked the escape just as much as I did.

"Well, have you gotten settled in your apartment?
How is your roommate?"

"Kelsey is great,” I said. "She's a lot of
fun. She's always trying to get me to go out with her and her actor friends.
She's trying to match make, but other than that we get along perfect."

"Match make?" she asked.

"Don't worry, Mom. None of her friends are my
type. Besides I'm too busy with work."

"How is your job going so far?" she asked.
"I've been so excited to hear about it."

"You won't believe who my partner is,” I said.
"Do you remember Aiden Player?"

"Aiden?" she said with an incredulous tone.
"Of course I do! He was practically a member of the family the way you two
used to run around. I knew he had gone to college in California. What are the odds?
You’re working with him now?"

"It's a little bit more complicated than that,
Mom."

"How so?"

"He and I are competing against each other for a
full time position at the law firm."