Tempted (A Player Brother Romance Book) (A Standalone Novel) (Player Brothers Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

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