Page 3 of The Boyfriend Gamble

He flexed his biceps. “No one would’ve dared touch me.”

I might’ve swooned. He hadn’t been this defined at sixteen. Nearly ten years as a physiotherapist had honed his physical fitness. He kept in superior shape. “Yeah, touch you.”Keep your hands to yourself.

After a long moment, as he held my gaze, he swam over to the side and grasped it.

Unbidden, I turned my body to face him, still gripping the side. We were in the deep end of the pool, which felt like a metaphor of my life, when it came to Kade.

He flicked a lock of my hair, startling me. “It’s getting longer.”

“Oh, yeah.” Self-consciously, I ran my hand through it. “I’ve been working on a big case, and getting a haircut hasn’t been a priority. Maybe just before we go to trial, I’ll get that desperately needed trim.”

“To impress the jury? Because I think your pale-blue eyes will mesmerize. If a lock of black hair fell across them, the women would swoon.”

I blinked.

“Oh.” He chuckled. “The men will swoon as well. The gay ones, anyway. The straight ones will be jealous.”

Heat raced up my chest and flooded my cheeks, despite the chill from the water. I swallowed. “Uh, I’m not lead counsel. I’m just the junior prosecutor. I might not even be sitting at the table.”

“Who’s lead?”

“Remy Stevens.”

Kade nodded. “I remember her from Nita’s figure skating. Remy St. Claire, right? She was decent on skates. And adorably shy. She’s two years younger than me.”

“Right.”

“Which means she’s two years older than you.”

“Glad to see those beers haven’t impaired your mathematical abilities.”

He smacked me. Not hard, but enough to cause a ripple in the water. And flutters in my chest.

“We’re up against Rielle Clayton. She doesn’t go to court often, but she’s a formidable defender.” I tilted my head. “When I heard she was opposing counsel, I started going back over our evidence to see if we’d missed something. That maybe we didn’t have the right person for the crime.”

“Do you?”

“Yeah. We have the woman dead-to-rights. You might’ve heard of the case. She stole over a hundred thousand dollars from a non-profit.”

“That does sound open-and-shut.”

“We’re meeting with Rielle on Monday for plea negotiations, but Rielle’s made it clear she wants a trial. That she wants an acquittal—complete exoneration.”

Kade trained his light-brown-eyed gaze on me. Their paleness always fascinated me. Especially how they sparkled in the sunlight. When he wasn’t wearing his sunglasses, that was.

“Hey, isn’t your boss Zach Finnegan?”

I blinked at the change of topic. Or the detour, anyway. “Yeah.”

“He went to our high school as well, but he was ahead of me.”

Which meant I’d missed him entirely.

“He was such a killer hockey player.”

“If you say so.” Where was he going with this?

“And a hunk.”

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