Page 18 of Betting on the Boy Next Door
“You should hear about my clients.”
I smile at him as I spoon up more pho. “I’m done teasing now. Tell me about your job for real. Are you prosecuting bad guys? Defending the innocent?”
“Way more exciting. Corporate law,” he says with a wry smile.
My shoulders tense slightly, but I try not to let my expression change. I’ve developed a recent allergy to corporate types. I wasn’t kidding about that part of my Ideal Man list. But Josh is not my ex, Bryce the Weasel, and I need to give him his own chance. “Tell me about the glam world of corporate law.”
“I don’t get to do any of the glam parts. Whiskey lunches and golf course deals are for the partners. And I kind of hate what I do now, but that’s normal for junior associates. I’m at Brower and Moore, so it’ll take a while, but they bribe us to stay every year with the promise that we’ll get to do interesting stuff eventually. And a bonus sometimes.”
“Brower and Moore. As in that giant building downtown?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re a skyscraper penthouse kind of lawyer. Wow.” This is not getting better.
He snorts. “Try ‘mid-level drone.’ Maybe I’ll work up to the penthouse someday.”
At least he’s not trying to make his job sound like a bigger deal than it is. “Is that what you want? Skyline domination and your name on a building?”
He shrugs but watches me carefully. “I don’tnotwant it.”
“Why law? Why that firm?” I can almost hear my mother’s voice in my head.He’s perfect, Samantha. Stable. Ambitious. Handsome. Figure out how to lock this down.Even her imagined voice makes me feel claustrophobic, and I’ve lost my appetite. I set my chopsticks down.
“Allow me to introduce myself again,” he says. “I’m Joshua Steven Brower, Junior.”
“Ohhh.” He doesn’t have to connect the dots for me to realize it’s the same Brower on the downtown skyscraper. “It’s the family business.”
“I definitely got the job because of who my grandfather and father are.” He keeps his voice pleasant, the same light tone he’s had all night, but I can sense the slightest tension beneath it.
“I was just thinking it explains why you chose law, but it sounds like a sore spot.”
His lips thin for a fraction of a second before he’s back to smiling. “Sorry. It’s a good job. Don’t mean to sound weird about it.”
It’s a lot of money and a lot of pressure, I’m betting. You don’t have to know about old Austin families and their high expectations to figure that out, but I do know about those things. It’s a drag to find out it’s his background. He’s a cool guy. If I were a different girl with a different ex . . . maybe it wouldn’t matter. But it does.
I lean forward, hands tucked beneath my knees. Like I tell my patients, best to rip the Band-Aid off. It’s time to shut this down. “Why did you ask me out, Josh?”
Surprise flashes across his face followed by confusion. “Because.”
I give him a second to adjust. “Because why?”
“You’re cute?”
“Is that a question?” I can’t help teasing him, even if he is absolutely not the guy for me.
“No, Your Honor. That’s a statement of fact. You’re cute.”
“Still looking for a motive here, counselor.”
“I wanted to. I didn’t think about it that hard.” He sounds cautious now, like he senses a trap being laid. “Am I in trouble?”
“In trouble,” I repeat. “No. Not in trouble, exactly. Can I tell you a few things?”
“Sure,” he says, and it’s the most uncertain he’s sounded so far.
“I was a cheerleader in high school. Does that surprise you?” It shouldn’t. Everyone assumes a petite blonde in Texas cheered.
“No. It also wouldn’t surprise me if you weren’t.”
