“You met someone?” She looked around at the crowd. “Is he cute? What does he look like?”
My cheeks were probably the color of a STOP sign at this point. “Oh, he’s more than cute,” I said. “I would use the word gorgeous, but he’s not the pretty boy type.”
Adrianne sucked in a breath. “Does it happen to be Mr. Jacobs?” she asked. Her voice sounded strange, almost strangled.
I cleared my throat. “Why would you ask that?” I asked.
“Because he’s staring straight at you.”
My cheeks heated. “Is he? Where?” I turned, and there he was, at the edge of the dance floor, an eyebrow raised in a question.
“Alex,” she said, “far be it from me to be judgmental, but he’s older than you. He’s Ryan’sdad—”
I flapped my arm at her, eyes still stuck on the smile that Jake was sending my way. He seemed content enough to wait for me to come to him. “I want to talk to him about law school,” I told her. “If it so happens that he’s hot as hell...” I shrugged. “It’s just a dance.”
Adrianne didn’t look convinced. “Just be careful, okay?”
I tried not to roll my eyes. “It’s just a dance, Adrianne,” I said again. “Excuse me.”
I could feel Jake’s eyes on me as I crossed the room to him. “I wasn’t sure whether you were still up for that dance or not,” he said when I stopped in front of him. “Are you ready?”
Yes, I thought. “I should clarify something first,” I said before reaching out to him. “When I approached you earlier, I really did want to pick your brain about whether law school was the right choice or not. I’m a paralegal, and I could always stick to that... but I think I’d like to give being a lawyer a try. But I’ve never reallyknownany lawyers, so I thought...” I shrugged helplessly.
Jake pressed his lips together as if he were biting back a smile. “Are you trying to tell me that you weren’t flirting earlier?”
I bit my lip. “I might have been flirting,” I admitted. “But I feel bad about it now.”
“Why’s that?”
I shrugged. “It makes my intentions feel... disingenuous, I suppose.”
He laughed softly. “I hope you’re not planning to study criminal defense,” he said. “I’m not sure you’d be able to school your expression enough.” He reached out and brushed his thumb against the apple of my cheek, and my knees just about went weak.
“Family law, I think,” I said and forced myself not to lean into his touch. “I’d like to help people in domestic abuse situations get out of them.”
Jake hummed. “Noble,” he said. “You have to have something of a hard heart for that one, too, for when you lose.”
“I think that’s my biggest worry,” I admitted. “What if I make a mistake and someone loses everything?
The DJ switched to a slower song, and Jake held out his hand to me. Almost without thinking, I took it, and he pulled me close enough to him that I could smell his aftershave. He swept me out on the dance floor, and we swayed together, bodies pressed against one another. “Losing cases happens,” he said. “It’s an unfortunate part of the career. You can’t go into things worrying about whether you’re going to lose. Youaregoing to lose, more than once.”
While his words were a harsh reality check, they were tempered by our bodies slowly revolving around the dance floor. “That’s pretty grim,” I said.
Jake shrugged. “Makes the times you do win all the sweeter.” The music swelled, and he dipped me back, and I clutched at his shoulders, giggling. “You’re a paralegal, right? Licensed?”
“Yeah. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with it, and then I got involved in working PR with Tinsley, but I’ve kept up my licensing.”
Jake grinned. “Excellent. How would you like some real-world experience?”
“What do you mean?”
“My partners and I need a new paralegal. Ours is getting ready to go on maternity leave, and she told me that she didn’t think she was coming back. We were going to start advertising the position next week, but if you’d like some experience working in a law office, it’s yours.”
I blinked. I wasn’t expecting that. “That... that’s so kind,” I said.
Jake’s hands seemed to grip me harder. “I hear a ‘but’ coming.”
I nodded. “But... do you really think it’s a good idea? For me to work for you?” I asked.