Veer (Clayton Falls) Page 4

  Molly picked me up for brunch, and we met up with Kelly at Surf Song, a cute restaurant overlooking the water. The staff was friendly, and they all seemed to know Molly and Kelly. I was really going to have to get used to that. At Molly’s suggestion, I tried the French toast and ordered mine with strawberries.

  “So, I hear you have a date with Ronny later this week.” Kelly grinned, taking a sip from her mug.

  “It’s not a big deal. We’re just meeting for coffee.” I drank some orange juice, enjoying its obviously fresh squeezed taste.

  “Uh huh.”

  “Molly didn’t seem to think it was a big deal. Is there something about him I should know?”

  “No. He just isn’t the one I would have thought you would have gone for.”

  “Oh? Is there someone you’d suggest?” I really didn’t mind Kelly talking about my personal life. I appreciated her friendly nature. Her warm welcome made the transition easier.

  “Tom and I both figured you would have picked Gavin.”

  Molly groaned. “Oh please. Tom is not allowed to try to set up every girl who comes to town with Gavin.”

  “It’s not just Tom. Gavin seriously needs a girlfriend.” Kelly spread jam on her toast.

  “I wouldn’t waste your breath. I, uh, don’t think I’m his type.” I savored a bite of the French toast. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten such a carb-heavy breakfast. “I think that was made pretty obvious last night.”

  “Wait, so does that mean he’s your type?” Kelly pushed.

  “No,” I said quickly.

  Kelly relaxed back into her chair. “You’re a really bad liar.”

  Molly snickered. “That she is. It’s probably good she’s all about honesty. What the heck was that about by the way?”

  “Hmm?” I looked up from stirring in a packet of Splenda into my coffee.

  “What was that whole fight with Gavin about last night?”

  “Like I know? Seriously, you could have warned me he was so intense.”

  Molly looked pensive. “He isn’t usually. Besides, I didn’t expect you guys to meet so quickly. It’s pretty lucky he found you the other night.”

  I shivered involuntarily. As annoying as the guy was, I was glad he’d been the one to find me. I could have been dead in a ditch without him. “I know. Maybe he just thought I was ungrateful or something.”

  “Maybe. I’m sure you can find a way to really thank him,” Kelly said suggestively.

  “Stop it, Kelly. You will not subject my innocent friend to your dirty, dirty mind.” From the look on Kelly’s face, I was pretty sure Molly kicked her under the table.

  Kelly recovered, and her smile returned. “Innocent friend? Are you really that innocent, Becca?”

  I shrugged. “It depends how you define innocent.”

  “Wait, are you a twenty-four year old virgin?” Kelly’s mouth practically fell open.

  “Does it really matter?”

  “Stop it, Kel,” Molly warned.

  “It’s okay.” I reassured her. “I just haven’t met the right guy.” That was my story, and I was sticking to it.

  “Okay, cool. I get that. Well, you might want to be careful with Ronny then. He’s, uh, certainly not innocent.”

  I smiled lightly. “I assumed that much. I doubt I’ll be seeing him again after this one coffee date. I just figured it couldn’t hurt.”

  “You know who is kind of innocent though?” Kelly asked.

  I was afraid to hear the answer. “Who?”

  “Gavin. I mean, he’s obviously not a virgin, but he’s not a player either. He’s not into the casual thing.”

  That information surprised me a little. Clearly being a jerk didn’t mean you slept with every girl who walked, but in my experience, they often went hand in hand. “Oh, that’s cool of him, I guess.”

  “That’s why I know he really needs a girlfriend. Tom’s worried it’s bad for a guy to go that long.”

  Molly rolled her eyes. “How is it bad for him? It’s not going to hurt him.”

  “Maybe not physically, but—”

  “Okay, new subject,” Molly interrupted. “How about Jake giving you a ride home last night? It’s funny. You bring out this weird side of Gavin but the decent side in Jake. He told Ben you might be the first girl he’ll actually be friends with.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, he’s really nice. And it’s definitely just a friends thing, which makes it really comfortable.”

  “I can’t imagine anyone wanting to spend time with Jake, but it’s good, I guess.” Molly wiped her face with her napkin before placing it back on her lap.

  “You’re the only one who fights with him, Mol. It’s kind of like Becca with Gavin. You just bring out that side in him.” Kelly finished off the last of her juice.

  “All right, is everyone ready for the beach?” I was itching to get outside.

  “Sure.” They both agreed, and once we settled the check, we headed down to the beach.

  Molly was right. I needed the sun. After a semester when the only time I spent outside was traveling to and from school, the beach was perfect. I stripped off my sundress as soon as we got there and put down my towel.

  I rolled over onto my stomach, enjoying the way the sun felt beating down on me. Wanting to avoid tan lines, I slipped down the halter strap of my red bikini top. I watched as Kelly and Molly did the same thing to their triangle tops.

  “Are any of you ladies interested in playing some volleyball?” I pushed up on my elbows and struggled to place the vaguely familiar voice addressing us. It was Ronny.

  “You don’t want me playing, trust me,” Molly said immediately. I replaced my bathing suit strap before flipping over.

  “What about you, Becca?” Ronny asked. I couldn’t ignore his blatant evaluation of me. He actually licked his lips. I couldn’t believe I’d agreed to go out with him.

  Molly sat up, tying her top. “You definitely want her to play on your team. She’s awesome.”

  I smiled. I’d played volleyball in high school and intramurals in college. “Sure, why not? Kelly, will you play?”

  “Yeah, I’ll keep you company.”

  “You sure you don’t want to join in, Molly?” I stood up.

  “Very funny.” Molly was in good shape, but she had virtually no coordination. “But I’ll come watch in a bit.”

  Kelly and I jogged over a little ways to where a bunch of guys were setting up a net. I recognized a few faces from Gill’s the night before.

  “Hey, you must be Becca.” A guy with dark brown hair approached me with an outstretched hand and a grin.

  “Yeah…” I accepted the hand and waited for his name.

  “Oh, I’m Matt. Matt Morgan.”

  I froze. This was one of the guys I was working for. I had just met my new boss wearing a bikini on the beach.

  I made myself snap out of the mortification and smiled. “It’s great to meet you. Thanks for the job, by the way.”

  For some reason, everyone thought that was funny.

  “So, are we going to play or what?” I put a hand on my hip.

  “Yes, ma’am.” Ronny tossed me the ball. “You’re up.”

  I served the ball with an easy ace, enjoying the look of surprise from the guys when they realized I could actually play.

  Chapter Seven

  Gavin

  I gave up on sleeping around noon. I was never very good at switching back and forth between day and night shifts. I sat up and looked out at the water. As disappointing as other areas of my life were, I loved my oceanfront loft. I moved my gaze over the beach and noticed a group playing volleyball. It didn’t take much guessing to figure out who the girl in the red bikini was. It seemed I was never going to escape her.

  I debated whether to head out, finally rationalizing that I could use a swim before going in to work. Of course, the water was only in the sixties so early in the season.

  A few minutes later, after taking my boxer Max out to do his business
, I jogged down the beach. We’d already run five miles that morning.

  I held back for a moment, just watching the game. Becca had some serve. I’d been able to tell she was athletic, but it was nice to watch her in action. It was nice to watch her period. That little red bikini left little to the imagination, and while half of me wanted her, the other half wanted to cover her up so the rest of those guys would stop drooling. At first, I’d thought they all liked her because she was new, but it was definitely more than that. Tom wasn’t too far off about the super model’s body. I sure couldn’t find any flaws.

  “Hey, man, you want in?” Matt called.

  Becca looked up at me. I smiled at her, having decided during my nonexistent nap that I was going to play nice. She looked away quickly. It looked like she was done smiling at me.

  “I’m going to quit and get some water,” she said to no one in particular.

  “Okay, cool. See you at work tomorrow.” Matt grinned like a love sick puppy. It was pathetic. His wife would have slapped him for it.

  I couldn’t just let her leave. “What, you too chicken to play against me?”

  That did the trick. “Are you joking?”

  She was so predictable. She was as bad as me when it came to arguing. She was going to make one hell of a lawyer. “Let’s see what you’ve got when you actually play someone with talent.”

  “Nice, man, real nice,” Matt said, but I ignored him. I ignored everyone but Becca.

  I grabbed the ball from Ronny. “My serve.”

  It could have just been the two of us as far as I was concerned. I think the guys were rather entertained by the display. The girl could play—that was for sure. I wasn’t exactly a big fan of volleyball, but there weren’t many sports I didn’t play for fun.

  She nearly hit me with one of her serves, but I spiked it back twice as hard. She missed it, and the ball hit the sand before rolling down the beach.

  “Nice meeting everyone.” She was seriously going to quit just like that? She hadn’t struck me as a sore loser.

  “Had enough?”

  She ignored me. “Are you ready, Kelly?”

  “Yup.” I didn’t miss the glare Kelly shot me. Great, Kelly was pissed, which meant I’d be hearing it from Tom at work.

  I tried not to stare too long at Becca’s retreating figure as she jogged down the beach with her friends.

  Ronny gave me a funny look. “Taking this a little seriously, aren’t you?”

  “Not really.” I brushed it off. She just really brought out my competitive side.

  “How is a girl like that single?” Matt took a swig from a water bottle. Evidently, Becca and Kelly’s departure had broken up the game.

  “It’s by choice,” I said with certainty. There was no way she’d have trouble getting a man.

  “She won’t be single for long,” Ronny said with a sheepish grin.

  “Is that so?” Greg pulled his t-shirt back on.

  “I’m taking her out this week.” His self-satisfied smile pissed me off.

  “Good luck with that.” I turned and headed back home.

  ***

  As expected, Tom had it in for me. That man was whipped. His wife got upset, and the whole world had to move out of the way to fix it.

  “Don’t even say it. I know Kelly’s pissed at me for some reason.” I moved past Tom to grab a file of some paper work I’d been sitting on. I brought it back to my desk.

  “For some reason? You went after her new friend. I think you scared the girl.”

  “She didn’t look scared to me.”

  “Seriously, man, what’s your deal? What was up with all that last night?”

  “I don’t know.” I focused on signing my name on a bunch of forms.

  “You bitch about how depressing the choice of women is in this town, yet a gorgeous girl comes in with eyes for you, and you go all psycho.”

  “With eyes for me?” I glanced up. Tom had spun his chair around to look at me.

  “That’s how Kelly put it.”

  I wondered how Kelly would feel if she knew her husband repeated everything she said. “What would give her that impression?”

  Tom laughed. “Girls talk.”

  I couldn’t help feeling some satisfaction at knowing she’d talked to her friends about me. I wasn’t going to admit it, though. “If she has eyes for anyone, it’s Jake. Or hell, she’s going out with Ronny this week.”

  “Kelly says she’s not into either of them.”

  “Did you two just sit around discussing Becca?”

  “No. Mostly we tried to figure out why you were all weird.”

  I just shrugged. “I admit she’s hot.”

  “Finally, a normal thought.”

  “Don’t let Kelly hear you.”

  “She doesn’t care. She has nothing to worry about, and she knows it.”

  “Yeah, I guess Kelly isn’t exactly the insecure kind.”

  He chuckled. “Uh, not exactly. But you do know that just because Becca’s from the same place, it doesn’t mean she’s like Dawn.”

  I was wondering when he’d connect the dots. I’d met Tom at the Academy right after Dawn left me. As if getting a career ending injury wasn’t enough, my girlfriend dumped me because of it.

  “It’s not just that.”

  “Then what is it?”

  “Just drop it.”

  I couldn’t spend too much time going down memory lane. It had been three years since my pro baseball career evaporated thanks to a torn rotator cuff. I’d just signed a new contract to play in the majors, and bam, it was all gone. Dawn said she wanted to be with someone who was going places. That wasn’t the worst part, though. Nor was the fact that she got together with one of my teammates. No, the worst part was that I begged her not to leave me. I was pathetic. I swore I’d never do it again.

  Maybe that was my real issue with Becca. I wanted her but knew any interest she had in me would be a passing fling. I wasn’t sure that would be enough. She seemed like the kind of girl where one taste couldn’t possibly be enough.

  “Let’s get out of here.” Without waiting for Tom, I walked out to the car.

  Chapter Eight

  Becca

  I wasn’t sure what to wear to work my first day. I was pretty sure a suit would be overkill, but I wanted to look professional, especially after meeting one of the partners at the beach while wearing only a bikini. Partners—I needed to stop thinking of things in Boston terms.

  After settling on a tailored skirt and a light purple top, I drove Molly’s car over to the town square. The law offices of Morgan & Morgan were located right between the plant nursery and a bookstore. The local coffee shop beckoned from across the street. That would be convenient for lunch breaks.

  Finding a parking space was ridiculously easy. I smoothed out my skirt, checked to make sure my hair was pulled neatly back, and got out of the car. I walked into the office with my head held high, willing myself to forget about the embarrassing meeting the day before.

  “Hi, Becca. It’s good to see you again.” Matt walked out of his office.

  “Hi. I’m excited to be here.”

  “It’s kind of cramped, but I’ve set you up in the extra office back here.” I followed him back to a windowless room. “Sorry, I know it’s kind of depressing.”

  “No, it’s fine.”

  “All right.” He smiled at me, looking me over in a way that made me a little bit uncomfortable. “Here are all your passwords and everything. Why don’t you get yourself settled, and then come meet me in my office, so I can go over some stuff and give you your first assignment.”

  “Sounds great.”

  He started to walk out.

  “Wait. Uh, is your father—I mean the other Mr. Morgan—expected in today?”

  “No. I guess I forgot to mention it. He’s actually on a cruise with my mother for the next few weeks. That’s what made it so convenient that you were able to work.”

  “Oh.” He definitely hadn’t me
ntioned that. No one had. “All right. I guess I’ll just get settled.”

  I loaded the computer, not sure what getting settled really entailed. That was one of those things bosses said that made no sense. I made sure I could access the databases I’d need for research, and double checked that Word functioned before pulling out a legal pad and pen from the top draw of the desk. I walked down the hall to Matt’s office.

  I knocked. He looked up, smiled, and waved me in. “Take a seat.”

  I sat down in one of the large leather chairs across from his desk. It was strange to see someone his age in such a big office. I was used to firms where it took years to make junior partner, let alone to essentially be running the place. Matt couldn’t have been more than four or five years older than me. Although he looked tired, his face still had a really boyish quality. He wore a dress shirt and slacks, but he didn’t seem comfortable in them.

  I noticed a photograph on his desk of a pretty woman with two young children. “You have a beautiful family.”

  He picked up the frame. “Yeah, they’re great.”

  I smiled, not sure what else to say.

  “I was already a dad when I was your age.”

  Okay, could he make this anymore awkward? “That’s cool.”

  He laughed. “Sorry, that came out weird. I just mean, you are in such a different place than I was at your age.”

  I decided to help him out. “Yeah, I bet law school was challenging with a baby at home.”

  “Definitely. I never got to party during those years. I bet you have it really different. I bet you’re a wild one.”

  “Umm, not exactly.” A wild one? Yeah, if studying and taking care of my mom were considered wild.

  “Come on, you can be honest.”

  I didn’t like the way he stared. It really bothered me, and I needed to get the conversation back on my job. “So anyway, when I spoke with your father, he made it sound like I was mostly going to be doing research and possibly helping on some depositions?”

  “Yeah. I mean, I think you should sit in on some client meetings, and if you want, you can definitely come to court with me. You worked in a DA’s office last summer, right?”