Page 93 of The Moment We Know

He inclined his head a little to the left. “Because I figure I stand a better chance at being taken more seriously than … Brent.”

“And how do you figure that?” Jules asked, realizing he must have also heard the encounter, if he knew Brent's name.

He cleared his throat for a third time. “Well, unlike Brent, I’m not on the douchebag spectrum.”

Her eyes narrowed slightly at hearing that, but before she could respond, he continued.

“I always wear normal socks, except when taking a shower, which I do every day. Or, you know, when I’m swimming, which I hardly ever do. Or, when I sleep. Anyway …” Malcom trailed off for a moment. “I’ve never attempted to, uh, smolder, nor have I ever gotten a manicure and the last time I used hair gel was in high school, when I was guilty of making a few regrettable choices.”

Jules leaned forward as if getting ready to share a secret. “It’s impolite to eavesdrop, Malcom.”

Paige, having just taken a drink of her water, started coughing at hearing that audacious nugget of hypocrisy.

Malcom looked over, ostensibly to see if Paige was okay, and she waved him off. “Sorry. I just swallowed wrong.”

After a brief pause, Malcom turned back to Jules. “I agree it’s impolite. But I wasn’t eavesdropping.”

“You weren’t?”

“No. If I’d been eavesdropping, I would’ve been secretly listening to your private conversation, but I wasn’t—” Malcom broke off as Paige started coughing again.

She quickly covered her mouth. “Sorry. Swallowed wrong again.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Malcom asked.

“She’s fine.” Jules didn’t even look in Paige’s direction. “So, you were saying?”

“I was saying I wasn’t listening to a private conversation,” Malcom said. “Your conversation was taking place in a public, crowded restaurant, so the expectation of privacy doesn’t apply, since anyone around you can overhear what you’re saying. Including me. I was simply overhearing things I couldn’t help but overhear.”

“And how much did you overhear?”

He paused. “Everything from The Godfather reference on … for the most part. I couldn’t help it. Honestly. The Godfather is one of my favorite movies, so that caught my attention. And I’m not saying that to pander—”

“Name all the Corleone children.”

Malcom’s eyes widened, the only indication the question had caught him off guard. “In alphabetical order, or chronological?”

“Chronological is fine.”

“All right. The oldest is Santino, aka Sonny, followed by Frederico, aka Fredo, then Michael, who occasionally gets called ‘Mikey’. Last but not least, is Constanzia, aka Connie.”

“You forgot Tom.”

“You mean Tom Hagen?” Malcom shook his head. “Technically, he’s not a Corleone. He may have been raised by the Corleones and is often referred to as a ‘brother’, but he was never legally adopted by Vito and Carmela, so I didn’t include him as one of their children.” Then, tilting his head, he asked, “So, did I pass?”

Jules gave him a conceding nod, that also managed to convey she wasn’t completely impressed.

Taking that to mean he could continue, Malcom said, “I was briefly married several years ago—but am now divorced—and to my knowledge don’t have any children playing in a soccer league anywhere.” He reached up to touch his glasses. “I do wear glasses a lot, partly because contacts make me feel like I have sand in my eyes, but mostly because I’m afraid to have surgery. There’s just something really unappealing about having lasers anywhere near my eyes. Anyway, I don’t wear them during sex and … whatnot. I do take them off for that.”

He actually seemed a little uncomfortable mentioning sex which made Paige like him even more. The man was adorable.

“So …” Malcom hesitated before carefully putting a business card down on the table and sliding it toward Jules, almost exactly like Brent had. “Speaking of work …”

Jules glanced down at the card and read the front before giving him a less than thrilled look. “You’re a lawyer.”

“Yes,” he admitted. “And I know you don’t do lawyers, even if they’re extremely hot—thank you for that, by the way—but I’m hoping you’ll overlook it, though, because I would love to take you to dinner sometime.”

“Dinner?”

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