Page 40 of Worth the Risk

I look up, pushing Austin’s hands from me before attempting to step past him. “Super not interested in talking right now.”

“Don’t,” he says, grabbing my wrist. “It’s not what you think.”

“Not what I think?” I half whisper, half shout as I yank my hand away from him. “You had your tongue down my throat last night and now you show up with the woman you told me wasnothing?”

His eyes darken and he takes a step forward like he’s going to back me against the wall when the sound of Mia’s footsteps behind me stop him.

“We need to talk.” His tone is soft but commanding.

I don’t respond, just simply step around him and make my way back toward the courts where Becca is explaining how to play pickleball before turning back to Mia and Austin. “I still can’t believe you two are dating. Such a small world.”

“Not dating,” Mia says quickly.

“Just friends,” Austin adds, glancing toward me, but I keep my eyes focused on Becca.

“Let’s play doubles,” Hector says once we’ve all gathered around. “We can do round robin so each time you play with a different partner against different opponents.”

“Why don’t you and Miguel sit out while the four of us play a round so you guys can watch and learn?” Becca looks at me, then Miguel.

“Works for me.” I shrug.

“Same.” Miguel smiles, walking over to me to give me a high five. “Team loser that doesn’t know how to play?”

“We’re lawyers,” I remind him. “We’ll probably still beat all of them anyway.”

Miguel laughs, bumping my shoulder with his just as Austin looks over at us. I see a flash of something on his face, his eyes meeting mine for a brief second before he looks away.

That’s right, two can play at this game.

“Heads or tails,” Becca says, reaching into her pocket and producing a quarter. “Call it.”

“So, are you excited to start on Monday?” I turn my attention to Miguel while the others get into place.

“Very.” He lets out an exaggerated smile. “I’m sure even if I work twice as many hours going forward, it would still be less stressful than my firm.”

“Oh, I know that stress all too well. I worked at Metzler, Dodson & Dodsonall through law school and that was about twice as much exposure as I needed in order to realize I never want to work at a big five firm again.”

“Damn.” He whistles. “That’s a pretty impressive internship. I know in our previous conversations you alluded to passing on a big opportunity; was that the one?”

“It was.” I nod.

“No regrets?”

I glance over at Austin, watching him adjust his baseball hat before serving the ball.

“No, no regrets.”

“That’s a pretty big offer to walk away from.” I turn my attention back to Miguel. “What made you decide to do it?”

“At the time… I told myself if I didn’t take the chance now on something when I’m young, fresh out of law school and not making a ridiculous salary that would keep me shackled to my firm, I’d never do it.”

“And is that answer different now? With perspective?”

I shrug. “I’m not sure but it’s certainly paid off. Hard to say if my answer would be different depending on the circumstances.”

“I get that.”

“Heads up!” Austin’s booming voice interrupts us just as a ball goes whizzing past us. “Sorry about that.” He smiles, jogging over toward us as Miguel turns to chase after the wayward ball.

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