Page 41 of Worth the Risk

“Very mature,” I mutter, giving him a look of disgust.

“It was an accident, but I thought you were supposed to be watching so you can learn how to play.” He lifts his arm in the air, signaling for Miguel to toss it to him. “Not flirting with our newest employee.”

“Flirting?” I scoff, rolling my eyes. “Is that why you got so confused talking to me? You don’t know how to read signals and got them confused?” My tone is dangerously close to mocking, my attempt to play it cool clearly a failure.

“Thanks, buddy.” Austin flashes Miguel an exaggerated smile after catching the ball. His eyes drop back down to me. “Mixed signals? Ah, right, like how wet your panties got when I kissed you?”

I couldn’t form a reply even if he hadn’t walked back to the court laughing. Besides, he isn’t wrong about how wet my panties were… both times he kissed me. I flinch at the memory, squeezing my eyes shut like it will stop it from happening again.

“I should bring Felicity next time we play; she’d get a kick out of watching the ball bounce back and forth.”

“Yeah?” I turn my attention back to Miguel. “You said she just turned three, right?”

“She did.” He smiles, reaching into his pocket to produce his phone. “She loves watching me play tennis so I’m sure she’d enjoy this.” He keeps his attention on his screen as he talks, flipping through several images before turning it around to show me. “This is just a short video, I promise. I know parents can be overwhelming with showing pictures of their kids.”

I take the phone and hit play, watching his daughter clap enthusiastically while squealingdaddyas loud as her little lungs will let her.

“She’s adorable.”

“She is. Looks just like her mother.” His expression falters for a brief second when he looks down at the screen but just as quickly, a smile is back in place. “My little girl is the best thing that ever happened to me, even if the marriage didn’t work out.”

A strange longing forms in my chest, one that I don’t recognize. “No regrets?” I ask him the same question he lobbed my way earlier.

“Nah.” He shakes his head and slides his phone back into his pocket. “What kind of lawyer would I be if I didn’t take risks?” He laughs. “But seriously, no. I mean sure, we both know the statistics about marriage, but that applies to any relationship, right? There’s never a guarantee it will work out, but sometimes you gain a lot more than you ever thought you would from it.”

His words hit me like a truck. That’s the longing I felt. Maybe it’s not longing but jealousy. Jealous that I can’t seem to push logic out of my head long enough to let myself truly fall and feel without keeping one foot out the door or waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“Game!” Hector shouts in the distance. “Next up!”

“Are you competitive?” he asks as we make our way toward the court.

“Very. You?”

“We’re both lawyers, remember?” He laughs as Becca and Hector leave the court.

“You guys play Mia and Austin since they won this round, then we’ll switch up the teams.”

“Hope you paid attention.” Austin flashes me his signature smirk.

“Hope you enjoy losing.” I smile back sarcastically.

Great. Keep it up, Taylor. Keep letting him know he’s getting to you.

Miguel gets into position to serve and I slip on my game face, reminding myself of all the times I wiped the floor with the cocky, arrogant guys in law school who always thought they could best me.

They never beat me on the floor of the classroom or the tennis court. If there’s one thing that will light a fire under my ass, it’s the threat of some cocky fuckboy who thinks he can get in my head.

“Game!”

Just over fifteen minutes later, Miguel and I are red-faced, panting, and the declared winners of this round.

“Is it possible thatverywas an understatement when I asked if you were competitive?” Miguel rests his hands on his knees, attempting to catch his breath.

“Possibly?” I laugh, holding both of my hands out for him to high five. He smacks both of them, then holds his overhead so I have to jump to reach them, making me laugh and almost fall in the process.

“Wow.” Mia lets out an exaggerated huff. “You guys are so good! I thought you didn’t know how to play?”

“We don’t.” I shrug. “But we did find out when I interviewed him a few weeks back that we both played tennis in college.”

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