Page 47 of Mr. Flirt

I was a mess.

Would I survive this?

Would my career survive this?

I glanced up and caught Shep watching me, which only made me blush more, and the weird thing was that I practiced law for a living and never, ever blushed. Nothing made these cheeks flame red except for Mr. Flirt sitting across from me.

“I think these are the best potato chips in the world, Sheppy,” Winter said, completely oblivious as she munched on the fried goodness.

I nodded. “I second that.”

Shep’s gaze remained on me, and he smiled. “Is this dinner as good as the halibut I made the other night?”

“Might be even better,” I confessed, feeling a swirl of happiness tickle my senses. To feel this light and airy around a guy confused me and enticed me all at the same time.

“You know, I think this could be a really good fit for Shep,” Mike said, glancing at Shep. “He needs someone to keep him in line.”

Shep frowned. “It’s not like I’m a wild zoo animal that needs taming.”

Winter chuckled. “Well...”

My belly tensed as I watched Shep’s comfort level change. He glanced over at me and pressed his lips together.

“He’s not that bad,” I assured them. “He’s funny and always up for a challenge.”

“That’s for sure.”

“And he’s smart,” I added.

Winter nodded in agreement, happily eyeing her brother. “He is. Now, Colton might argue that he’s smarter, but I think it’s a tossup.”

Shep laughed and shook his head. “No. There’s no contest between Colton and me. He’s the smarter one by a longshot. I’ve just been lucky.”

Mike shook his head. “It’s not luck, Shep. We joke with you a lot, but you’re an amazing entrepreneur.”

“Thanks, but I still say Colton is smarter.”

“I love how much you care about your siblings,” I said softly, thinking back to Mae. I’d do anything for her. In fact, I sometimes think I went to law school just to ensure I could provide for her whenever she needed me in life.

But I also knew I liked to kick butt in the courtroom, even if it came with plenty of work hazards for my own love life.

Shep’s gaze caught mine, and he nodded. “We’ll always be here for one another.”

“Absolutely.” Winter held up her glass of water. “Always.”

I turned my attention to Winter. “Shep said that you and your husband resulted from some crazy pact or something?”

Winter groaned. “Oh, yes. The high school vows gone wrong.”

Her husband scowled. “Hey.”

“I mean, they eventually went right.” She laughed. “It was kind of a crazy thing. My besties and I all scribbled a set of vows describing the men we’d never date. Mind you, this was coming from a teenager’s perspective. We made a pact, which was if we were single by the age of thirty, we’d have to revisit our vows and date the exact type we swore off when we were teenagers.”

“And it worked?” I asked in shock, glancing at her attractive husband.

“Who knew a professor could be someone’s Mr. Wrong?” Her husband rolled his eyes playfully.

“Mine was a little more complicated than that, thanks to our father, but yeah. This guy right here is my Mr. Accident turned Mr. Right. My little Brad.”

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