Page 16 of Alive At Night

“I remember,” Julian said gruffly.

“I don’t care that he doesn’t want commitment,” I clarified, so maybe he could get it through his thick skull. “So, what does Noahdothese days? Where does he live?”

I hadn’t heard his name come up in conversation at the bar with Cameron, and that meant it was possible Noah was a washed-out, big-leagues reject by now. That wouldn’t really bode well for my plan, so it was best to check.

“You don’t know?” Julian asked, raising his brows.

I shook my head, and if Julian possessed a larger capacity for positive emotions, I would have said that amused him. His lips twisted as he studied my face.

“I assumed that’s why you mentioned him,” he said. “Noah London plays for the Knights. He lives here. In Boston.”

I immediately straightened with interest. His name did ring a bell. “Your roommate was NoahLondon? The quarterback?”

My standards for dating were not usually so high or so vain. In fact, considering my dating life had been all but nonexistent, my standards were incredibly low. But this was different. This was Sofia’s wedding.

“No,” Julian repeated, shooting down my hopes. “I mean, yes, he plays professionally as a quarterback. He was my back-up when I played in college and then went on to take my place before going pro. But no—we’re not going there. I’m notsetting you up with Noah.”

“All I’m looking for is his number and maybe a few words of encouragement whispered in his ear,” I pleaded, hating how quickly this had changed from him begging me to me begging him. But it was one hell of an opportunity, and it would be wasteful to pass it up. “For how much time I’ll be putting in to help with your consultation, that’s more than a fair deal.”

Julian was quiet for a long moment. He worked his jaw over, rubbing it repeatedly. The air in the office stilled slightly, and with all my nervous energy, I had to keep myself from tapping my finger on my desk while I waited.

“He might say no,” he finally pointed out.

I shrugged. “Then he says no.”

With a grumble beneath his breath, Julian turned toward his desk again. He started shuffling papers with far too much force, and I had to clear my throat to get his suddenly chaotic attention back.

“So it’s a deal?”

Even though Julian loved to call me dramatic, my antics didn’t have anything on the sigh he released as he looked gloomily over his shoulder.

“It’s a deal.”

* * *

“What are you doing here?”Gemma Briggs dropped next to me, her ice skates clanging against the cold metal bench as she set them down. Her ice-blue eyes flicked over me in assessment while she pursed her lips. “You’re oddly ill-equipped to be at the rink.”

“I came right from work.” I drew my cardigan around me as though it actually afforded me any warmth.

“But…why?”

“Because it’scoldhere.”

A raised brow met my statement.

“And I needed to cool down after making a deal with the devil,” I admitted.

“The devil, huh?” Gemma rolled her eyes, her wry expression pulling taut in a way that had to be hereditary or genetic or something because I knew someone else who made that same exact face at least five times today.

“Plus, I knew you’d be here,” I added, hoping to sugar her up. “And I need to talk to you.”

Gemma had never been one for small talk, unnecessary niceties, or anything that didn’t cut right to the chase. So she said, “I don’t think I can listen to another rant about my brother, Junes.”

Damn.

Gemma took stock of my expression. “He was the devil in the equation, wasn’t he?”

She looked a bit disappointed, and I supposed I could understand that. Out of all of her siblings, Gemma was closest to Julian. In fact, the only thing that wasn’t perfect about their relationship was…me.

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