The Good Wife(144)
She lifted a shoulder. “Can’t.”
“Why?”
“I have to work. I bartend across the street at Margaritaville.”
“You bartend?” he repeated.
“I do. It’s my job until school starts.”
“You’re still in school?”
“I start law school in September.”
He was impressed. But she wasn’t finished. “I also act as a bouncer when required,” she added, leaning toward him, looking into his eyes. He took her breath away. It made her furious. “And I could kick your ass.” She smiled. Sweetly.
Boone laughed. “Do you always play hard to get?”
“I am hard to get.”
He laughed, again, and yet something had changed, something between them. She found herself staring at his mouth. She could barely breathe. Kiss me, she thought.
And he did.
He pulled her into his world, his hands sinking into her hair, his mouth covering hers. It wasn’t a long kiss. Wasn’t a hard kiss. But it still blew her mind.
“I’m in town for two more days,” he said quietly, his mouth hovering just above hers. “Come see me tomorrow. Our team’s staying in Burlingame.”
And then he’d expect her to sleep with him.
And it’d be good. Maybe great. But then he’d be gone.
“Nope,” she said, even as part of her was jumping up and down saying yes yes yes. But she knew. She couldn’t just give herself to him. He’d never respect her if she did.
“Why not?” Boone persisted.
“I’ve a game tomorrow.”
He brushed a long tendril of hair back from her cheek. He seemed fascinated with her skin. “What kind of game?”
“Beach volleyball.” She gave him a look. “And I’m good.”
“I bet you are. You have serious legs.”
“They could kick your ass.”
He laughed, hard. He wiped his eyes. She’d made him cry.
She smiled at him reluctantly. “So why don’t you come down here tomorrow and watch me play?”
“I don’t have a car.”
“Then rent one.”
“And if I do?”
She shrugged. “You’ll see me crush the competition, and then maybe, if you’re lucky, I’ll have lunch with you.”
“That’s it? Just lunch?”
“Hey, bud—”
“Not bud. It’s Boone.”
She’d laughed now, too. She liked him. “So, Boone.” Her lips twitched. “I don’t have lunch with just anybody.”
“I’m not just anybody.”
“You’re really confident.”
He shrugged. “I know what I want.”
Heat rushed through her. She knew what he meant. He wanted her.
Sarah called in sick the next day. The rest was history.
The wind blew, cool air off the sea, and sitting on the front steps of the old beach house, she shivered inside her blanket.
If she hadn’t met Boone that day in Capitola, she would have gone to law school. But meeting him changed everything.
In retrospect, she shouldn’t have dropped out of the law program.
She shouldn’t have dropped everything for him. But he’d pursued her hard. And it’d been flattering, gratifying, to have a man like Boone want her. It’d made her important and incredibly desirable. And maybe it was good to enjoy being a desirable woman, but she’d taken it too far, dissolving her boundaries and melting—melding—into him.
Mistake.
She should have kept part of her separate. Part of her sacred.
Should have kept at least one of her goals . . .
Like law school.
Was it too late to go? Pursue a career? She was thirty-five. Law school would take a couple of years, and then she’d have to study for the bar . . .
But why not? Lots of people changed careers, reinvented themselves midlife. Why couldn’t she?
Have work she found meaningful. Income of her own. An identity that was solely hers . . .
It would have been so much easier being Boone’s wife if she hadn’t felt like an accessory to his life.
Shivering, Sarah left the steps, returning to the house. She turned off the hall light, locked the front door, and climbed the stairs to the girls’ bunk room on the second floor.
As she settled into her bed, she tried to imagine herself back on campus, a student.
It was an intriguing idea. A little scary. But she liked learning, she wouldn’t mind studying. It’d be good to have something external—objective—to think about.
There were so many areas of law that interested her, too, but one immediately came to mind. Sports law. Having been married to Boone for thirteen years, she understood the world of professional sports, and the demands it placed on athletes. She’d find it fascinating to be on the other side of negotiations and contracts. Would love to work in an office and represent players. Would love to represent someone like Boone, someone so committed to the game.