“Then I should be able to say anything I want, right? Even the word ‘penis’?” Payton asked.
Laney sighed. “Do we have to do this right now?”
“You should try saying the word sometime.”
“I’ll pass, thank you.”
Payton shrugged. “Your choice, but I think you’d find it liberating. Everybody could use a good ‘penis’ now and then.”
Laney looked around the coffee shop, then glared at Payton. “People are listening.”
“Sorry—you’re right. Good rule of thumb: if you’re gonna throw out a ‘penis’ in a public place, it should be soft. Otherwise it attracts too much attention.”
The woman at the next table gaped at them.
Laney leaned over. “I apologize for my friend. She gets this way sometimes.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Tourette’s. So sad.”
The woman nodded sympathetically, then pretended to make a call on her cell phone.
Laney turned back to Payton. “If you’re finished with the First Amendment lesson, I thought maybe we should turn back to the subject of J.D. Because I do have a suggestion as to how you can solve your problem.”
Payton leaned forward eagerly. “Great—let’s hear it. I’m open to anything.”
“Okay. My suggestion is”—Laney paused dramatically—“learn how to play golf.” She let this sink in a moment. “Then you’ll never have this problem again.”
Payton sat back in her chair, toying with her coffee mug. “Um, no.” She brushed off the suggestion with a dismissive wave. “Playing golf is just so, I don’t know . . . snooty.”
Laney gave her a pointed look. “You know, when you make partner, you’ll have to get used to being around people who grew up with money.”
“I don’t have any issues with that,” Payton said huffily.
“Oh sure, right. You don’t think that money has anything to do with why you’re so hard on J.D.?” Laney asked.
“I’m hard on J.D. because he’s a jerk.”
“True, true . . .” Laney mused. “You two do seem to bring out the worst in each other.”
In each other ? “I hope you aren’t suggesting that I somehow contribute to J.D.’s behavior,” Payton said. “Because if so, we really need to get this conversation headed in a sane direction.”
“It’s just kind of odd, because J.D. has lots of qualities that you normally like in a guy. A guy who maybe isn’t quite so . . . you know . . .” Laney gestured, trailing off.
“So what?” Payton prompted.
“Rich.”
Payton rolled her eyes. “First of all: please—like I said, I don’t care about that. Second of all: What are these alleged other ‘qualities’ J.D. has?”
Laney considered her answer. “He’s very smart.”
Payton frowned and grumbled under her breath. “I changed my mind—I don’t want to talk about this.” She grabbed the dessert menu sitting next to her and stared at it intently.
Appearing not to hear her, Laney kept going with her list of J.D.’s attributes. “He’s also passionate about the law, interested in politics—albeit on the opposite side of the spectrum. Which, interestingly, doesn’t seem to bother you about me.”
Payton peered over the top of her menu. “ You have charm.”
“That’s true. I do.”
“It’s quickly fading.”
Laney went on. “And J.D. works hard, just like you, and he can be funny in that sarcastic kind of way that—”
“I object!” Payton interrupted. “Lack of foundation—when has J.D. ever said anything funny?”
“This isn’t a courtroom.”
Payton folded her arms across her chest. “Fine. Total crap —how about if I just go with that instead?”
“Gee, sorry, Payton—I didn’t mean to make you so uncomfortable,” Laney said with a grin, throwing Payton’s words back at her. “I won’t say anything else.”
Laney picked up her menu. “Let’s see, now. What looks good? That flourless chocolate cake we split last time was divine.” She glanced at Payton. “Except just one last thing on the subject of J.D.: he’s totally hot.”
Just in time, fighting her smile, Laney put her menu up to block the napkin that came flying at her face.
“Hot?” Payton nearly shouted. “That smarmy, prep-school-attending, pink-Izod-shirt-wearing jerk who’s been handed his career on a silver platter?” She covered her mouth. “Well, look at that—maybe I do have one or two issues with money.”
Laney nodded encouragingly, as if to say they were making progress. “But you’re about to be named partner. I get why you’ve been guarded in the past, but you’ve made it. You don’t have to keep trying so hard to prove that you fit in with these guys.”
Payton was surprised by this. “You think I come across as guarded?”
“At work, you can sometimes . . . have a bit of an edge,” Laney said carefully. “Like this thing with J.D., for example.”
Payton tried to decide whether she should be offended. But as much as she might not want to admit it, a part of her knew that what Laney was saying wasn’t completely off base.
“I suppose this ‘thing’ with J.D. has gotten a little out of hand,” she sniffed reluctantly. “You’re right—I should be the better person in this.” She smirked. “That shouldn’t be too hard, in comparison to J.D.”—she caught Laney’s look—“is exactly what Edgy Payton would’ve said. But the New Payton won’t go there.”
Laney tipped her coffee mug approvingly. “Good for you. To the New Payton.”
Payton clinked her mug to Laney’s, wondering what she was getting herself into.
“The New Payton.”
Table of Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Acknowledgements
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-one
Twenty-two
Twenty-three
Twenty-four
Twenty-five
Twenty-six
Twenty-seven
Twenty-eight
Twenty-nine
Thirty
Thirty-one
Thirty-two
Thirty-three
Thirty-four
Thirty-five
Teaser chapter
Julie James, Just the Sexiest Man Alive
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