Trusting Ryan. Tara Taylor Quinn

not right for me.”

      Ryan’s shoulders straightened. Tensed. His entire body seemed to be on alert. As though he were walking into a robbery in progress. “How long did it take you to save up for law school?”

      “You can’t work your first year in law school, did you know that?”

      His eyes narrowed. “No.”

      “I had to save a couple of years’ living expenses, as well as tuition and books…”

      “But you were working for the boss, so you made a lot.” There was nothing childlike about the alert man standing before her. Nothing young or immature about the commanding tone of voice, almost as though he could will the truth to be what he needed it to be.

      “My mother insisted I start out at the bottom and earn my way up just like everyone else. Character building, she said.”

      She almost felt sorry for him. Except that she had to stay angry to survive this. And to figure out a way to exit with dignity.

      Or, more importantly, with finality.

      She just wasn’t sure who she was mad at. Herself or him. She hadn’t known. She’d assumed.

      And so, apparently, had he.

      Suddenly Audrey was exhausted. Needed to get this over and done with. Needed to get outside his world and find herself again.

      To reassure herself that she was still there.

      Intact.

      That she hadn’t made a mistake that would change the rest of her life.

      “I’m thirty-five, Ryan.” Her words were crisp and clear. All business. “Thirteen years older than you. Almost old enough to be your mother.”