Page 25 of Not In The Contract

“Right.” Cam laughed, her hand fastened around Elliot’s. “You were only lying to yourself.”

“I accepted that long ago,” Reid said serenely. “But I would like to hear how Alex’s end of the deal is going.”

“What do you mean?” I hedged, wishing I’d canceled this particular brunch.

“You know exactly what she means,” Taylor teased, nudging my elbow with hers. “You met with Paula’s student, didn’t you?”

“You did?” Hayden gasped.

I glared at Taylor, who went back to her martini with a small grin.

I groaned. “Yes, I met her,” I conceded.

A beat of silence rushed around the table.

“And?!” Hayden insisted.

“And she agreed to live with me for two months, okay?” I said. “Are you happy now?”

“No, no, I want to see how you deal with this first,” Cam said. “Tell us about the student.”

I chewed on the inside of my cheek, my thoughts racing. “She’s a psychology major who’s doing her PhD,” I said. “What more is there to say?”

“What does she look like?” Elliot asked.

“What’s her name,” Hayden added.

“She looks like a student and her name is Devon Sanders,” I said lamely.

I couldn’t tell them she was beautiful, that she shared her smiles like she would never run out of joy. I couldn’t tell them about the tiny part of me that was looking forward to having a beautiful woman live with me for two whole months.

I’d never hear the end of it.

“Should we take bets now?” Hayden asked, leaning forward to look at all of us.

“Bets?” I scoffed.

“On how long you last before you kick the poor girl out,” she said, as if it was obvious.

“Can you do that when I’m not here to witness my friends being awful?” I grumbled.

“Of course, we could,” Reid said sagely. “But what fun would that be?”

“At least this way, you can see which of us has the most faith in you,” Taylor said.

“I’m surprised any of you have any faith in me at all.”

“Then this shouldn’t surprise you,” Hayden mocked.

I chuckled under my breath. “Fine, go ahead,” I jeered. “Do your worst.”

“I say one month,” Cam piped up, looking confident as always.

“A whole month, Cam?” Reid snorted. “Hardly. I say two weeks.”

“That’s too little,” Elliot scolded.

Cam pressed a kiss to the back of her hand and grinned. “We’ll see when I win,” Cam said.