“You have to do it!”
I started pacing from one side of the room to the other. “I most certainly do not. That’s a big hell to the no.”
“I know you’re not a risk taker, but just think about it. If you win, you get prize money. That prize money, depending on when you get sent home, would be more than enough to pay for us to go on a shopping spree or for us to go to every Beyoncé and Rihanna concert on the West Coast.”
I stopped in my tracks, trying not to laugh. “So in this scenario, I, alone, whore myself out on TV and we, together, spend the earnings if I win?”
“Or if you don’t like those suggestions, it would be more than enough money for you to reapply to take the bar exam.”
My lips pursed. I walked right into that.
Before I could respond, she rushed on. “We would get to see each other all the time. I’m going to be there every day except Sundays. We can’t go that long without talking! The location is incredible. You’d be staying in a mansion with a pool, a hot tub, a steam room and a relaxing place to read. And, most importantly, the eligible bachelor is Julian Winters.”
We were both quiet for a second. She was likely waiting for a reaction, but I was waiting for clarification.
“Julian Winters?” I asked, starting to pace again.
“Yes!”
My eyebrows came together, perplexed. I threw my hand up in the air. “Who the hell is that?”
“Julian Winters, the music producer.”
As a music lover, I was still stumped. “I have no clue who he is or why you thought I’d care.”
“Well, he’s a song writer and a music producer and he’s totally your type. He kind of looks like that Resident Assistant we had a crush on freshman year. And he was caught up in that copyright infringement lawsuit with that socialite, Janna White. I can’t think of the song now.”
“Ohhhh, yeah,” I remembered, familiarity of the case and the names flooding my brain. “’Sweet’. That case ended her music career, didn’t it? I loved that song. I vaguely remember that he was the one who wrote it, but they settled out of court, right?”
“Yes. But do you know what he looks like now?”
“No… I just remember being fascinated by the case because—”
“I’m going to go ahead and stop you right there,” she interrupted, cutting me off mid-sentence. “We are not going to talk law right now. We are going to talk about you having the chance to bump uglies with Julian Winters. He is the—”
I frowned as I interjected, “The sheer fact that you said ‘bump uglies’ has disqualified you from giving me advice about anything in general, but sex specifically. You need to—”
A quick knock on the door followed by the sound of it being pushed open forced my sentence to end abruptly.
“Hi,” my mother greeted me as she poked her head into the room. Her bronzy skin glowed with a youthfulness most fifty-five year old women didn’t have. “Are you ready?”
I smiled and nodded.
“I’ll meet you in the car,” my mom whispered, closing the door behind her.
“I’m going to call you later. I’m about to head out with Mom before we meet Dad for dinner.”
“Okay, but search the internet for pictures of Julian and text me your thoughts.”
I chuckled to myself. “Will do.”
Slipping my phone into my back pocket, I quickly put on my socks and boots. Grabbing my grey and blue college hoodie, I pulled it over the white t-shirt and checked myself out in the mirror.
Wearing a hoodie that dwarfed my C-cup breasts and a pair of jeans that I remembered looking better when I purchased them, I was a sad, cold version of myself. Although my face and hair were flawless, my outfit was questionable at best. But I pulled on my heavy down coat that I kept in Virginia for my visits home and trotted out to meet my mother. I may not have looked like the fashionista that I was in L.A., but the unpredictable Virginia weather put fashion on the backburner.
On the way to the car, I pulled out my phone and searched Julian Winters. My eyebrows flew up immediately when I saw the piercing, grey eyes, short, sexy beard, and endearing smile. There was even a hint of a tattoo peeking out from the sleeve of his t-shirt.
That can’t be him.
I was expecting some boring, cookie-cutter, clean-cut guy. But based on the first few pictures, Julian Winters was the exact opposite of boring. Between his looks, his wardrobe, and his career choice, he was interesting. There weren’t many photos of him looking directly at the camera. Most of the photos were of him writing or recording.
Successful. Bearded. Tattooed. With an amazing smile. I felt like I was checking off the top tier of my wish list. He’s definitely my type.
“What’s with the goofy grin?”
I looked up and my mother had rolled the window down. Opening the door to her BMW, I showed her the picture on my phone as soon as I slid into the seat.
“Nice.” She nodded in appreciation. “New boyfriend?”
I made a face. “No. Just some guy.”