“There’s nothing wrong with you.”

“You try having your romantic failings put on display for the world to see. My world, at least. It’s humiliating.”

“Of course, it is. You can’t hold on to it, though. At some point you have to learn to let go. You can’t keep beating yourself up. And if law school isn’t what you want, either, then that’s okay, too. You don’t need to find all of the answers at twenty-three.”

Silence filled the air between us as his words settled in.

I shot him a meaningful look. “Do you ever think about taking your own advice?”

A smile tugged at his beautiful mouth. “I’m working on it.”

“Do you think that’s why we work so well together? Because we’re both figuring ourselves out?”

He was quiet again. “Maybe. I don’t know. I just know I feel better when I’m with you.”

As far as compliments went, it wasn’t the most lavish, or the most romantic, yet it curled around my heart, filling me with warmth.

“Are you sure you’re up to going to the Thanksgiving celebration tonight?” he asked. “We have enough volunteers that we can probably handle it without you.”

“I’m definitely not missing out. I can come back and study after.”

His lips brushed against my hair. “Are you sleeping at all?”

“I only need a few hours. I’ll be okay. I have big plans to sleep for a week when finals are over.”

“We should go to dinner when you’re done with exams. Celebrate.”

That sounded amazing. Maybe we could swing it if we went somewhere out of the way, somewhere where we weren’t likely to run into anyone we knew.

“It’s a date.”

“I can’t wait for the semester to be over,” he mumbled, his lips grazing my lobe.

I bit back a moan. “Me either.”

We stayed like that for a while longer and then he shifted me in his lap and held his hand out. “Ready to head over to the school?”

I gave him my hand and we headed out to celebrate Thanksgiving.

Gray

We entered the gym, and once again, Blair’s handiwork came to life. The space was transformed with large folding tables adorned with linens and place settings. Pumpkins decorated the tables. Buffet stations were set up around the gym’s perimeter, filled with food that restaurants donated.

I’d come up with the idea to organize a pre-Thanksgiving dinner for the eighth grade group we mentored. There were only sixty kids that the school had recommended for the after-school program, but with law school finals the week after Thanksgiving, we’d struggled to get volunteers. Blair was in charge of the whole thing, and in typical fashion, was determined to give these kids the best holiday of their lives. We’d started talking about it a few weeks ago, and she’d lost me at making turkeys out of pinecones or something like that.

My chest got tight as I stared down into her eyes. “Nicely done.”

She smiled. “Thanks.”

“You have a talent for this.”

“What? Strong-arming restaurants into cooking for me?” she teased.

I shook my head. “Don’t minimize this. What you did here is huge. You clearly have a knack for organizing events. Managing projects. You’re like a little pearl-clad general.”

She gave me a wry smile. “I’m not sure those are the most useful skills for me to have.”

I didn’t understand why she always did that; why she acted like her accomplishments were nothing more than her doing what was expected rather than an achievement to be celebrated. She didn’t give herself nearly enough credit.

“You should look into the nonprofit management idea. Seriously. With your volunteer experience and a law degree, there’s a lot you could do. Not to mention, if you stay in D.C., there’s no shortage of organizations you could work for.”

She gave a little half-shrug. “I’ll think about it.” She gestured toward a group of volunteers standing off to the side. “I should check in. See how things are going with the setup. See you later?”

I nodded.

I watched her walk away, unable to keep my gaze off of her. There was something about Blair that filled me with awe and made me want to be better. It was complicated before when it had just been about sex. But now, now that I knew her, liked her, admired her, it was so much more.

I was falling in love with her.

Jason sauntered over, his smile knowing. “You locked it down.”

I fought off the grin.

Yeah, I fucking had.

Chapter Eighteen

Tonight is the Reynolds family’s infamous Christmas party. Deals will be made, scandals caused, and the corruption will flow as freely as the champagne. We’ll be on hand to share all of the juicy tidbits with you . . .

—Capital Confessions blog

Blair

My hand cramped as I typed the final sentence, my gaze darting to the time on my laptop. My pulse raced, my palms sweating, panic clawing at my throat. I hit the period key when all of a sudden—

“Time’s up. Shut down your exam software and make sure you receive a message saying that your test has uploaded. If you have any problems, one of the proctors can assist you.”

The urge to vomit hit me, a tremor sliding through my body. For better or worse, I was done. I submitted my test through the special exam software we were all required to use for our finals, the adrenaline crash hitting me, leaving exhaustion in its wake.

Three hours. Three hours of nearly nonstop typing. Four finals, for a total of twelve hours of exams. My first semester of law school now officially over.

I wanted to sleep for a year. I wanted to get trashed, wanted to cry, wanted to cheer.

I listened while the woman at the front of the room gave us the rest of the exam instructions, and then we were released, seventy-five students spilling out into the hallway in a mass exodus tinged with excitement and despair, depending on how people thought they’d done.

Torts had been our final exam. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. Probably the same way I’d felt about all my exams. Despite my hours and hours studying, and the fact that I looked like I’d just been to hell and back, twice, without a shower, it could go either way. Our exams were graded on a curve, so to some degree, my performance also largely depended on how I did relative to my classmates.

Caitlin called out my name and I waited for her to catch up with me.

“We have to go celebrate.”

I groaned. “I need to sleep. I only slept like four hours last night because I was up late cramming. And I have this stupid holiday party my parents are hosting tonight.”

I’d finally just given in to my mother’s calls and pleading. Some of my friends would be at the party, so at least it wouldn’t be totally horrible. And she’d promised that the Wyatts wouldn’t be there.

“Do you have to go the whole time?”

“Maybe not.” They’d be pissed, but honestly, I needed to let loose a bit. And my parents’ Christmas party was definitely not the place to let loose. “I’ll come. I can probably get away with showing up for an hour or two, and then I’ll meet up with you guys. I’ll text you when I’m out.”

She grinned. “Awesome. See you tonight.”

I walked through the lobby, heading toward the parking lot, feeling like I tasted freedom for the first time in forever. We only had a month off for winter break, but right now I needed the reprieve. Badly.

When I hit the double doors to exit the building, I spotted Gray standing at the entrance, talking to another one of the professors. He had an end-of-semester faculty party he had to attend tonight, but we’d made plans to go to dinner tomorrow.

His gaze met mine and he flashed me a quick smile. I ducked my chin to hide my reaction, unable to keep my lips from grinning.

A few minutes later, when I reached my car, my phone went off. I pulled it out of my purse and stared at the text, a smile spreading all over my face.