Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16

DANCING AROUND RULE 1.8

Jack

I ’m camped out on the porch glider, my head tipped back to soak up the sun and my legs stretched out in front of me, when Holly’s car pulls into the parking spot beside the cottage. As she’s getting out of her car, I rise to greet her.

“Miss Jolly,” I say, removing an imaginary hat from my head and sweeping it in front of me.

“Um, hi?”

I plow ahead, committed to my plan, no matter how cringe it might be. And I’m feeling like it might be very, very cringe. I plant myself between her and the door.

She gives me the side-eye. “Did a pile of books fall on your head while you were at the library?”

I smile but stay the course. “No. But I did read something interesting.”

Her gaze darts toward the door. “Why don’t you tell me about it inside—where’s it warm.”

“This’ll only take a minute,” I promise.

She sighs. “Fine. What did you read, Jack?”

“Rule 1.8(j) of The Vermont Rules of Professional Conduct .” She blinks as I continue, “As far as I can tell, we’re prohibited from having a sexual relationship while you’re my lawyer.”

“That’s right,” she chokes out, still stunned.

“But there’s nothing that says we can’t be friends.”

“Friends?” Her eyes narrow. “Like, friends with benefits? That’s definitely not allowed.”

“No, like friends. Friends who are attracted to each other but aren’t going to act on it—for now.”

She blushes, searching my face. “That’s allowed.”

“Friends who might want to see what develops after the representation ends,” I clarify so there’s no confusion.

“What, you want me to wait for you, like you’re going off to war?”

I chuckle. “Wouldn’t you be the one going off to war in this analogy? But, no, I’m proposing a good old-fashioned courtship.”

“Courtship? Like in an Amish romance?”

“I was thinking more along the lines of a Jane Austen novel— Pride and Prejudice or maybe Emma. ”

She feigns fanning herself. “Oh, Mr. Darcy, tell me more.”

I shake my head. "I’m more of a Bingley. Cheerful, optimistic, prone to falling in love at first sight."

“A man who’s actually read Pride and Prejudice,” she murmurs. Then she cocks her head and eyes me from under her long lashes. “Does that make me Jane?”

“That remains to be seen. But you have a strong Lizzy vibe.”

She giggles. “Well, then you’re Darcy after all. But, if memory serves, Elizabeth and Darcy mainly argued.”

“And danced at balls,” I add. “What’s that quote about dancing?”

"To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love,” she supplies. “That was Charles Bingley, though. Not Darcy.”

“Either way. Three holiday events a week seems like the equivalent of a season’s worth of balls to me."

“Wait. Are you serious about this?”

“Completely serious,” I tell her.

She leans against the banister. “What would this courtship look like?”

“It would look like us going to a dozen Christmas events and spending the rest of the time hanging out, getting to know each other. When you aren’t working, of course.”

“While we live together in a one-bedroom cottage.”

“Alternating nights on the couch. I can behave if you can.” I say this with much more certainty than I feel. I can barely stop myself from pulling her into my arms right here, right now. But I manage to resist the impulse.

A slow smile spreads across her plump lips and her blue eyes spark. “Why not?”

“Why not,” I echo as I step aside and open the door for her.