Then the unthinkable happened.
A tear ran down her cheek. She laughed in embarrassment and wiped it away. “Sorry. I just keep thinking”—she looked down at her hands—“how we’ve wasted so much time.” She glanced up at him. “Why didn’t you ever say anything?”
The tear totally did him in. J.D. got down on one knee before her. “I know, Payton—I wish I could go back, I wish I could take it all back.” He wiped the tear from her cheek. “But I’m saying it now. Don’t tell me it’s too late.”
Suddenly there was a knock, and Ben’s voice called through the door. “Payton? J.D.? Is everything okay in there? This is extremely unusual.”
J.D. watched as the door handle turned. He heard Ben call to someone in the hallway. “Call maintenance. Find out if they have a key to this door.”
Realizing he was running out of time, he turned back to Payton. “You were right when you said that this partnership decision would divide us. Letting the firm choose will never work—we’re both too proud for our own good. That’s why I’m resigning.”
Payton shook her head. “Too proud or not, I don’t want to make partner that way.”
“I know. So instead . . . I was hoping you’d want to come with me.”
Her eyes went wide at the suggestion. She bit her lip anxiously. “I really don’t know that I could do that, J.D.”
There was another knock at the door, firmer this time. “All right you two—I’d like you to open this door. Whatever this is, it’s getting ridiculous.”
J.D. held her gaze. “We can do this, Payton. We don’t have to let them separate us—that was their decision, not ours. The best part of this job is that I got to spend every day with you. I don’t want to lose that.”
“What are you saying, that we try to go somewhere else? Do you really think we could find a place that would take us both on as partners?”
“Yes. Our place. I want us to start our own practice.”
Payton laughed. “That’s ridiculous.”
J.D. shook his head. “No, it’s not. Just look at the Gibson’s case—we work great together. And do you honestly want to go someplace that’s going to be more of the same thing? The same lifestyle? The same hours? Wouldn’t you rather work for yourself and control your own schedule? Maybe even be able to take a vacation for once?”
“Sure—those things all sound great. But it’s too big of a risk,” Payton said.
“Is it really? You and I are pretty damn good lawyers. Starting our own firm is probably the smartest move we could make.”
Another knock. By this point, Ben sounded extremely pissed as he shouted through the door. “I just thought I should let you two know that a maintenance man is on his way up to open this door.”
J.D. turned back. “We’re out of time, Payton. You said it yourself: the only way we’ll make it is for us to go into this together. I know we can do this. But I need you to believe it. You need to believe . . . in us.”
Payton didn’t say anything for a long moment, and J.D. could literally hear his heart beating.
Then she finally answered.
“It would have to be called Kendall and Jameson.”
It took J.D. a moment to catch on. Then he grinned. “No way. Jameson and Kendall. It’s alphabetical.”
“You told our boss that you banged me on top of your desk.”
“Kendall and Jameson sounds great.”
Payton smiled, victorious.
“So we’re really going to do this?” J.D. asked.
She stuck out her hand. “Should we shake on it?”
He took Payton’s hand and stood up, pulling her with him. “I want to hear you say it, Payton. Are we really going to do this?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“Good. Then you should know that starting today, I never, ever want to spend another day without you.”
Payton’s expression changed, and the lighthearted smile turned into something deeper. She moved closer to J.D., taking his hands in hers.
“Done,” she said softly.
J.D. brought his hand to her face and kissed her, more gently than ever before, more lingering, because for the first time he felt absolutely nothing hanging over their heads, nothing standing between them. They had all the time in the world to themselves.
Except for the angry man banging incessantly on the door, that is.
And the crowd of at least a hundred people waiting impatiently in the hallway outside.
With all the rumblings coming from the other side of the door, Payton pulled back. “I think we should probably go out there.”
J.D. grinned slyly. “Actually, there’s something I’d like to do first.”
“Is that so?” she asked. “Oh, I see . . . did the empty desk give you some ideas?”
“Just so I have a sense, how long is that going to be held against me?”
“Longer than a day, I can tell you that.” But she sweetened it with a smile.
“Well, your mind may be in the gutter, but I had been thinking of something else.” J.D. pulled his cell phone out of his suit jacket pocket and scrolled through to find a number. He held out the phone to show her. “What do you think?”
Payton looked at the number on the screen. “If we do that, there’s no turning back.”
“I know.”
She grinned. “I really like the way you think, J. D. Jameson. Let’s do it.”