by T Gephart
“Hey.” Alex cracked open his driver’s side door and stepped out, his beaming smile present despite the early hour of the morning.
My eyes washing over him like a tsunami, following every curve of his incredible body wrapped in a suit that was possibly stitched by angels. Casual Alex was hot, but suit-wearing Alex needed a warning label and fire extinguisher. He was sexy as hell, bending the laws of physics in such a dirty way that would make Albert Einstein blush.
“What are you doing here?” I didn’t move closer, gripping my phone as I ogled him from my place on the sidewalk.
For all he knew my wide-eyed expression and lack of movement was caused by surprise, which was partially true. The other reason was I still couldn’t get used to seeing Alex as a man who made me want to touch myself. To think we’d slept in the same bed so many times when we were younger.
Girlfriend, I reminded myself.
“Our mothers.” He rose a brow as he walked over to me when it was clear moving wasn’t on my agenda. “Not sure whether it was yours or mine, but between you leaving my mom’s on Saturday and yesterday afternoon, they chatted. Heard you were going to be getting a ride this morning because you didn’t want to deal with the bus on your first day.” He stood in front of me but didn’t touch. “So, here is your ride.” His hand casually waved to his waiting car.
First of all, the wave was the only thing casual about him and it had nothing to do with his suit. The laid back attitude had taken a backseat, and in its place was all business. Ironic how I hadn’t been able to imagine him as a lawyer before, but at that moment, there was no place I could picture him other than a courtroom.
Okay, maybe there was one other place.
My hand waved my phone while I tried to ignore the intoxicating scent of his cologne and the sexiness radiating off his body. I was all ready to tell him that I was about to call an Uber and his help wasn’t required. But when I went to open my mouth and execute the argument I’d prepared, I found I no longer wanted to give it. Instead, had some other things to say.
“I don’t remember you always doing what your mother told you.” I put my hand down, tossing my phone into my bag.
He didn’t break eye contact. “She didn’t tell me to do anything. I’m here because I want to be, not out of some obligation.”
“Good, because I don’t want obligation,” I fired back, taking care to moderate my tone.
I wasn’t sure if it was because I was inappropriately turned on, annoyed he had a girlfriend and hadn’t told me, or if it was because our mothers were playing puppet masters, but my emotions were all over the place.
His chin tipped toward the car still parked at the curb. “And you’ll get none from me.”
“Fine.” I strode past him, not having the time or inclination to argue. I still had to get to work and if driving me gave him some warped sense of pleasure then so be it.
I opened the car door, slipping into the passenger seat while he walked around to his side. Both of us buckled in and ready with neither of us saying a word. He started the ignition and drove, a small smile creeping on his lips. “You always this feisty in the morning?”
“Yes,” I deadpanned, trying to stop my lips from doing the same.
He laughed. “Well then, my morning drives are going to be interesting.”
“Wait a minute.” I turned to face him. “You’re not driving me every morning.”
He chuckled, enjoying himself at my expense. “Jesus, Maya. Have you checked out the location of our firms? Palmer and Loft is around the corner from Young, McMillian and Walker. So I figured we could drive together until you get your own car.”
“You figured huh?” I rolled my eyes, wondering if he was even going to bother asking or turn up on my doorstep every morning. “Thanks for the offer but in addition to obligation, I don’t want to take advantage of you either.”
Sure it would be great to have a ride, it would save me dealing with the Los Angeles transit system and not to mention some cash. Would mean I’d get my set of wheels a lot sooner.
But.
“Advantage? Really?” He laughed. “For a second back there I thought I was going to have to beg you to get into the car.”
I rolled my eyes. “You wouldn’t have begged. It’s not in your repertoire.” I was fairly sure I’d never seen Alex beg for anything. Cajoled—sure, charmed—definitely, begged—never.
“Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. Guess you’ll have to find out.” He winked before returning his eyes back to the road.
And that’s when the silence hit, and not the comfortable kind where no one has to fill the space either. It was tense, the weight of the quiet hanging between us like a pair of wrinkly old testicles no one wanted to acknowledge.
“So, how was your drink on Saturday night? You have fun?”
He was the first to speak, rolling his head to the side while we were stopped at a light. His lips were pressed into a hard line, an eyebrow rose as he waited for my response.
“Yeah, it was great,” I lied, not willing to admit it had been dinner and I’d been by myself. But what would have been my reason for leaving his mom’s if I hadn’t had plans? Yeah, a drink with my fictional friend was definitely the better option. “How was dinner?”
His smile returned as he leaned toward me.
Shit, why was he moving closer? My heartbeat quickened as he brought that hot, sexy body closer to me, the Lord testing me in a way I wasn’t ready for on a Monday morning after only one coffee.
“It was excellent.” His arm moved behind my seat, bringing his mouth inches from mine. “And since you missed out, I got you a little something to remember it by.”
He was so close, his sexy man scent right there as I remained still, waiting for the surprise. Didn’t even know if I should want it, but I did, curious what he had stashed behind the seat and why he wanted to give it to me.
The light had changed with cars moving in front of us, his arm and the rest of him shifting back as he pulled away from me and took his delicious body with him. In his hand was a wine bottle, angled towards me as he grinned.
“You stole another bottle of wine?” My eyes widened as my gaze dropped to the contraband. “I thought you took one a month, and you already got one last weekend.”
“I was feeling inspired. I was hoping to have had a coconspirator, but you bailed early. So, I had to take one for the team. Take it.” He waved the bottle in his hand. “Might as well, you’re already an accessory after the fact, you should enjoy the spoils as well.”
I snatched the bottle, shaking my head as I read the label. His latest lift was a white from Napa. “You sure you don’t want to take it home to replenish your supply of hijacked alcohol?”
“Nope, I got it for you. You can owe me.”
“How do you figure I owe you? I didn’t ask you to take it, so realistically, I am helping you by disposing of the evidence. If anything, you owe me.” I had to admit while I wasn’t please with his wine-stealing habit, it had managed to break the weird tension between us. I guess sometimes, crime does pay.
I placed the precious bottle down by my feet, deciding to leave it in the car for safekeeping.
His smirk widened. “You’re right. I do owe you, so you should let me take you out to dinner as a thank you.”
Was he joking?
It was one thing for us to share dinner before I knew he was in a relationship—or whatever it was he was calling it—with a leggy blond with an 80’s glam wardrobe. But it was something else to go when I had seen the evidence with my own two eyes.
“What about Astrid? She cool with you going out to dinner with other women?” I asked, because I wasn’t going to pretend I hadn’t put two and two together.
He shook his head, biting his lip as he tried to hide the smile. “So you did leave because of her.”
I had no idea why the hell he thought that any of it was funny, the urge to shove him too great as I reached out and punched him in the arm. Lightly, of course,
he still had his hands on the steering wheel and I didn’t want to die on day one of my new job. “No, I left because you didn’t tell me about her. A girlfriend is something I’d assume you’d have mentioned.”
“Girlfriend?” He laughed, even more amused despite my annoyance. “Astrid is a lot of things, but she is not and has never been my girlfriend.”
I scoffed, seriously not believing he’d become one of those guys. “Does she know that? Think you might want to let her in on your secret because her behavior seems to indicate otherwise.”
“Listen, she has lived next door to my mother for the last three years. We’re friends, we aren’t in a relationship. She likes to pretend it’s more than that, but it isn’t. She is just in “love” with my family, you know what my mom is like. When she found out Astrid was on her own, she took her under her wing and Astrid loves the idea of having people around her who care. I just happen to be the only single one around. Trust me, if Nick was still available it would have been him. In fact, it was him up until he got married.”
Well then.
Guess Astrid and I had something in common. Who knew? Not that I blamed her, the Larsson family was easy to fall in love with. And as for moving from Nick to Alex . . . yeah, I wasn’t touching that at all.
“I assumed.” I shrugged.
He rolled his eyes, not nearly mad enough considering. “Yeah, I figured. Maybe next time just ask me, okay?”
“I didn’t feel like it was any of my business.” Vulnerability wasn’t something I was used to showing, especially not recently. But with Alex, it seemed to come naturally, to let down my defenses even after all that time. “Look, I don’t expect you to tell me everything about your life but there are things that just . . .” I stopped, trying to find the right words. “I just don’t think I could deal with it if you turned out to be a lying asshole like—”
“Your dad,” he finished for me. “I get it, Maya. And I’m not. Not saying I’m perfect, but I’m not ever going to lie to you.”
His eyes shone with the same sincerity they’d always had, and deep down I knew I could trust him.
“Jesus,” I cursed under my breath, shaking my head. “I swear I’m not some basket case with daddy issues.” Or at least I hoped I wasn’t.
He just laughed, shifting his eyes back to the road. “Well, let’s discuss it over dinner just to be sure.”
I didn’t argue, no longer feeling like I had a valid excuse to say no. I wanted to go to dinner with him, and now that I knew he wasn’t involved with Astrid, it made it that much easier to say yes. “Fine, I could probably use someone to help me decompress after my first day anyway.”
“Oh, so now you’re using me?” He chuckled, shooting those perfect blue eyes in my direction.
“Yep, now I’m using you.” I eased back into the seat, and for the first time since slipping into his car, relaxing a little.
A little, still slightly on edge at the thought of making small talk right before heading into work. While some people loved chatting in an effort to help them relax, I preferred to let things roll around in my head and go through a million scenarios instead. And since I had no idea what it was going to be like at my new law firm, I needed to flip through alternates in my thoughts. Which was why I prayed Alex didn’t suddenly feel the need to discuss the weather or the some other bullshit I didn’t have the mental capacity to concentrate on.
Like he read my mind, he didn’t ask any more questions. Instead choosing to turn up the stereo and tapping his hand on the steering wheel as we made our way through the traffic.
By the time we’d pulled up to a stop, we’d barely said anything else. My head craned back as my eyes looked over the grey high-rise.
“I’m round the corner.” Alex left the car idling as my hand went to the door handle. “Call me if you need anything.”
I turned, giving him a final smile before stepping out. “Thanks, I’ll see you later.”
And with as much confidence as I could muster, I pushed my shoulders back and walked to the front door. I didn’t need to turn around to know he was watching me, I could feel the weight of his stare. Not that I had time to work out why. Nope, I had more important things to worry about, and with one foot in front of the other, I headed right through the door that would hopefully change my life.
“WE HAVE A HOT DESK situation, just take which ever cubical is open, but make sure you take your laptop and stuff when you leave. You aren’t assigned to any one senior associate, so work will come in from different sources depending on what needs done. Unless there’s a big case, and then you might be asked to work alongside someone.”
Leah Throne seemed like she could talk while barely taking a breath. She’d been with me all morning, showing me the ropes and taking care of my induction. Most of the associates had come in straight after graduation and had been there awhile, but some had already decided to move on—read, couldn’t handle it—so they needed to replenish their supply. Add fresh meat. I was one of three new faces, the other two both guys who’d graduated from Harvard.
“Any questions?” Leah spun around, making sure to connect with each of us before waiting exactly three point five seconds and moving on. “Good, there’s a kitchenette down the hall for tea and coffee but make sure you wash your own dishes, there’s no maid service here. There are some energy bars and snacks in the cupboard as well so feel free to help yourself if you’re working through lunch. No one is a preschooler here so take your break when it’s most convenient, just make sure someone is aware in case we’re looking for you, and you’re not checking out when you’re on a tight deadline. Sound good?”
One.
Two.
Three.
“Great, let’s move on.”
Eyes followed us as we moved through the hall, accompanied by either polite smiles or impassive indifference. I could tell at least a few of the staff had wagers on how long we were going to last, their calculating gazes not going unnoticed as we took the elevator back to the lower level. It’s where they “penned” us, the concentration of cubicles and desks not unlike most law offices in America.
And with a folder each, and another brief pause, Leah Thorne left us to find a desk and wait for someone to “give us assignments.”
“She’s a hell of a trial lawyer.” One of the new guys, Mike, leaned in and whispered, tipping his chin to a departing Leah. “I can’t believe they’ve got her showing us around.”
“Well, they aren’t going to trust us to just anyone. Only the best for the best will do.” Harvard graduate number two, Stefan, winked.
It would be easy to dismiss Stefan as arrogant, but it was exactly the kind of attitude that had gotten him through the doors in the first place. Questionable self-esteem had no place where we were, it was either be great or fake it so much you convince everyone including yourself.
I dropped my purse on the closest desk and slid my company-provided laptop out of its bag. “You’re both right. Leah is fantastic in the courtroom, but is also head of the associates as well. They want us to shine, and they aren’t going to risk that to an office manager who doesn’t know what it’s like to be where we are.”
Stefan took the desk closest to me while Mike grabbed one three cubicles over. The place was full of activity, men and women too busy with files or computer screens to concern themselves with the new kids. They looked up sure, but no one really made an effort to come over and introduce themselves. It was like the first day of a new school all over again; only this time I didn’t care what they thought. I was too excited to worry about the court of popular opinion.
“Yale?” Stefan asked, watching as I continued to unpack.
I stopped, placing my phone on top of my laptop as I turned to him. “How did you guess?”
“It’s a gift.” He laughed. “I once convinced my neighbors I was like that TV guy who can connect with the dead. I’m just really good at picking up cues and reading people.” He reached across and picked up my coffee mug t
hat I’d placed on my desk, ready for my first cup. “And the Blue State Coffee cup is a total giveaway. More like a study hall for you guys, wasn’t it?”
“Something like that.” I looked at the cup in his hands, the same cup that had been with me through every midterm, exam and test since I’d started at Yale. “I’m originally from L.A. though.”
His brow rose as the smile spread. “Me too. Tarzana. My folks still live there. You?”
“Encino,” I answered, not used to needing to be so specific.
“Wow, we were practically neighbors. See, I knew there was a reason I liked you.” He grinned, pleased to have found a connection.
I was just about to tell him I didn’t live there anymore when Mike wandered back over. “You guys already forming an alliance? You aren’t muscling me out that easily.”
“We’re just chatting, dude.” Stefan leaned back in his chair. “You shouldn’t look so scared though, lawyers can smell fear.”
“Yeah, well I won’t be now you’ve included me in your circle of newbies.” Mike grinned. “Now, tell me what you guys have been “chatting” about.”
Stefan was just about to open his mouth when a senior associate handed us folders with our assignments for the day. All three of us were on research duty, banished to the paperwork hell to crosscheck and review case studies to be used by other attorneys.
There was a pecking order, and it was going to be a while before any of us saw any real action. Though it did mean we got to work in the records department and library. Our “hot desks” abandoned as we camped in the windowless room under the glow of artificial light.
“So, your parents still live in Encino?” Stefan asked, our earlier conversation of being neighbors not forgotten.
“No, my parents are divorced. I moved to Nevada with my mother when I was sixteen.” I’d delivered the sanitized explanation so many times I didn’t even blink as it spilled from my lips.
I had no doubt the real version would eventually come out, but I wasn’t shining a spotlight on it any sooner than I needed to.
