The Rules Of Attraction

by Khardine Gray

  He was in the living room, standing by the window shuffling his weight from one leg to the other while he spoke on the phone.

  I couldn’t help but look at him and admire his incredible physique while his back was turned to me.

  Serious muscle bulged over his arms which he’d displayed in the white tank top he wore. It showed off the perfect V cut of his abs.

  My eyes next went to his jogging pants and the way his ass looked in them.

  I’d never really gotten the whole looking at anyone’s ass thing until I met him. He made me want to look.

  I also loved the athletic definition in his legs, and conjured up the image of what the muscles looked like beneath the clothes. And all his tattoos.

  I couldn’t believe that I actually knew what he looked like, everywhere. What I could see, and what I couldn’t from where his clothes covered. I had those parts stored away in my memory.

  “You know I might get the wrong idea if you continue to stand there checking me out.” He suddenly spoke and turned around.

  Heat prickled my cheeks and I knew they would color in a matter of nanoseconds at my obvious blushing.

  He turned around and faced me, lowering the phone.

  “I thought you were on the phone.”

  “Can’t get through, “ he smiled that dazzling smile that showed off his perfect, straight, white teeth. In the bright sunlight his face lit up even more and his hair looked lighter.

  I didn’t think it was possible for the man to look any better than he already did, but seemed like I was proven wrong, and it didn’t help that he was giving me that obvious, completely overt look of sex.

  That was the best way I could describe it. The look looked like sex.

  I’d never come across anyone who was so open about sex before and did nothing to hide their intentions or thoughts. I thought Eilesh was bad but Alex was something else.

  “Good sleep?”

  “Really good.” I offered him a smile. “Thank you, for everything, and a massive thanks for the clothes, and shoes, but I can’t take them. It’s too much. Far too much. As obsessed as I am with shoes , I can’t take them.” I shook my head.

  “If you’re obsessed you have to take them, plus this is one thing I’m not taking no for an answer on. You need clothes and shoes.”

  “Alex they are all designer things. God, how much did you spend? At least let me pay you back.” I had the feeling that I would spend the year doing that, but I still had to offer.

  He moved over to me, stopped just in front of me and reached for the ends of my ponytail that hung down the side of my left shoulder.

  Closeness. It lulled me into the captivation of him just like it first did at the club.

  “No, think of it as your uniform.” The scent of his woodland aftershave surrounded me, and his presence… was too much. Everything about him reached into me and I found my nipples pebbling just from him twisting the ends of my hair around his thumb and his heated gaze.

  I pulled in a steady breath to clear my head and regain some of my composure.

  “You bought me lingerie. That is not uniform for a law firm.”

  “Since when?” He smirked with that cocky smile. Eyes flickering with sin.

  “Since always.” I informed him.

  Closer, he leaned in closer and I didn’t have the instinct to move away.

  “Did you try it on?”

  “No.”

  “You should have, babe, and kept the bra on. You can’t walk around with pointed nipples, looking aroused if you don’t want me to get the wrong idea.”

  To my horror his eyes landed on my breasts and lingered over my said pointed nipples.

  I jumped back and covered myself.

  All he did was laugh.

  “It’s not funny.” I was appalled at myself and my stupid body.

  “It kind of is, baby,” he chuckled and stepped back to lean against the back of the sofa.

  “How is it funny?” I retorted.

  “I’m not going into details for fear that you may leave.” He shook his head.

  “What details? No one talks like you, as if we’re talking about food.”

  “Angel, stop please,” he held up his hands. “I’m conjuring the image of me eating you in the purely sexual sense. Let’s talk about something else.”

  God, this was going to be impossible.

  “What time is it, and is the office open on Saturdays?”

  I thought I could go in and maybe set up my desk for Monday.

  He laughed again. “What time do you think it is?”

  I looked around for a clock and couldn’t see one. Outside was bright, like when the first rays of sunshine beamed in the morning.

  “Seven-ish.”

  “It’s three pm. Office closes at noon on a Saturday and we don’t encourage working on weekends unless if there’s an absolute necessity”

  “What!” My hands flew up to my cheeks. “Why’d you let me sleep all day?”

  He walked over to me, took my hand and led me over to sit in the softness of the beige leather sofa.

  Alex sat opposite me and smiled.

  “You needed to sleep so I let you. You were stressed out, exhausted and needed a break. I’ve already paid you for the month. How about we just take a few minutes to get to know each other.”

  All I could do is stare at him.

  He called me angel but so far he’d acted like the guardian angel taking care of me and treating me to no end.

  Again, it was too much.

  “Alex, I haven’t even started working yet. You shouldn’t have paid me, and for a month?”

  We were already into the second week of April and I understood from the contract that at Sullivan’s you got paid per calendar month.

  “Don’t think you have to stay because I paid you. That’s just how I roll. The other stuff can be sorted with HR.”

  “But you paid me for a month.” I pointed out, feeling like it was all too much again.

  “Summer, forgive me if I step over the line in asking you this. I would hate to insult you in anyway at all. But, do you need the money?” It was the first time since I’d met him that he looked serious.

  My dad had always taught me to never look or act like I needed money, even when I was desperate like I was now. Acting like I was fine would give me the upper hand, even if I had to starve like I had been. However, something told me I could be honest with Alex.

  I thought for a prolonged moment, holding his gaze that was filled with concern. “Yes.”

  “Okay, so stop pointing out that I paid you and just be happy I did. There’s no problem. I got some keys cut for you, and everything will be set up at the office for your workstation here and there by Monday. You can use my office here for whatever you need. And you can work from home when you need to, except on court days.”

  Yup, he’d switched to serious mode, which I quite liked.

  “That sounds great.” I nodded. “Thank you.”

  “Stop thanking me, you might think I’m an asshole after your first week with me.”

  “Why?” I couldn’t imagine thinking that.

  Okay, admittedly he was too cocky for me. Definitely too cocky, and confident, in a way that threw me off kilter.

  But, at the same time I found the combo interesting.

  “I need my PA’s to bounce ideas on. We work together contrary to my father’s beliefs.”

  “What does your father believe?”

  “That I sleep with my PA’s.” He chuckled.

  I landed myself in that one. “Oh. Aside from me, is that what you do?”

  I probably shouldn’t have asked. It was a personal question and none of my business. My brain didn’t register that though before I said the words.

  His smile widened. “Not always.”

  “Okay. So people will assume we’re sleeping together?” I stifled a mental groan.

  “I don’t care what people think. Neither should you. No one should waste time w
orrying over what others think. It stops you from doing what you want.”

  “Noted, we don’t care what people think.” I’d try this. It would be weird to go back to being told what to do and not taking the lead or having my input on a case, but I’d do it. “What’s our work list like.”

  “We have a number of cases. One big one that will take up a lot of time. Seriously a lot. The others are small fry.”

  “What’s the big one about?” Of course I was interested to know.

  “Pause.”

  “Pause? What do you mean?”

  “We don’t know each other. I hate talking about work on Saturdays.”

  “But I want to know about the case.” I insisted.

  “I’ll tell you after you tell me about yourself.”

  I sighed. God how did I do this? “I’m from Ohio, and …”

  I used to like introducing myself and telling people I’d studied and excelled at George Town. I loved reeling off all the places I’d worked at but I couldn’t do that here, with him. He’d wonder what the hell I was doing working as a PA, and that would lead to more questions.

  “That all, angel? You’re from Ohio.” He raised a brow at me. “What about family, what do you like, what you don’t like?”

  “My dad died a few months ago. I have cousins and an aunt and uncle, but we’re not close.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that.” Concern filled his fine features. “ Are …you okay?”

  “I try to take one day at a time.” That was probably more than I’d said to anyone in months about the grief I still felt over my father.

  “Yeah, I felt like that when my grandfather died. I was close to him, and people tell me I’m a lot like him, so he’s to blame for my craziness.”

  I smiled at that. “Really?”

  “Yes, apparently the crazy gene skips a generation and goes to the second born son. My grandfather from my mom’s side was a fighter pilot in WW2. He got a medal of honor for singlehandedly rescuing a team that had been captured while on a mission.”

  “Wow.” I was definitely intrigued. “That’s really cool.”

  “Yeah, I thought so too. He used to tell me all his stories, and taught me how to fly a plane.”

  “You can fly a plane?” Now that was something truly impressive.

  He nodded. “I have a Cessna.”

  “My gosh.” The man had a plane, an actual plane. I’d never met anyone wealthy enough to own their own plane. It was cool, and this little talk of ours was distracting in a good way.

  “What did your dad do?”

  “He owned a restaurant. People used to come from all over to taste his food. He had these amazing recipes that no one had ever heard of. Most of them were my mother’s.” I was simply talking, just giving information but not really thinking.

  “Did they run the restaurant together?”

  I lived my life for so long looking at pictures of my mom that sometimes she felt alive to me.

  “Yeah. Before I was born. I didn’t really know her. She died when I was three.”

  “Oh God, I’m sorry. I’m prying now.” His brows lowered.

  “No, no. It’s general questions. She had an undiagnosed heart condition. There wasn’t anything anyone could have done. I think I remember her smile, maybe. It’s… something.”

  The look of sympathy on his face was so evident I had to say something.

  “Please don’t look like that.” I said with a little smile.

  “Like what?”

  “Sad. I’m okay. I’m just having a rough time getting myself up and running.” I wished not having parents was my only problem. There was so much more that added to my depressed state. It just felt like because so much was happening that it was everything rolled into one.

  “Well, I can help you with that. I hope.”

  “You have. A lot.” I saw a flicker of desire in his eyes and I knew he was thinking about the night we had together. “Chicago seems like a nice place.” I said quickly to keep the mood light.

  “It is. Lots to do here.”

  “That’s exactly what Eilesh said. When she told me about the job. I figured I’d come here for a fresh start.”

  “You sound like you know her outside of business.” He narrowed his eyes.

  “I do,” I thought for a moment and came up with the perfect excuse for everything. One that would allow me to have some form of clear conscience while I was here. “We met in college.”

  “Eilesh went to George Town.” He stated, then continued with curious eyes. “You went to Georgetown?”

  “I’m… a civil litigation lawyer.” It felt so good to say that.

  “Well hell.” He chuckled. Then the smile that crept up his face made me confused me. I wasn’t sure if he didn’t believe me, or if he was actually amused.

  Some people didn’t believe me when I told them I was an attorney, the common argument I’d had to contend with was I didn’t look the part.

  “What? What’s funny?”

  “Attraction.”

  There was that word again. His explanation for everything, but I was kind of starting to believe it. Coincidence was too meager a word to describe how we’d been thrown together.

  “Attraction?” I echoed. I wasn’t ready to show him I’d accept his theory yet.

  “Yes. Have another explanation? We meet at a night club, knowing nothing about each other. Then it just happens to turn out that I’m the boss of the job you left me to get to, and we’re both lawyers.”

  “It’s a strange occurrence.”

  “It is what it is.” He held my gaze for a few long seconds before talking again. I could literally see the interest peaking in his mind and geared myself up for more questions. “Why the PA job? I’d hate that, plus I don’t follow orders very well.”

  “It’s manageable right now.” Here was the excuse I’d thought up. I didn’t have to tell him about Ashfords, or where I’d previously worked. I also felt comfortable with what I’d said so far. “It’s manageable while I find my feet again. I didn’t want something too stressful.”

  That wasn’t far from the truth either, but it was a truth I hadn’t quite acknowledged.

  When Eilesh and I were talking about this job, she thought it would be good for me to ease myself back into something that wouldn’t be too demanding.

  “I get it.”

  “I do hope to have my own firm one day though. That’s the goal.” Sure maybe in another hundred or so years, or in another life at this rate. It was still my goal though, no matter how long it took. I didn’t want to lose sight of that, it was the thing that kept me going through everything from way back when. Every time I went to work for someone new I thought of how it would enrich my own experience and add to the skill set I’d need to run my own place.

  “That’s really cool.”

  “I like doing things my own way too much. It’s great to work for someone, but there gets to a point when you see better ways of doing things. More efficient.” I’d gotten to that stage at Ashfords. Honestly if things hadn’t ended so badly, I would have probably looked to get the wheels in motion sometime this year to get my own firm. That would have been in LA.

  “I agree.” He nodded and seemed to be thinking about something. “Did you work in Ohio?”

  This was the part that I had to gloss over and conveniently skip over the two years of my life that I spent at Ashfords.

  “No, I never worked in Ohio. I did my internship at the Washington branch of Silvermans the minute I finished college.”

  “You got into Silvermans?” he raised a surprised brow and looked truly impressed.

  “Yes.”

  “Damn.”

  Silvermans was one of the hardest firms to get into for anything. They took on exactly six interns per year, and your recruitment with them would have started from the end of your freshmen year of college. They did a summer scheme and if you didn’t get into that you could forget about ever applying to do anything with them.


  I’d gotten into the summer scheme twice, and by the time I graduated I practically had a desk there waiting for me. They wanted to keep me on after my internship, but I had my eyes on LA. I stayed for a year and then headed out for bigger fish.

  “After Silvermans I went to LA and worked at Gold and Thorpe.”

  Hearing that he brought his hand to his chin.

  “Gold and Thorpe? My old college professor ran the training program there.” He straightened up.

  “Eli Parker?” I threw in recalling the wiry looking man who was very eccentric in his behavior. He had that kind of personality you couldn’t forget.

  “Yes.” Alex’s eyes sparkled with interest. “Wow, angel, are you sure a PA position is what you need? That’s some solid experience you have there.”

  If only he knew. I would have given anything to go back to any of those firms. Sadly, after the Ashfords disaster neither had gotten back to me when I reapplied. I felt that they didn’t want to flat out reject me because I worked there before and left on really good terms. Not hearing back was simply that. It left it to me to take their non-response in whatever way I wanted.

  “Yes, I think I’ll be okay.” I lied.

  “Well, now that I know I’ll be treating you like an equal, and not just like a PA.”

  “Oh no, I would never expect you to do that.” I smiled.

  “I don’t think that I could treat you any less after hearing all that experience. I’ve never met anyone who got into Silvermans, and Gold and Thorpe is on the same level. They take the best. I know what it’s like to be bossed around doing something your hearts not into, I’m not about that.”

  “Thank you.” I appreciated it, and it did make me feel a bit better.

  “So hey, I still don’t know what you like and don’t like.” He pointed out. “Law can’t be the only thing in your world.”

  It was nice that he wanted to know more about me. “I like shoes.” I offered.

  “Oh yes, you’re obsessed.” His eyes crinkled.

  “I’m twenty eight and still I go absolutely crazy over a great pair of shoes like a teenager. I love shopping too, love Italian food, and despise lamb chops.”

  “How can you despise lamb chops. They taste great.” He chuckled looking at me askance.

  I shook my head. “It’s awful, and smells bad like the lambs still alive.”