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“I find you a job that pays the bills AND school and you gift me the absolute stunning collectable Tiffany lamp with the orange and yellow colored dragonfly stained glass—”
“Yeah, yeah, I know what it looks like,” I cut my friend off with a warm laugh. “You describe it like you would a boyfriend. Next you’ll be telling me how it lights you up.”
“I’m just sayin’.”
I heard the teasing in Joy’s words, and it helped dispel the sleepy cobwebs tangling up my limbs.
I kicked the covers aside and slid from bed, heading to the bathroom.
Joy loved the lamp ever since I picked it up at a yard sale. Yeah, I knew what I was buying, given my mother liked the finer things in life and schooled me on the topic every chance she had. The lamp was worth thousands of dollars and I picked it up for less than a latte.
I knew what I was doing when I made the deal with Joy and I would happily hand it over if she managed to help me land the job of a lifetime. That was how much being independent from my father and mother meant to me. Not that they were bad people, but with my father as a prominent lawyer in Los Angeles, I needed to prove I was not a skirt tail rider. If I wanted to be a lawyer as well, I needed to do it all on my own. No daddy and mommy bailouts. I carried my father’s name and that opened doors, sure. Nothing I could do about that, but everything else I wanted I needed to earn on my own merits. Then and only then could I stand elbow to elbow with my old man and have earned his respect.
My mom called me old-fashioned for the way I looked at the world. I just called it practical.
With Joy at my back, reporter journalist extraordinaire, she had her hand and ears open to everything. Nothing slipped by her, and from the chipper tone in her voice I heard, she had something good for me.
“Hit me with the deets again, babe. Whatcha got?”
“I found you a position at a prestigious law firm.”
I came awake a little more. “Oh? Which one?” My brows pinched together. I wasn’t at all opposed to working with another law firm, except there were a few on the no-fly zone if I wanted to keep my father happy.
“Okay, hear me out. Don’t jump before I finish.”
I already didn’t like the sound of this. I leaned a hip against the bathroom sink and scrunched my nose in the mirror. My major case of bedhead and tired blue eyes stared back at me.
“Morre & Sloan,” Joy blurted out and rushed on before I could get in myhell noorno waythat sat on the tip of my tongue.
“I know the Morre & Sloan’s firm is your father’s rival but you’re going to have to cut some of your own red tape if you want to get out from under your daddy paying your schooling.”
Rival didn’t begin to describe the feud the firm had with my dad’s. But their troubles were not mine and Joy had a point.
“Wait till you hear what they pay,” she continued. “I hear Sloan is wanting someone so bad he’s willing to pay twice the normal salary. Only catch is you work his hours. Tell me eight grand a month won’t be enough. Did I deliver or what?”
I smiled into the phone. Eight grand was more than enough! “That doesn’t sound too bad. I’m sure I can work something out with Sloan and the school.” My problem was money, rent and tuition due in a little under three weeks. I wanted to be able to walk through my father's door and tell him he didn’t have to fork over a check before that time rolled around.
Besides, there were a lot of Connors in LA. Who said Ihadto be that Connor?
I flipped the shower on.
“What time is the interview?”
Chapter Four
Grayson
Istabbed my intercom button.
“Trish, my office is going to swallow me whole. Can I get some help back here? You can tell Morre I’ll pay your overtime for a month if she’ll let you come in here and fix this mess. I can’t even find the file for the Robin and Matthews case and I’m due in court in an hour.”
My fingers dug into the wood of my desk and I slammed my fist down so hard the framed law degrees on my wall behind me trembled.
I needed to cool it. Especially before walking into court. Contracts were my specialty and when they involved multimillion-dollar deals I loved them even more. Hashing out a breach of contract and getting into the trenches with fellow colleagues and smashing wit against wit was where the excitement lay for me. I didn’t have time to train a new girl on how I liked my coffee, how to organize my files or learn my clients' cases right alongside me.
I needed someone who could jump in the deep end and swim on their own.
“Sorry, I’m about to lose my mind here. Don’t mean to sound like an ass.”
