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“Don’t you dare,” she hissed, and I smirked at her.
“If you can’t work as part of a team, you’ll never be partner, not here, not as long as I have a say.” I shrugged. Magda growled at me, smoke all but coming out of her ears.
“You’re a narcissisticbastard,” she said loudly.
“And you’re a high-riding—”
I was cut off by Richard’s voice behind me.
“What in the hell is going on in here?” he demanded to know in a low, even tone. I could tell he was angry, because when he was absolutely seething, he went quiet and calm.
I held up my arms. “Just telling Ms. Riley, here, the truth.”
“He’s being a jerk!” Magda insisted, giving a pleading look to Richard and pouting a little. What was she? A child?
Richard grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the office. “You are an employee here and you need to treat Roarke, your superior, with more respect,” he said to Magda before we exited the door, and I grinned. “Andyou, Roarke. I’m surprised at you.”
My grin faded. Richard was a few years older than me and had been just as much of a big brother to me as myactualbig brother, Liam, had been. So I valued his opinion, and I felt kind of bad that he was upset with me.
“I’m sorry, Richard, but she needed the wake-up call,” I stated. “She needs to grow up and learn to be a team player, or she’ll never be partner.”
“You two need to learn to work together,” he said. “Because I do not want us to lose the Martinez case.”
I nodded. “That was what I was trying to tell Ms. Riley, Richard, so I have no problem with that.” I gave him a sloppy salute and he smiled, shaking his head.
I was still grinning smugly when I got back into my office. At the very least, I’d gotten under her skin, even if Richard was annoyed with me.
MAGDA
So,I had to work with Roarke Brentwood, and there was nothing I could do about it. I had been given thatlook,the one that told me I better get in line, and I could admit that I was being a little childish. I didn’t like Roarke and I didn’t want to work with him, and it made me act immature.
I had to learn to work with him if only for this case, so that I could make partner.
I drove all the way across town for my favorite Chinese food, a place that had amazing eggrolls and fried rice, as well as dumplings and wontons. I didn’t know what Roarke’s favorites were, but I’d seen him with this restaurant’s to-go boxes in conference rooms. He never cleaned up after himself, and when I first started at the office I’d just been a runner for coffee and lunch, so I remembered.
I gritted my teeth as I took lunch to Roarke’s huge office with an amazing view that looked out over the city. I blinked at the huge, glass windows all around the office. I didn’t know if I’d like an office like this. I would either be constantly distracted by the view or terrified I might break a window and fall out at any moment.
His desk was large and full of paperwork, looking messy and disorganized. I fought the urge to wrinkle my nose. His feet were up on his desk and there was a folder in his lap that he was looking down at, his office door open.
“I brought a peace offering,” I said, although my tone came out flatter than I wanted it to.
Roarke grinned. “What is that?”
“Chinese.”
“Did you get eggrolls?” he asked.
I nodded. “Comes with the meal.”
“Then come in,” he said, not even bothering to put his feet down.
I sat down and he instantly took out his eggroll and began to eat it while I spread my napkin in my lap, putting my briefcase next to me.
“So, I’ve been looking into the Martinez case,” I started, and he kept reading, seemingly ignoring me. I huffed out a breath and continued. “I think that there’s an angle since the husband accused the wife of infidelity.”
Roarke looked up at me over his reading glasses, his eyes bright green in the sunlight streaming through the glass windows. “Why? You think we can weasel around why she did it? Say something about how she was driven into the arms of another men?” Roarke flipped through the file. “Twoother men,” he whistled. “She got around.”
I frowned. “No. I don’t think she did it. The husband is just trying to get out of paying alimony.”
