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“Divorce isn’t really my area of expertise.”
“As a junior associate, your job is to take whatever cases are assigned to you without complaint. Sometimes they’ll be within your area of expertise”—sarcasm was thick in his tone as he repeated my phrase back to me—“and other times they won’t.”
“Understood, Sir.”
He ran a hand over the top of his closely cropped blond hair. “Look,” he sighed. “As much as my soon-to-be ex-wife will make me out to be heartless, I’m not. Yates is damn good at what he does, and this will be a good learning experience for you. Some might even look at it as an opportunity to prove yourself to two named partners in the firm—an opportunity given to you much earlier than any other junior associate, since you’ve only been with us a short time.”
It was clear that his mind was already made up, and there would be no getting out of this. “You’re absolutely right, Sir. I promise I’ll do whatever I can to help get you the best divorce settlement possible.”
I quickly regretted my choice of words when his gaze slid from my face and down my body.
“I think you’ll be more help than you realize.” I suppressed a shudder at the masculine appreciation in his eyes when he finished his perusal and met my gaze again. “My wife is out for my blood, and she hired a shark in her attempt to get it. And, having you on my side of the table is going to make her unhappy. Very unhappy.”
He sounded damn cheerful about it, too. Considering the fact that we had just discussed my inexperience with divorce cases and the way he’d checked me out, I was going to hazard a guess that he was hoping I would make his wife feel insecure. What an ass. “A shark, Sir?”
“Opposing counsel used to work here,” he sneered. “He was pissed when I was named partner before him and left to join another firm. Since then, he’s been a thorn in our side, which my wife damn well knew when she went to him for representation.”
Great, so both parties were making decisions about their legal representation based on what would piss the other one off.
“I see,” I murmured.
“You’ll meet him yourself in a little more than an hour.”
An hour? “I will?”
“Yes, my wife is coming in for a deposition at nine.” I didn’t do a good job at hiding my surprise, and he noticed. “Yates will handle it, but we expect you to sit in.”
“Of course, Sir.”
“If there’s anything time sensitive on your desk, let me know and I’ll reassign it to another associate. I expect you’ll be busy getting up to date on my case for the next few days, at the very least.”
I spent the next hour doing as he’d asked, going through everything on my desk. I handed several files over to other associates and wrapped up a couple more by the time my phone rang and I was instructed to head to the firm’s largest conference room. It wasn’t the usual location for a deposition because of its size, but it was the best one we had. From the way Mr. Warren had talked about his wife’s lawyer, it was possible the choice of location had been made as some sort of pissing match.
Although it initially made me roll my eyes, I was grateful for the size of the room when I walked in and spotted opposing counsel seated at the end of the long conference table on the side of the room. The shark who was out for my boss’s blood was someone with whom I was intimately familiar. He was the man whom I’d reluctantly left this morning, after he’d fully demonstrated exactly how he expected me to kiss him—Jax Croix.
Our eyes met and I was caught in his intense regard, though his expression remained neutral. I was barely able to tear mine away from him as I walked the length of the room to take a seat next to Mr. Yates. It wasn’t easy to pull myself together, but I’d managed to wipe the stunned expression from my face when he introduced me to Jax and Mrs. Warren. She lifted her surgically perfected chin and glared down her equally fake nose at me. When she shifted in her seat, moving a little closer to Jax, I balled my hands into fists to avoid clawing her eyes out.
I needed to get control of myself. With a deep breath, I averted my gaze, but I could feel the heat of his stare and it made my skin tingle. It was a damn good thing I wasn’t the one asking the questions during the deposition, because it was incredibly difficult for me to take notes while my mind reeled at the revelation that Jax used to work for Smith, Yates, and Warren. If he’d left the firm the way Mr. Yates explained, and fought many cases against us, he damn well should have mentioned it when I told him where I worked.
An hour later, I had pages of notes. I was in possession of more information than I ever wanted to know about any of my bosses. Or my co-workers. Or anyone I knew. What I didn’t have was any idea of how I was going to proceed with Jax. My heart was telling me to figure out a way to continue my relationship with him, but my head was telling me to get out as quickly as I could or else I’d risk losing my job.
I watched him walk out of the room, with his blonde bitch-of-a-client next to him, and I wanted nothing more than to yank her hand off his arm. Mr. Yates and I followed them to the reception area, and I bit my tongue the whole way there. It was neither the time nor the place to have it out with Jax. And even if it was, I wasn’t ready for the kind of discussion we needed to have. But as his eyes met mine before the elevator doors closed, I knew by the gleam in them that he wasn’t going to give me long—not with him looking at me like he owned me and didn’t give a damn who saw him doing it.
6
Jax
“That went well, I think,” Andrea Warren simpered from beside me as we stepped out into the afternoon sunshine. “Shall we go for drinks and celebrate, Jax?”
I shook off her claws from where they were gripping my arm and suppressed the desire to shudder. This case was already the bane of my existence, but it had just become a shit-storm of epic proportions.
“My apologies, Mrs. Warren,” I said in my most professional tone. “I have appointments and need to return to the office. Can I drop you off somewhere?”
Her collagen enhanced lips turned down, as much as they could considering her face muscles were practically frozen, in her attempt to pout. “How about you drop me at your place so I can be there to greet you with a drink and much less clothing?”
My balls shriveled at the thought of anyone other than Natalie waiting for me at home. “I’m afraid my girlfriend might have a problem with that.” I wasn’t sure Natalie would agree with the label at just that moment, but I’d make it clear her choices were limited. She would either be girlfriend, fiancée, or wife. Eventually, she’d go through all three titles anyway.
Andrea sighed. “Another time, I suppose.”
Seriously? Not a snowball’s chance in hell, woman.
I sent a quick text to my driver and within seconds he glided to a stop at the curb. I held the door open for her but to my utter relief, she waved me off.
“I’m going to stay downtown and do some shopping.”
“Excellent idea,” I agreed with my most charming, fake smile. “My secretary will call you with the date and time of Mr. Warren’s deposition.” Without waiting for her response, I climbed into the back of the black Mercedes and slammed the door. I didn’t bother holding off the shudder this time.
Dipping my finger into my suit pocket, I retrieved my cell phone a
nd called my partner.
“Isaac Harvey,” he answered gruffly.
“You owe me big time for this,” I growled. “I feel like I need a shower after that meeting.”
There was a beat of uncomfortable silence before Isaac sighed. “I know, I know,” he mumbled guiltily.
Isaac’s wife was Andrea’s much younger half-sister. I loved Eden, she was an absolute doll, unlike her succubus of a sister. But, she was also only twenty and had gone against her father’s wishes when she married Isaac, who was thirteen years older than her.
In an attempt to garner goodwill with the patriarch of the family, Eden had pleaded with Isaac to take on Andrea’s divorce. After one appointment, he begged me to take over as lead council. Knowing what she was like, it wasn’t too hard to imagine her finding a way to cause trouble between Isaac and Eden, so I agreed.
“Eden and I want to make it up to you,” he said suddenly. “How about you bring the new girl—”
“Forget it,” I snapped. “As if it weren’t enough just to have to deal with the woman, I’m now completely fucked with Natalie.”
“Why would—”
“She works for Smith, Yates & Warren.”
“Shit . . . yeah, but—”
“And, they put her on Warren’s divorce case.”
I waited for his reaction but was met with silence.
“Isaac?” I pulled my phone away to confirm I hadn’t dropped the call. “Hello?”
“Oh, is it my turn to speak?” he drawled.
“Your debt to me just keeps getting longer, asshole.”
Isaac chuckled, the dipshit, and I clenched my phone a little tighter.
“Is she worth it?” he asked simply.
“Without doubt,” I confirmed.
“Then do what it takes. We’ll deal with any fall out if or when it happens.”
I didn’t need his permission, but it lessened my stress knowing I had it. Isaac would walk through the fires of hell for his wife and all he needed to know before backing me, was if Natalie was my Eden. That was a resounding, fuck yes.
