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“I assure you, Mr. Debroils, that I am just as capable. I have worked on just as many cases as him and I have had more success.” Pride fills my chest as I realize how true that is. “I assure you, I will work hard for you and will ensure that we reach a resolution that suits you.”
He pauses thoughtfully for much too long, only stirring up my dislike for him. If he dares to make any derogatory comments because I’m female and I will flip. I’m just as capable, damn it! I stare at him, glancing over his piercing green eyes, his high cheekbones, his strong shoulders… I suppose he would be very good looking if he wasn’t such as ass.
“Fine,” he finally agrees. “I don’t see that I have any choice, so yeah, let’s do this.”
I part my lips, ready to say something else, when his cell phone blasts out. Without any consideration for me being in the room he grabs it from his pocket and he pulls it out. I can instantly tell from the way that his cheeks pale that it isn’t going to be good news, and I can’t help but wonder if it’s anything to do with the financial mess. I need all the details if I’m going to make this work. I’ve had people hide stuff from me before and it always comes out in the most embarrassing way possible.
“I just need to take this in private,” he tells me quietly. “I’ll be right back.”
As he goes from the room I try to assess how I feel about him, and it isn’t good. He’s arrogant, secretive, and potentially a sleaze. On top of all of that, he’s got his business into a royal mess as well. I don’t know how I’m going to make this work, but somehow, I need to do my best. My future career depends on it.
Chapter Five – Evan
As I end my call, I sigh loudly and I flop my head back against the wall in dismay. When Ally came to me and she told me that it was some female lawyer sent in Grant’s place, I lost it. I went mad and almost ended up ringing Harrison and Associates in temper. It’s just a good thing that Ally calmed me down and told me to just speak with the lawyer before I do anything rash. She doesn’t even know what’s going on, and she spoke wisely. I must thank her later.
Now, I might not be keen on working with someone who isn’t Grant, but I’ll just have to get on with it. There’s nothing I can do about, the time restraints restrict me. I’ll just need to make the best of a bad situation. Apparently, she’s won more cases than Grant anyway, so maybe this will turn out to be a good thing. Who knows, I have to find out anyway, so I might as well be positive.
I gather myself up and I make my way back to my office, preparing myself to face the music as I go, but as I make my way back through the door I’m struck by something else, something I didn’t expect. I was so busy stressing when Katy Atwater walked into my office that I didn’t notice something very important… I didn’t notice how striking beautiful she is. Sure, she tries to hide it under the pant suit that covers up far too much of her body, leaving everything to the imagination, and her natural, make up free face and her scraped back auburn hair, but I can see it. It’s there. She’s gorgeous.
I remain where I am for a moment with the breath stripped from my body. I’m shocked because I’ve never noticed the underneath beauty in someone before, I’m always more fixated on the obvious sexiness in front of me, like with Ally. Even with past relationships, it’s always been the outer beauty that captivated me before anything else had a chance to slip into my focus.
I don’t know what it is about Katy, but I can already tell that for some reason she’s different.
Eventually she sense
s me behind her and she turns to face me. Katy doesn’t seem to sense the new change in my attitude towards her because she looks just as furious as before. I’ve obviously hurt her with my instant dismissal, which is fair enough. I wouldn’t like that either.
“Who was that?” she demands, almost knocking me sideways with her icy coldness. “If that’s something to do with the case then I need to know. If that was anything to do with money…”
“It isn’t,” I reassure her as I move to the other side of my desk to sit in front of her. “It’s personal life stuff. Nothing to do with work at all.” I don’t say nothing I want to get into, but I think the meaning is very clear. The last thing I need right now is to get stuck into personal details with Katy.
“Right,” she drawls slowly. “Because you know that I need total honesty from you, don’t you? I cannot work with you if you don’t give me everything. The only cases that I’ve lost have been because of people lying to me. That’s why I only work with truthful people.”
I gulp, not liking the wart and all look we’re going to have to take over this, but I know it’s what needs to be done if I want to stand a chance in hell of saving my dad’s legacy. I already told myself that I’m not going to be stubborn and that I’ll embrace this. Now I just need to keep myself on the right track by sticking to this promise. “Yes, of course.”
“Right…” As she delves into the introductory speech, the one where she tells me what she knows about me and my issue and what she’s thinking that we should do right now. I can’t resist tuning out her words and focusing only on the movement of her lips. Partly because I don’t want to be reminded again of my short comings and partly because there’s something incredibly beautiful about the way that she moves her mouth. Especially as she’s saying such smart things.
I lean in closer, propping myself onto my elbow, inadvertently flirting with her without even meaning to. I know I probably shouldn’t, this isn’t a woman that’s here in my office for me to fool around with, she’s here on serious business and I need her, but I can’t help myself. It doesn’t seem to matter anyway, because right at the moment where most women would already be leaning back in, getting close enough for me to kiss them if I should so want, Katy seems completely unparsed by me. It’s almost as if I’m not magnetically pulling her in at all which is very strange. I’m not used to it at all. I have to admit that for most of my life, I’ve had women falling at my feet.
Katy doesn’t seem interested in me at all, which only pulls on me harder.
“Yeah, that all sounds great,” I interject in a way that might just be a little bit rude. If it is I don’t mean it to be. “So, that sounds like we’re going to be spending a lot of time together then.”
“Erm, yes.” She gives me an odd look. “I suppose so. Especially in the beginning, until we get all the details together and we draw up all the plans. Why, will that be a problem?”
“No,” I smirk. “No problem at all. Just interested, that’s all.”
In my mind I start imagining dinners, drinks, late nights alone in the room with me, her, the view, and my bottle of Brandy… it’s all very sexy and maybe even a little romantic. Not where I should be letting my mind go at all. I need to reel myself in.
“Good. Right, so I assume that you’ve thought about all your options?”
***
Katy is still on my mind long after she’s left. I keep alternating between the ideas that we’ve discussed when it comes to moving forward and all the work that’s going to entail… and her. It’s not just when she’s sitting in front of me that I’m intrigued by her, it’s now as well. I can’t get her face out of my mind which isn’t like me at all. It isn’t like I’m pining after Ally when I’m not in the office, it’s just when she’s near and it’s convenient.
“Hey, boss.” Speaking of the Devil, Ally wanders into my office. “Have you finished with the boring lawyer woman now?” She rolls her eyes dramatically. “What was all that about?”
I narrow my eyes, a little annoyed that she’s speaking about Katy like that. She doesn’t know her, who is she to say that she’s boring? Then again, I don’t know her either. Maybe she is boring. All I really know is that she’s super clever and very switched on. She knows more about what I need to do than I do, and I’ve been living in this for years. “Business,” I tell her bluntly.
