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2
Mr. Parker
“Well,what followed was no fairy tale,” I said. “My husband didn’t want me to go to work, said he’d provide for me like a man should, and I stupidly went along with it. Played the TV housewife as best I could, using my spare time to go to community college for an associate’s degree. He was out of the house at least four nights a week, on the road, which left me with a lot of free time on my hands. Which is where the problems began.”
Holy shit. Was I really telling this man my story?
“What do you mean, problems?” he asked.
“He’d come back to town and accuse me of having a wandering eye, suspecting I was playing around with all the ‘young studs’ on campus,” I said. “Which I was not. I was faithful, even when… when the words turned ugly. And the sick part was, I knewhewas not being faithful. He didn’t even try to hide it—the trips to the ‘massage parlors’ when he was halfway across the country, the strip clubs, you get the picture.”
“I see,” he said.
“In my case, it got physical,” I said, holding my head up. It had taken me a long time to talk about all the shit I’d gone through without feeling ashamed. I’d finally stopped blaming myself. Which was not an easy thing to do.
Mr. Parker looked down at his hands for a moment, shaking his head. “Such a cowardly thing to do.”
I’d heard my ex-husband called a lot of things since that night. Coward wasn’t one of them. But it resonated.
“That’s not how a real man behaves. No man hits his partner. Too many cowards out there in the world. I’m so glad I don’t handle divorce cases. You get exposed to this all day long.”
I held my head up as a reminder that I was stronger now. “Anyway, my husband was put in jail, and thankfully, Dimitri took my case. He was not only good at his job, but kind and generous. But now I have legal bills. A lot of them.”
Mr. Parker laughed softly, and a pleasant shiver went up my spine. Here was this gorgeous man, letting me dump my sorry tale on him, and he was listening to me. Really listening. It was different. And nice.
But he was also my fucking boss. I needed to get off this track. I hadn’t spent much time in the working world, but I was pretty sure talking about your problems with someone you’d met five minutes before was not cool.
“Like I said, Dimitri’s one of the best lawyers I’ve had the pleasure of knowing. He’s one of the good guys,” Mr. Parker said.
“He did his best for me, and made sure I made out as well as possible. But, men in prison, like my husband, don’t have much to offer in the way of alimony. So… here I am.”
“Yeah. Here you are,” he said, tilting his head and studying me. “So, let me give you a quick orientation. Later this morning, you’ll probably have one of our senior clerks or a paralegal come by to give you the rundown on your duties. But basically, you’re going to be a file clerk.”
“The HR person told me that as well.”
As for what a file clerk was, I had no fucking clue.
“I’ll be honest, it’s pretty much as close to entry level as there is. Most of what you’ll be doing is pulling files and typing up verbal or handwritten notes for inclusion in them. It’s tough, tedious work, especially if your typing skills aren’t up to speed.”
“I think I’m okay with regard to that,” I said with pride. “While Dimitri was working on my case, I did some online courses, then medical transcription work. After practicing for a few weeks, I tested very well with my speed and accuracy.”
“Good, real good. Still, I won’t sugarcoat it for you, do you go by Kaitlyn? Or Kait?”
“Either is fine.”
Damn if he didn’t smile at me again, kicking off an inconvenient tingle between my thighs. Thighs that hadn’t been touched in eighteen months… except by me, of course. Thighs that craved the touch of a man opening them wide and turning me to molten glass.
“Great. Kait, here’s the deal. This is a law office, which means we work hard, long hours. All that LA Law, Law & Order crap you might have seen on TV? It’s not so accurate. The pace and stress here is, to put it mildly, a bitch. It will be hard on you at first. For some people, it’s too much. But the pay is very good if you stick with it, and you’ll have plenty of chances to get all the overtime you want.”
“I’m ready. You won’t find me running away from hard work. I’ll do anything you need.”
Oh shit. That sounded bad.
“I’m sure you’ll do your best,” he said, nodding.
I was having trouble seeing this man as a boss. He was so kind and fucking good-looking. Nothing at all like my ex-husband, whose power was more of the wide shouldered, beer bellied, loud mouth sort.
