Holiday Naughty: My Alpha Bad Boy Client

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The author and publishers of this book have
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Copyright 2015 -
Rebecca Lee

“
You know I'd love to see you and uncle
Mike and all the cousins too,” I said, lying like crazy.

“
You work too hard and there is more to
life,” mom said. “You know, you are a beautiful successful young
woman. But there is no man in your life. I was....”

“
I know mom: “married at age twenty”,”
I said now mostly tuning her out because I'd heard it all before.
“But what does my having or not having a boyfriend have to do with
anything?”

“
Having someone in your life balances
you. Work is only work. Money is only money. It's not why we are
here,” she said. “But I guess I used to think like you when I was
younger too.”

“
Hey, I thought you loved dad?!” I shot
back at her playfully.”But now you are saying it was for the
money?”

“
Naawwww” she responded with that
Florida panhandle drawl. “It was because of you. I'll give him
credit. He at least took care of his responsibility at that
stage.”

“
Anyway, mama I have to go,” I said,
noticing the scurry of little legs through the glass under the half
drawn blinds on the windows to my office. “If I don't get going,
I'll have work next Christmas too. Billable hours. That's the legal
business.”

“
Bye Bethy,” she said
cheerfully.

I hung up the phone and readied myself for
what was to come. Dealing with the children was the easy part. I
should have been an elementary school teacher. Except the pay was
lousy and I didn't want to be just another woman trolling around
looking for a successful man to take care of me.

Becoming a lawyer said something to the world
and the pay said even more.

I sat up in my chair, grabbed my hand held
recorder, and began dictating correspondence. I didn't get the
first sentence completed when the chaos of tiny feet came
scampering into my office.

Little Andy and even littler Amy came flying
into my office.

“
Aunt Bethy!”

“
There's my kids!”

They both hugged me warmly around my legs. My
eyes quickly averted to the door and the imminent arrival of
Shawna, their mother.

“
Hey Beth. What's up?” she said
entering the room behind her excited kids. “Not work anymore most
likely?”

Shawna was the perfect mom. Of that I had no
doubt. She actually was a former elementary teacher herself. Hit
the jackpot when she married a powerful partner like Andrew
Kincaid.

We got along great and that fact gave me a
lot of comfort. We both had the “southern girl” thing going on. She
was from Alabama just across the state line from the panhandle. She
still had the accent while mine was all but “lawyered” out of
me.

“
Any big plans for the holidays?” She
asked, rounding her children up and nudging them back out the door.
“Going back home?”

“
Ask your husband.”

Oh. That sounded weird. Or maybe it just
sounded weird to me.

“
He works all of you too much.
Especially young talented associates like you,” she responded
without hesitation.

“
Talented? He said that?”

“
Not just talented. The most talented,”
Shawna said like she was my proud mom.

I didn't say anything, but did a lips pursed
together smile. I felt pride but at the same time the whole moment
was just not right to hear that.

“
You've worked hard to get where you
are at Beth,” she said. “I have inside knowledge here. Andrew will
take care of you. He's the number one man and he has the old guy's
ear.”

“
Thank you Shawna. Thank you for
putting my mind at ease. I'll have fun at Christmas. Don't worry
about that. But if Andrew needs me, how could I saw no?”

When I finished I felt the air suck into my
chest abruptly. Like I was told by a doctor to hold my breath.

“
Merry Christmas Beth,” she said
turning to chase down Andy and Amy who were jumping around the
secretarial area, laughing and screaming.

I nodded my head and gave her a smile and a
wave.

I knew my Christmas was not likely to be fun
in the traditional sense. But I was going to make damn sure it was
productive in advancing my position at the firm.

*

Even though it was a week before Christmas,
it was steamy, warm, and humid in West Palm Beach.

The old guy and his dress codes. Even on a
Friday, for the women it was a dress below the knees with nylons or
dress pants. And forget any shoes with open toes. That's what
Oliver Brundidge wanted for his firm and that's what he got. Three
Hundred Sixty Five Days a year.

But dressing like that was so damn
uncomfortable when the weather was humid. Being south Florida, it
seemed like it was like that every day.

My skin itched and pricked on my ass, legs,
even my feet. I'd given up. After twenty four months of practice
and thousands of dollars invested in trying different business
clothing, I accepted that being comfortable at work was
impossible.

To make that Friday worse, the conversation
was also dragging. It was Friday and it was nearly six. The place
had cleared out like a herd of cattle at five thirty sharp. Just
like every day.

Most of the staff displayed more effort in
their exit then they had in doing their jobs during those few weeks
leading up to Christmas.

“
So I hit opposing counsel with
interrogatories just inside the pre-trial deadline. That will teach
them to try to rush to trial before we've had a chance to talk to
everyone in the family business.”

David was always looking to make things hard
on the other side in the estate cases we worked. He was damn good
at it too. Normally I would have been all in wanting, to trade my
own war stories.

But I had my limits.

David was my best friend at the firm by quite
a bit. He was a brilliant young lawyer. But he always tried a
little too hard to get my attention. Especially for a guy I knew
had a girlfriend and for a guy I never had any interest in.

Sure, I dated guys who I wasn't feeling it
for. All the time.

But David couldn't advance my career one bit.
So I had nothing to gain by letting us become more than friends. It
all started to get tiresome. The way he'd always come to my office,
plop down in the chair across from me and occupy my time.

“
So what's up after work?”

I paused and tried to think up an answer that
would have kept me from having to reveal anything. But also I
wanted him to leave without hinting he'd like to hang out
socially.

He was an attractive guy as guys went. But
there were plenty of them out there. He just didn't ever do
anything to make me feel attracted to him. I know he thought I
should have been into him because we had the legal profession in
common.

But I just wasn't interested.

“
I have got a ton of work to hit my
hours requirement for the year. I had so many cases where I had to
slash my bill,” I said.

It was total crap. I was the top billing
associate in the office by a mile.

“
Oh,” he said, clearly
disappointed.

“
You and Emily doing anything for the
holiday?”

He squirmed in his chair.

I was sure if I mentioned his plain jane
girlfriend, he would leave.

“
I want someone I can talk about my
career with. Someone who understands the pressure we are under,” he
said. “Emily wasn't the one.”

It was a pathetic attempt at a lie. When he
said it, he couldn't even look me in the eye. But I really could
have cared less if he was telling the truth or not.

As lonely I was for large chunks of time, I
wasn't ever going to get on my back for a guy who wouldn't come out
and tell me what he wanted.

In the end, the “friend” thing seemed like
his game to get in my pants.

My patience with him was at an end.

Thankfully, I got a sudden reprieve from the
conversation going any further

Andrew was striding around the corner toward
my office with a file in his hand. Since I was the only one left
besides David and I was Andrew's lead associate, I knew he'd get
rid of David for me.

He was the most prestigious and accomplished
working partner at the firm and the heir apparent to the old man
Mr. Brundidge. He was also the husband to sweet southern belle
Shawna and their two perfect kids. He was barely forty and already
a millionaire.

He'd gotten there by insane work ethic
coupled with incomparable brilliance. I soaked in his presence
every chance I got. And I was confident no one in the firm got more
chances than me.

“
Ms. Frey, can I get a moment? I have
to get your explanation on a couple aspects of the Windgate
Estate.”

David always kissed his ass like nobody's
business. When he heard Andrew's voice, he scurried out the door
without another word to me. He threw out a general “I have to knock
out some more discovery,” when he got up from the chair wanting to
make sure Andrew was aware how hard he was working.

With David gone, Andrew looked down at me,
his reading glasses perched on his nose. I didn't know what to
expect. I never did with him.

I picked at my mac and cheese and fought back
the worst feeling in the world: boredom

“
You have any more Mellow
Yellow?”

“
Mister West, I don't mean to pry but
this isn't like you. Eating junk food to this level. Are you ok
sir?”

“
Martin, don't worry yourself. I
appreciate your concern. I do,” I responded before gulping at least
a half can of the sugary yellow soda. “All this prosperity has made
me soft. It's boring the hell out of me.”

“
I understand sir. You have never been
one to sit idle,” he responded. “But don't you think because you
came from money, you would be at peace with it? Additionally, I
know that you do so much for people who need help who weren't as
blessed as you.”

“
Well that stays between us. I know you
know that. I don't want people to know all about that stuff. I hate
attention for things we all should be doing anyway. At least rich
people like me. We shouldn't need publicity to do
right.”

He spooned me one more large bowl of the
boxed Kraft comfort food and laid out another piece of bread and
butter.

I caught a smile from him as I kept wolfing
down my food.

“
Sir I know your mother would be very
proud of you.”

“
Funny,” I said, pausing to swallow
more food that was keeping me from speaking clearly. “I never once
got that sense. It was always about what was wrong with what I was
doing. It was always about what I wasn't. Except of course when
they wanted to parade me in front of people.”