KEPT: A Second Chance Fairy Tale (18 page)

Letting go of my body’s reaction to her close proximity, I state, “I’m hoping to settle their divorce without a judge making decisions for them, if it’s possible.”

“That’s good,” she replies quietly. Seemingly, she’s gotten herself together. “I e-mailed a list of family therapists to Mrs. Lehman already. I hope that helps.”

“It does. Thank you.”

“Too bad I won’t be spanked, though,” she quips without warning. I feel my body tighten with her suggestion. Before I can counter it, she adds, “Or gagged. I had high hopes for that.”

Sitting back in my chair, having enough of this for one day, I turn to face her. “Are you finished?”

“Yep,” she answers swiftly. “All done.”

“Good. So we can work?”

“Sure,” she agrees, then continues. “I’m sorry about dinner. You don’t need to take me to lunch, though. It’s really okay.”

Keeping my concentration on the screen, aimlessly searching through various pages of my calendar, not knowing exactly what I’m looking for, I accuse, “You’re lying. And that’s okay, but you’re going.”

“My mom
could
be sick,” she comments. “She could even have chicken pox. You wouldn’t know.” Still not looking at her, I stay quiet to let her dig herself in deeper. It takes about three seconds before she does. “She’s had this cough for, like, a week,” she tells me, and I fight not to laugh.

She’s ridiculous.

“She could have a fever, too. I could show up for dinner and give it to you. It’d be–”

Finally deciding I can’t take any more, I turn my head to face her again. “Can you stop talking?”

“What?”

“You didn’t like when I laughed at you, then told you about it later. I’m guessing you won’t be any happier if I laugh at you now.”

“What’s funny?” she asks, her tone defensive.

Gesturing to my desk, I avoid her question. “Can we work?”

Lucy shrugs, pops a sucker in her mouth, and uses her tongue to position it to the side. “We can, if that’s what you want.”

“It is,” I confirm, looking at her while remembering the way her mouth tasted. “And you’re going to dinner, so tell your mom to pick up some imaginary cold medicine for her imaginary illness.”

“I’m not going,” she states again. I hear the pop of the sucker coming out of her mouth, but I refuse to look.

“Then you’re having lunch with me. Alone. Choose, Lucy, but I’ll remind you that tomorrow night your favorite person, Corbin, will be there. Today, he won’t.”

She concedes with a gasp. “I’ll call Mom during lunch and ask her for tomorrow.”

“Good girl.”

I swear I hear her nearly growl.

A few peaceful moments pass before she inquires, “Can I ask you something?”

“Is it going to annoy me?”

“No.”

“Is it going to piss me off?”

“More than usual?” she questions.

“Will it?”

“No,” she answers.

“Will it make me want to shut you up?” Her eyes grow wide, so I give her the permission she needs to continue. “Ask away.”

After a brief pause, she starts, “I just wondered if you…”

She stops. I don’t look her way as I prod, “What?”

“I was wondering if you ever felt something for any of your clients.”

Her question doesn’t surprise me. During law school, I used to wonder if lawyers were immune to the sordid details within their cases.

“Felt something?”

“For your clients, or even people in general.”

Finally giving in, I sit back and turn my chair in her direction, my knee grazing hers. “If you’re asking do I want good things for people in Jeremy’s position, the answer is yes. But I’m not paid to dwell on their circumstances. I have eighteen active clients who are all in the same boat.”

Lucy nods in understanding, removing the sucker and holding it in her hand. “What about people?”

“People?”

“Do you date?”

After what happened in my office yesterday, I inquire, “Should you be asking me this?”

Her answer is defiant. “I just did, so you should answer.”

Aware that she’s not dated anyone recently, I ask, “Do you?”

“I asked you first.”

“I date.”

Her eyebrows raise, her nose scrunching slightly. It would help my concentration if she’d stop doing that, but I’m sure it’s too much to ask.

“You date Ashlie?”

“Yes. Ashlie.”

I turn back to my work, assuming her interrogation about my personal life is over.

However, of course, I find I’m wrong. “Have you always dated models?”

“No. I used to date young, nosy, posturing assistants until they wore me out. I started dating models after that.”

Lucy’s laugh bursts out and the sound reverberates in my chest. “Well, there you go.”

“You asked,” I remind her.

Quickly, her expression turns serious. “Am I going to be fired for what happened yesterday?”

“From your job? No,” I tell her. “From posturing? Yes.”

“Shortest acting job I ever had,” she mumbles to herself without shame.

I respond, not letting her attempt to dodge dinner go away. “Are you not counting the ‘my mom is sick’ performance you gave five minutes ago?”

I hear her scoff as I turn back around and attempt to finally focus.

Over the next hour, we manage to sort our way through the calendar without issue. Lillie would be proud of both of us.

When my cell phone rings and I make a move to answer it, Lucy reaches over and stops me. Her warm hand covering mine isn’t helping to hold back the visions I still have of her ass being reddened under my hand. And now I’ve added today and that goddamn sucker. I pull my hand back as we both sit in silence and watch as it goes to voicemail.

“Sorry,” she says quietly. “I just thought we were in a meeting.”

“It’s fine,” I confirm. “I think we’re done for this morning anyway.”

She starts to gather her things, but stops to ask, “How old are you?”

“Old enough. Why?”

She shrugs, lifts her pile of folders, and starts to scoot the chair back. “Just wondering. You’re a tough read.”

“Maybe I don’t want to be anyone’s open book.”

“It’d be a short one anyway,” she throws back, adding a dramatic eye roll. Changing the subject, she brings us full circle to where we were when she came in. “If I ask my mom to watch Dillon, where’s dinner tomorrow?”

“The Italian Bistro on Third Avenue at seven.”

“I’ve never been there,” she tells me. “Aside from all the lawyers I terrorize in my free time, I don’t really go to dinner much.”

I shake my head. “Do you ever find it tiring to be so sarcastic?”

“Not at all. Why?” she answers promptly.

“No reason. Go find something to do and let me work.”

Lucy grins and turns around. Before she’s made it to the door, a very pissed-off Ashlie enters. She stops short of Lucy, and I can see she has her talons out and ready.

“Lucy,” she sneers.

Lucy doesn’t say anything, but her head turns and her eyes come to mine. She’s not pleading for help. Instead, I sense she’s asking permission. I’m just afraid to know for what.

“Ashlie,” I address. “What are you doing here?”

Ashlie doesn’t spare me a glance. Instead, she keeps her glare on Lucy and demands, “Bottled water in a glass, no ice.”

I roll my eyes and wait.

And wait.

And wait some more.

Until it finally comes.

Lucy straightens her pose, securing the files in front of her, and happily announces, “We just had our morning refreshments. Thanks for offering, though.”

Ashlie’s mouth falls open and, before shit gets out of hand, I call to Lucy, “Hold my calls. I’ll be five minutes.”

Lucy side-steps Ashlie, who stands still while glaring at me with narrowed eyes. She doesn’t see Lucy behind her, mirroring her pissed-off pose. It’s hard not to smile in reaction, but I somehow manage not to. I haven’t returned any of Ashlie’s calls since she left Lillie’s party weeks ago, so the conversation we are about to have probably won’t be an easy one.

“Lucy,” I call again. “Shut the door on your way out.”

“Yes, bossman,” she replies. “See ya, Ash.”

Ashlie’s too pissed to respond, but before Lucy makes her way out of the office, I call for her attention. When she turns around and looks at me, I tell her, “I’m thirty-four.”

Lucy

“S
O, LOOK AT YOU. YOU
survived your first month,” Corbin announces, raising his glass in my direction. “I wasn’t sure you would.”

“Oh, Corbin, please. Give her some credit. She’s doing great,” Lillie chimes in.

When I found out Lillie was going to be joining us, I was ecstatic. Even after working with the guys for a month, I’ve come to realize how much I still rely on her to show me things only Michael or Corbin know how to work. They’re aware of the calls I make to Lillie when I’m in a jam, but they’ve not said anything. Not to mention it’s been good to see her again.

All through dinner, Corbin and Lillie have been the mediators to Michael’s and my exchange in the form of chastising comments. He’s found it necessary to make fun of me the way he does, giving the others something to laugh about. It hasn’t upset me, but made me realize that even when I think he’s been ignoring me, he really hasn’t missed a thing.

I chance a quick glance at Michael seated beside me at our round table. I’m not sure if I’m looking at him to acknowledge Lillie’s compliments or to interrupt them. I really hate being under the microscope.

When Michael doesn’t concur, Corbin steps in. “I heard what happened with Jeremy Lehman. I saw the e-mail his mother sent thanking Michael for what you did.”

The day after Mrs. Lehman left our office, Michael told me he’d received an e-mail thanking him for having me there. She said she was surprised at Jeremy’s reaction in the meeting, and as soon as she had a list of family counselors, she was going to call to get her son an appointment.

I brush off Corbin’s compliment, looking down at my nearly empty plate. “It wasn’t that big of a deal. He needed someone to focus on him for a change, let him say what he was thinking.”

“Lucy?” Michael breaks into the conversation for the first time. “It
was
a big deal. You did well.”

I look at him and offer only a small smile, which he reciprocates. It feels as though his dark eyes are pinning me to my chair, making it as if the others have fallen away. My gaze drops to his lips. I can’t help but feel a tingle in my own, remembering how his tasted.

I need to stop, but can’t.

Michael’s presence has not so slowly, but certainly, become everything. When I’m not with him, I’m
thinking
of being with him. Even while his usual moody disposition threatens to break the small glimpses of who I think he is, I still wait to see more.

Lillie interrupts, and I immediately move my focus to her. “Michael tells me you’re also completely up to speed on taking care of his schedule.”

Corbin and Lillie turn their gaze to Michael, an odd expression blanketing both their faces. When I look over to see what they’re concentrating on, I find Michael has kept his focus on me. I also note his arm is draped across the back of my chair as he casually relaxes in his.

My heart beats frantically in my chest as I feel the effects all over. The warmth from his attention spreads throughout my face, the heat rushing to the surface.

Thankfully, Corbin steps in. “Say thank you, Lucy,” he prods.

Looking down, I straighten the napkin on my lap. “Thanks.”

“I ate so much pasta, it’s made me sleepy,” Lillie claims; however, I noted she talked more than she ate during dinner. “I need to get home. I’ll leave you all to the after-dinner festivities.”

Corbin throws me a knowing smirk while nodding at my glass. I’ve already indulged in a few ‘festivities’. I’m on my fourth glass of wine, but I’m unsure if it’s because I’m enjoying the taste, or I’m using it to aid my anxiety about sitting so close to Michael. Since our kiss, followed by the conversation in his office regarding how it can never happen again, I’m understandably apprehensive.

“You never were much fun at these employee dinners,” Corbin ribs Lillie as she starts to gather her purse.

Lillie scoffs at his comment, then drops her attention from Corbin and asks, “Lucy, do you need a ride home?”

“No, I took a cab. I’ll take one back.”

“That’s so expensive!” she cries. She starts to stand and places her hand on Corbin’s shoulder. “See that you give her a ride home, will you?”

Immediately, Michael interferes with her request. “Corbin’s got a date after this, Lil.”

“What the hell?” Corbin snaps. “How’d you know?”

Casually, Michael states, “Because you’ve been checking your watch every five minutes for the last thirty.”

I decide to interject in order to smooth the challenge. “It’s no big deal. I planned on taking a taxi.”

“No, Lucy. You’re good,” Corbin says. “Mike can take you.”

Corbin and Michael exchange a look, saying nothing. They don’t need to. Whatever they’re
not
saying is enough to keep both Lillie and me quiet.

After enough silence, I turn to Michael, noting his blank expression. “It really is okay,” I say.

Ignoring my reassurance, Corbin starts to stand. Lillie smiles at me as he crosses the distance between us and places his hand on my shoulder. “Seriously, though. Great job, Lucy.”