Legally Yours (9 page)

Matt rushed forward, catching her by the arm
before she could turn tail and run.

“Jules, you have to believe me. It's not what
you think.”

“Oh please, is that the best you can do? I
couldn't have written this script any better if you paid me.”

“Look, I know you're pissed,” he said, his
voice taking on that placating tone that she'd heard him use on
witnesses in depositions. How could she have been such a dumbass?
"I don't blame you, but it has nothing to do with us. As soon as we
started seeing each other...”

“Seeing each other? Great use of euphemism
there, Matt. Why don't we just call it what it is. Fucking. Because
that's what we've been doing. Well, you were fucking me
over
. And fucking me. Isn't that ironic?”

She started to laugh, and could hear the
strident tone in her voice, but could do nothing to stop
herself.

“Don't say that!” Matt grabbed her by the
arms. “Don't talk about us that way. You make it sound tawdry. Like
I was sleeping with you to get information. And you know that's not
true.”

“Isn't it? I thought that's what you and old
Mitchell were just talking about. I can just imagine what you guys
said before I got here. Did he give you an 'atta boy? Did you tell
him how you offered to let me practice on you? God, I must be the
only woman on earth to fall for that one. You must have called him
up that first night and told him you'd hit the jackpot.”

When she wrenched back to remove herself from
his grip, Matt threw up his hands and let her go.

“I can't believe you're saying all this. Are
you really that pissed off at me because of this afternoon?”

“This has nothing to do with this
afternoon.”

“Doesn't it?” he countered, pacing back and
forth in the narrow hallway like a caged tiger. “I knew you were
going to be tough to convince that we could turn this thing between
us into something real. But I thought if I was patient, and if I
didn't press you too hard, you might be persuaded to try a long
distance relationship.”

“Oh right. Like I'm going to fall for that,”
she snorted. “You don't respect me. If you respected me, you
wouldn't have made me feel like shit this afternoon for not
finishing law school.”

“I wasn't trying to make you feel bad for not
finishing school. I was trying to make you see that you could do it
now. That you're just too afraid to take the leap and do it.”

“I am not afraid. I am being practical. Law
school costs money. And some of us don't have family money to pay
our way everywhere.”

“Ah, now we're getting somewhere. This isn't
about you being pissed that I kept my real purpose for being here a
secret. You're pissed because of some oversized chip on your
shoulder about being a paralegal who grew up poor. Well, I'm sorry.
Do you want me to go back in time and give up my family? Cause I
can't do that! And I can't do anything to take back the fact that
your parents died leaving you with so much responsibility. My god,
Julie! Do you think I don't appreciate how hard it must have been
for you to give up your whole life to take care of your sister? Do
you think I don't admire the hell out of you for what you did?
You're the strongest fucking person I've ever met.”

“But I'm not!” she almost yelled. “I'm not
strong at all. I did what I did because I had no choice. And this
isn't about me. It's about you and your choice. You didn't have to
sleep with me to get information. You didn't have to use your looks
and your prowess to convince me to tell you about the firm. I would
have told you without all of that. But no, Matt Ellis has to be the
stud. Hell, you probably thought you were killing two birds with
one stone. Get the information about who was leaking secrets to
Albright and at the same time do your good deed for the year by
pity-fucking poor little Julie Streeter.”

“For the last time, that's not what it was
like. At all.”

“No, then how was it, stud? Why don't you
tell me.” Her voice broke. The first burst of her rage replaced now
by a deadness that she felt spreading through her body. Like a
virus that numbed her to everything but her profound disappointment
in the man standing before her.

Finally given the opportunity to have his
say, Matt ran his hands through his hair, as if struggling to come
up with the perfect line. Typical manipulative asshole, Julie
thought.

“Look, I know what this looks like. I know
what my conversation with Mitchell sounded like. But it's not what
it seems. I came down here, yes, to see who was leaking information
about our cases to the Albright firm. I admit that. And yes, I
suspected at first that it was one of the paralegals. Maybe even
you. But, Julie, I hadn't talked to you above five minutes before I
realized that it wasn't in you to sabotage a client like that.”

“How so?”

“Do you remember that first time Clay
introduced us? What an asshole he was and how he was so careful to
let me know that you weren't a lawyer? Well, you would have been
well within your rights to tell him to get his own damn coffee. But
you aren't like that. You aren't vindictive. And you aren't
underhanded. If you're pissed at someone, you either tell them or
you let it go. And that time you let it go. You brought us our
coffee like he hadn't said anything. And you were pissed. I could
tell. But you handled the whole thing with grace. With calm.

“I can read people. You'll say that's so I
can manipulate them. But really it's just because I learned how to
do it when I was a kid. When I didn't know what kind of mood my mom
would be in when I got home from school. You pick up tiny details.
If she'd cleaned up the kitchen then it would be an okay day. If
she hadn't then it was likely she'd spend the afternoon with the
bottle. You learn pretty fast. You would no more betray this law
firm than you would betray your sister. It's just not in you.”

She thought about what he'd just said. “Then
why did you sleep with me, if not to ply me with questions in the
heat of passion?”

“Are you really that naive? Are you really so
unaware of your attractiveness that you would think the only way a
man would go to bed with you is if he wants to wheedle corporate
secrets from you?”

“God, you make it sound like a spy
novel.”

“No,
you
make it sound like a spy
novel. Jesus Christ, woman, when you walk into the room my dick
wakes up like a divvying rod in search of water. I've spent so much
time with my jacket over my lap in the past two weeks that half the
office probably thinks I wet myself every time I go to the
john.”

“That's just biology,” Julie scoffed. “It has
nothing to do with the brain. Or the heart.”

“
Then why does it only happen to me
when I’m around you?” he demanded, stepping closer. “Why are you
the only woman who’s ever been able to get under my skin like
this?”

***

Matt couldn't believe this was happening.
He'd fucked up. Big time. Not only had his failure to let Julie
know about the leak earlier made her doubt his sincerity, but he'd
managed to ruin the one good thing to come out of this whole stupid
business—their relationship.

“I did not seduce you to get information from
you,” he continued, reaching out to touch her cheek. “I seduced you
because I've wanted you from the first moment we met all those
years ago in law school. I seduced you because you’re smart and
funny and sexy as hell. I seduced you because I had no choice in
the matter. It’s not biology that makes me hard every time I see
you, Julie.”

“I don't have to listen to this,” she
snapped, turning away from him and stalking to the elevator.

He raced after her, but was stopped when Clay
stepped out of his office.

“What's going on out here?” the other man
demanded. “I heard shouting. Was that Julie?”

Matt wasn't Clay's biggest fan on the best of
days. Now? He wanted to punch him in the face.

“Mind your own damn business, Clay,” he
snapped, trying to get around him.

“Anything that happens in this office is my
business, Ellis.” The shorter man pulled himself up to his full
height. “Especially anything that has to do with Julie
Streeter.”

“What, so in addition to ordering her around
in the office, you're going to oversee her personal life too?” Matt
stifled a laugh. “I think you've mistaken your job here, Parchman.
You're her boss, not her slave master.”

“What the hell do you know about it?”
Parchman's face was turning red. He obviously was not quite as
adept at taking flak as he was at dishing it out. “You think you
can come down here from corporate and tell us how to treat our
staff? Sorry, pal. We're local counsel on the case, not a
subsidiary division of RFG. “

“No,” Matt agreed. “But I do get to tell you
when you're fucking up a case. And boy howdy are you doing a
stellar job of it on all the Albright cases.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“I'm talking about the fact that someone from
this firm has been feeding Albright privileged information from
RFG's internal documents. Documents that could very well see to it
that RFG ends up paying out millions to every Albright client in
the Southeast. And that could be used in other cases to nail RFG to
the wall. “

The look on Parchman's face told Matt clearly
that whoever the leaker was, it wasn't him. Damn it. He would have
enjoyed bringing Parchman up on ethics violations.

“So that's why you've been here?” Clay shook
his head, dumfounded. “We thought you were here to monitor our
billable hours. Jesus.”

“Nope.” Matt said. “We've known about the
leaks for a few months. I thought maybe if I came down here and was
able to watch you guys in action I'd be able to get a feel for your
team. And see who was the most likely suspect.”

“
I could have told you that,” Clay said
with a frown. “Chip Gordon’s secretary, Judy, is dating one of the
partners at Albright. She’s probably your leak.”

Damn it! Matt bit back a groan of disgust.
He’s gone about this whole business totally wrong. His
self-loathing was interrupted by the other man, however.

“So that's why you've been sniffing around
Streeter?” Clay snorted with disbelief. “Man, you’re stronger than
I am. I wouldn’t touch that bi…”

Matt snapped.

His fist met Clay's nose with a satisfying
crunch of breaking cartilage.

“If I ever hear any disrespect from you about
her again, I will annihilate you,” he growled, standing over Clay,
who had been taken by surprise, and fallen backwards squarely on
his substantial ass. “In fact. Why don't you stop talking about her
all together. It will be better for your health.”

“Jesus Christ,” Parchman said, trying to stem
the tide of blood flowing from his nose with an ineffectual hand.
“You're a lunatic. I'm going to call security and have you thrown
out of the building.”

“No you aren't, Clay,” said David from behind
him. “You're an asshole. And you treat all of the staff like shit.
You've had that one coming for a long time.”

He turned to Matt. “Thanks for sticking up
for Streeter. She needs someone to watch her back.”

Goddamn it. Julie. Matt had planned to go
after her when she stormed off, but he'd been diverted by Clay.
Maybe if he ran he could catch up to her.

“She's already gone, man,” David said,
hauling Clay to his feet. “But it's Friday so she's probably headed
home. I'll take care of Parchman.”

With a nod of thanks, Matt grabbed his coat
and his keys, and raced down nine flights of stairs to the parking
garage. He had to catch her and make her believe him. He persuaded
people for a living, but he had no idea if he had what it took to
make Julie see reason. In her place, he’d be pissed off too. She
was so tough, so strong. It was one of the things he li—

He stopped in the middle of the stairs.

The things he ‘loved’ about her? What the
hell? When had he fallen in love with her? Damn it, he wasn’t
supposed to fall in love. It was supposed to be a two week fling.
He was probably just upset because she thought he was an asshole
like Clay. Nobody would want to be compared to that guy.

But a quick gutcheck told him he was kidding
himself. He was so freaking in love with her he was swimming in it.
If he were a different sort of guy he’d be dancing in the streets
and telling total strangers about her.

Christ. He dropped down onto the top step and
held his head in his hands.

He was in love. With a woman who thought he
was pond scum now. Nice move, Ellis. Alienate the one woman in the
world you give a shit about. Great job.

But, he reasoned, she wouldn’t have been so
mad if she felt nothing for him. Would she?

Thinking back to the look on her face, the
hurt in her eyes, he felt a stirring of hope. Her anger was less
about him betraying the firm, than about his betrayal of her. And a
woman with no feelings wouldn't give a damn about being lied to.
She'd expect it. Or blow it off.

Nope, he was pretty sure that she loved him
too. He shook his head. When had his life become so damned
complicated?

He knew the exact moment.

When he'd picked up that list from the
printer.

Thank god for the list. Without it he would
never have made his move.

Standing up, he started down the stairs
again. If he were going to change her mind about him, he'd need
some time to get things settled with RFG and the leak. And some
help, because he had a feeling after this afternoon’s fiasco her
apartment door would be shut to him for the duration.

Punching a number into his phone, he started
talking as he took the stairs two at a time.

“Hello, Cissy? I need you to find a phone
number for me...”