“Are you ready for the trial this afternoon?” I asked her. I had enjoyed going over the case with her yesterday. I liked seeing the way her brain worked and how much joy she got out of picking through evidence. Her intelligence was as much of a turn on as her incredible good looks.
She gave me a nervous smile. “I think so. Though I’ll admit, some of my earlier confidence disappeared overnight.” She took a shaky breath. “I’ve never tried a case on my own before.”
I put my hand over hers. “You’ll do great. I can come if you want to. For moral support. Both of my afternoon appointments canceled, so the day is wide open.”
I was lying. My appointments hadn’t canceled, but she didn’t need to know that.
Lena pulled her hand out from underneath mine and went back to shuffling through papers. “Thanks, but I think I’ll do better without a familiar audience. Less chance I’ll screw it up.”
I pushed aside the twinge of hurt disappointment. I wouldn’t pout like a little boy because she told me she didn’t want me there.
“That’s fine. I understand.” I was getting pretty good at being the bigger person.
Rob stuck his head in the door. “You all good in here? I’m around if you need me to help with interviews.” I hadn’t seen much of my other partner in the last week or so. He said he had to deal with some family stuff, though he never elaborated. Robert Jenkins was a private guy. And even though we had known each other for years, I knew very little about the inner workings of his life. I didn’t know anything about his family or what he did when he wasn’t at work. He seemed to prefer it that way and I was the last person to pry into someone’s personal shit.
“Thanks, Rob, I’ve got it covered,” I said.
Rob gave me a funny look that I refused to interpret. I gave him a shit-eating grin and a thumbs up. He looked at Lena. “Good luck with your trial today. Sorry, I won’t be around afterward to debrief, but I have a standing appointment.”
No indication of what that standing appointment was. As I said, Robert Jenkins was a mysterious dude.
“No worries, Rob. I’ll let you know tomorrow how it all goes,” Lena assured him.
“Okay, behave you two,” he commented dryly before leaving.
“Was that his version of a joke?” Lena asked.
“Rob doesn’t joke. I’ve come to realize he was born without a funny bone.” I picked up the first resume on the stack in front of Lena. “So, who's up first?”
“Kimberly Evans,” Lena said, plucking the paper from my hands before getting up to call the interviewee back.
I leaned back in my seat, crossing my legs at the ankle, making myself comfortable. Lena entered the conference room first and frowned at my casual pose. “Sit up,” she mouthed impatiently. Of course, I didn’t listen. Maybe I should put my arms behind my head and really stretch out.
Kimberly followed Lena, an overpowering wave of cheap perfume filling the air. I coughed unsubtly. I couldn’t help it. The woman’s scent was making my nose itch.
I stood up and held out my hand for her to shake. She was all heavy makeup and over-teased hair. When she caught sight of me, her eyes widened a bit and she wiggled her hips slightly as she shook my hand, letting me get an eyeful of ample cleavage and lacy red bra.
I tried to hide my amused smirk. “Have a seat, Kimberly.” I indicated the chair across the table from Lena and me.
“Please, call me Kim,” she insisted, her voice high pitched and shrill. She batted her eyelashes as she perched herself on the edge of the chair, crossing her legs and angling her body so that it emphasized, what she considered her very best parts.
Lena tutted under her breath. I glanced her way and she seemed a mixture of entertained and irritated. “Thanks for coming in, Kimberly,” Lena began. I noticed Lena wasn’t told to call her Kim. “My name is Lena Ducate, I’m a junior associate here at Jenkins, Ducate, and Wyatt. This—” She waved in my direction. “Is Jeremy Wyatt, one of the senior partners.”
“Hello, Mr. Wyatt,” Kim said a little breathlessly, not bothering to greet Lena. She figured I was the bigger, better fish in the room, so she gave me all her attention.
“Hi, Kim,” I responded, enjoying how annoyed Lena was becoming. I gave the overly made-up young woman my most charming, devastating smile. It never failed to get a woman’s panties off, and it seemed that Kimberly would have been no exception if Lena hadn’t been in the room.
She puffed up her hair and pushed out her boobs. Lena cleared her throat. “It says on your resume that you recently finished your administrative assistant associate’s degree from Southport Community College.”