He looked down at her hand. Then, to her surprise, he said, “I gotcha,” stepped to the side, and held the door open for her, his body language not encroaching or intimidating the way most men would have been after being dismissed like this.
She hesitated a moment. Usually, she was very good at setting aside feelings that didn’t serve her in the moment, but she was oddly reluctant to leave him.
Remember the trial. Remember your appointment.
“See you around,” he said. It sounded almost like a promise.
She wished, but she knew better. She tipped her head in acknowledgment to him, inhaling one last time as she strode past him into the office. Later, she’d recall his scent and imagine what could have been, when she was alone in her bed.
The door clicked closed softly. She turned to look at it, feeling him still standing on the other side.
“Hello there,” a voice said from behind her.
Blinking away the haze of lust, Jules turned around to find an older woman coming around a counter to greet her. She looked like one of the partners’ secretaries at the firm, only more approachable, in a bright fifties style dress and a warm smile. If her mother had lived longer, Jules wondered if this is what she’d look like.
Why was she thinking about that? She pushed that aside and said, “Hello. I’m here to see Jamie MacNiven.”
“You have sunglasses too?” The woman put hands on her hips as she studied Jules. “What is this? Some sort of new trend on wintery days?”
Deciding not to address the question, she took the glasses off and tucked them into her purse casually. “Jamie MacNiven?”
“He’s waiting for you, if you’re Jules Emory.”
“I am.”
“Jules is short for something?” the woman asked perceptively.
“Julianne,” she replied through a forced smile. She went by Julianne Emory professionally, but she couldn’t think of herself as Julianne. It was too close toJulianfor her tastes.
“I’m Lottie Morgan.” The woman held her hand out. “I’m a consultant here with Winners Inc.”
Disguising her surprise, she shook the woman’s hand. “Pleased to meet you.”
The woman’s eyes twinkled with wicked humor. “Bet that caught you off guard. You probably expected me to be a secretary or something.”
“That’d be narrow-minded of me,” she evaded.
“I was a secretary for most of my life, so you wouldn’t have been far off.”
She studied the woman, who was obviously past retirement age. “What made you decide to work with Winners Inc.?”
“Jamie, and the fact that I wasn’t ready to roll over and die. I have a lot yet to give.” She fixed her bright gaze on her. “What made you decide to come see Jamie?”
“The article in theTribune.” After reading it, she’d spent a week debating coming in. The last thing she needed was for it to leak in the media that she was getting what would be equated to as therapy before a trial. She had no doubt Julian would use it to manipulate a win for himself. But in the end, she’d had to come see Jamie. “He said something that caught my attention.”
Lottie nodded. “It was a good article. My granddaughter, Jamie’s fiancée, wrote it. What was it specifically?”
She didn’t have to think about it. “They asked him if he’d win if he was facing his father, who’s a famous soccer player as you know. And he said absolutely, because on the field they wouldn’t be father and son, they’d be momentary opponents.”
“Hmm.”
She met Lottie’s gaze, knowing full well the woman was assessing her. She expected another question, but Lottie just motioned with her hand. “Let’s go find him then. This way.”
She followed her down the hall. It was completely unlike the firm, which was muted in its decor. Winners Inc.wasn’t somber in any way. As she peeked into the various open doors, it seemed that each person had decorated their space the way they’d wanted. Some offices had bright colors and different textures, some more subtle palettes. They were all inviting, like stepping into someone’s living room.
A phone rang in one of the offices and Lottie paused. “I should get that. Go on ahead. It’s the office at the end. You can’t miss it.”
“Thank you,” she murmured as she strode to the doorway, stopped the wide entrance of the office Lottie had indicated, and knocked on the frame before peeking inside.