Jake came through a millisecond later, and beside me, Alex went incredibly still. A deep, red flush flared across her face. “What can I do for you, Jake?” When he didn’t say anything, I turned to look at him. His eyes were fastened to Alex, and hers were resolutely on the floor. “What’s up?” I asked, a little louder.
Jake’s eyes darted to mine. “What?” he asked.
“Are you drunk? You came to my office, remember?”
“Right,” Jake said and finally looked at me. “I have an appointment at noon that I can’t take. Are you busy?”
I gestured to the table. “Trying to get the Pritchard lawsuit paperwork finished. What about Zach?”
Jake shook his head. “He’s got appointments all day.”
“Take the appointment,” Alex said, and I looked back at her. “There are a few revisions for me to do, but I can work on them while you’re busy.”
“Are you sure?”
Alex smiled, and warmth flooded my gut. She could be seriously dangerous when she smiled. “I’ve got this handled,” she assured me. “Go be useful.”
I glanced at Jake. “Can I take this appointment in your office so she doesn’t have to relocate all of my folders?”
Jake nodded, but he’d already gone back to staring at Alex. There was something in his eyes that I couldn’t pin down, but it looked a lot like lust. But Jake wasn’t the type to sleep with a younger woman. He barely dated as it was. He always claimed that he spent too many nights in the office to hold onto anyone, and Zach and I knew that song and dance well enough ourselves.
“I’ll be back soon,” I told Alex. “Let Trevor know if you need anything.”
“Sure thing,” Alex said. Her eyes darted up to Jake’s face. “It was nice to see you, Mr. Jacobs.”
His jaw tightened, but he dipped his head in acknowledgement. “Ms. Beechum,” he said.
We left the office—Trevor quickly got off whatever social media site he was surfing on a company computer, themoron—and headed down the hall to where Jake was situated. He easily had the best office, but he also dealt with higher-profile cases more often than the rest of us, and the board had wanted that reflected in his office. He told me that he felt like a jackass for taking it, but it didn’t matter to anyone else.
Jake was one of those damned “nice guys” who was actually a nice guy.
“What’s up with you and Alex?” I asked once we’d reached the relative safety of his office.
Jake’s face did something that I haven’t seen in nearly ten years of friendship and working together. He froze, like a computer that needed to buffer. “There’s nothing between me and our new paralegal,” he said.
It was a lie. It didn’t take a genius to see that. “You and I both know that you’re lying out of your ass right now.”
There was a moment where I thought he’d deny it again, but then his face twisted into a remorseful scowl. “We slept together,” he said. “At the wedding.” I wasn’t able to hide my surprise from him, and his scowl deepened. “Go on,” he said. “Tell me how big of a creep I am.”
“You’re not a creep,” I said. “It’s just... a little shocking.”
“It’s disgusting,” he said. “She’s half my age, and I offered her a job. I feel sleazy just thinking about it.”
I crossed my arms. “Did it feel wrong at that moment?”
Jake let out a deep breath. “No,” he said. “In fact, it was the most right I’d felt in a long time... but now she's an employee, and it would be wildly inappropriate, but I can’t stop thinking about her.”
There was a tiny thread of jealousy beneath my skin, but I had no right to it. Alex wasn’t mine to be possessive of. If anything, Jake had more of a right to punch me over some of the thoughts I’d had today. “She’s a beautiful girl,” I said.
Jake shot me an irritated look. “She’s our employee.”
“Doesn’t make her any less fun to look at,” I said, “and sheclearlyhas feelings for you.”
He perked up at this. “What makes you say that? She could barely look at me.”
I snorted. “Dude, could you be more of a girl right now?” Jake flipped me off, and I laughed. “You’ve got itbad.”
“Shutup.”