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“How does your schedule look tomorrow?” Thomas and I were eating lunch in my office, going over some case files for a client we shared.

“Surprisingly light,” he said after swallowing a bit of his sandwich. “Unless Trevor loads me down with client meetings this afternoon.”

I thought for a moment. An idea was forming. “Tell him to keep it light.”

Thomas raised his eyebrow, looking thoroughly unimpressed. “Why? You taking me on a date or something?”

I threw a French fry at him, which he batted away in an effort to save his suit from a grease stain. “Asshole,” I hissed. “I’m thinking of taking the day off and taking Alex for a drive up the coast. Did you want to come or not?”

Silence followed my words, and I watched, not without some amusement, as Thomas’s face did a complicated set of gymnastics as he thought it over. So far, we’d been keeping things separate with Alex, and we resolutely didnottalk about it. But with Alex being pulled apart in twenty different directions, it didn’t seem fair to add to it. She hadn’t said anything to us, of course, but we could all see how tired she was. We were meant to be taking care of her, not making her life even harder.

“I’ll come,” Thomas said.

“Good.” I shot off an email to Natalia to clear my schedule and blocked out the day in the firm’s calendar. Thomas fiddled on his phone, presumably doing the same thing.

“Zach can’t come,” Thomas said a minute later, still staring at his phone. “He’s got that client who won’t take no for an answer and keeps him in the conference room for hours coming tomorrow. Canceling only makes it worse.” A smile crept across his face. “He said for us to ‘take care of our girl.’”

Our girl. It certainly had a nice ring to it. “Where’s Alex working today?”

“She’s in Passat’s office,” Thomas replied, face twisting a little. Naomi Passat was one of the junior associates, and while she was always soniceto everyone in the office, there was something incredibly off-putting about her. She was also right up there with Natalia as an office gossip. But for some reason, Alex just loved her. She thought she was hysterical.

I didn’t get it, but I couldn’t begrudge my girl a friend. It wouldn’t be very good boyfriend behavior... and I knew Thomas and Zach felt the same way. “How do we extract her without looking suspicious?”

Thomas shrugged. “Send Natalia.”

I threw another fry at him. This time he didn’t dodge it in time, and a tiny blot spread on his light gray suit jacket. Thomas flicked the French fry onto the ground and hissed, “Douchebag,” at me before he dug a Tide-To-Go pen out of the inner lining of his jacket.

“Do you really just... carry one of those around?”

Thomas rolled his eyes. “This suit is nearly white. I have to be prepared for stains.” It wasn’t surprising, honestly. Thomas had always been a little fussy about his clothes, and that definitely hadn’t changed with age. “Why did you throw food at me, you toddler?”

“Natalia is a gossip,” I reminded him. “We can’t send her unless I have a meeting scheduled on the calendar, or it will be all over the firm by the end of the lunch hour.”

Thomas sighed. his dark eyes got a faraway look that I completely understood. Navigating both dating and working with Alex was difficult, and the closer each of us got to her, the more difficult it became. “Just go ask Passat if you can borrow her for a project,” Thomas said. “That’s a perfectly normal thing to do. You’re her boss.”

The word ‘boss’ made me jerk in a way that it never had before. Ever since becoming a partner, I was used to having subordinates who reported to me. I was used to being a leader. But I was truly lost when it came to Alex.

I had never thought myself capable of this... but I couldn’t even say that I regretted it because I didn’t.

I left Thomas sitting in my office, still looking at the case files, and walked to the bank of offices inhabited by the junior associates. Maybe Alex’s name would be on one of these doors someday soon.

I could hear laughter from the hallway, and while Naomi’s braying laugh made me cringe, it was good to hear Alex laugh so freely. I raised my hand to knock at the door. “Come in!” Naomi called, and I pushed open the door.

Alex was seated in front of Naomi’s desk in a chair meant for clients. the remnants of their lunch were scattered on the desk between them. For all intents and purposes, Naomi was a beautiful woman—short, dark hair with dark blue eyes and a pouty mouth—but her personality rubbed me in such a way that it was hard to see. “Mr. Jacobs,” Naomi said, straightening up. Her hands started picking up the trash on her desk automatically. “What can I do for you?”

“I need my paralegal back, if you’re finished with her,” I said, gesturing at Alex.

I could see Alex fighting a wry expression. She wasn’t the best at keeping a neutral face just yet. “Of course, Mr. Jacobs! Ms. Beechum and I were just having a quick lunch meeting.”

NowAlex did roll her eyes. “It’s okay for us to just have lunch, Nai,” she said and stood. She helped sweep the rest of the trash into the can beside Naomi’s desk. “He was probably having lunch with Mr. Porter, same as us.”

We had been going over case files, but I wasn’t going to point that out. “It’s true,” I said instead, smiling. “Everyone needs a work-friend.” I reached out and put a hand on Alex’s arm, just briefly, aware of Naomi’s eyes on us. “Come by my office? I need you to look at a few things before I submit them for my lawsuit.”

She nodded. “I’ll be right there.”

* * *

“Where is this place again?”Alex asked from her spot in the passenger seat. She had her feet propped up on my dashboard and a pair of sunglasses pushed back into her blonde hair.


Tags: Ajme Williams Erotic