Lena was making notes. “This is good stuff. Thank you.” She paused. “Nothing on Sheila? I thought you’d know better than anyone how to work around her.”
I knew what she was getting at, but I wouldn’t take the bait, so I ignored the last part of her statement. “Look, I know the players. If there’s anything I’m good at, it’s how to read people. How to use their weaknesses against them—”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Lena muttered, but then she smiled at me and I knew she was only joking. The brief instant of tension caused by the mention of Sheila had passed.
“What I mean is, I’ve built my career on being able to read a room. Trust me when I say Nolan does not possess the same talents. He thinks he’s better than he is. Which means it’s almost too easy to take his knees out from underneath him. As for Sheila—”
Lena’s expression hardened but I continued, knowing she needed the advice. “Sheila will let Nolan run the show. She’s always been a back-seat observer. She doesn’t have much confidence when it comes to her abilities. So, I don’t think you’ll need to worry about her.”
She looked as if she wanted to say something, most likely something I wouldn’t like, but she seemed to think better of it. Instead, she tapped her fingers on the desk. “Okay, noted. Take knees out.”
She dropped the pen she was holding with a flourish and I held up my hand for her to high five. Then, without meaning to, I laced my fingers with hers, holding on. Not letting go. “You’re going to kick this trial’s ass,” I enthused, still holding her hand. She wasn’t pulling away. I wasn’t pulling away.
“That was some solid investigating, Lena. I couldn’t have done it better myself,” I told her sincerely.
She was grinning wildly at me. “You called me Lena.”
“I won’t make that mistake again, Marlena.” This time she didn’t bark at me for using her full name. This time she squeezed my hand. But then slowly, she released me. Pulling away. And I was left grasping air. I realized my palm was sweating and I quickly wiped it on my pant leg. “It looks like you’re all set. You don’t need my help.”
“I guess I mostly wanted to brag,” she boasted, her eyes sparkling. I loved seeing her like this. Full of confidence. There was nothing sexier than a woman high on her own power. I was man enough to appreciate women who were in control. I was a big fan of being dominated when the mood was right.
“As you should,” I said with genuine warmth.
She regarded me thoughtfully. “You know, I really didn’t think this would work.”
I propped my ankle on my knee. “You and me working together?”
She nodded and was quiet again. She seemed to be stewing on something.
“You look as if your head is about to explode,” I observed dryly.
She didn’t crack so much as a smile. “About Friday. I was out of line,” she let out in a rush.
“And pretty wasted,” I added with a smirk.
“Yeah, that too. What I said was... inappropriate.”
I chuckled. “But I like it when you’re being... inappropriate.”
Her brows drew together in consternation. “Seriously, Jeremy. We work together. I can’t talk to you like that. I can’t touch you…” Her face flamed hot. “What I mean is that we have to keep this strictly professional. Whatever might or might not have been in the past is irrelevant. I don’t want to muddy the waters.”
I understood what she was saying, but I could admit, deep down, that it sucked. Because when it came to Lena Ducate, I felt anything but professional.
“Thanks again for being my second set of eyes,” she said, and I knew she was dismissing me.
Fine. If that’s how she wanted to play it.
I got to my feet and handed her back the file. “I can’t wait to hear how you get on at the trial.”
“Sure. Oh, and can you close the door on your way out?”
It felt as if she were closing a lot more than the door.
And why did that royally piss me off?
Chapter 6
Jeremy
There were five women waiting in the reception area. Three of them were dolled up as if they were about to go out to a club. One was old enough to be my grandmother but had my grandad’s facial hair. The fifth I recognized, though only vaguely. She was prettier than the rest, with a head of dark red hair that reminded me of Adam’s fiancé.
I walked into the main conference room where Lena was sitting. “Are those all the candidates?” I asked, pulling out a chair beside her and taking a seat.
“The only ones with any credentials. I passed over the guy that put chicken farmer as relevant work experience,” Lena deadpanned, shuffling through the resumes. She looked at the time on her phone. It had just turned nine. I had agreed to help her with the interviews, mostly because whether she knew it or not, saying no to Lena was hard. Particularly when she paired it with a “pretty please.”
“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 shak
e. 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.”
“That’s right. I did pretty well too,” Kim answered, still only looking at me.
I uncrossed my legs and leaned forward. “I’m sure you did, Kim.” The permed and teased Kim preened at my attention. I shouldn’t be encouraging her, but I could practically hear Lena seething and it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.
“Okay, well, even though you don’t have any direct work experience, the degree is a good start—” Lena started to say before Kim interrupted her.
“So, you’re one of the partners? That’s amazing,” Kim slid her chair forward. If she could have, she would have crawled over the table and sat right in my lap.
“I sure am. I’m also the best lawyer here.” I dropped my voice into a flirty whisper. “But don’t go sharing that around town. I don’t want the other guys getting upset.” For good measure, I added a wink.
Kim giggled. It was a grating sound, like nails on a chalkboard. The woman was ridiculous.
And Lena wasn’t having it.
“Okay, Kimberly, why do you think we should hire you?” Lena was trying her damndest to stop the interview from derailing. Too bad Kim could care less about giving a good impression. It seemed my opinion was the only one that mattered.
“Oh, I don’t know. I’m super smart. Really, I am. And I’m really good with people. And I’m more than willing to do whatever it takes to be successful.” Kim licked her lips and widened her eyes slightly. I knew exactly what Miss Kimberly would be willing to do to be successful.
“Those are all excellent qualities to have,” I murmured, laying it on thick. I really should have stopped myself, but I was having too much fun.
Lena slapped her palms down on the table, the noise echoing loudly. “Okay then, thank you for coming in, Kimberly.” She got to her feet and held out her hand again for Kim to shake.
Kim frowned in confusion. “That’s it?”
I gave her another sexy smile. “We have what we need.”
Kim relaxed. “Oh, that’s good.” She lowered her eyelashes that were heavy with mascara. I could see the clumps on the ends. “My number’s on the resume. Maybe you could give me a call sometime—”
“Thanks, Kim. You can see yourself out,” Lena jumped in, walking around the table to open the conference room door.
Kim slowly got to her feet, not bothering to pull down her short, short skirt. With a final coy smile over her shoulder, she walked out of the room, her ass swinging the whole way.
Lena practically slammed the door and I couldn’t contain my laughter. She glared at me. “This is not a way for you to pick up women, Wyatt,” she snapped.
“Come on, Kim was totally qualified,” I countered. Which was a lie. Kim was definitely not qualified and there was no way in hell I’d ever hire her in a million years. But Lena didn’t have to know that.
“You can’t be serious. She was awful. I thought she was going to start dry humping your leg.” Lena was practically vibrating with annoyance. She was fucking gorgeous when she was angry.
“I think you’re being too hard on Kim. Don’t be so judgy,” I chastised her, poking the bear a little harder.
Lena’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. “You can’t be serious! Me? Judgy?”
“I think we should call the next candidate. You have court this afternoon and I may need to make a call.” I made a show of picking up Kim’s resume and looking for her phone number.
“You’re unbelievable. You know that, right?” Lena stated, her voice hard, her eyes icy. Wow, she was mad.
“Tick, tock, Marlena.”
For a second I thought she was going to throw her coffee mug at my head. I braced myself, but instead, she whipped open the door and all but yelled the next girl’s name.
Unfortunately for Lena, the next three interviewees weren’t any better than poor Kimberly. None of them were particularly qualified and two of them were so nervous they could barely string two words together. Maybe I wasn’t helping matters by piling on the flirty banter, but if they couldn’t handle working around a hot piece of meat like yours truly, then they weren’t right for the gig.
When the fourth woman bombed out, Lena braced her head in her hands. “This is painful,” she complained after the granny with the mustache left the room.
“Can we just pick one already? Kim is my personal favorite. But Diane and Candy were nice too.” Honestly, none of them were particularly suitable, but they all had one thing in common, and that’s that they seemed to twist Lena’s jealousy knob.
“Are you kidding? They were all horrible,” Lena declared, narrowing her eyes at me. “I know why you liked them. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that for you, their... uh... assets aren’t in what they know.” Her pretty, full lips were pressed into a thin line. She wanted to wring my neck. It was hot.
“Are you trying to say that I only want to hire a receptionist if she’s good looking? I’m offended.” I feigned indignation.
“So, their breast size had nothing to do with your opinion? Because I can’t find a redeeming quality in any of them.” Lena grit her teeth.
“What’s wrong, Marlena? Is someone a little jealous?” I knew I was stepping over the line and the likelihood of her slapping me was pretty high. I sort of wanted her to. I wanted to see how far I could push her before she snapped.
God, I wanted her to snap.
Lena opened her mouth, most likely to tell me off, but then seemed to think better of it. She took a deep breath and turned away from me, looking at the last resume on the pile. “I have a lot of faith in this last candidate. I think she’s going to be the ticket.” Her voice was much calmer and I was disappointed that she had put an end to our sparring.
I got off on her anger. I liked to see her ready to explode. It turned me on.
“Yeah, okay. Bring her in.” I sat back in my chair preparing myself to niggle Lena some more. I wanted to push her enough to lose control.
Lena left the room and went to get the final interviewee. I popped a mint and made myself comfortable, a smile on my face. She returned a minute later with the familiar-looking woman with the red hair I had seen earlier.
“Whitney, this is Adam’s partner Jeremy Wyatt. Jeremy, this Meg’s sister, Whitney Galloway,” Lena introduced. And then it all made sense. Why she looked so familiar. She and her sister Meg—Adam’s fiancé—looked a lot alike. They were both beautiful, but whereas Meg had a natural, easy-going beauty, Whit
ney was more put together. And a lot more tense and buttoned up. She gave me a tight smile and held out her hand, which I shook.
Her being Meg’s sister changed things.
“Thanks for asking me to come in,” Whitney said with sincerity and just a twinge of something that could only be desperation.
Lena gave her a sympathetic smile. “I’m so glad you’re back in Southport. We’ve all missed you.” Lena gave her a hug and it was obvious Whitney meant a lot to her. I knew that Meg and her family had always been close to Adam’s family, so it made sense that Whitney and Lena knew each other well.
Whitney took a seat, looking slightly uncomfortable. She has dressed much more appropriately for an interview than the last few candidates, so that was working in her favor.
I was bewildered as to why she was here though. I took her resume from Lena’s hands, reading it over and then looking back up at Whitney. “I don’t mean to be rude, but it doesn’t seem as if you have any administrative experience. You’re a makeup artist. What makes you think this would be a good fit?” I was being blunt, but I was also sick of doing interviews. And even though Whitney was Meg’s sister, I didn’t do nepotism. She wouldn’t simply be handed the job because of who she knew.
Lena glared at me but didn’t say anything. Whitney chewed on her bottom lip as she mulled over my question. This was a woman whose confidence had been shaken. I had seen the expression on my own face enough times, though I had learned to hide it. Whitney had yet to develop that particular skill.
“I’ve worked in the movie industry for the past decade. And yes, I primarily worked as a makeup artist, but I had to wear many hats in that position. I was a gopher. I was a therapist. I was a project manager. I had to think on my feet and learn to be flexible if shoot requirements changed on a dime. I am a hard worker and a quick learner. And while I may not have experience answering phones and jotting down appointments, I am incredibly adept at interacting with all kinds of people. I had to get on with not only Hollywood stars, but also the crew. I was one cog in a complicated machine and I quickly learned how to be a team player.” She took a deep breath before continuing. One thing was for sure, the woman knew how to sell herself. “I’m a college graduate with over ten years of experience working in a high stress, quickly evolving work environment. I know how to work well under pressure and to tight deadlines. Not much phases me. I know how to keep my cool. I can do this job in my sleep.” There was confidence. I could tell Whitney Galloway believed she could do just about anything.
Say You Love Me : An Enemies to Lovers Romance Page 9