by T. J. Quinn
Pushing the food around on her plate, she murmured quietly. “It might have something to do with making a name for ourselves in the area of Kalian reproductive rights.”
“It definitely sounds exciting. Nesting is one of the most misunderstood components of Kalian’s culture.”
“God, I know. I’m almost too excited to even eat.”
“Me too, but that is more because it’s the weekend and I’m looking forward to getting my family into a real home.”
“Alright, let’s each five gigantic bites and hit the road.”
“You are a very funny female. I hope you find the perfect Kalian mate. You deserve the best.”
Giggling, she deadpanned back. “So Kalian male are the best, are they?”
“I know encouraging you to choose a Kalian is blatantly self-serving, but we really do take special care with our females and I want that for you.”
Speeding their way through lunch, they both went their separate ways with a gleam in their eye. Jon was gone by early afternoon. Though Danielle was pleased with herself for doing a good deed, she had to admit it didn’t feel all that great, because it took no real effort. Her general feeling on the matter was that to generate real karma, one had to put forth enough effort to feel the proverbial burn.
In any event, she ended up staying until about 6:30 pm. By that time on a Friday most of the others had left. She stepped into the elevator to find the good looking Kalian was there, apparently heading home himself. She smiled, stepped onto the elevator, and introduced herself again.
“Hello, Jem. I don’t know if you remember me from the interview. I’m Danielle. Thank you for accepting our offer. I hope this position turns out to be a good fit for you.”
“I always make a point of remembering a pretty face, Miss. Danielle. I was delighted to get an offer from this firm.” She was aware that he had already been snapped up by one of the other partners, who was desperately in need of an administrative assistant.
“I hear there is some type of celebration involving a gentleman in a red suit. Are you planning to attend that celebration?”
Danielle stood staring at him for a moment, trying to figure out what he was talking about. Then it clicked. He was referring to their annual company Christmas party. “Are you kidding, watching a bunch of straight laced attorneys drink themselves stupid. That is a show I’d never miss.”
His slightly raised brow told her he didn’t quite understand. “I am not certain how drinking intoxicating beverages can impact a human’s long term intelligence level.”
“That’s not exactly what I meant. At such functions humans usually drink too many intoxicating beverages. This lowers their inhibitions, resulting in them doing embarrassing things such as dancing with lamp shades on their head and making scans of her private parts.”
He looked at her disbelievingly. She laughed, “I’m serious. Don’t miss it. It’s the show of the century.”
He replied sincerely. “If it is all that entertaining, I will certainly try to be there.”
“Be careful if you bring your wife. You might have to put your hands over her eyes, if old man Edwards begins flashing everyone again.”
He laughed at the image she drew in his mind. “Lucky for me I won’t have to worry about that.”
She noticed he was eyeing her with heated interest. She was familiar enough with Kalian males, to know what that looked like. “So where are you headed? You look like you brought enough work home, in your pull along bag to last all weekend.”
Glancing down at her huge briefcase, she lifted her eyes to look at him again. “I’ll give you one guess?”
He shook his head in disgust. “Home to work.”
She nodded. “Afraid so, I have a fascinating new plan to launch our firm into the spotlight.”
“I would love to hear more about your plan. Are you planning to eat? We could grab dinner some place.”
“You’re absolutely gorgeous, and I would love to go out with you, but partners are not permitted to date employees.”
He leaned one arm across her body boxing her against the wall. “You could always reevaluate your commitment to the firm. You might find that I am worth rearranging your life around.”
She smiled, and pressed him back with one hand. “I think a better course of action for both of us would be for you to just sit for the bar exam. I have it on good authority, the firm is extremely interested in having an Kalian partner. If you were a partner we could definitely have dinner together whenever we wanted.”
He smiled and said rather sarcastically, “That sounds like a bit of a fairytale to me.”
“Well since you think I am not being honest, I guess we are stuck with your original suggestion.”
He ran on hand over her cheek, and tilted her face up to look her in the eyes. “You win beautiful. I will sit for the exam. If that does not work out, we will look at the situation a little more closely. It probably makes a little more sense, for me to just move on to another job.”
She touched his chest with her hand and reiterated, “Sit for the exam. You’re a smart guy. You’ll probably breeze right through it.”
When the elevator doors slid open and she stepped bout and disappeared into the crowded street.
This Book is coming real soon to Amazon