Page 23 of The Interns

“It’s hard when you think your criminal case is actually an intellectual property case,” he finished for her.

“You have no idea.”

As a goofy smile spread across her lips and warmth spread to her cheeks like wildfire, she brought her hands to her face to geek out in private because there was no stopping it now. Holy shit. Just like that, her plans were back on track. After a few more internal Holy Shits and a couple deep breaths, she peeked over her fingertips to find him leaned forward in his chair, elbows on his knees, watching her with amusement.

“I know it’s not a big, high-profile public arts case, but it’s something, right?”

“It’s better,” she said softly as she regained her composure and drew her hands down to her warm cheeks. “We worked this case from the bottom up. Every discovery is ours. This was an incredible find, Reed.”

He stared at her for a moment before looking away and shaking his head. “Nah,” he eked out. “I lucked into it. Anyway, if you hadn’t spotted that tool, we wouldn’t have gotten the break.”

He had no clue how impossibly high he had just set the bar. Any future guy who showed up at her doorstep with flowers or chocolates wouldn’t cut it. This was the best gift she’d ever received. Not that this was a gift, of course, because they were just co-interns, and he wasn’t trying to court her, but if someone wanted to, this was definitely her love language. And why she was thinking about such things? She didn’t know, so she shrugged off his compliment and busied herself with reaching for her coffee and returning her attention to the computer screen.

“So I guess I have even more case law to review now,” she said, getting back to business after taking a sip.

“Yeah, I’ve got a lot of catching up to do, too.”

She watched him idly sift through the files for a moment, then picked one up and held it out in front of him. “You wanna get started then?”

He stared back at her wide-eyed before a small grin tugged at the corner of his mouth. He nodded and took the file she was holding out for him then leaned back in his chair again and started reading.

Maya sifted through the rest of the files, uncovering the phone she had buried. She picked it up, seeing that there were two more messages from Syd, three from Adam, and one from Darby. She ignored the first two and went straight for the last one.

Syd and Adam said a cop came to the house. What’s going on? Is everything OK?

Maya laughed to herself. Sweet Darby.

Yeah. Everything’s fine. :)

She put down her phone, sneaking a glance at the man beside her who was completely engrossed in his work, then got back to work herself. Everything was more than fine now.

9

Reed

Reed couldn’t take his eyes off Maya. She was perched on the edge of a dark wood and burgundy leather-bound chair in front of Al’s matching desk, right foot bouncing against the floor, eyes tracking with his down the page, and lips faintly mouthing the summary of findings they had put together. She looked about as nervous as he felt when he showed up on her doorstep Saturday night.

He still didn’t know what he was thinking. As soon as he had put the pieces together, he was in his truck on the highway headed back to Atlanta because he needed to tell her right then. She had every right to slam the door in his face, but he was glad she didn’t because they’d ended up getting some work done and even shared a few laughs which was a first. There was a new ease to their relationship thanks to this break in the case, and he had no intention of looking back.

He waved his hand over her knee to catch her attention. When she looked at him, he took an exaggerated breath, and let it out, then nodded at her to let her know it was her turn. She rolled her eyes, but took a breath, albeit a much shallower one. Her leg stilled and she appeared a little more at ease.

“I have to say I’m disappointed,” Al said finally.

It was short-lived, however. Maya tried to keep her expression in check. Now even he was feeling a little tense.

“In myself, that is,” he clarified. “I thought it would take you at least a few weeks to get to this point.”

Maya shared another quick look with Reed, this time the corners of her mouth turning upward slightly. “So we’re on the right track?” she asked.

“You’re there,” he said. “You’ve got your case.”

She relaxed into her chair, just as Reed leaned forward. “Can I ask how it came to your attention?”

“You know me,” Al said coyly as he leaned forward in return, resting his forearms on the desk.

Reed did know him quite well in that regard. Alvin King may be sitting in an office high above Atlanta now, but he grew up in small-town Georgia just like Reed. The man never lost touch with his roots, though, and still seemed to have a friend, and friends of friends, in every corner of the state.

“I got a call from the booking officer who was on duty the night Mr. Johnson was brought in. He just so happened to overhear an interesting conversation in a bar a few nights before that set off alarms, so he called to run it by me. I said we’d take on the client. Word travels fast in a small town. You know that, Reed.”

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