Page 79 of Don't Quit the Day Job

"I think we should be professional in the office, don't you?"

I stare at her for a couple of seconds before I realize why she's upset.

"Lila, when I said that I didn't want us to discuss it, it wasn't because I regretted doing it. I just didn't want to make life complicated for us in the office. But if it's going to make you mad, then?—"

"I'm not mad. Is there anything you'd like me to do? Shall I get Mrs. Whittington on the line so that you can offer her the measly ten grand or whatever it is?"

"I'm not taking the case," I say.

"You're not?" Her eyes widen. "But?—"

"But nothing. He's not the sort of man I want to represent."

"Really?" she says, her eyes lighting up. "So you agree with me, he was a dog?"

"I want to make one thing clear, Lila. It's not for me to make any judgment calls about my clients, potential or otherwise. But that's not why I'm refusing the case. However, I have dreams and goals. I've always thought that I'd like to be a judge or a Supreme Court Justice, and, well, it matters to me the sort of cases that I'm taking."

"A Supreme Court Justice?" she asks. "Wow."

"Anyway, I need to go and take care of some business. I'm going to send you a couple of emails, I just need some paperwork sent off to the courthouse and some copies made, okay?"

"Sure. Anything else?"

"No. You have a great day, Lila."

"You too, Max," she says softly. "Thank you for last night."

"No, my darling, thank you. And thank you for this morning as well. It was…" I pinch the fingers on my right hand together and kiss the tips in the universal formation for a chef’s kiss.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Lila

"He was gone all day," I say to Zara as we eat our Caesar salads in a cute little restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen. "It made me feel like perhaps he regretted it."

"But didn't you say he stopped by your desk before he left the office?" Zara, ever the voice of reason, says as she reaches for a breadstick and dunks it into marinara sauce.

"Yeah…am I just overthinking this?" I ask her as I dunk my own breadstick and take a bite of the buttery goodness.

"I mean, you did hook up with him and you said it was kind of kinky."

"I mean, it was kinkier than I'm used to, but I don't know if it was kinky to him. I mean, what if he regrets it? What if he wishes I would just quit because he doesn't want to see me again, and…"

"Lila, you are really in your head way too much," she says. "I'm sure that he had work to do. Isn't he an attorney?"

"Yeah."

"And he's a partner, right?"

"Yeah."

"So he has a lot to do."

"But I just feel bad."

"Really? You feel bad, or you feel nervous that he doesn't want to do it again?" she asks, teasing me.

"I mean, of course I want to do it again, and I hope he does too."

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