Page 70 of Bidding War

But then he pulls out a gun.

39

JUNE

“What is it about first days that make people so nervous?”

I look up at the man standing in my doorway. It's not Andre. He's Latin and has a friendly smile to go with his Prada suit. “I'm sorry, have we met?”

“Carlos Perez.” He holds out his hand to shake mine as he strides in. “My office is next to yours, neighbor.”

Meaning, I got the corner office before he did, and I just got here. But I stifle that thought, hoping for a pleasant encounter with my new neighbor. “Oh, nice to meet you. June Devlin. And I'm not nervous, but thanks for the concern.”

He smiles confidently. “Come now. Everyone's a little nervous on their first day. Even I was.”

“You look like you've never been nervous a day in your life.”

He laughs heartily at that. “It has been known to happen. Did you get the file drop?”

I nod, staring at my computer screen. “Yes, and I've been digging through them for two hours.”

“Anything we've missed?”

I'm torn about answering him. Andre brought me in to look through the files and see what has been going on. If I tell Carlos that I've found anything, he might try to cover it up or offer excuses. Or worse, he will try to act like he's my supervisor and tell me what to do. I need to be clear about who it is that I answer to. I smile. “Anything I find will be in a report to Andre.”

“Of course, of course.” He glances around the room, and I'm not sure what he's noticing. It's not like I've put in anything personal here. This is just a trial run. I'm not moving into my office for real until I know that I'm keeping the job. There's no sense in bringing in personal photos or decorations until I've decided. He turned his gaze to me, piercing me with his dark eyes. “I am dying to ask a question. But I'm not sure you'll answer it.”

Oh hell. “If you ask it, you'll find out.”

He grins. And it's one of those million-dollar smiles. “Are you here only to consult, or will you stay?”

So that's his angle. He's worried about keeping his job. “It's debatable. That's something I'll work out with Andre.” Let him be nervous. Likely, he wouldn't be this nervous if he weren’t already screwing up.

But his grin does not falter. “The way things go around here, we can always use fresh eyes. Be seeing you, June.” With that, he glides out of my office.

Andre’s firm is a lot like others. A world full of sharks looking for blood in the water. We're lawyers. We're competitive. It's in our nature. We didn't work as hard as we did in school to skate by in life.

My office is posh. Being the corner office. I have two walls of windows, with a view over a park. The pale blue carpet is plush and goes nicely with the pale blue and gold furniture. Heavy curtains hang at either end of the windows, blocking out a little light. Similar curtains hang along the glass wall shared by the hallway. If I wanted to, I could have absolute privacy in this room, which I love.

But there's no time to revel in the majesty of my office. The client files are calling me.

I spend the better part of the morning parsing through them. It's mostly standard stuff, nothing too out of the ordinary. In fact, the whole place is like that. I had come here expecting something nefarious or treacherous or extremely illegal. But Andre's law firm is just a law firm. There's nothing for me to worry about. Or so it seems.

But then a knock at my door takes my attention away from my work. I'm a little annoyed until I see that it's Andre himself. “Good day, Ms. Devlin.”

It's always so strange having a conversation with Andre Moeller. His every sentence is a little bit off.

I smile and give a nod. “Good morning, Andre.” Good morning, not day. Sometimes, talking to him feels like giving him lessons in how to be an American. Or a human. I can’t tell which it is with him.

He strides in and sits on my desk corner. He peers at my computer screen. “We are keeping you busy already, I see.”

“No rest for the wicked.”

He chortles at that. “Or for you.”

Does that mean he doesn't think that I'm wicked? “How are you today, Andre?”

“Eternally curious.”

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