Page 43 of Cocky Counsel

“I’m not going to get into the full details of what happened—mainly because I can’t, but also I don’t imagine that you would care to hear them. However, Cora was a former employee of mine, and one night, while we were working late, we had sex.” I gulped and tried to ignore the hurt look that just flashed across her face.

“I wasn’t interested in a relationship, and I didn’t think she was either. Right after it happened, she started asking me for a promotion to a position that she wasn’t qualified for. When I told her no, she got upset and started making it hard for us to work together. I knew then that she wasn’t interested in a relationship, she simply wanted the promotion. To fix the problem, I asked Regina to transfer her to another department with a slight pay increase. She refused the position and became a nuisance. We relieved her of her position and at my recommendation, we gave her a severance package.”

I paused for a moment to gather my thoughts as I tried to push the anger away.

“This all happened five months ago. I hadn’t heard anything from her until a few weeks ago when I received the paperwork that she had filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against me. Our legal team has been handling everything and I haven’t had any contact with her. Regina insisted that from here on out, I don’t take any meetings with female clients or employees unless I have you in the room with me,” I explained. “That’s why I didn’t want you to leave when she was there. I needed you to be there as my witness that nothing happened in case she decided to add more to her false accusations.”

Eva set her fork down on the table beside her plate and leaned back. Calmly, she looked up at me but I couldn’t read the expression on her face.

“Did you get her pregnant?” she asked quietly.

“I have no fucking idea. I used a condom, so I am leaning toward no, but stranger shit has happened.”

“What are you going to do if the baby is yours?”

“I haven’t really thought about that. I guess I just feel so confident that it isn’t mine, that I haven’t jumped down that rabbit hole. Garrett is looking into options for requesting a paternity test, but we’re also waiting on a few other things first. As of now, the lawsuit is only seeking payment for sexual harassment and for being terminated due to it. It doesn’t mention anything about requesting child support, but that doesn’t mean that she won’t try that route.”

“I’m sorry that I didn’t allow you to tell me your side of what happened. I freaked out and I shouldn’t have.”

“You don’t need to apologize. I probably would have reacted the same way, especially given everything you have going on with your sister. I would have told you about it, but honestly, I was hoping it would just be resolved and I wouldn’t have to deal with her again.”

“I have to admit,” she said softly, “I don’t know how to take all of this. I mean, what you and I are doing really isn’t that different than what you guys were doing. I mean, I don’t know how many times you slept with her, but that’s all that we’re doing.”

Her face fell as she turned to look away.

“Eva, what you and I are doing is nothing like what happened with Cora. She was a quick stress reliever—as terrible as that sounds. But she knew what she was doing when she initiated it and confirmed that she only wanted a one-time thing. With you, things are completely different.”

“How so?”

“Because with you, I know that I should stay away and leave you alone, but I can’t. There’s this physical attraction that is so intense that my body knows when you’re close by. You’re incredibly smart, and sexy, and possibly the only person who I know that can burn toast—but I find all of that so mesmerizing. I’m not the kind of guy who has ever done the whole committed relationship thing, but yet I find myself wanting that with you.” I blew out a heavy sigh. “And now, because of this fucking lawsuit, I can’t do anything about it. I can’t be with the one person who I want to be with, even if it’s just baby steps toward a relationship.”

A beautiful smile pulled across her face as she leaned forward and reached across the table to hold my hand.

“You surprise me, Ethan. But I want to be with you too. Even if you judge my culinary abilities.”

She laughed and I felt the tension start to ease from my shoulders.

“I understand that this lawsuit puts a hinderance on what we’ve been doing, but do you think that it would help if we talked to Regina and let her know what’s going on? Then we wouldn’t have to hide it or worry about anyone finding out.”

“Unfortunately, I think it would only make it worse if we told anyone. I’m being sued by a former employee who claims that I sexually harassed her. I don’t think it’s going to look good if not even six months later, I’m dating another employee. It could cost me my reputation and I just can’t risk that.”

“I get it,” she said, slowly pulling her hand away from mine.

“I’m not trying to hurt you,” I blew out. I knew this was going to be hard, but I had prayed that she would understand where I was coming from. I could lose everything if people started to question my morals, especially related to my own business. I wanted to tell her that I wasn’t hiding her or trying to keep things between us a secret because I was ashamed of what I was doing, but now wasn’t the right time. I needed to show her and prove to her that I was capable of being the man that she deserved. Even if I wasn’t sure what that was supposed to look like.

She nodded her head and looked away as the waitress brought our check. On the way back to the office, she was quiet and only gave me quick yes and no responses when I tried to talk to her. I felt like I was losing her but was it fair to say that I was losing something that I never actually had?

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