Page 6 of Cocky Counsel

Three

Ethan

“Mr. Roberts?” Kate’s voice came through the speaker of my office phone. I pressed the button to answer her.

“Yes?”

“I have Graham Morgan on the line for you.”

“Put him through.”

I waited until I heard the click, confirming that the call had been put through.

“Good morning, Graham,” I said as I clicked send on the email that I had been drafting. “What can I do for you this morning?”

“I wanted to let you know that I’ve decided to pull out of the deal with Fred,” he said tiredly.

“Night clubs aren’t your thing after all?” I chuckled, opening his file on my desk. I knew that he wouldn’t end up going through with the deal after he asked me to join him for a meeting with the club owner a few weeks ago. That night had definitely gone different than I had planned. I glanced up and looked across the hallway at Eva—how shitty was it that I didn’t even know her name until this morning—who was sitting at her desk, laughing at something Regina had said.

“No, there’s not enough money in the world that would make that deal worth it for me,” he laughed.

“Fair enough. I’ll close the file on that one but if you decide to reconsider, just—”

“I won’t.” His tone was sharp, and I had to bite my cheek to keep from laughing. Graham wasn’t the easiest person to please but that was part of what I loved about working with him. He knew what he wanted and was a fucking beast of a business partner.

“Do you still want me to work on Gainesworth Investments?” I asked, looking at the other file on his desk.

“Yeah,” he sighed heavily. “I want those shares in Pembrooke, and that seems to be the best way to get them. I know Gainesworth has had financial issues in the past, so that’s my aim. Acquire Liam’s company and boost my shares to fifty-one percent in Pembrooke. From there, we can discuss what I plan to do with my controlling interest.”

“Got it,” I said as I wrote down a few notes on a piece of paper and tucked it into the file. “I’ll work on this and get in touch with you soon.”

I didn’t wait for him to say goodbye, knowing well enough that he had already hung up. I set the phone down and organized the files on my desk before hearing my stomach growl. I had been so caught off guard this morning when I found out that our new hire was the same girl I had recently fucked in the linen closet of the nightclub, that I hadn’t taken the time to grab breakfast after the meeting.

My attention had been scattered all morning, trying to focus on anything other than the beautiful woman who was sitting in the office across the hall from me. Every time she shifted position in her chair my eyes would immediately be pulled to her long, toned legs that were golden brown from plenty of time spent in the sun. I found myself watching her every movement, wondering if she would forget that I could see under her desk and forget to close her legs long enough for me to see what she was wearing underneath that fitted skirt. My mind had been running wild with the idea that she wasn’t wearing anything and that her bare pussy was waiting for me to come play with it again.

By noon, Kate had brought my lunch in and set it on the table. I tried to get out of the office for breaks when I could, but nothing beat the view I had of the city. The aroma floated through the air, pulling my attention away from the email that I was trying to respond to as my stomach growled loudly in the empty room. I pressed send and looked up to see Kate delivering Eva’s lunch to her office. Her smile spread across her cheeks as she thanked Kate, genuine sincerity in her eyes.

I pushed away from my desk and adjusted my tie. While I had been trying to avoid Eva so I could get work done, I found that I was desperately trying to find a way to spend time with her. She was like a drug and now that I’d had a taste, I couldn’t stop. I walked across the hallway and leaned against her door frame, knocking on the door to get her attention. She looked up, surprised to see me there.

“Hi,” she said nervously. “Did you need my help with something?”

“Actually, I was just about to take a quick break for lunch and wanted to see if you wanted to join me.”

“Oh, thank you but Kate just brought my lunch.” She nodded over to the table where the take-out bag and a drink were sitting.

“I can see that” I chuckled. “Would you like to bring your lunch into my office, and we can eat together?”

I waited while she contemplated the idea and hoped that she would say yes because she wanted to and not because she felt like she was required to as my employee.

“Okay. Sure.” She pushed away from her desk and smoothed her skirt down before walking around to the front of the desk. She reached for her food at the same time I moved forward to grab it for her, forcing us in each other’s arms once again. I felt her body stiffen next to mine, the scent of her vanilla perfume filling my senses as I fought the urge to lean in and inhale the intoxicating smell. She pulled back and looked up at me under her dark lashes.

“Sorry, I didn’t know you were heading that way,” she apologized.

“Don’t be, it’s okay. But let me grab that for you,” I offered, as I reached around her and grabbed the food from the table. My arm brushed against hers, sending a thrill of electricity through my body. I sucked in a deep breath and grabbed her drink, hoping that the coldness of the ice would help me chill out.

We sat down at the table in my office. Her eyes were wide with amazement as she stared out the window, taking in the sight below us. It reminded me of a child seeing the tree light up in Time Square at Christmas for the first time.

I grabbed the bag of food that Kate had brought me and started to unpack everything, thankful that she had gone with Italian today instead of seafood. Not that this was a date, but I didn’t want it to stink in here either. Given that we needed to find a way to work together and be professional, I still couldn’t force myself to stop trying to impress her, which was weird because I had never in my life worried about impressing a woman. She was different, and I found that to be more exciting than it should have been.

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