Page 95 of Indiscretion

“Cybercrime. He hacked into his school’s grading and attendance system and planted a virus. They lost all the information for the last three years.”

“Was he trying to wipe out bad grades?”

Dawson shook his head. “That’s the nutty part. Kid is a straight-A student and doesn’t miss school. He just did it for fun. But when they traced it back to him, they got a search warrant to go through his computer and found that he was in the middle of trying to do the same thing to a cell phone company. It wasn’t even the company he had service with.”

“I’ve never understood why people do those types of things. What do they get out of it?”

“I’ll be asking that question when they get here. Because it feels like I’m missing something.”

The intercom in his office buzzed, and the receptionist’s voice came over. “Hi, Dawson. Your eight o’clock client is here.”

He looked at his watch. “Is the entire party here? Jared, his mother, Brendan—the other kid who was charged—and Will Archer, Brendan’s attorney?”

“They are.”

“Tell them I’ll be out in a few minutes.”

“Okay.”

Dawson looked me up and down and grinned. “How’d you sleep last night?”

“Like a baby. You?”

“Pretty good. My sheets smell like coconut though, so I woke up with a hard-on.”

I covered my mouth. “I hope you took care of it. It would be pretty inappropriate to go into a meeting with a sixteen-year-old like that.”

Dawson stood and walked—nostalked—toward me. “I was hoping you’d help me out with that.”

My eyes widened, yet I couldn’t get the grin off my face as I held up my hands, showing him my palms. “Stop right where you are, Reed.”

Shockingly, Dawson stopped in his tracks. “What? I was just going to the file cabinet.”

“You’re full of shit.”

He smirked. “Just let me near you for a minute. I’ll only cop a quick feel.”

I chuckled. “No way. We are not starting that in the office.”

He stuck his bottom lip out. “You’re no fun.”

“You have a troubled sixteen-year-old and his mother waiting for you, not to mention another attorney.”

“I’ll be quick.”

I shook my head. “Finish getting ready. I’ll go grab them, put them in the conference room, and see if anyone wants coffee. Also, I think we should keep things between us professional in the office.”

“Why?”

“Because this is my job, and I don’t want us to get into habits that will make it weird after…”

Dawson’s brows knitted. “After what?”

“Well, when we aren’t…doing this anymore.”

“When? So you’re already planning our demise?” He shook his head. “Maybe you can pencil it in on the calendar so I know when it’s happening too.”

“I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just…”

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