Page 46 of Legal Attraction

He checked his watch. “She’s been in there for almost three hours?”

“I think so.” She shrugged.

“Doing what?”

She organized her stack and then handed him some envelopes. “You’re gonna need to start licking these.”

He grimaced but did as he was told.

“I don’t know.”

He made a mock frown. “I’m licking envelopes for you and you don’t know?”

“I didn’t know you had so much interest in the office gossip.”

He laughed. “Well, as you so astutely pointed out, I have reasons.”

“Too true. I forgot. Let’s see. What else do I know? Oh! Mr. Goldstein is going in for a medical procedure next week. I think he’s getting a lift.” She wiggled her eyebrows.

“A lift?” This was way more than he wanted to know, but he had to keep her talking so she’d say something more about Coral.

“Eyebrow.”

“Ah. I didn’t know that was something to lift.”

“Because you’re still young.”

He handed back a stack of sealed envelopes.

Jaden approached them at the desk. “There you are.” She held out a file. “I have the latest draft of the brief you asked for, but I can’t move forward until I get the main points correct and passed off with you. Would you mind taking a look?” She held it out as if in accusation.

“Certainly. Put it on my desk in the right corner.” He’d explained very clearly how he wanted them to turn in the client work.

But instead of turning around and doing as he asked, she stubbornly stood with her hand held out waiting for him to take the folder.

So he did, but he held it closed and under his arm.

Then the door to security opened and the Joe exited.

Rand whipped his head around to see behind him.

But the room was empty.

Gladys’s eyes widened but she didn’t look in Rand’s direction at all. And she suddenly became engrossed in something on her computer. Joe frowned. “It’s not advisable to loiter around the entrance.”

“On our way.” Rand nodded and Jaden stepped up beside him. They walked out together. “Thank you for your work on this.” He held up the file. “I’ll have my thoughts on your desk this afternoon.”

She sighed. “Thank you.”

“It would probably be good to begin your relationship with this firm understanding that we all have work to do and the partners are not serving at your pleasure.”

“Understood.”

They continued down the hall and rounded the corner. Coral was in her office. He almost tripped over his shoes. Luckily, Jaden did trip over hers and ran to the door. “Coral! You’re back.”

“I am back. Have I been missed?” She avoided looking at Rand. He wanted to shout yes she had been missed every ten minutes from the end of lunch until that moment.

“We all wondered about your long lunch and hoped everything was alright.” Jaden lifted a hand. “Well, good to see you. Maybe we’ll catch you at dinner tonight?”