Page 1 of Three Bossy Boyfriends
CHAPTER 1
Christopher
“So,I need to be in a serious committed relationship to make partner. That’s what you’re saying.”
I watch as Evan pushes up from the chair on the other side of the conference room table and paces to the windows.
It’s unusual to see him worked up like this. Evan is the calm one. The sunshiny optimist. The one who charms everyone and can diffuse any tense situation. He has a nerdy earnestness about him, but he’s never broody and is rarely angry or upset. All of that’s what drew me to him in the first place. He’s the absolute opposite of an asshole. The absolute opposite of me.
But this partnership means a lot to him, and the senior partner, Charles Banks, is dragging his feet for reasons we are only guessing at, so Evan’s getting irritable.
I lean back in my chair and try to adopt the casual calm that the conversation needs since Evan isn’t playing his usual role.
“It’s just a suggestion. Charles is seventy-one years old and has been married to his wife for fifty of them. They met in high school. They have seven kids. He’s often said that he attributes his success to Barbara. He’s a traditionalist. I think it would help him to see you as stable, serious, ready to put down roots.Someone who looks more like a partner to him than you do now.”
My thirty-two-year-old law associate turns to look at me with a scowl. “I don’t seem like partner material?”
Not what I said. But I have to fight a grin. Seeing Evan worked up like this is definitely new. And kind of hot.
“Of course you’re partner material. You’re brilliant. You might be the smartest person in the firm. You also work your ass off. You care about your clients. They’re not just files to you.”
One of Evan’s strengths is the ability to get people to trust him within five minutes. It’s probably his boyish face. Depending on the age of the client, he reminds them of their son, or grandson, or maybe a brother or nephew. He just fucking exudes trustworthiness. He’s the one we always send in when we think a client might be a crier.
And, fuck if he doesn’t always deliver. Clients love him. The other associates and partners love him.
I love him.
Fuck. This is so damned complicated.
He needs to be a partner. It will solve all the problems.
Like us not being able to have a romantic relationship because he’s my subordinate in the firm.
And he deserves it. Behind all of that boyish charm and that nerdy exterior is a legal genius. He’s quiet and unassuming, but when he speaks, it’s always with something that will turn a case not only in a new direction, but in the right direction.
“You know I want you to have this partnership as much as you want it,” I tell him. “I’m just trying to think of all the ways to make it a no-brainer.”
“Why do I have to be in a serious relationship? You’re single.”
“I’m divorced. I was married when I made partner.”
Evan blows out a breath and hangs his head. “Well, it’s not like I can get married in the next few months. Charles knowsI don’t have a girlfriend. So this isn’t going to help. We need something else.”
I could tell him that he just needs to be patient. I could tell him that within another couple of years there’s no question he’ll be a partner. But he wants this now. And I want him to have it now.
Being crazy about a man who’s eight years younger than I am was unexpected, to say the least. But being in love with a man who is my subordinate at work, who reports to me, is a huge complication. We can’t get involved until he is my equal at work.
It can’t go beyond the one kiss that we’ve shared until then. No matter how much we want it to.
Over the two years that I’ve known Evan, I’ve been slowly falling for him. Now there’s no question about it. I want him, he wants me, and we want to have this relationship.
The way it happened is so cliché it’s almost laughable. I am anything but cliché. I am serious, straightforward, and have a temper. I’m a shark in the courtroom.
But one night, Evan and I were working late together, going over one of the biggest cases of the year. I was getting worked up—like he is now, and he was doing his usual calming sunshine magic. I could feel his optimism seeping into me. I actually felt warmer being around him. And suddenly he said something that made me laugh. Right in the middle of a rant.
So I leaned over and kissed him.
I knew immediately it was a huge mistake, and that I had probably just compromised my career.
