Page 35 of What Did Your Last Maid Die Of?

“Oh, don’t worry about it.” I said, laughing. “I’m here to learn the law, not to flirt with some old-ass men.”

“Oh, darling,” Boobie said, shaking her head. “There ain’t nothing old about Travis Chandler or Max Whitlock.”

“Well, okay. Thanks,” I said as I quickly hurried toward the elevator. “Uhm, have a nice day,” I said diplomatically as I watched her pick up her phone again. I wondered if she was indicative of everyone that worked here. Was this entire firm a joke? How could she be the front person for a law firm? I pressed the button for the elevator and waited patiently, taking a couple of deep breaths before stepping inside. I studied my reflection in the mirror-like wall surface and smiled. At least I looked professional and quite hot. Harriet had taken me shopping for a new power suit this past weekend, and I had to admit that the thousand-dollar suit was most probably the nicest piece of clothing I owned. Granted, it wasn’t sexy in alet’s go to the nightclubway, but it did fit me well, and the skirt was short enough that I got to show off my legs. And the heels were doing wonders for my ankles and calves.

By the time the elevator arrived at the second floor, I was feeling much more confident and ready to kick some ass. There was a placard on a stand directly outside the elevator that had an arrow to the right and read, “Summer Interns This Way.” I gripped my handbag to my side and made my way toward the cacophony of voices I heard down the hallway.I paused outside the entrance and then walked in. There were about six women and ten men standing in the room; all but two of them looked like they were in the mid- to late twenties. The other two looked like they were in their forties. I looked around the room to see if anyone looked friendly.

“Hey, this is nerve-racking, isn’t it?” A voice to my left made me turn, and I looked into the open, dark-brown eyes of a woman next to me.

“Very nerve-racking.” I nodded. “Are you an intern as well?”

“Yes.” She beamed at me and held her hand out. “I’m Natasha, just finished my 1L year at UF. What about you?”

“Oh, I’m not in law school yet. Deciding if I want to go that route before I start my applications and take the LSAT.”

“Ooh.” She made a face and then pushed her dark curls back from her face. “Good luck and smart move.”

“Thanks.” I looked around the room. “Is everyone else here in law school?”

“Yes.” She nodded. “And we’re all 1Ls, asides from you. I’m surprised they don’t have any 2L summers, but I suppose there must be a reason for that.” She lowered her voice and leaned forward. “A lot of T1 students are here as well.”

“T1?”

“Tier 1,” she explained patiently. “In fact, I think there are a lot of top fourteen schools represented.”

“Sorry, I’m not sure what that means.”

“Oh, so you really haven’t started the application process yet at all, have you?” She laughed as I shook my head. “Well there are—”

“Good morning, everyone. Please take a seat.” A loud deep voice sounded from behind me as a man walked into the room in what could only be described as the power suit of all power suits. Everyone in the room scrambled to the large conference table, including Natasha and me, and then we all took a seat. The man walked to the head of the table and smiled. “Hello, everyone, I’m Travis Chandler, one of the partners here at the firm.”

“He’s so hot,” Natasha whispered in my ear, and I couldn’t stop myself from nodding.

“No lies detected,” I whispered back to her, and she giggled lightly. I turned to look back at Travis, Finn’s friend. He was hotter than hot, with his dark blond hair, dazzling blue eyes, deep, golden-brown tan, and muscular body. Now I understood what Boobie had been saying. This was a man that many women would want to find themselves under. I could feel a butterfly in my stomach as he grabbed a pen with his big, strong hands.

“So today is the first day, and we will just become acquainted with one another.” Travis had a Southern drawl that made me think he was from Georgia. He was definitely from the deep, deep South. He was able to mask it slightly, but I could hear it in the way he spoke many of his words. “The other named partner, Max, will be joining us later. So let me get started. I’m Travis Chandler. I went to Harvard Law School, was onLaw Reviewand did a clerkship for one of the justices on the Supreme Court. After that, I went to work as an associate at a big law firm in New York City, where I met Max, and four years later, we decided to open our own practice. We have been open for about four years and have been rapidly expanding. We deal mainly with commercial real estate litigation and some IP law. But we’ll go into that later.” He paused and smiled. “Let’s all introduce ourselves, starting with the gentleman to my right.”

“Hi, my name is Andrew. I am a 1L at Duke University in North Carolina. I was awarded the—”

“Oh my gosh, he’s such a gunner,” Natasha whispered in my ear. “Shut up, Andrew, we don’t care.” I bit down my lower lip to stop from laughing at her comments. I wasn’t sure what a gunner was, but it was obvious to me that Andrew was that annoying sort of guy that loved to hear himself talk because he thought he was the most intelligent person in the room.

“Hi, everyone, I’m Sandra Dee Jenkins, and yes I was named after the character inGrease.” The next girl had an infectious personality, and we all laughed, aside from Andrew. “I’m a 1L at Stanford University in California, but I grew up in West Palm Beach, and that’s why I wanted to intern here this summer. I enjoy going to the beach and—”

“Someone tell her this isn’t a dating app,” Natasha whispered, and I turned to her and giggled.

“I mean, if telling my entire life story will get me a date with Travis, I will tell you everything you don’t wanna know,” I whispered back, and Natasha snorted.

“Something interesting that you’d like to share?” A deep voice shot across the room, and I could feel myself freezing as I turned to the front of the room again. Travis was no longer standing alone. There was now another man standing next to him. A very familiar-looking man with dark-brown hair and big, blue-green eyes. It was the guy from the elevator. What the hell was he doing here? I could tell from the expression on his face that he recognized me. He had that same condescending sneer on his lips, and I suddenly felt very cold.

“Sorry, no,” Natasha said quickly as I sat there silently.

“Good,” the jackass stated and folded his arms.

“Everyone, let me introduce Max Whitlock. It looks like he was able to get out of his appearance in court this morning, just to greet you all.”

“Yippee for us,” I said sarcastically under my breath and almost fainted when Max stared at me again.

“Did you say something?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

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