Page 4 of Alive At Night

Her gaze settled on Juni. “Juniper, thank you again for the coffee. I can’t believe you remembered our conversation after your interview.”

I narrowed my eyes on the cup in Daphne’s hand.

A vanilla latte with six different modifications, huh?

I should have listened closer this morning in line. What were the chances that Juniper would spill the secrets of Daphne’s drink order? Zero to none, probably.Fuck it all.

Daphne disappeared down the hallway, the echoing of her heels fading the further she got. Before I could turn to Juniper and call her out for being a goddamn suck-up, another face appeared in the office’s doorway.

Our office.

Hated that, by the way.

I didn’t mind sharing. In undergrad, I lived with five dudes, and several of them had live-in girlfriends who didn’t pay rent but also didn’t fucking leave. Hell, I grew up dividing shower time with my five sisters. Sharing wasn’t a problem for me.

But sharing with Juniper St. James?

“There he is!”

“Hey, man.” Stepping forward, I slapped my hand into Cameron’s outstretched one. Finally, someone who wasn’t going to say something that would irritate the shit out of me.

“I have a client meeting in a few, but I just wanted to pop by.” Cameron flashed a grin as he moved from me to Juniper, and I stiffened. “Cameron Bryant,” he introduced.

Juniper’s hand slipped into his, and a heavy blush spread over her cheeks as Cam gave it a firm shake.

“Juni—Juniper St. James.”

Was that astutter?Juniper smiled. I frowned. And when she still hadn’t dropped his hand, I cleared my throat. Really, what was this?

“Juniper St. James,” Cam repeated, his eyes growing wide with laughter and flicking meaningfully to me. He’d heard my complaints about my sister’s best friend on more than one occasion.

“Who’s the client?” I asked Cameron through gritted teeth.

Finally releasing Juniper, Cam waved the question away. “I’ll fill you in later. Celebratory first-day drinks after work?”

“I’m in.”

Wouldn’t mind a drink right now, actually.

“You should join, too, St. James!” Cameron called over his shoulder as he hurried away, adjusting his suit jacket as he fell in with another guy walking in the same direction.

I could kick Cam’s ass for that. And here I’d thought I could count on him not to piss me off.

“You should definitely not join,St. James,”I said, turning to glare at Juniper.

“At least St. James is one of my actual names,” she huffed, walking to my appointed desk and collecting her things to move them to hers. I raised a brow, surprised that she was conceding that easily, but she continued before I could say anything. “And it would seem that we actuallydidn’tget here the same way.”

The frown I’d been wearing since the embarrassingly awkward Juni-Cameron exchange deepened. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It meansIgot here by working my ass off and making a good impression.Yougot here because of your connection with Mr. Bryant.”

I didn’t take the bait. Networking was nothing to be ashamed of. And sure, maybe connecting with a law school bud wasn’t exactly networking, but it got me a job. I wasn’t pretentious enough to care about anything else. “You could have connections, too,” I said. “You know, if you didn’t try to bite the head off of everyone you talk to.”

“I have plenty of connections,” she sniffed as she began setting out little decor pieces on her desk.

Amused at her immediate switch-up, I leaned against my desk and watched her. “Oh, yeah?”

Juniper’s brow arched as she busied herself, and I took that to mean yes.

---