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ONE
LUCAS
“Congratulations, Lucas. This one might actually take win of the year!”
I pour two glasses of scotch with a grin. “This one will definitely take win of the year, Bryan.”
Chuckling, he taps his glass to mine and takes a sip. “I don’t know how you do it. I didn’t think we had a chance in hell of convincing Harrison to sell.”
Shrugging, I take a sip of my own. “There’s always a chance. You just have to find the right pulse point.”
He quirks an eyebrow. “And you somehow figured out that the legacy of the daughter he gave up for adoption was the pulse point?”
Another shrug. “I took a guess.”
Bryan, my boss—and one of the partners of the law firm I’ve spent the last decade of my life working for—is still laughing when there’s a soft knock on the door to his office. We both turn to see his secretary standing in the open doorway, a folder in one hand and something else hidden behind her back.
“Alison,” Bryan says with a hint of surprise. “You’re still here? I thought I sent you home hours ago.”
She enters the room with a smile. “You did. But I wanted to make sure everything was wrapped up in a neat bow before I left.” Then, to accentuate her point, she places the folder on Bryan’s desk beside us. “The acquisition contract. Signed, sealed, and delivered.”
Bryan hums in appreciation. “That was quick. I wasn’t expecting papers until tomorrow.” He opens the folder and, sure enough, both signatures are there.
The biggest deal I’ve ever negotiated.
“Thank you for bringing this in,” he says to Alison, his attention shifting back to her. “You didn’t need to, but thank you.” A crooked smile quirks his lips. “Do you really need to leave? I’m not sure how I’m going to replace you.”
She lets out a laugh and pats his arm good-naturedly. “You’ll be fine, Bryan. My replacement is fully trained and ready to start next week, don’t worry.”
Bryan sighs. “If you say so. Just know we’ll miss you around here.” He waves her off with a smile. “Now, go home. It’s late. Don’t be thinking just because tomorrow is your last day that you can come in late.”
She lets out a tinkling laugh. “I would never. But that’s not the only reason I came in.” Grinning, she pulls out what she was hiding behind her back. “I found this in the storage reserves when I was cleaning out my stuff. Figured today’s win was more than deserving of it.”
My eyebrows shoot up when I get a look at the label. “A 25-year-old single malt Macallan? Holy shit.”
With her smile still firmly in place, she shrugs and places it on the desk. “Up to you. Just thought I’d bring it over.”
I’m not surprised when Bryan cracks it open without a second thought. The only thing he loves more than winning huge, unwinnable cases is drinking expensive booze.
“Will you have a drink with us?” he asks Alison, pulling out three new glasses. “After all, you helped win this case just as much as the rest of us.”
“I don’t know about that,” she says shyly. But she’s faking the humility; I can see it all over her face. She knows exactly how good she is in this office. “But…okay. One drink.”
Bryan nods his approval and pours a third glass. “Good girl. Now”—he hands a glass to each of us, then lifts his in the air—“a toast. To…Lucas. For winning the biggest case in the firm’s history.”
I send Bryan a wry grin as I politely accept the toast.
“To Lucas,” comes Alison’s soft voice, followed by the clink of her glass against ours.
My gaze darts to her as I take a savoring sip, zeroing in on her tone. She holds my eyes as she does the same.
When her eyelids droop the tiniest bit, I recognize, she’s flirting with me.
I give myself a moment to look at her as I drink some more, Bryan’s attention already back to the contract on his desk.
Alison is a few years younger than me, not quite in her thirties, and undeniably beautiful. She’s elegant, polished, always professional, but carrying a hint of something that tells me there’s something more daring lurking beneath that pencil skirt and pretty blouse. She’s also incredibly smart and damn good at her job, which adds about a dozen points to her attractiveness scale.
The only reason this flirting is new is because I have a rule about workplace romances: I don’t do them. And every woman in this building knows that. My life centers around work, so I’ve never cared to risk it for something as trivial as sex. Which is all anyone would get from me, anyway.
