Page 4 of Forged in Peril

Bristol reached over onto the passenger seat, fiddling with the contents of her tote bag and trying not to remember what a jerk she’d been to him. He and his family had been nothing but kind to her, but she’d been standoffish–especially when he’d offered her a job in their security company’s legal department as soon as he found out that she was finished with her bachelor’s degree and paralegal program.

She could still imagine the way that she’d rebuffed his generous offer, telling him that she could take care of herself, and that she already had a job with a very prestigious local firm, thank you very much.

She cringed as she tightened the lid on her water bottle for the third time, not wanting to risk dousing the rest of the contents of her purse.

Dorling & Porter was prestigious, all right.

Prestigious enough to protect their own favored lawyers, no matter their conduct, and no matter the cost.

It had taken every ounce of humility Bristol had to write an email to Cameron’s assistant the week before, asking if they were still hiring for any legal positions. At that point, she was desperate enough that she would have been thankful for a gig in the mail room, but she knew Cameron, and despite how she’d treated him, she was confident that he’d help her as much as he could.

So it had not been a surprise when she’d received an email back less than six hours later, telling her that their lead–and currently only–paralegal had recently gone out on maternity leave, and that they were desperate to bring in a competent replacement. He’d offered her the job then and there, without even asking for an interview.

Now, she realized that maybe talking to him beforehand might have made things a whole lot easier, but it was too late to do anything about it now.

With a final reluctant glance at her watch, she hitched her bag over her shoulder and climbed out of the car, pressing the lock button on her keys a couple of extra times, just in case.

“Not that anyone in their right mind would break into you, Boris,” she said, glancing around to ensure that the garage was otherwise empty before starting toward the stairwell.

With any luck, most of the other employees would roll up in their BMWs or whatever they drove closer to eight, and no one, not even Cameron, would realize that the dumpy old Taurus with the mismatched fender belonged to her at all.

CAMERON

Cameron yawned as he scrolled through his emails, trying to rub the sleep from his eyes as he forced himself to focus on the endless torrent of invoices, media inquiries, and junk mail that filled his inbox.

His coffee cup sat empty at his side, the cracked old mug proclaiming that ‘God’s mercies are new every morning’.

While he certainly believed that to be true, he also figured that said mercies would proceed just fine without him while he slept in.

This morning, however, that was not an option, and he figured that downing a couple of cups of hot coffee couldn’t hurt.

Before he could rise from his desk to grab a refill, however, he heard a knock on the doorframe, and his brother Gabriel stepped into the office.

“Hey, Cam. Ready to see her again?” he asked, grinning.

His black hair was still wet from what had probably been a post-workout shower, and there was not even a hint of bags beneath his bright blue eyes, despite the fact that he’d almost certainly been awake before dawn.

Cameron suppressed the sudden urge to chuck a stack of Post-Its at his overly cheerful face.

“Ready to see who?” he replied, stretching his arms over his head as another yawn worked its way through his chest.

Gabe rolled his eyes.

“She’d better not make me regret letting you hire her,” he warned, shaking his head.

Let him hire her? Last he checked, it wasn’t Gabriel Forge Security.

Cameron decided it would be wise to keep his mouth shut on that topic. Gabriel was, technically, the boss–and more importantly, he was generally good at taking care of things. His control-freak tendencies could be annoying, but usually not worth starting a fight over.

“She has solid legal experience, Gabe,” he said instead, shrugging his shoulders. “Two years as a certified paralegal in one of San Antonio’s most well-known firms, and she got her bachelor’s from Columbia before that. Her plan is to go to law school, get her JD, the whole deal.”

Gabe leaned against the edge of Cameron’s cluttered desk, raising a single eyebrow. “Is that what she told you when she went off to New York City and broke your heart, or was this a more recent discussion?”

Ouch.

At least his older brother had the decency not to complain about his messy office for the umpteenth time. That was something.

“Irrelevant. That’s all ancient history. She’s perfect for the position, Gabe. You have nothing to worry about. And with Carly on maternity leave, the timing is clearly Providential.”

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