Page 29 of My Office Rival

To respond and risk more time with her, when I was already so weak where she was concerned? Or to ignore her, and risk her ire, which promised to come out in the worst possible way? I groaned. I couldn’t handle another morning like this morning. My fingers flew over the keyboard as I responded.

Jason

It is. And if you share some of the wine you’re hoarding, I’ll give you a slice.

She didn’t respond, but I heard her moving around overhead andthen thumping down the stairs. I went to straighten in my chair and check my teeth, but stopped myself.Why do I care what she thinks?I lounged indolently and watched her storm into the kitchen. Her hair was pulled back in a high ponytail, and she was dressed in a combination of yoga pants and a cropped tank top that seemed designed to drive me to insanity.

“Hi. Can I have some of that?” Her face was slightly flushed and her eyes were wide. She looked like she had in my bed.I really need to stop thinking about that night.

“If you give me a glass of that good wine I opened.”

She blushed and held the bottle out sheepishly. “I finished it. Sorry. You have good taste.”

“I know. You couldn’t leave me a glass?”

She made a face and flopped down across from me. “I had a very long day. A certain opposing counsel was trying to make things difficult for me.”

“Just doing my job.”

“Ugh. I don’t feel like sparring with you tonight. Today sucked.”

Was there more to that than just my being a jerk? I watched as she reached over and grabbed a piece of pizza, seeing the brittleness lingering just beneath the surface. Had she been drinking that wine because of me?You’re an ass. Had I slipped so deep into my professional persona that I had forgotten how to be a real person?

She took a bite and let out a little noise. “I love pepperoni. I pegged you for a white pizza kind of guy. The worst.”

“What an indictment of my character,” I teased. “Is it worse to like white pizza or worse to admit I prefer Hawaiian, but they didn’t have it?”

“That’s a crime against humanity,” she mumbled around her food. “A good salty-sweet combination can be delicious, though. I had some fantastic chocolate ice cream with salt on it a few weeks ago. It was practically a sexual experience.”

Her eyes closed at the memory, and I stiffened. Was it possible to get turned on by ice cream?Time to change the subject.

“So, other than your dislike of a certain opposing counsel, anything else you want to get off your chest?”

“To you?” She looked suspicious.

“Sure. I’m here and I’m as good as anyone.” I kept my tone casual, but suddenly, I craved any morsel of information she would grant me. “You can ask me anything you want after.”Take the olive branch, sweetheart.I hated the way she looked at me, suspicious, closed off. When she wasn’t trying to mess with my head, that was.

“I don’t know.” She chewed and cocked her head. “If I’m honest with you, will I get it thrown back in my face?”

My stomach bottomed out. “That comment was a mistake,” I said quietly, holding her gaze, until she flicked it down and twisted a bit of napkin in her hands.

She sighed. “You apologized. Thank you. I’m just a little…sensitive where that kind of thing is concerned.”

I considered her, waiting. I could be very patient when I wanted something.

“I, um, turned down a job at the New York Civil Liberties Union to take the position at TJR,” she finally added.

“Damn.” I blew out a breath. “That’s impressive. Doesn’t the NYCLU take like two law students a year or something?”

“Yeah.” Her expression twisted. “I think you meanstupid,not impressive. I’ve been clawing my way back to something like that for the last two years.”

“Why turn it down, then?”

“Money. Family obligations. The usual reasons, I guess.” She gave a tiny shrug. “My brother needed tuition money. My parents’ car had broken down. I just didn’t see a way to turn down a first-year salary for the peanuts they pay you in public interest. Some of it was pride, maybe. I wanted that salary to validate me. But my family didn’t push me to take the public interest job, so I didn’t.”

You’re one of those.My callous words echoed, and I grimaced.Asshole.

“You regret it.”

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