Page 48 of My Office Rival

“I missed the email,” I ground out.

“Luckily, I’m here to tell you what to do.” She winked and my breath caught.

“I don’t need anyone to tell me what to do,” I muttered.I really do, though. I fucking love it.

“You love it,” she replied with an eye roll. My breath hitched. Did she know? No way. She couldn’t know.

We made our way to the conference room, silent, strained. This floor was always empty. It was frankly creepy. We were the only two people I ever saw among all the bland office furniture scattered on the sea of beige carpet like depressing icebergs, underneath a popcorn ceiling sky. We pushed opened the conference room door.Let’s get this shit over with it.

30

CYNTHIA

The only word I could use to describe today wasawkward.Jason and I sat across the conference room table from each other while our clients discussed the additional financial disclosures that Gene had begrudgingly provided. Sunlight streamed in, making Jason’s golden hair shine and his stubble glimmer. His jaw was clenched and the under-eye circles were back. He and I barely looked at each other, but I’d noticed a flush over those cut-glass cheekbones when he’d seen me this morning.

Thank all that was holy, I’d been able to avoid him until we got to the office. Because last night had been insane. What had possessed me tosayhis name?Of all things. I wanted to shake myself until I saw reason. And of course he had loved it. In fact, I had the impression that his name on my lips had sent him over the edge, at least judging by the groan he’d made. I was getting turned on just thinking about it.

His stare was carefully blank, as if we were strangers.Okay, jerk.I guess it was for the best that one of us maintain some composure. But it still bothered me how quickly he was able to flip from moaning my name to pretending I was nothing but opposing counsel. Maybe he’d always have one up on me. The thought rankled.

“Isn’t that right, Cynthia?” my client questioned. I hadn’t been paying attention.Crap.

“Can you repeat the point, please?” I asked, my face heating.

“We think the auditors should be provided with everything they need to complete their review of these entities,” the Argan CFO repeated.

“Correct,” I agreed.

Gene glowered and looked at Jason. Jason was silent.

“They’ll be provided in the next package of materials,” Gene ground out. “Jason, I’m sure you’ll produce them soon, right?”

Jason’s head jerked in Gene’s direction. His gaze was hard.Weird.I didn’t usually look at my clients like that. Like I wanted to murder them and hoped no one ever found the body.

“Great, thank you,” my client continued. “And Cynthia, when will you have our remaining list of requests prepared?”

“By this evening,” I responded quickly.

“I’m going to need it sooner.” Jason cut in and his client smirked.

“It will be ready tonight,” I said slowly, looking him in the eye.Asshole.This was his game. With any other opposing counsel, I would have agreed to accommodate them, but he always pushed like this, trying to throw you off and make himself seem important.

“It is imperative that I receive it before then, Ms. Kade.” He frowned, as if this whole deal were about to go off the rails.

“We are preparing it as fast as we can, Mr. Elliott. Tonight should be more than enough time for your team to gather everything we need by Wednesday. Unless you think there’s an issue on your side with staffing?” I said this through clenched teeth.Take that.His eyes glittered at my response.

“You seem a little distracted. Perhaps if we discuss later, we can figure out a way to get this done sooner.” He said it like he was swooping in to save the day, and I saw red.

“We don’t need todiscussanything. I told you I’ll have it to you tonight.”

My client shifted awkwardly. “No need for this to get fraught,” she said with a small laugh.

Gene snorted. “I don’t mind.”

Yeah, he fucking didn’t. My hand clenched around my pen.Why is Jason acting like this?Yeah, he’d been in a bad mood. And yeah, this was kind of his thing. Maybe he was trying to impress his client? Was I impressing mine? Fuck, I hated floundering, and I only seemed to do it on deals with him. Jason sent me careening out of control, and Ihatedit.

“Ms. Kade. Did you have comments on the document I sent you Friday?” Jason asked. A reasonable question. I would have responded already, but I’d been too distracted by him. My face flamed.

“They’re almost ready. I’ll send them when we get out of this meeting.”

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