Page 59 of My Office Rival

“Sure, of course.” Something in my black expression must have spurred her into action, because she scrambled up and we quickly headed outside into the crisp air. I took a shuddering breath when we finally exited the building.

“Are you finally losing it on me? Is it the cows? You can tell me. I promise to only partially use it against you.” Her voice was dry and teasing, and I huffed a laugh.

“No, Gene Delafonte is just a raging dick.”Deep breaths. In and out. Don’t let the anger control you.“Let’s walk for a few minutes. The diner is just ten minutes down the road.”

We headed down the street in silence, my longer strides eating up the pavement.

“Slow down,” she protested. “I wore my flats today, but I’m not a long-distance runner like you.”

I turned to see Cynthia a few steps behind me, giving me a baleful glare, as she did her best to keep up in her navy skirt suit and flats.

Her murderous expression drew a helpless laugh from me, and she glared harder.

“Is something funny, counselor? Perhaps I have something on my face? I’ll have you know, I’m a very fast walker normally. It’s this stupid skirt. I feel like a penguin.” She made an awkward waddling motion.

“Stop, stop.” My stomach hurt from laughing. A welcome change from the murderous rage I felt around my client.

She rolled her eyes, but kept going. “Try to keep up,” she tossed over her shoulder and I followed, entranced by her. I made sure to shorten my strides and not leave her in the dust again.

After a few minutes of walking side-by-side, she glanced over. “So, what’s up?”

I speared a hand through my hair. I couldn’t be as honest with her as I would like. She was opposing counsel, and I had a duty to my client to keep my suspicions to myself.

“I just had a very difficult conversation with Gene. He’s a raging asshole. He makes me want to break something every time I talk to him.”

She made a considering sound. “I think he cultivates that personality.”

“I’m not sure.”

“So you think he’s what…a thug? No way. It’s an act.” She sounded incredulous.

“The possibility had occurred to me,” I said darkly. In fact, it was exactly what I thought. Everything we had reviewed led me to believethat something was amiss. The empty office, the bizarre requests from Gene, the threats, the lack of information from his team.What if they didn’t have the records Cynthia had requested because they didn’t exist? Because they had paid or threatened people to get sign off for any new construction?If that were the case, I was well and truly screwed, assuming I reported my clients to the partners, or if Cynthia found out.She could not find out. Not before I knew how to handle this.

“Come on,” she exclaimed, shaking those fiery curls. “Gene’s just an asshole. The whole Tony Soprano thing, yeah, it’s ridiculous.” She shrugged. “But it’s not like he’s running a criminal enterprise out of the world’s shittiest office building in the middle of nowhere. Wouldn’t someone have caught on to that by now? I mean, how did they even get past the initial screening the firm sets up for its clients and the source of their funds?”

“That’s a good point,” I said slowly. We did screen for money laundering before taking on new clients.

“I know,” she said and grinned.

Her utter self-assuredness had my lips curving up despite myself. “Got it all figured out, eh?”

“Of course I do,” she tossed back. Her eyes sparkled and I let myself be distracted by her for just a minute. Her hair was like living flame and her plush bottom lip begged for me to press my thumb against it. A flash of heat went through me.Our first night together. That full lip dragging over the head of my cock.

“You need to stop worrying and live a little more in the moment, Jason. Gene’s just being an asshole. And you aren’t going to punch him in the face, because that would most definitely get you fired. But maybe we can pin his face to a dartboard or something?”

“Great idea. You print the photo. I’ll buy the darts.”

“Deal.”

35

JASON

“Still working on that? I can give you the answers if you want. I’m nearly done.”

Cynthia bounded into the kitchen, the picture of good health and a long night’s sleep. I glowered at her, my eyes gritty, my brain only half functioning.

“I’ll kill you. I’ve never felt dumber than I do this morning,” I grumbled. I’d been staring blankly at the same question on the crossword for a full five minutes.

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