Page 10 of Play the Game
Me
Definitely coming with.
Noah
Fuck yeah. Wyles Bros and Hoes night at the baseball game.
“Cooper and I can handle that, right Cooper?”
The sound of my name and the feel of a swift kick to my shin with the pointy toe of a high heeled shoe has my head shooting up and my eyes landing right on Evan, who’s looking at me expectantly. When our gazes meet, she raises an eyebrow inchallenge, like she knows I wasn’t paying any attention and have no clue what I’m about to agree to.
“Sure, that’s no problem.” In this moment, I don’t care what I’m agreeing to because I’m too busy wondering whether I’m currently gushing blood from my leg. Fuck, those heels Evan wears are deadly weapons. Thinking of her heels has a memory of those same ones digging into my ass while I pounded into her against the window in this very conference room flashing through my head. I shift in my chair as all my blood rushes to my dick.
Like she can tell exactly what I’m thinking, she smirks and glances down, jotting something in the pink spiral notebook she always carries with her, then pops a Jolly Rancher in her mouth and turns her attention back to Austin who is, unbelievably, still talking.
“Thanks, Evangeline, but I think I’d prefer Cooper to take this one on himself.”
Evan’s jaw hardens, her eyes turning to ice as she stares Austin down. “But I’m always a part of witness prep.”
Austin shakes his head. “Not this time. We’re prepping Milo Pierre for his deposition with Branch Pharma, and I think Cooper is better equipped to handle it.”
Evan opens her mouth like she’s going to protest, then seems to reconsider, lips curving into a tight smile as she speaks through gritted teeth. “Sure, whatever you think is best.”
Austin doesn’t seem to care that Evan looks like she’s about to commit murder right in this conference room because he just gives her a pleased smile and a nod. “Wonderful. I knew you would see it my way. Now, Milo and his team will be coming in for a pre-prep meeting on Friday. Evangeline, I expect you to be a part of that meeting, and then you can spend the weekend helping Cooper get ready for his witness prep.”
Now it’s my turn to open my mouth to interrupt Austin. To tell him he’s making a mistake. I might not like Evan very much, but of the two of us, she is definitely better at witness prep. Forreasons beyond my comprehension, clients love her, and she has this way of communicating with them that makes them want to please her, and that, in turn, brings out their very best. It’s a skill that is particularly well-suited to preparing clients for tricky depositions. Not to mention the fact that she has worked just as hard on this case as I have, so cutting her out is wrong, especially because I know he’s doing it because she’s a woman and he's a sexist asshole.
But once again, Evan seems to read my mind because she gives me a cutting glare, and I hearDon’t you fucking dareas clearly as if she spoke the words out loud.
My eyes are locked on hers, and I can’t look away. She’s doing her best to appear perfectly fine with what just happened, but I catalogue all the ways she is the opposite of that. Lips pressed tightly together. Eyes just a touch too bright. Hands clenched onto fists where they rest on the table on either side of the legal pad she’s been taking notes on for the last two hours.
I have the uncomfortable feeling that I’m seeing the real Evan for the first time. I think back to the other day when I came in early and saw her sitting at her desk in what looked like her pajamas and slippers, unrestrained smile on her face and eyes somehow both determined and joyful.
Seeing her at the office early isn’t unusual—she’s made a fucking career out of getting to work before me for the last year. But seeing her like that was new. And the way she let out that little yelp and slammed the door, somehow transforming herself into lawyer mode and then pretending I didn’t see what I saw? It was weird, and I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about it once or twice or approximately three hundred times in the last two days.
Between this and our late night fuckfest three weeks ago, Evan Rhodes is occupying way more of my brain than usual, and I don’t love it.
“Okay, that will be all,” Austin says, clapping his hands together. “I don’t think I need to remind anyone sitting in thisroom that Pierre Pharma is a very important client. This litigation is going to bring in millions in billables over the next two quarters, and I need everyone working at top capacity.”
I just barely restrain myself from rolling my eyes. While we’re all working our asses off, Austin will be playing his umpteenth round of golf and then he’ll swoop in and take all the credit when we win and end up with a thrilled client.
I wonder, yet again, why I decided BigLaw was what I wanted. I love the law. But this is nothing like I imagined it would be.
As the other associates and paralegals on the Pierre case file out of the conference room, I stay where I am, suddenly exhausted down to my bones.
“Do you need help out of your chair or something?”
I glance up at Evan, standing on the other side of the table. Her suit today is a burgundy color that hugs all her curves. She’s wearing it with a silky white tank that skims over her breasts, and I get a quick flash of the way her rosy nipples pebbled when I rubbed my fingers over them.
I really need to get a grip.
“What?”
Evan rolls her eyes. “You’re just sitting there like we don’t have a million hours of work ahead of us. You’re prepping the client on Monday. It’s already Thursday, and he’s coming in tomorrow for a pre-prep meeting.” She picks up her mug and takes a sip, making a face when she swallows like she doesn’t like the taste. Interesting.
No. Not interesting. Nothing about this woman is interesting. Infuriating? Definitely. But not interesting. Not at all.
“You don’t have to let him talk to you like that you know.”
