Page 52 of EverGreene
“You didn’t answer my question.”
I sighed. “Yes, Loche. As a matter of fact, I did skip my lunch to get more work done. Don’t worry, I won’t put the extra time on my time sheet.”
“You most certainly will. You work harder than anyone else in this firm, don’t let them not compensate you for it.”
“Says the man who’s related to one of the firm’s partners and can choose to come into work whenever he feels like it and still get paid.”
Loche stiffened. “You think you know so much about me.” He paused, running a hand through his shaggy, dark hair as he turned his head.
Was that a bruise on the side of his face? I squinted, trying to get a look at it, but he turned his head again, blocking what appeared to be the abrasion-like discoloration from view. I had to be seeing things. I’d just worked twelve hours, my eyes were tired, or the lighting was bad because there was no way Loche had a bruise right where V had been hit in the face.
“You’re wrong about me, Ever. In life, just as in law, first impressions can be deceiving. I hope you’ll be willing to give me a chance to prove that to you someday.”
I leaned against the table while I finished packing the last box, glancing up at him after securing the lid. He seemed so sincere that it took me aback. “You don’t have to prove anything to me.”
“But it appears that I do.”
“Why do you care so much about what I think of you?”
“For a few reasons. One, we’re going to be spending a lot oftime together very shortly, and two, despite what you may think of me, I think highly of you. We’ve been working together for over a year, and I’ve hardly gotten to know you. You, likewise, have hardly gotten to know me, so I want to change that. Ask me something, anything, and I’ll do my best to answer it.”
“That’s dangerous territory.” I grabbed my cardigan from the back of the chair I’d been sitting in for the better part of seven hours and shrugged it on, inspecting his lumbering figure in the doorway. “Do you always dress like you’re about to take the stage in some cheesy smalltown revival ofGreasewhen you’re not in the office?”
Loche smiled, revealing a dimple on his left cheek. “Only on special occasions.”
“Oh, so you have a hot date tonight?”
“If by hot date you mean working on trial subpoenas and redacting depositions, then yes. Scorching hot. Are you jealous, Nevermore?”
“In your dreams, Greene.” I rolled my eyes, retrieving my phone from the table to check to see if V had responded to my last text. He hadn’t.
“Ah, yes. I forgot. You have a boyfriend, right?”
I purposely kept my eyes on the screen, not wanting to make eye contact with him. Loche would for sure see through my bullshit. He always saw through everyone’s bullshit. “I don’t know. I might. I might not. We haven’t thrown a label on it yet.”
“What do you want that label to be?”
Well, damn. What did I want it to be? The way V and I were going right now, though fun, wasn’t sustainable, especially if he had no real intention of ever revealing himself to me. And for all I knew about him, he could have another woman on the side or, hell, a whole ass family, which was far less likely, butI’d seen enough episodes of48 Hoursto know that it wasn’t entirely impossible.
“I don’t know,” I answered. “When we met, all I wanted was a quick lay, but now, I may be ready for something a little more than that. I never thought I’d say that again, honestly.”
“You want that with the guy you’re with now?” Loche studied me as though he was deep in thought, awaiting my answer to his question.
“I guess, I don’t know the answer to that. It seems like he would be everything I was looking for, but there is so much about him I don’t know.”Like what the fuck he looks like.
“Maybe he has a good reason to be secretive.”
“You men all stick up for each other.”
“All I’m saying is sometimes secrets are necessary.”
“What secrets are you keeping, Loche?”
A shadow fell over his face as we locked eyes, holding each other’s gaze until he broke our trance. “I’m not quite sure you’re ready to hear mine yet.”
“Figures.” I walked past him, my body brushing against his as I squeezed past him through the doorway, sending a tingle through my body.Calm down, ovaries. I get that ovulation is a bitch, but my coworker isn’t an option.
“Ever,” Loche called after me, his voice almost as stimulating to my senses as his touch.
