Page 20 of Partners In Evil
“What do you mean, you don’t think it’s about Raven?” I return. “The firm’s in a financial crisis and you’re being threatened! What else would it be about?”
“I’m not sure,” he admits. “But I think whatever it is, it’s the reason you didn’t let me kiss you last night.”
I blush. He’s not wrong. As soon as he says it, I know he’s not wrong. But even in private, I’m scared to talk about it. After all, he’s my boss.
He smiles. “Just like I thought. Raven getting angry at me is a very good excuse to back away. But there has to be a reason you’re looking for an excuse in the first place. And unless I’m very bad at reading you, it’s not that you don’t like me.”
The blush deepens. “It isn’t that I don’t like you.”
He stands up and takes a step towards me. Instinctively, I step back. He pauses.“Then what is it?” he asks.
“It’s just that…” I trail off, trying to put it into words. “It’s just that I’m not like Raven.”
He chuckles. “You think that Raven is the kind of girl I like?”
“Well, she’s the sort of girl that guys like you end up with, isn’t she?” I shrug, and step back again. “I mean, give or take the mind control thing.”
“Raven’s offering to pay me a portion of her uncle’s inheritance if I’ll get engaged with her,” he says. “And I’m still going to tell her no. She’s not my kind of girl.”
“But that doesn’t mean I am,” I answer, quietly. He takes another step towards me. I don’t back away this time.
“And what kind of girl do you think you are?” he asks.
“I don’t know,” I admit. “A small town girl who’s trying to make it as a lawyer. The kind who just wants to make some sort of life for herself. Not the kind of person who gets mixed up in whether a firm succeeds or what happens to inheritances.”
He pauses. “You know, until a few days ago, I would have said the same thing about myself.”
“That’s impossible,” I scoff. “You’re one of the Blackwells!”
“Yeah, the middle one,” he replies. “You heard me talking to my brother. You know how out of the loop I am. Damien, Luc? Sure, they do big things. If they ever fall in love, it’ll be with someone serious and important. But me? I’m just trying to do the same thing as you. Making a life for myself.”
I shake my head. “It’s not the same thing. Not really.”
He steps closer again. The two of us are nearly touching now, and it’s impossible not to be distracted by the warmth of his body.“You’re a lot more important than you realize, you know,” he tells me.
“How so?”
“Well, like Damien said. We hired you for a reason. And if there’s one thing I know about my brothers, it’s that they don’t make bad calls. If they think that you could do big things for this firm, well, they’re probably right.”
“But I’m just a paralegal,” I mutter.
“I’m a lead partner and I don’t do anything that matters. No reason you can’t be a paralegal who does stuff that does.”
It’s an idea I wouldn’t have thought of on my own. I’d have just kept on doing my job, keeping my head down. Being modest. But maybe he’s right. Maybe I could do more than that.
“You could be right,” I say.
“And as for deciding what happens to inheritances…” he adds, raising his hand towards my face. “I’d say you’re already having a role in that.”
He cups my chin and raises my eyes to meet his own. For a moment, I want to take another step back, but I realize if I do, I’ll walk right into the door.
I lean back against it and melt. I feel so silly, staring into my boss’ eyes and thinking thoughts I’d never say in an office for all the money in the world. I can’t help it. Right now, I can’t do anything but stare.
“You don’t have to worry about Raven,” he says. “I’ll take care of everything.”
He’s so confident, so handsome, that I can’t help but believe him. He’s the one who knows Raven after all. If he says that everything’s alright, who am I to not believe him?
“You really meant that?” I ask. “That I’m part of the reason you’re not accepting Raven’s offer?”