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Daniel
I feel the room getting quieter as I walk in, but not everyone has noticed yet. I scan the room seeing mostly familiar faces, but at the back of the room next to Sam Brown stands the girl from the hallway. She is not a partner at this firm, so what is she doing here? her eyes meet mine and I feel myself tensing, the same feeling I got when I checked her out a few minutes ago. Her thick, brown wavy hair frames her face perfectly making her intense blue eyes pop, and those lips, plump and pink. Feeling my pants suddenly getting a bit tighter I stop my fantasy and move my eyes away from her. I discreetly readjust myself a little before I clap my hands together getting everyone's attention.
"Good morning"
I say with a firm voice and everyone quiets down, and their attention move over to Conner and myself. I start telling them about the success of the startup in London. It had been a welcome break from my homelife. Joy had begged to come with me, the shopping in London was great after all, but I knew her and just after a week she was tired of London, missing her friends at home. So, after two days of nagging and complaining I put her on a plane back home, giving us both the breathing room we needed. I had stayed for almost 2 months helping the new offices get settled, and apparently a lot had changed since I left. I glance briefly to the back of the room again, Sam is whispering something in her ear, and it makes her smile. I wonder what he was saying to her, it was a real smile, not the kind of smile you give just to be polite. Was Sam Brown her type? I had noticed that she checked me out back in the hallway, and Sam is... well the total opposite of me. Short, skinny and nerdy. He is a great lawyer and nice enough, but nice doesn't really seem like her type. I can't really see them together, but he seems comfy enough around her to touch her. Sam puts his hand on her back, and she shifts a bit away from him, not much, but just enough that I notice. I can't help it; it makes me slightly at ease to see her move away from him.
I continue my speech about the plans going forward. I steal a couple of glances to the back of the room a few times during my speech and every time I look in her direction it is like she knows, and she looks up and meet my eyes. As I am done talking about the London offices everyone starts to applaud me. I push my hands down to get them to stop and then Connor takes over.
"There is a lot of competition now, Lightman just merged with Gracen making them just as big as us. So, I want you all to contact your clients, make sure they are happy, we have no one to lose."
After we are done speaking everyone starts to catch up and talk about the big news. Lightmans Law have been our enemy for years, they stole clients from us, and we from them. Terry Lightman is a scumbag that never really grasped the term play by the rules, and now he has merged with Laila Gracen, good luck to her. I have always respected Laila, she was a hell of a lawyer. She's been at the top for over 20 years and has almost never lost. But she just got in to bed with the devil, why would she do that?
"How do we handle this Lightman, Gracen situation?" Conner asks me and I shrug.
"Not much to do other than making sure everyone is happy"
"I heard Nick Cornwall wasn't too happy with the lack of attention Laila have given him the past month, maybe it's our chance to get him on board?"
"You know Nick Cornwall isn't interested in either of us representing him" I chuckle, Nick Cornwall, retired basketball player, millionaire, and the biggest womanizer in New York. He like having something to rest his eyes on no matter what he is doing, so regardless of what Connor or I do we will never be what he wants.
"I know, that's why I want you to meet someone" Connor says leading me to the back of the room, towards her. She turns to look at Connor, I can tell is she is focused on not looking at me.
"Good morning Mr. Smith" Her sexy voice makes me take a deep breath.
"Olivia, I want to introduce you to Daniel Parker" Connor declares, and she slowly turns her face to look up at me, then presses her lips together. I want to bite that lip! I close my eyes taking another breath having to concentrate. For some reason my little friend has a mind of his own today, and I was not in control around her. Olivia, the name fits her, I reach my hand out and she takes it, her hand small in mine.
"Daniel Parker" I say, and she blushes, looking down at my hand wrapped around hers. She is probably reminiscing about the hallway incident. She looks back up at me before answering. Her eyes make me wild, god, who had eyes like that?
"Olivia Carter, nice to meet you mr. Parker"
"Please call me Daniel." I want to hear her say my name, but she just nods.
After having socialized for a little while I walk out and towards my office. There are still a few people standing around talking, but Olivia leaves the room just after our introduction. Conner comes rushing after me.
"What do you think about Olivia?"
"She seems nice, is she good at her job?"
"She is a pro, seriously, the recommendations I got from her old boss were insane, and she has proved it." I nod, not sure what more there is to say.
"So, do you think you could use her?" I stop and look at Conner
"Use her for what?"
"Closing Nick Cornwell." I shake my head. But the truth is if it was eye candy he wanted, she would be perfect for the job. There's only one problem.
"She's not a lawyer, she can't sign him" I state the obvious.
"No, but she could be your co-counsel, you know sweetening the deal for him." Conner winks at me, and to be honest I don't like the thought of pimping her out like that. But what the hell, he is worth a lot of money, all the shit he got himself into over the years.
"Fine" I almost growl, and Connor smiles pleased, like he just won a big trial or something.
"Great, I have already set up a dinner for you guys tomorrow. Peter knows the details" He shouts as he turns and walk down the hallway to his office. However much I respect and appreciate Connor Smith, he can surely make my blood boil sometimes.
I walk past my PA, Peter, and into my office. I have missed this room, my corner office, some people didn't think I deserved it, I was too young to get my name on the door, but I brought in more money for this firm my second year as an associate than most of the senior partners. And when Terry Lightman was voted out, I got voted in. Parker & Smith used to be Lightman & smith. I sit down at my desk, facing the door and my bookshelf. There aren't many books on it, only a few gifts from clients. When you have clients like I have you don't get a thank you note. You get something no one ells can get for you. One of the gifts in the shelf is a gold and silver chess board. The kings crown has one emerald each. Another client wanted to top that so on the wall next to my bathroom hangs a one of a kind Marcel Duchamp painting. I open my computer as Peter comes walking in with a few notes in his hand.
"Betty Ward has called 4 times"
"Who?" I ask confused.
"Betty Ward... She works for Terry Lightman" Peter answers and I sigh,
"If she calls again say I'm out of the office." if she is calling me that can only mean one thing. She needed a new job, which is not my problem. Terry has done this to many times, taken women associates, teaching them dirty tricks, dating them and then when he was tired of them, he dumped them. But a few times it had been a scam, and some of the women had been spy's, so now no one would hire his associates. Peter nods and continues
"Your wife called." my thumb instinctively goes over to my ring finger, twirling the gold ring.
"Anything ells?" I almost hiss at him, pore guy.
"Mr. Bennet called, he said it was urgent" my eyes shoot up at him.
"Why didn't you start with that? Get him on the phone" I answer looking back at my computer screen and Peter walks out. Charles Bennet, CEO of Bennet Oil, was one of my first clients. At that time, he had just earned his first million, now we were talking billions. If he said it was urgent, it had to be.
366Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP71Wscassp
