Olivia
I regretted the white shirt I had chosen as soon as I left my apartment, it was just a little too tight over my breast, not so much that people would notice, but just enough that it was a bit uncomfortable to move my arms. But I have no time to go and change. I had stayed out a little too late yesterday, maybe I drank a glass to much as well, so today I woke up in shock 15 minutes before I had to be out the door, I had forgotten to turn on my alarm. It is still cold outside, but the sky is at least blue, and the sun is peeking through some of the buildings, blinding me. I grab my sunglasses from my purse, my reliable over used purse. I am finally starting to earn some money, so it is probably a good idea to buy myself a new one soon. Even though this purse is well used, I still love it. I can fit almost anything I need in it.
I only live a few blocks away from the restaurant we are meeting at, I have never been there before, but I have walked past it several times. It is way too expensive for me, so I feel excited to finally get to go inside.
It is 7:40 when I walk in, looking around as the host walks over to me.
"do you need a table?" he asks politely, and I shake my head, trying to see if I can spot Daniel from here.
"I'm meeting someone" I explain, and the host looks questionably at me, waiting for me to tell him who.
"Daniel Parker" I continue when the host doesn't say anything.
"Of course, can I take your coat" I hesitate for a second, I have nice clothes, I have never felt my brands weren't good enough, but when I looked around the restaurant at the people sitting around eating I all of a sudden feel inferior. But I nod before taking it off and giving it to him. He walks away with the coat I usually love, but right in this second kind of hate it. He comes back a few moments later.
"I'll take you to his table" he smiles at me and mention for me to follow him as he walks into the luxurious restaurant.
"Good morning" I say as I approach the table and Daniel turns his head and gets up from his chair. He is wearing a dark grey tree piece suit today, matched with a white shirt and black tie, oh god he looked good.
"Good morning, Olivia" His hoarse morning voice saying my name gives me chills, he mentions for me to sit down across from him before sitting back down himself. A waiter comes over and gives me a menu, but I'm too busy staring at him to look down at it. He takes a sip of his steaming coffee.
"I know what I'm having" he is saying when he notices I'm not looking at the menu.
"Are we eating?" I ask a bit anxious, the food here is so expensive it doesn't even tell you what the prices are on the menu. But I hadn't had time to eat breakfast this morning, and my stomach is growling.
"It's a business breakfast, we will use the company card" Daniel answers, probably seeing the fear in my eyes. I don't complain, I get to eat, and I get to try food I would otherwise never get myself to buy. Working with Daniel has its perks.
After ordering I look back at him.
"So, what kind of case is it we are working on?" I ask, curious.
"One of my clients is accusing their CFO of embezzling money from the company, and we are having a lunch with him to figure out how he wants to handle it." I nod intrigued. This is the first case I had gotten in on from the start, this would be fun. The waiter comes over with a cup of coffee for me and two glasses of water, placing the coffee and a glass of water in front of me and the other glass in front of Daniel, the waiters eyes lingering on Daniel for a second before he walks off. I can't help but smile a little, not shocked that an obvious gay man would find him attractive. I take in the smell of the coffee before taking a sip, even the coffee taste expensive. I put the cup back down feeling Daniel's eyes on me; I look up to see him grinning at me.
"So, Olivia, why did you come to New York?" he looks me directly in the eyes, not afraid to keep the eye contact between us. I shyly look away from his gaze before swallowing air, my mouth dry. I take a sip of my water before answering, not looking back in his eyes.
"I thought this was business." His grin turned in to a chuckle, and I look down at my hands taking the coffee cup again. I need to do something to seem less nervous than I feel, I don't want to come across like a silly schoolgirl, or worse, an idiot. I am obviously here to prove to him that I'm good at my job.
"It is." Is all he says still waiting for my answer. I nod slowly thinking about it, not really sure what this had to do with my work.
"I wanted to work for the best" I say in a lower voice than necessary. As I answer he straightens up in his seat leaning a little towards me as if to hear what I'm saying. When he doesn't say anything, I look up at him, he is studying me. I straighten as well realizing that I'm not looking professional. More like I'm on a first date, in high school. I silently cough before speaking again
"When is your client coming?" I questioned trying to distract myself from the obvious attraction I am feeling.
"We are meeting him at 11:30" I look down at my watch surprised. It was still pretty early.
"So why did we meet here now?" I blurt out confused.
"Because your new, I want to get to know the people I work with"
"So, you do this with every new employee?" I ask.
"Everyone I work with, yes" I don't know if I believe his answer, but I feel a bit more at ease. Everyone had been in this position one time or another.
"Where are you from?" he inquired, and it makes me feel like I'm at the interview all over again. If this was his way of getting to know me, he isn't doing a good job.
"LA, and you?" I challenge, but he just ignores my question and ask another.
"Were you born there?" I nod and challenge again getting frustrated now.
"When did you know you wanted to be a lawyer?" but again he just ignored my question and asks a new one.
"Why did you quit your last job?" I lean back in my seat and cross my arms, my frown pretty visible, and he notices. I won't answer any more of his irrelevant questions until I get an answer to one of mine.
"Where are you from?" I order and he smiles at me, like I just challenged him to a game of chess.
"Why did you quit your last job?" He challenges back.
"I'm not answering your questions before you answer one of mine" I almost hiss and he sits back in his chair amused, frustrating me even more than before.
"I'm your boss, I could fire you" he states, and I narrow my eyes shooting him an angry look.
"On what grounds?"
"For withholding information that can determine if your suitable for the job" I figure that he is testing my knowledge, but I am fuming and won't back down from this fight, I know he will win in the end, but I need to release some of the anger inside me.
"Then I would sue you for wrongly determination of my employment according to the freedom of information act." I snap back right away; he challenges me with a few more sections, going deeper into the law for each answer I reply. I feel myself letting go of the anger for every paragraph he throws at me. It was fun to dig back in the archives of my brain.
"Conner was right you are pretty sharp, and it helps that you don't look like my grandmother" he jokes, and I laugh a bit, not sure if he just told me I was good looking or just that I didn't look old. I was still determined to get at least one question answered. Just as I open my mouth to speak his phone starts ringing. He picked it up from the table quickly before answering.
"I can't talk, I'm in a meeting" I can hear a woman's voice on the other end of the line, was it "the wife" I feel my thought bring me back to last night, wondering what she looks like, she had to be pretty, he doesn't look like the sort of man that goes for brains over looks. I stare back down at my coffee cup trying not to be rude, but I am really curious about who this woman that has won his heart could be. I feel his eyes burning into me, and I look up, meeting his eyes and at the same time taking a sip of my coffee. His eyes are locked on mine, and we sit there just staring at each other as he speaks to the woman on the other end of the line.
"Yes" he snarls before hanging up the phone, the abrupt movement breaking our eye contact, and I look away quickly feeling my cheeks go red. I put the coffee down, looking away knowing what we were doing right now was inappropriate, but I can't help it, he is like a fucking magnet to me. The waiter comes over with our food, it's not much, but its a masterpiece. I look down at my plate stunned and almost laughing, not sure if it is met to be eaten or what.
"So Daniel..." He looks up from his food at me as I say his name before I question him again.
"Where are you from?" I smirk and he grins before giving in.
"I'm from Washington." I nod, happy that I actually got an answer out of him. Not that I understood why he wouldn't tell me anything about himself; maybe he is just a really private person. We talked for a while just loosely about work, and the case we will be working on together. I really like that he is a hard worker. He told me I would have to be ready for early mornings and late evenings. To be honest I hadn't moved to New York to have a social life anyway, this was my opportunity. And it didn't hurt that he looks like someone out of a magazine, giving me something to rest my eyes on, on those late nights. Working beside one of America's best lawyers on anything at all, I am all in. He tells me we were having dinner with a potential client later this evening. The thought of seeing Daniel Parker close a client makes me really excited. After a while he looks at his watch. It is beautiful with black leather straps and a gold casing; it's probably really expensive, but it suited him. He looks back up at me.
"We have to go" I look at my watch, it is just passed 09:30, why did we have to go already? Are we making a stop on our way to the meeting? Or maybe we are heading back to the office. I get up after him and the host comes right over with our coats. When we get outside a black car is waiting for us. The driver opens the backdoor and Daniel stopes by the door for me to get in first; I smile as I pass him and get in. Just a few minutes later we are stuck in traffic.
"So where are we going?" he looks at his watch seeming a bit annoyed with the traffic jam.
"Hampstead" he says shortly, and I nod. Hampstead is like one and a half hour away and with this traffic probably longer. At least we are in a comfortable car. I look in my purse and grab my iPad. Daniel looks over at me with a curious look.
"What are you doing?" he asks.
"Well we have like at least an hour, let's get some work out of the way" I see the look of surprise on his face and a small nod of approval before he starts telling me more about the situation.
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