Indiscretion

I wasn’t sure what to expect at work the next day.

Our date had been perfect, and the nearly twenty-four hours that followed were spectacular. And it wasn’t just the sex. Dawson had opened up, shared a vulnerable side that made me feel close to him. But I had been burned by men before. One minute you’re happily engaged, and the next you’re being dumped because you might soil his reputation. So my self-protective mechanism had me on guard as I walked into the office.

Dawson’s door was already open, and his light was on, so after I settled in, I stuck my head in the doorway. “Good morning. I’m going to make coffee. Would you like some?”

“Sure. Thanks. I have an early meeting in fifteen minutes. New client—kid’s only sixteen. He’s coming in with his mother and another kid they charged as an accessory.”

“Sixteen? What did he do?”

“Cybercrime. He hacked into his school’s grading and attendance system and planted a virus. They lost all the information for the last three years.”

“Was he trying to wipe out bad grades?”

Dawson shook his head. “That’s the nutty part. Kid is a straight-A student and doesn’t miss school. He just did it for fun. But when they traced it back to him, they got a search warrant to go through his computer and found that he was in the middle of trying to do the same thing to a cell phone company. It wasn’t even the company he had service with.”

“I’ve never understood why people do those types of things. What do they get out of it?”

“I’ll be asking that question when they get here. Because it feels like I’m missing something.”

The intercom in his office buzzed, and the receptionist’s voice came over. “Hi, Dawson. Your eight o’clock client is here.”

He looked at his watch. “Is the entire party here? Jared, his mother, Brendan—the other kid who was charged—and Will Archer, Brendan’s attorney?”

“They are.”

“Tell them I’ll be out in a few minutes.”

“Okay.”

Dawson looked me up and down and grinned. “How’d you sleep last night?”

“Like a baby. You?”

“Pretty good. My sheets smell like coconut though, so I woke up with a hard-on.”

I covered my mouth. “I hope you took care of it. It would be pretty inappropriate to go into a meeting with a sixteen-year-old like that.”

Dawson stood and walked—no stalked—toward me. “I was hoping you’d help me out with that.”

My eyes widened, yet I couldn’t get the grin off my face as I held up my hands, showing him my palms. “Stop right where you are, Reed.”

Shockingly, Dawson stopped in his tracks. “What? I was just going to the file cabinet.”

“You’re full of shit.”

He smirked. “Just let me near you for a minute. I’ll only cop a quick feel.”

I chuckled. “No way. We are not starting that in the office.”

He stuck his bottom lip out. “You’re no fun.”

“You have a troubled sixteen-year-old and his mother waiting for you, not to mention another attorney.”

“I’ll be quick.”

I shook my head. “Finish getting ready. I’ll go grab them, put them in the conference room, and see if anyone wants coffee. Also, I think we should keep things between us professional in the office.”

“Why?”

“Because this is my job, and I don’t want us to get into habits that will make it weird after…”

Dawson’s brows knitted. “After what?”

“Well, when we aren’t…doing this anymore.”

“When? So you’re already planning our demise?” He shook his head. “Maybe you can pencil it in on the calendar so I know when it’s happening too.”

“I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just…”

“Just what?”

“Your longest relationship was three months, Dawson. I’m being realistic and trying to protect myself. I need this job.”

“Fine. Whatever.” He walked back behind his desk and started rifling through papers, avoiding eye contact. “I’ll be in the conference room in ten minutes.”

Well, that had taken a turn. And now I felt bad. But we were in the office, and I really did want to do a good job. I’d talk to Dawson more about it later.

I went out to the lobby and introduced myself to everyone, then showed them all to the conference room and went to fetch coffee for Will Archer, the only one who wanted any. Dawson’s sixteen-year-old client looked more like Ryder’s age. He also seemed terrified. After only a few minutes in his company, I was pretty sure he was going to break down in tears during the meeting today. I’d had my share of young defendants. Even when they were guilty, it never felt right.

Will smiled when I returned with his coffee. “Thank you. I was running late and didn’t get to stop for my caffeine fix. You’re a life saver.”

“No problem.”

He stood near the conference room door, while the two teenagers huddled with their moms. “You must be new?”

“I am. This is only my third week.”

“Did you come from another firm?”

I shook my head. “I worked at the DA’s office in another state, actually. I only recently moved to New York.”

“The DA’s office, huh? Me too. I left about a year ago to go into private practice.” He lowered his voice. “Not as easy of a switch as you thought, right?”

“No, it’s definitely not.”

Will sipped his coffee. “So what brought you to the Big Apple? Did your husband get transferred or something?” Before I could answer, he shook his head and held up a hand with a shy smile. “I’m sorry. That came out sounding chauvinistic, like the only reason you would move is to follow a man. To be honest, I’m just curious if you’re married. I got divorced last year from my high school sweetheart. I never learned how to be smooth. I have no rizz whatsoever.”

I laughed. “It’s okay. I only recently learned what rizz was, from my ten-year-old nephew. But no, I moved to the City to be near my sister. I’m not married.”

I said the last words just as Dawson started down the hall. He frowned and nodded at Will. “Archer.”

“Hey, Dawson. How’s it going?”

Dawson grumbled something I didn’t catch.

Will lifted his coffee to his lips with a smile. “Good to see you’re just as chipper when we’re on the same side as you were when we were on opposite sides of the courtroom.”

Dawson’s face stayed stern. “Let’s hope you do a better job when we’re on the same team than you did when I kicked your ass a dozen times.”

“Ouch,” Will said.

Dawson gestured into the conference room. “Let’s get started.”

Will nodded but stayed at the conference room door even after Dawson walked in. He smiled at me again. “It was nice to meet you, Naomi. I hope we’ll see each other around again.”

“I’m sure we will.”

Lunchtime came before the meeting broke up. Dawson walked back to his office with Will in tow. Only one of them looked happy.

“I need the file back,” Dawson said as he entered his office. “Take it to Staples or have someone copy it and messenger it over by the end of the day. The preliminary hearing is next week, and I only received everything from the DA’s office on Friday afternoon.”

“No problem.”

The two men came back out, stopping a few feet from my desk.

Will looked over at me and back to Dawson. “Actually, I’ll probably return the file myself this afternoon. I have some business over here anyway.”

Dawson’s eyes narrowed. “Leave it with the receptionist.”

“I don’t mind walking it back to your lovely paralegal,” he said. “I wouldn’t want the file to get lost.”

Dawson crossed his arms. “I think it’ll safely make the thirty steps it takes to get from the reception area.”

Will looked between Dawson and me. “Or…I can just have a messenger deliver it instead.”

Dawson put a hand on Will’s back and started him walking toward the lobby. “Great plan.”

A few minutes later, Mr. Grumpy returned. He stopped at my desk. “Will isn’t a good idea.”

I thought I knew what he was referring to, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt. “As co-counsel, you mean?”

“His schtick with the ladies is coming off as a bumbling buffoon. But he’s a player. His wife divorced him after the third time she caught him with another woman. She’s a lawyer, too. Nice lady.”

I blinked a few times. “I wasn’t planning on going out with the guy.”

Dawson shrugged like it didn’t matter, yet his face showed anything but indifference. “Just giving you fair warning.”

I wasn’t sure what was more upsetting, the fact that the man I’d spent all day in bed with this weekend thought I might say yes to going out with a coworker of his, or the fact that I totally fell for Will Archer’s buffoon act. Before I could respond, Dawson had disappeared into his office. I sat at my desk for a few minutes, going over the morning in my head, hoping maybe I’d see things in a different light and calm down. But the more I thought about it, the more pissed off I became.

Eventually, I walked into Dawson’s office and closed the door behind me. “I don’t know what your problem is, but I’m insulted that you don’t give me more credit than thinking I would go out with someone you work with.”

Dawson sat behind his desk with his jaw clenched. “And I’m insulted that you’re already planning on me being just a fuck buddy.”

“I never said that.”

“Not in so many words, but you don’t think I have the potential to stick around for more than a few months.” He sighed. “As much as it sucks, I get why you’d think that.”

I opened my mouth to say something in my defense, then closed it when I realized that was exactly what I’d insinuated. “I’m sorry, Dawson. I shouldn’t have said that. Sometimes I start talking before I think it through.”

“And sometimes the truth is better off coming out than hiding behind couched words.”

I shook my head. “I’m just scared, Dawson.”

“Of me?”

“Of getting hurt again. I don’t have the best track record with relationships. And for the last year, I’ve felt like I was floating in the wind. Then I met you, and you feel like such an anchor already. That scares me, but it has less to do with you and your history and more to do with my own fears.”

Dawson’s face softened. “And I can’t even tell you I know how to be in a relationship. There’s nothing in my past to make you believe I’m capable.” He looked down and shook his head. “I don’t even know if I’m capable. But I like you. A lot.”

“I like you a lot, too. Maybe we can just take it one day at a time and try to not focus on where things are going for a while. My trust issues don’t have anything to do with you, and I think with time we might be able to grow to believe in each other.”

Dawson smiled sadly. “This is already the most adult conversation I’ve ever had with a woman, and our relationship is only forty-eight hours old. So you might need to be patient with me while I learn how to communicate rather than getting pissed off.”

I smiled. “I can do that.”

Dawson crooked his finger. “Come here.”

All the little hairs on my arms stood up. Two words. That was a pretty good trick for a man to keep in his bag. I walked toward him slowly. “Okay. But we’re only doing a quick kiss-and-make-up. Sex in the office is still off limits.”

Dawson’s eyes sparkled. “For now…”

He stood and wrapped his arms around me, locking his hands behind my back. It made my pulse slow and my racing thoughts disappear.

“I’m sorry I was an asshole,” Dawson said.

“And I’m sorry for projecting my fears onto us.”

He ducked his head and brushed his lips with mine.

“But I’m not sorry about steering you away from Will Archer. The guy is not what you think.”

“I never had any interest in him. How could I when I have you?”

Dawson’s eyes jumped back and forth between mine. “You do, you know.”

“Do what?”

“Have me. I have no idea how the fuck it happened so fast, but you do.”