Holiday Naughty: My Alpha Bad Boy Client by Rebecca Lee Page A

a
wave.
     
    I knew my Christmas was not likely to be fun
in the traditional sense. But I was going to make damn sure it was
productive in advancing my position at the firm.
     
     
    *
     
    Even though it was a week before Christmas,
it was steamy, warm, and humid in West Palm Beach.
     
    The old guy and his dress codes. Even on a
Friday, for the women it was a dress below the knees with nylons or
dress pants. And forget any shoes with open toes. That's what
Oliver Brundidge wanted for his firm and that's what he got. Three
Hundred Sixty Five Days a year.
     
    But dressing like that was so damn
uncomfortable when the weather was humid. Being south Florida, it
seemed like it was like that every day.
     
    My skin itched and pricked on my ass, legs,
even my feet. I'd given up. After twenty four months of practice
and thousands of dollars invested in trying different business
clothing, I accepted that being comfortable at work was
impossible.
     
    To make that Friday worse, the conversation
was also dragging. It was Friday and it was nearly six. The place
had cleared out like a herd of cattle at five thirty sharp. Just
like every day.
     
    Most of the staff displayed more effort in
their exit then they had in doing their jobs during those few weeks
leading up to Christmas.
     
    “ So I hit opposing counsel with
interrogatories just inside the pre-trial deadline. That will teach
them to try to rush to trial before we've had a chance to talk to
everyone in the family business.”
     
    David was always looking to make things hard
on the other side in the estate cases we worked. He was damn good
at it too. Normally I would have been all in wanting, to trade my
own war stories.
     
    But I had my limits.
     
    David was my best friend at the firm by quite
a bit. He was a brilliant young lawyer. But he always tried a
little too hard to get my attention. Especially for a guy I knew
had a girlfriend and for a guy I never had any interest in.
     
    Sure, I dated guys who I wasn't feeling it
for. All the time.
     
    But David couldn't advance my career one bit.
So I had nothing to gain by letting us become more than friends. It
all started to get tiresome. The way he'd always come to my office,
plop down in the chair across from me and occupy my time.
     
    “ So what's up after work?”
     
    I paused and tried to think up an answer that
would have kept me from having to reveal anything. But also I
wanted him to leave without hinting he'd like to hang out
socially.
     
    He was an attractive guy as guys went. But
there were plenty of them out there. He just didn't ever do
anything to make me feel attracted to him. I know he thought I
should have been into him because we had the legal profession in
common.
     
    But I just wasn't interested.
     
    “ I have got a ton of work to hit my
hours requirement for the year. I had so many cases where I had to
slash my bill,” I said.
     
    It was total crap. I was the top billing
associate in the office by a mile.
     
    “ Oh,” he said, clearly
disappointed.
     
    “ You and Emily doing anything for the
holiday?”
     
    He squirmed in his chair.
     
    I was sure if I mentioned his plain jane
girlfriend, he would leave.
     
    “ I want someone I can talk about my
career with. Someone who understands the pressure we are under,” he
said. “Emily wasn't the one.”
     
    It was a pathetic attempt at a lie. When he
said it, he couldn't even look me in the eye. But I really could
have cared less if he was telling the truth or not.
     
    As lonely I was for large chunks of time, I
wasn't ever going to get on my back for a guy who wouldn't come out
and tell me what he wanted.
     
    In the end, the “friend” thing seemed like
his game to get in my pants.
     
    My patience with him was at an end.
     
    Thankfully, I got a sudden reprieve from the
conversation going any further
     
    Andrew was striding around the corner toward
my office with a file in his hand. Since I was the only one left
besides David and I was