“You love me?” I ask, not quite believing I’d hear those words from her so soon. I figured maybe . . . one day . . . she’d get there. When she was really over what I did to her. One day I’d earn her trust back and get those miraculous words.
“I love you,” she reiterates. “And you love me, too.”
I blink at her, not because I disagree, but because she sounds so confident in her assessment. “How could you possibly know that?”
“Because of the risks you took for me. It told me all I needed to know about the depth of your feelings. Am I wrong?”
“You’re not wrong,” I assure her. “I love you very much, Leary. And I’m sorry for what happened—”
Leary’s mouth finds mine again, and the sounds and bustle of New York melt away. I let her lips and sweet tongue possess me, and I forget about everything else that exists in the world except for this woman.
She pauses our kiss just long enough to mutter against me, “No more apologies. Let’s move forward, okay?”
Leaning in, I touch my forehead to hers and nod. “Forward.”
“Good,” she says and presses her lips against mine again. I can feel the curve of her smile lying sweet against my own.
“And by forward, do you think that might mean toward the hotel?” I ask her deviously.
“Yeah, that would definitely be good,” she agrees and then proceeds to kiss me deeply again.
Finally, I break the kiss, because otherwise I’m going to be sporting a massive fucking hard-on in the middle of lower Manhattan, and the longer we stand here kissing, the longer it takes to get her naked and in bed.
Grabbing her hand again, I look down at her and smile big. “Ready?”
“More than,” she agrees, and we take off, practically running toward my hotel.
EPILOGUE
LEARY
One Month Later
“Okay, everyone . . . simmer down,” Danny Payne says in dramatic fashion. He stands at the end of the conference room table, draws his height up—which may, impressively, top him out at five eight at this moment—and holds up his hands.
The chatter and laughter that had filled the room to buzzing just moments earlier starts to wane until there’s total silence. I glance around, looking at all of the faces staring up at Danny. Partners, junior partners, and associate attorneys of the civil division of Knight & Payne. My crew, my posse, all of us warriors for justice. All of us working for the great Midge Payne so we can stamp out corruption and bring victory to those less fortunate.
My soapbox never looked taller or shinier in my life, and I love it.
“Midge asked me to gather everyone today before we let you out for the Christmas holidays and make an official announcement,” Danny says with his chest puffed out. He’s always loved the limelight of being the attorney in charge of this law firm. “This is a big one and deserves a little celebration, so if you’ll hold up just a moment.”
Danny brings his hands together for two sharp claps and looks expectantly at the conference-room door.
Nothing happens.
He claps twice again and leans forward to peer hard at the doorknob, but again . . . no movement.
“Oh, for Christ’s sake,” Danny grumbles and skirts around the end of the table. He stalks up to the door and whips it open, revealing a waiter wearing black pants, a white shirt, and a black bow tie. He’s so startled when Danny opens the door, he almost drops the bottle of champagne he’s carrying on a silver tray.
“You missed my cue,” Danny hisses and then opens the door farther to admit the waiter.
Except it’s not just one waiter. Five of them walk in, two bearing bottles of champagne and the rest with fluted glasses. They efficiently walk around the room, popping bottles and pouring glasses of bubbly until everyone has one in hand.
Taking his place at the head of the table again, Danny takes the glass sitting before him and holds it in front of his stomach while his other hand slides in his pocket. He’s the picture of casual sophistication, just a little on the short side.
“As I said, today is a big day,” Danny says as he cuts me a smile. “Midge would like me to formally announce that our own Leary Michaels has been offered a full partnership in the firm of Knight & Payne, and she has graciously accepted. As you know, she joins the ranks of Ford Daniels, Cary Peterson, and Wendy Fischer, who have already made full partnership along with Midge and me. This is a momentous occasion, and I remember the day that Leary started here . . .”
I immediately tune Danny out. I’m a little embarrassed this is being done, but he insisted on making a huge announcement, since it is indeed a rarity that someone is offered a full partnership. That means ownership interest, stock options, and a buy-in for partial ownership of the Watts Building if I want. Yes, it was confirmed—Midge actually owns the entire Watts Building.
This was something she divulged to me when she called me into her office a few weeks ago and offered me the partnership. It wasn’t something that was taken lightly. It meant that I had to buy in, to invest in the business. It meant more responsibility. It made me responsible for the debt in equal shares to the other partners. It meant longer hours, tougher cases, and more travel.
I didn’t need to think about it, but so as not to appear too excited, I gave her my answer the next day.
Swiveling my head to the right, I look at Reeve sitting next to me. He’s watching Danny give his speech, but I can tell he’s tuned out, too.
I wonder what he’s thinking.
I bet he’s thinking of that unbelievably awesome blow job I gave him this morning before we got out of bed. Tilting back in my chair, I pull in my chin and tilt my head, trying to get a good look at Reeve’s crotch, which is partially hidden by the edge of the table. I can’t tell if he’s got a hard-on or not, so no telling what he’s thinking.
My gaze swivels back to his face and I find his eyes directly on me. One corner of his mouth is tilted up in a “caught ya” grin, with a cocked eyebrow to mock my audacity. I give him a sheepish smile back and reach over to stroke his forearm before dropping my hand.
Reeve started at Knight & Payne the week after we got back from New York.
That was the big favor I asked of Midge.
I asked her to make room for him in our civil division—not because he’s my boyfriend but because he’s a phenomenal trial attorney with a heart of gold. He proved over and over again by the way he treated Jenna with respect throughout the case that he has what it takes to represent the people on our side of the fence. When I told Midge what he did with Rhonda Valasquez, she was so impressed she called him on the spot and offered him a job.
She said, and I quote, “I like the way you think, Reeve. I like that you push boundaries. The job is yours if you want it.”
And just like that, Reeve was not only my lover but my work associate as well.
As an associate attorney, Reeve didn’t rate an office. So he was out in the Pit. Tragically, his desk was all the way across the Pit, so it was hard to see him. This actually could be considered a good thing, I suppose, because I’m sure that if he were closer to me, it would be difficult to get any work done. Regardless, we’ve made use of the smoke walls in my office on at least two occasions when we wanted a little hanky-panky during the middle of the day.