Chapter 10
Porter
After sticking the last label on the last folder, I sighed and looked at my office. It was mostly organized now, thanks to a lot of hard work.
The guy before me had apparently been a ridiculous slob. I was expected to take over his workload, which meant several cases being dumped in my lap all at once.
And none of them had the first inkling of organization. It had taken most of the week to get everything in order. I’d only just begun actually digging into the cases.
But Christmas was tomorrow, and the firm was closed until the day after New Year’s, so I wanted to get as much done as possible tonight.
One of those things that interviewers like to hear was how their candidates were hard workers. Unfortunately for me, it was true. I couldn’t stand the thought of all the disorganization, so I’d worked from sunup to sundown like my life depended on it to get to this point.
I’d kind of barely stopped to eat or interact with others.
But once I had everything set up to my system, I’d be back to myself and less like the Grinch.
And now that I was nearly done, I sucked in a big sigh of relief and continued reading the details about the last case a clerk had plopped on my desk.
I checked my watch and sighed. Nearly lunchtime. They’d told me they didn’t like their lawyers to work when they were on break, but I was so behind. I’d pack up my cases and take them with me. That way I’d be set to start fresh in the new year.
None of my cases were urgent, but not working for a week after just starting my job made the workaholic in me angsty.
Damon, one of the other lawyers in my department, stuck his head in. “Come on, newbie, lunch is here.”
I waved at him. “Be right there.”
I’d go grab a plate in a minute, but I didn’t know these people very well yet. My time was better spent working as long as I could here in the office.
Parties weren’t really my style anyway. Celebrating Christmas wasn’t high on my list of good times, not this year, anyway.
It was my first Christmas since my mother had died.
This time last year, we were at her house, baking and cooking goodies that would last us until the new year.
It was the only time of year she’d cook much of anything.
We’d exchange gifts on Christmas Eve night, then the next morning there would miraculously be gifts for each of us under the tree from Santa Claus.
When I was around ten years old, I’d stopped believing. But my mother hadn’t been ready for me to stop, so every Christmas morning, I’d woken up to Santa gifts under the tree until the time came that I bought Santa gifts for her as well. And then we’d never stopped.
Why stop believing? That was no fun.
I’d kept believing until this year. Tomorrow morning, there would be no Santa gifts under the tree.
So, no, I wasn’t in a partying mood. More like a drown my sorrows until I had to sober up for Christmas dinner with my brother and put on a happy face for Bri and Hayden.
My old clan called to check on me, and by the time I got off the phone, lunch was almost over. I grabbed a quick plate, then threw myself back into my work, avoiding all thoughts of my mother and what wasn’t happening right now. What should’ve been happening.
About the only time I’d taken a break all week was for a visit to Doc, who had told me I was perfectly healthy and maybe it was stress keeping me from getting it up. He told me to take it easy.
Yeah, right.
I picked up the next file and rubbed my eyes before opening it. As I touched the corner, someone knocked on the door. When I opened my mouth to tell them to come in, my heart pounded harder. I knew who was on the other side of that door.
“Come in,” I called. She wasn’t my mate. Why was I drawn to her? Why was I able to sense her on the other side of the door when she wasn’t clan, or a dragon, or anything supernatural as far as I could tell?
What the hell was going on?
The door opened and sure enough, Kaylee peeked her head in. I burst out laughing as soon as I saw her. She had on a ridiculous and tall pair of reindeer antlers that reached nearly to the top of the doorway. The kicker was that they flashed with multicolored lights.
No way I would admit she looked completely adorable, so instead, I laughed. She stepped inside the door and curtsied. “I’m glad you like them.”
“What are you doing here?” I stood and walked around my desk, leaning on it, and staring at Kaylee, who looked beautiful even with the crazy antlers.
Not that I had any intention of admitting that.
“I’ve been here for a while and didn’t see you.” She held out the plate. “Brought you some lunch.”
I gestured toward the half-empty plate on my desk. “That’s nice of you, but I did come out and grab some food. I didn’t see you.”
Moving into the office, she looked around and reached past me to set the plate on my desk. I breathed deep when her bare neck came within inches of touching my shoulder. Kaylee’s long blonde hair smelled like baking: vanilla or nutmeg or something.
Something delicious.
She stepped back. “I grabbed a little bit of everything. I wasn’t sure what you wanted.”
I had to resist the urge to pull her toward me again so I could inhale her alluring scent. “Thank you,” I said in a much quieter voice than I’d meant to.
“Oh, almost forgot.” Kaylee reached behind her and pulled a canned drink out of nowhere. “And a soda.”
I burst out laughing. “Where’d you have that hidden?”
Twisting in place, she patted her butt. “Back pocket.”
Her back pocket of her jean skirt wasn’t at all what I was looking at. More what I knew was hiding just behind the blue material.
“Why do you care if I eat?” I asked. I sounded harsh, but though my voice was thick was something, it was not anger.
“Same reason you stayed and helped me. So, now I’ve fed you, though my job was a lot easier than yours.” She rocked on her heels. “Thanks again for that, by the way.”
“Compassion or guilt?” I met her gaze squarely and held it.
She twisted her lips in a wry smile. “Why not both? Look, I wanted to thank you again and figured you seemed like just the sort of person to work through a party without eating.”
I chuckled. “I guess you’re right about that.”
“Eat it or toss it, I was trying to be nice.” She rolled her eyes and walked toward my bookshelves. “All moved in?”
“Yeah.” I glanced back at the plate and had to chuckle again. Her description of little and mine were very different. It looked like she’d grabbed some of everything, but it wasn’t a bit of each. The plate was overflowing and dripped some sort of sauce onto my desk.
I smiled and grabbed a napkin to wipe it up. Normally, the mess would’ve bothered me, but her gesture was sweet and thoughtful.
“Kaylee,” I called out.
She’d been just about to reach for the door handle. “Yeah?”
“Thank you. But…” Turning, I gestured at the plate. “It’s too much for just me.”
She shook her head, her wrinkled brows telling me she was confused about where I was going with this. “Okay?”
Stepping away from the desk, I turned both of the client chairs around, so they faced each other. “Would you join me? Help me eat it. I hate to see food go to waste.”