Chapter 7 #2
"Um, I have your coffee and your bagel here," she says, blinking as she walks in.
"Do you want me to bring them in, or should I wait?” She looks at Kingston and juts out her chin.
"By the way, you'd be lucky to work with Skye.
She's really great and smart, but if I'm being honest, I hope that you don't hire her because she deserves to be with someone who is a good boss, not someone who would judge her just because she knows me.
Also, I am going to be a really great assistant," she mumbles, and I feel her eyes on me again.
"He was just joking around, Lila, weren't you, Kingston?" I look over at him.
"No," he says bluntly and smirks. "I don't know exactly what's going on between you and Lila, but I'm not going to be hiring Skye, whoever she is. I'm not looking for a mouthy, disrespectful, and frankly, from what I can tell, a person not even qualified for the job."
"I am qualified. I have a bachelor's degree," Lila says stiffly. "You don't know me."
Kingston smirks and looks at me. "I'll send you the information on the Jack Whittington case."
"Yeah, send his files through," I say. "I'll have a look and see what I can do."
"Good," he says. "Because he wants to see you this afternoon before this all gets messy."
"What do you mean, messy?"
"She's talking about going to the media."
"But why would she be going to the media if she's the one cheating?"
"Hell, if I know. Maybe because she knows that Jack’s Shacks is a family vacation spot, and any bad press is not going to look good." He shrugs.
"Fine, I'll have a look this afternoon."
"Good." He nods. "Let me head to HR now." He stares at Lila. "I really do hope that you are a great employee because Max here has a grand riding on your competency."
"Kingston," I chastise him.
"What?" He grins.
"Oh, you don't have to worry about that," she says, snarling at him. "I'll be the best assistant he's ever seen in his life."
"Will you now?" Kingston looks her over, and I start to feel annoyed. Is he flirting with her? Is he trying to make a move on my assistant?
"That's enough, Kingston," I say.
He looks up at me and smirks. "Yes, boss." He chuckles as he leaves the office, and I can see that Lila is staring after him. "Anything else you want to discuss, Remington?" I ask.
"No, but I thought you would introduce me to your new assistant."
"I forgot you haven't met. Remington, this is Lila Haversham. Lila, this is my other partner, Remington."
"Nice to meet you," he says, shaking her hand.
"Nice to meet you, as well,” she says, smiling, and I can see her fluttering her eyelashes. “Are you looking for an assistant, too?" she asks, and I wonder if that's hope in her voice. Is she really trying to get a job with my partner right in front of me? For some reason, I feel infuriated.
"Oh, no. I have an assistant." He grins. "Juniper and I have a great working relationship."
"Oh." Lila presses her lips together. "Well, I guess that's good." She looks like she doesn't know what to say, and he just chuckles.
"I am rather happy that I don't have the distraction of having a hot assistant in my office day in and day out." He looks at me and chuckles. "I know it's going to be pretty hard for you, Max."
"Very funny," I say. "Is there anything else, Remy?"
"No, but HR did tell me to let you know that the meeting for the new hires is going to be this afternoon."
"Okay, I will make sure that Lila is there."
"Awesome," he says. “Again, it was nice to meet you, Miss Haversham."
"Nice to meet you, too."
We stand there in silence as Remington leaves the office before she hands me my coffee and bagel. "Here you go. And don't blame me if the coffee is cold. I had to walk like five blocks, and my feet are absolutely killing me."
"Excuse me?"
"Excuse you for what?"
"You're really complaining to me about walking five blocks?"
"I'm just saying these shoes are not the most comfortable. Have you seen how high these heels are?"
"Then maybe you shouldn't wear high heels if you can't walk in them for very long."
"I didn't expect to be walking in them for very long. I ended up getting off the train earlier than I should have this morning because there was this creepy guy that was staring at me, and I didn't want to be a statistic." And then she pauses. "Well, I'm guessing you don't really want to know."
"No, please do tell me. I'm so interested in hearing the story as to why you got off the train early and had to walk many blocks in uncomfortable shoes.
It's not like I have anything else going on today.
I'm not a named partner at a top law firm.
I don't have millions of dollars’ worth of lawsuits to figure out. And—"
"There's no need to be sarcastic," she says. "What do you want me to do?"
"What do you mean, what do I want you to—"
"Work-wise, what do you want me to do? I mean, you're paying me for a job, and I assume it's not just to get you coffee and bagels."
"You know what, Lila?"
"What, Max?"
"You can call me Mr. Spector, by the way."
"I'm not calling you Mr. Spector. You're not my dad’s friend."
"I'm your boss, though."
"And because you're my boss, I should call you Mr. Spector?"
"It's respectful."
"Okay. Then call me Miss Haversham."
"I don't think so, Lila."
"But I am your employee, and as such, I deserve the same courtesy that you do."
"Are you always going to be like this?"
"What do you mean, am I always going to be like this? This is my first day. This is my personality. Are you telling me you don't like my personality?" Her lower lip trembles.
"Don't even bother with the waterworks, Ms. Wannabe Actress."
"What?" She grins. "I was just going to see if I could cry. I told you I've been having a problem crying on cue these days, so it was unlikely to happen."
"You're not practicing your acting while you're at work."
"When else am I supposed to practice my acting?" She grins. "When I'm not being paid? What fun is that?" She tilts her head to the side, and for a moment, I think she's flirting with me.
"Do you want me to fire you?"
"I literally just started this job. I don't think you want to fire me." She licks her lower lip and plays with her hair. I frown at the movement.
"And why do you think I don't want to fire you?"
"Let's be real here. Any regular, smart, intelligent attorney would never have hired me in the first place."
My lips twitch at her assumption. "Are you saying that I'm not intelligent?"
"I'm saying you're intelligent, but maybe not super intelligent."
"So you're calling me dumb?"
"You're either dumb or you are incredibly attracted to me." She steps forward. She's definitely flirting with me. And I don't hate it.
"You think I'm incredibly attracted to you?"
"I think so," she says. "Maybe it's my heels. Maybe it's my short skirt. Maybe it's even my tight top with the buttons undone." She undoes another button, and my eyes widen. I'm not sure what is going on here, but I'm starting to feel turned on.
"I think…" she says as she takes another step toward me.
"That I intrigue you. I think that you think I'm hot.
Am I right?" She presses her palm against my chest, and I know she can feel my heart beating.
I stand there for a couple of seconds, still not saying anything else.
I can tell from the look in her eyes that she's not as brave as she's making it seem.
She might be acting confident, but she's not.
"I think," she says as she runs her finger down my chest, "that you—"
"I think it's time for you to get to work, Miss Haversham," I say, grabbing her hand and holding it tightly. "I don't really know what your game is, but you’re here to do a job and be an assistant, remember? I really don't think you want a job on your back, am I correct?"
"What?" she says, her mouth agape, and I grin at the wild look in her eyes.
"I'm saying that you came for an honest job, not one where you spend all your time on your back. Am I correct?"
"Yes. What are you talking about, on my back?"
"I mean, it seems to me that's where you want to be right now.
" I lick my lips slowly. "And don't get me wrong, I could slide that skirt up within five seconds and be inside you so hard and fast that I'd have you calling out my name so the entire office could hear.
But, right now, I have work to do, and that work doesn't include fucking you.
No matter how badly you want it." I step away from her and sit down.
Her face is beet red, and I'm sure she's embarrassed, but as much as I want to push this and see how far she's willing to go, I really shouldn’t.
Not yet. Not like this. And for some reason, I don't think it's just because of the bet.
For some reason, I actually want to see if I can figure out Lila and all of her intricacies.
I pull the top page off of the legal pad and rip it into pieces. I don't care about the pros and cons list anymore. I'm not about to fire Lila Haversham anytime soon. I want to see exactly where this is going to go.