The Red Eye 3 (The Red Eye Erotic Romance Series) (8 page)

“You look about as excited as I am to be in this meeting.” My dry remark failed to raise even a smile. “Boy. Tough crowd. Oh well. I’m your new boss, whether you like it or not, so you’d better get used to it. Now, since I’m the new girl in town, I’ll need you all to get me up to speed, so I’d like each team leader to put together a report for me on your current open cases and your plans of action.”

“Already done. They’re in your in tray.”

I looked over at the balding, slightly overweight man sitting in the back of the room. “Thank you, er…”

“Michael… Michael Newport. Team leader and someone who doesn’t need some fancy New York lawyer to waltz in here and tell him how to do his job.”

I raised an eyebrow. I knew I was going to face some resistance, but I wasn’t expecting it to be quite so obvious so soon. “All right. I’ll level with you. I want to be here about as much as you want me here. But Grayson Caesar sent me here himself, and if he thinks that I’m the best person for the job, what does that tell you about the quality of local candidates?” I knew that I was likely to be making enemies right now, but I was past caring. The chances were high it wouldn’t matter what I said. They still wouldn’t want me here, so I might as well go for the jugular.

“Now we can do this the hard way or we can do this the easy way, but whichever direction you prefer, I’m still going to be here, and let me tell you. I don’t take crap from anyone. So do feel free to try it on, but my advice to you would be that if you think you’re going to have problems working with me, there’s the door. You’re more than welcome to go through it. I don’t need anyone on my team who isn’t willing to give me a hundred and ten percent. So what’s it going to be? Are you going to leave or are you going to stay and help me build the most formidable legal team Boston has ever seen?”

There was some grumbling from the ranks, but nobody got up to go.

“Good. I’m glad to see that we’re all on the same page. Now, since you’ve all prepared your reports for me, I’m sure you won’t mind giving me a brief summary right now to save me having to trawl through it all and then booking another meeting to discuss it. Just so that you’re aware, this will be a weekly event, so be prepared to do this again and again. And since you were so vocal, Michael, I think we’ll start with you. What has your team got on right now?”

I had to admit that I impressed myself with how I’d managed to conceal my true feelings from the team. By the time I’d finished with them, they were convinced that I was there indefinitely and they’d need to bend over backward to impress me. Who knows? Maybe I’d cherry-pick one or two of them once I left to set up my own business. I already knew that I’d want to take Jennie with me.

“So how was your first day with the Boston team? You seem to have survived relatively unscathed.” Jennie sat down next to me with a couple of cocktails. She’d taken me to a small bar just around the corner from the office, but she’d assured me that, despite its location, few from Caesar and Krause drank here after work. Apparently, everyone preferred the trendier bars downtown.

“Ah, well. There are some perks to being the boss’s daughter-in-law-to-be. Since nobody knows that I’m not engaged to Devon anymore, Michael was the only one with the balls to give me attitude.”

“Ha!” Jennie sniffed. “Michael doesn’t have balls. He’s just stupid. Actually, scrub that—he’s nothing
but
balls. The guy’s the office letch. He always manages to stay just this side of legal, but we always warn the new secretaries to keep their distance. He’s probably just pissed that you’re the one person he can’t try it on with. You’re just his type, too.”

“Hmm.” I made a mental note to get Michael transferred to another office as soon as possible. He sounded just like Rick, and I was in no mood to put up with that kind of hassle.

“So who else do I need to watch out for?”

Jennie shifted about in her seat, clearly desperate to gossip, but still not completely sure whether she could trust me.

“Let me get you another cocktail.” I signaled to the bartender to bring us another round of drinks. I had a feeling that alcohol would help Jennie loosen up and get her talking.

I was right. A few more sips of a Long Island Iced Tea and Jennie felt comfortable enough to tell me all the dirty little secrets lurking in the office.

“Well, you’ve met Angela. She was expecting to get your job, and she’s been on the warpath ever since she heard that you were moving down. But she’s not the one you really need to worry about. It’s Colby who’s the real problem. He and Angela were seeing each other until recently. He ditched her the moment he heard that Angela didn’t get the promotion. He and Angela were a real power couple, and they thought that they had the office sewn up between them. I wouldn’t be surprised if Colby made a move on you instead.”

“Wow. No wonder Angela was so hostile towards me. I didn’t just cost her a promotion, I’m responsible for her breakup too.” I shook my head in disbelief. When I’d agreed to come out for a drink with Jennie, it was mainly because I didn’t fancy going back to the hotel and being alone with my thoughts. I had no idea that she was going to be such a useful source of information.

What Jennie had said got me thinking. If I could get Angela on side against Colby, she could turn out to be a major asset in the future.

My new secretary carried on talking, telling me about the affairs and romances that were going on in the office, but I wasn’t paying much attention anymore. I didn’t really care about who was sleeping with whom. These people didn’t mean anything to me, and if I went ahead with my plan to set up my own practice, they’d be even less important in my world.

But Angela? Angela I could use. I’d read up on Charles vs. Riddick Corp, and her work had been nothing less than genius. If I could convince her that she had a brighter future in a smaller firm with me, then we could make a big splash in the world of corporate law right from the start.

“So what do you think?”

Jennie’s question jolted me out of my reverie. “Sorry, what?”

“Going on to a club. I know a great place that I think you’ll love.”

Usually I wouldn’t dream of going to a club on a work night, but anything had to be better than the hotel room.

I plastered on a smile that I hoped didn’t look as fake as it felt. “Sure. Why not?”

I’d been expecting a dance club and there was a part of me that had been looking forward to letting off some steam on the dance floor, so I was disappointed when Jennie led me into a dimly lit room with a catwalk running through the middle leading up to a stage. Tables were dotted about the room, the ones closest to the stage already taken.

Jennie took me over to a table to the left of the stage, not too far away from the front. She motioned to a waiter for a couple of drinks, and a topless man wearing tightfitting underwear came over. “Good to see you again, Jennie. Your usual?”

“That would be great, Marco.”

Marco disappeared in the direction of the bar and returned with two glasses of sparkling wine.

“Let me get this.” I pulled out my company credit card and gave it to Marco. “Put all our drinks on that card, please.”

“Of course.” Marco nodded and went off to serve another table. I took the opportunity to admire his backside as he walked. His butt wasn’t as nice as Devon’s, but it still made for a pleasant sight.

“Are you sure you want to expense this?” Jennie looked at me, a hopeful gleam in her eye, as if she couldn’t believe her luck.

“Let’s just say that Grayson owes me a drink or two and leave it at that.” Frankly, I didn’t care if Grayson had a problem with funding my social life. I was going to charge as much to the company as I could get away with. “Besides, this is team bonding. That’s very important, you know.” I was starting to slur my words, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d gone out for a drink with a girlfriend, and even if it was the alcohol talking, right now, Jennie was my best friend in the whole wide world.

“You might change your mind in a minute.”

I waved Jennie’s words of warning away, downing my wine far too quickly and waving to Marco to refill my glass.

“All right, then. It’s your career on the line. Don’t say that I didn’t warn you.” I barely heard Jennie’s muttering as pulsating music started over the loudspeakers.

The lights dimmed and a cheer arose from the crowd. For the first time, I realized that the room was full of women. I couldn’t see any men around.

Good. I was sick of having to fend off men trying to get inside my panties.

The curtains opened and a spotlight lit upon a man standing in the middle of the stage. I had to admit that he was exceptionally pleasing to look at. He had long, flowing hair that reached just past his shoulder, and he brushed it out of his eyes as women hollered and whooped. “Ladies! Are you ready for a show?”

“Yes!”

“I said…
are you ready for a show
?”

The roar that erupted from the crowd was deafening. The man reached up and ripped his shirt off, revealing a six-pack to die for.

Jennie had brought me to a strip club!

The man tossed his shirt into the crowd to be fought over by the table lucky enough to catch it before disappearing off into the darkness. The curtains opened fully to reveal a troupe of five men in different working uniforms, everything from a builder to a fireman. The music sped up and they broke into a fast-paced routine, each moving perfectly in time with each other.

Jennie cheered and clapped, lost in the moment as the gorgeous men gradually removed their clothes. At first, I was swept along with them, but after a while, I realized that tears were flowing freely down my cheeks without my knowing when I’d started crying.

I didn’t even know
why
I was crying. Part of it was remembering all those nights dancing to put me and Rick through college, only to have him ditch me as soon as we’d graduated. The more I thought about it, the angrier I was that I’d ever let myself be taken in by his lies. That man had done his best to destroy his life. It wasn’t just that he’d made me go out and support the pair of us, I’d had to carry the secret of my history as a dancer my entire adult life and hope that my employers didn’t find out while he enjoyed the benefit of my money.

That was until I met Devon. Devon had known all about my past and offered me a job anyway. He’d known that I’d danced for men and fell in love with me regardless. And Rick had to destroy that as well.

But most of all, I was crying for my own stupid self. Rick had never forced me to strip. He was just very persuasive when he wanted to be. That was how he’d managed to sweet-talk his way back into my bed, even though I was supposed to be with Devon. That was nobody’s fault but my own.

I didn’t even notice as the opening act finished and a solo dancer hit the stage until the spotlight fell on me. I looked up at the man standing beside me, tears glistening on my cheeks.

“Nobody as beautiful as you should be so sad. Let me put a smile on your face.” He took me by the hand and led me to the stage, to the jealous looks of the other women watching. By the time I realized that I was going to be treated to my very own lap dance, it was too late to protest.

He sat me down in the middle of the room and started writhing around me, coming close to touching me but never quite crossing that line.

He pulled off his shirt, draping it over my shoulders as he danced to the back of the stage. I buried my head in my hands, embarrassed. Somebody else should be sitting here. Someone who would appreciate his efforts. The stripper was going out of his way to impress, and there was no denying that his body was incredible. He just wasn’t Devon.

When he’d finished, the stripper pressed a piece of paper with his number on it into my hand. “Call me,” he whispered before he headed off stage.

I stumbled off stage. “Are you all right?” Jennie asked, although it was hard to tell if her concern was because she was genuinely worried about me or if she was panicked that she’d overstepped the mark with her new boss.

“Fine, but I think I’m going to call it a night. I need to get back to the hotel and get some sleep if I’m going to be any use in the office tomorrow.”

“Okay. Do you want me to come out and find you a cab?”

“No, you stay and enjoy yourself. If you want any more drinks, keep the receipt and I’ll let you claim them back on expenses.”

“Thanks, Rebecca! Make sure you drink plenty of water before you go to bed, otherwise you’ll have the hangover from hell tomorrow.”

“Will do.”

I headed out of the bar, the cold night air hitting me like a slap in the face, chasing away the alcohol-induced fog around my mind. Looking at the piece of paper in my hand with the stripper’s cell number, I crumpled it up and tossed it in the nearest trash can before flagging down a cab.

All I wanted to do was go to bed. By myself.

I drifted in and out of sleep on the journey back to the hotel, losing track of where I was. Maybe I should call in sick tomorrow. Who cared if it was only my second day on the job?

I pushed through the revolving door into the hotel lobby, making a beeline for the elevators. Nothing was going to get between me and my comfortable bed.

“Where the hell have you been?”

I whirled round. Devon was standing in the hotel lobby.

“Devon! What are you doing here?”

“What do you think? I came to see you. I hate being away from you and I don’t understand why you left. You need to come back to New York where you belong.”

I looked around. Although it was late and the hotel lobby was almost empty, the receptionist was looking far too interested in our conversation for my liking.

“All right. You better come up to my room.”

Any other time and there would have been an invitation in my voice, but I was tired and miserable. Devon showing up like this was a complication I could do without.

We traveled up in the elevator in silence. Devon reached out to take my hand and I froze. My natural instinct was to take his hand and never let go, but I couldn’t forget what Grayson had said.