Affirmation (2 page)

Kylie
wasn’t so much interested then in Matt looking at her legs, but
was more concerned with saving her Ferragamo briefcase that was close
to getting waterlogged.

The
thing that upsets me the most, and hence why I intend on chugging
this second glass of wine, is that Matt doesn’t seem overly put
off by her behavior. Again, he hasn’t engaged with her, but he
doesn’t shun her the way he did with Lorraine. For example,
Kylie had laid her hand on Matt’s arm when she was making a
point, and rather than pull his arm back the way he used to do with
Lorraine, he left it there… let her touch him and didn’t
even appear to want to stop it.

To
cap it all off, Kylie made it clear that I was going to be her little
bitch of a gopher on this case, and Matt did nothing to dispel that
notion. As our meeting was wrapping up, Kylie handed me the file and
said, “McKayla, I’ll need you to make me one copy of the
file and also scan a copy, so I can have the digital version as
well.”

I
glanced at Matt, and he confirmed my worst suspicion. I was to do as
Kylie asked because she was the big dog when it came to appellate
matters.

I
suppose the only saving grace to this week was that Matt did indeed
give me two orgasms as he screwed my brains out against the wall of
my office. When he was zipping himself up, I tried to bring up Kylie
so that he could clarify the nature of our working relationship, but
he brushed me off, telling me to “work it out” with her
myself.

“Come
on, Macy,” I tell her as I grab the bottle of wine. “We’re
getting drunk tonight, and then we’re going to talk shit about
Matt and his new girlfriend, Kylie.”

“Matt
has a new girlfriend?” Macy asks, bewildered.

“Well…
no, but she thinks she might be. I want to kill her. You can help me
plot.”

“Right
on,” Macy says. “I’m all in.”

When
I get into work the next morning, sporting the mother of all hangover
headaches, my mood plummets even further when I see the note on my
desk. It’s from Kylie, and it says, “Meet me in my office
to discuss
Pearson
as
soon as you get in.”

Here’s
what sucks about Kylie.

She’s
just a contract attorney, here just to work on a single case for the
firm, yet she gets one of the bigger offices with a window. Fine, I
can deal with that, I suppose.

But
that’s not the only perk to being on contract for a limited
time. The thing that chaps my ass the most is that there are no rules
or barriers between Kylie and Matt if they wanted to have a
relationship. And I’m not saying that Matt wants to, but I’ve
seen enough of Kylie to know that she’s interested. She doesn’t
have the whole “he’s my boss” sort of thing
stopping her the way it should have stopped me.

Making
my way to Kylie’s office, I grab the copy of the
Pearson
file I had made for her and a legal pad to take notes on. Her door is
open, and she’s sitting behind her desk in a cherry red power
suit. Her chocolate hair is pulled into a neat chignon, her makeup is
flawless, and her nails are painted the same cherry red as her suit.

“McKayla,
thanks for coming by. I wanted to get a head start on
Pearson
,”
she says as she stands up from the desk. When she walks around, I see
the skirt is really short and she’s wearing four-inch stiletto
heels that are better designed as hooker ware than for a law firm.

Motioning
me to take a seat at her small worktable, she says, “I brought
you in a latte from Starbucks.”

I
stare at her open-mouthed for just a moment, and she seems to be
giving me a genuine smile. Maybe she wasn’t going to be so hard
to work with.

“Thanks,
Kylie. I really appreciate that.”

I
pick the cup up and take an appreciative sip, just as Kylie says,
“Good. I took a chance you’d like that. I mean…
you don’t look like a girl that really cares if the calories go
to her hips.”

It’s
a good thing I was only taking a tiny sip of the scalding hot
beverage. Otherwise, I may have sucked it down my windpipe over her
completely catty remark. Instead, I just stare at her in shock, but
she doesn’t pay me any attention. She just sits at the table
and starts flipping through the file.

I
take my seat next to her and we work for about twenty minutes,
getting familiar with the issues and formulating an outline for our
game plan. I’m caught up in reading the jury instructions that
had been given at trial when Kylie says, “McKayla… can I
ask you something personal?”

My
stomach sort of pitches sideways because I know—just know
without a doubt—that she’s getting ready to ask me about
Matt.

I
try to sound sincere when I say, “Sure.”

She
leans in toward me like she’s afraid we’ll be overheard,
which doesn’t seem plausible since we are in her office with
the door closed. “I wanted to ask you about Matt. I mean,
you’ve been working closely with him… but is he seeing
anyone?”

What
to do? What to do?

The
truth? Yes, Kylie… He’s seeing me, and I will cut you if
you get near him.

A
lie? Yes, Kylie… he’s seeing someone… His name is
Mark, and they make a really cute couple.

A
semi-truth? Yes, Kylie… I heard he’s seeing someone, and
it seems to be fairly serious.

Instead,
I opt for none of those options, because the last thing I want her
thinking is that I know Matt personally enough to know about his love
life.

“I’m
sorry,” I tell her. “I just don’t know. He’s
a pretty private person.”

Kylie
nods in understanding. “Of course, you’re just an
associate after all. Just thought I’d try because maybe you had
heard some gossip. No matter… I’ll just figure it out
myself.”

And
with that, she goes right back to working as if she never just told
me that she has Matt in her sights. I sit there and stew over this,
knowing that I should probably give Matt some type of warning.

After
about an hour, Matt knocks on the door and Kylie makes a big deal
about inviting him in. She lays her hand on his arm again while they
talk, and I don’t fail to notice Matt doesn’t pull away.
He is so going to get a piece of my mind over that.

I
try to ignore them, intent on focusing on my work, but then Matt
interrupts my thoughts. “Mac, can I see you in my office? I
have a few things to go over with you on the
Jackson
case.”

“Sure
thing,” I tell him as I gather up my stuff. “Want to meet
up later, Kylie?”

She
gives me a dim smile and nods. “Tomorrow morning again—eight
AM sharp. You’re in charge of coffee next time. I like mine
black.”

With
that, Kylie turns her back on me, dismissing me from her mind. I turn
to look at Matt, and he actually has a smirk on his face, clearly
enjoying our interplay. Glaring as hard as I can, I push my way past
him. I reach his office before he does and head on in.

He’s
hot on my heels and when he closes the door, he steps up close,
wrapping his arms around my waist. “I missed you last night,”
he rumbles near my ear, just before giving my earlobe a little bite.

The
touch sends a jolt of lust through my body, and I can’t help
the little moan that comes out of my mouth.

That
is all the encouragement Matt needs. His hands go down to the sides
of my skirt and he starts pulling the material up, his knuckles
grazing my skin. When the cool air hits my ass, I come to my senses
and pull away.

“Wait…
what are you doing?”

“Trying
to get under your skirt,” he says with a lecherous smile as he
advances toward me.

Holding
my palms out, I say, “Hold it, mister. We can’t just keep
having sex in your law firm. We’re going to get caught.”

His
grin gets even wider as his hand goes behind my head to pull me
closer. “That makes it all the more exciting, don’t you
think?”

His
other hand palms my breast, softly squeezing it. My breath hitches
and I’m about ready to capitulate, but then common sense takes
hold again.

I
step firmly out of his reach and give him a soft smile. “Sorry,
baby… no can do. You’ll just have to wait.”

His
eyes are dark and disappointed when he looks at me, but then he gives
me a small smile and a nod of resignation. Turning from me, he says,
“No worries. I have a meeting I need to get ready for anyway.”

Matt’s
voice is a little aloof and a touch icy. It makes me uneasy. “Are
you mad at me because I said ‘no’?”

Turning
his head to look at me, I’m relieved to see surprise on his
face. “God, no. You can say no any time you want to me. I’m
a little disappointed, but trust me… I’ll get over it
and try again with you.”

The
anxiety in my chest eases up a little, and I give him a smile before
heading back to my office.

It’s
not until I sit back down at my desk that I realize I forgot to tell
Matt about Kylie and her interest in him. Oh, well… I could
tell him tonight when we get together.

The
yawn that overtakes me is a doozy and it’s so deep and drawn
out, I almost pass out from lack of oxygen. I glance over at the
clock that sits on my desk and see it’s close to seven PM. It’s
now the third day in a row that Matt has not meandered down to my
office and tried to make plans to see me.

Not
that he’s the only one that has to do so, it’s just…
I went to him the last two nights and asked him if he wanted to do
something, to which he said he couldn’t because he was swamped
with work.

So,
do I just go ahead and go home, or do I make my way over to his
office yet again to probably get shot down… yet again?

It’s
with a heavy heart that I decide to be a glutton for punishment, and
I walk down to Matt’s kingdom. His door is open. As I step
inside, I see him putting his suit jacket on and picking up his
briefcase as if he’s ready to leave. Joy leaps in my heart that
he’s not going to work late tonight, so that I can finally have
some alone time with him.

When
he looks up and sees me standing there, he says, “Hey you…
I was just getting ready to come down to your office, so it looks
like you saved me a trip.”

I
shoot him a radiant grin and then immediately start thinking of how
quickly I can get him naked once we step foot in either his apartment
or mine. I hope my voice doesn’t sound too salacious when I
ask, “So, what do you want to do tonight?”

I
expect Matt’s eyes to start a slow burn and fill with lustful
promise, but instead he blinks at me and gets a sheepish look on his
face. “Um… actually, I was on my way down to your office
to tell you that I’m going out with some of the guys to get
some drinks.”

Yes,
it’s like a wall of cold water hits me, almost knocking the
breath out of me. But I’m Mac Dawson, and I have more fortitude
than that. “Oh… okay. Well, do you want to come over to
my place after?”

Matt’s
face turns slightly red, and his head hangs down. “I’m
sorry, Mac… but this is kind of one of those nights that I’ll
probably be out all night with the boys.”

“The
boys?” I ask blankly.

“The
boys. You know, Rob, Mike, and Joey from litigation, and Sam in
estates. And I think that new guy… Bill’s paralegal is
going. The boys.”

“But
you never go out with the boys,” I say lamely.

“Sure
I do,” he says with confidence.

“No,
Matt… you don’t. You even told me once that you couldn’t
stand being around a bunch of drunk guys acting like morons.”

I
can see the moment that Matt remembers making that statement to me,
and he has the grace to look embarrassed. But just like with anyone
who gets called on the carpet, he becomes a little defensive. “Look,
Mac… if you don’t want me to go, I won’t.”

The
tone of his voice is really saying,
I feel
henpecked to death, and I’ll really be pissed if you don’t
let me go out with the boys.