Mistletoe & Kisses (2 page)

“What? How does your hair look? What is going on? Are the partners here?” I moved to turn around and look behind me, but she grabbed my shoulders to turn me back to face her. “What is wrong with you?” I laughed. Now I was feeling nervous. She was starting to freak me out. “How many drinks did you suck down at the bar?”

“Oh, shut up,” she laughed fretfully. “My hair is okay?” Now she was sliding her hands down the front of her light pink silk blouse and down her form-fitted black pencil skirt that hugged each and every curve of her body’s curvaceous figure. Monica took great care of her body. She worked out three to four times a week, no matter how exhausted she was or how long her day had been or was going to be, she was in the firm’s private gym at five thirty in the morning working her ass off. I, on the other hand, went to the gym maybe three times a week and always after work. Hell, I was still in bed until seven in the morning.

“You look fantastic, as usual,” I assured her. “Why are you so nervous?” I was completely confused by this behavior from her.

Just as I was about to turn again to look over my shoulder, a server approached and offered us hors d'oeuvres of grilled chicken skewers. “Thank you,” I pulled one off the tray and accepted a napkin. Monica refused, even though this was her selection for the hors d'oeuvres and she probably wouldn’t eat anything the rest of the night. She schmoozed at these functions more than anything else. “What the hell is up your ass?” I chuckled again. Then I heard not only one gasp, but two, then an ‘excuse me’ as a glass hit the floor beside us.

I turned to see two secretaries from the real estate office on the second floor, who had apparently bumped into each other, bending down to help a server pick up the two glasses that had been dropped. They both kept looking over their shoulders toward the door and then at each other and whispering. Now I really needed to know what the hell was going on.

“Okay, spill. What is…” was all I was able to say when Monica placed her hands on my shoulders and spun me around. I finally realized what all the commotion was about. Two very attractive men were standing at the greeting table.

The two men looked like they were related, but had very different styles. One was dressed to the nines in his starched, white-collared, light blue power shirt and very expensive-looking double-breasted grey suit. His red tie and matching handkerchief were perfect accents to the dark grey of the suit.  The man next to him looked almost casual in a dark blue suit with the collar of his white dress shirt unbuttoned at the neck and his breast pocket holding a light purple handkerchief, but no matching tie. Their hair was the same jet black, yet the red tie man had a close cropped buzz cut, while the more casual one had a slightly tamed mess of slightly longer hair.

“Who are they?” I asked, hoping my jaw wasn’t on the floor along with every other woman’s in the room.

“The one with the red tie is Malone Scott. The one with
no tie
is Murphy Scott. Malone is our new Entertainment attorney. I’m not really sure about Murphy’s plan.” Monica waved at a few employees passing by.

“Holy shit. There will be no work done at the firm in the Entertainment department,” I laughed. “Please tell me he isn’t the reason you are so rattled.”

“Rattled? Me?” she scoffed.

“Rattled. You. Since when do you give a damn about your hair, which by the way, is always perfect?” I looked back over my shoulder and caught the eye of Malone, then Murphy as they nodded to whatever Calle was saying to them as Billie eye fucked them both in turn. “There isn’t something going on with …”

“God, no. Stewart and I are getting married in April. Malone is just,” she sighed. “He is just…”

“Really hot,” I giggled.

“An incredible attorney,” she stated as if to say ‘duh, what did you think I was going to say?’

“Leave it to you to look at probably one of the two hottest men in the room and you are after his legal mind.” I turned to stand next to her and bumped her hip with my own. “Let’s go mingle and let the room have the eye candy for a bit longer.” We took a few steps from the table. “I assume they are the reason I had to get the larger table for the partners?” We stopped at a few tables as we talked and caught up with people we didn’t see every day. Monica and I were two of the few of the employees of the firm who knew pretty much everyone. Sadly, not everyone took the time to meet, let alone talk to the other offices. I had found that it was better to know who was around you. You never know when you might need them or they might need you.

“Yup, he was officially hired this evening. Contracts were signed, but it wasn’t public and it will be announced tonight. The partners called all of the attorneys into the conference room just as I was about to leave, which is why I was late.” She grabbed an hors d'oeuvre of popcorn shrimp.

“Well, hopefully he will bring in more clients and more clients means more money, which in turn means…”

“More money for everyone,” Monica snickered as she popped the shrimp into her mouth. “Always thinking about money.”

“No, not always, but I’m twenty-eight and I have a great nest egg tucked away and I am always thrilled to be able to add to it,” I smiled at her. Monica knew my plan. I wanted to retire by the time I was sixty-five, not die at my desk. I enjoyed splurging, but I never went overboard. I had always been a saver. I had seen my parents struggle with money and I never wanted to have to live paycheck to paycheck. Been there done that. “I mean, more money is great, but I learned a long time ago that money doesn’t make you happy and can only buy you so much. Now tucking it away for a future...that is the way to go.”

“A woman not interested in money? There is a rarity,” a deep voice muttered behind us as we made our way to the line now formed at the bar. We both turned to find Murphy Scott, the casually dressed mystery man standing behind us. “You must be a very well-paid attorney.”

“
She
is. I’m just a well-paid paralegal.” I blushed that he had been listening to our conversation.

“I bet your husband is thrilled you didn’t marry him for his money.” He stood almost a foot above me. Even in my heels he seemed to tower over both Monica and I.

“Neither of us are married,” Monica snapped a little too fast and then turned away with a blush that made me have to swallow a giggle. I had only ever seen her unsettled by one man, her fiancé Stewart, who was a piece of eye candy himself. “Well, not yet,” she corrected quickly. Stewart would be missing tonight due to his own firm’s holiday party. Stewart was an executive at a finance company that had offices across the country.

“Is your not-yet-married-to man here tonight? I’d love to meet a man who snagged such a woman as yourself,” he winked at Monica. I felt a pang in my stomach that I didn’t like; it almost felt like jealousy. Monica was engaged and I knew she loved Stewart. This was just innocent flirting. Though, I did have to admit I kind of wished he was flirting with me instead.

“Oh my God, does that really work for you?” I laughed and Monica nudged me with her elbow and we took a step forward. “What?” I laughed when she glared at me, then I felt kind of bad. I didn’t want her to look bad with the brother of a new partner, but was he serious with that line?

“Actually, yeah it does,” he laughed. “I’m Murphy Scott.”

“Olive Harper and this is Monica Durbin.” I pointed between us.

“Your name is Olive?” His voice didn’t sound humorous like some people do when they hear my name, more surprised as he looked between Monica and me.

“My parents were planning for a boy. They were going to name him Oliver after my grandfather, but unfortunately for them they only had me.” I had been explaining my name for years and I’d heard all the jokes. Men thought it was funny to say they’d love to have an olive in their drinks as well as their beds…ugh.

“But fortunate for everyone else that you’re a girl. Olive.” He said my name again and I had to admit my knees did shake a bit and my toes curled.
Really curled.
What the hell was that about?

“So you said neither of you is married. How can that be?” He stepped up forcing us to take another step towards the bar. “Two beautiful women such as yourselves.” He had almost a Midwestern accent, not heavy, but there.

“I’m actually engaged, getting married in April,” Monica acknowledged then looked at me with a huge smile on her face. “But Olive here is
very
single.” She hooted then stuck her tongue out at me as she turned her head forward so Murphy wasn’t privy to the sight.

“So how can such a …” Murphy started, but was interrupted by a voice that I knew and wanted to punch back down its throat.

“Hi Mr. Scott. I’m so happy I got you before you ordered your drinks. Mr. Rivins put in a special order at your table already and your drink is at your seat.” Billie slipped her arm around Murphy’s elbow. “Here let me show you to your table.” She smiled triumphantly at me. I forced myself not to roll my eyes at her.

“What the fu...” He sounded about as happy as I felt to being pulled away. Neither Monica nor I turned back to watch them start to walk away as we stepped up to place our drink orders. “Here, these are on me. Maybe I’ll see you around the room.” Murphy placed a hundred dollar bill on the bar. “Get these lovely ladies whatever they would like for the evening.” He nodded to the bartender, then us and stepped away with Billie almost dragging him behind her before we could even say thank you.

“Um.” I said and looked at Monica.

“Well, that isn’t going to happen.” She pulled a napkin from the side of the bar as I placed our orders. I watched as she pulled a pen from her clutch, she wrote something on the napkin then folded the bill into the napkin and handed it to a passing server.

“What did you do?” I held both of our drinks in my hands as we turned away from the bar.

“I thanked him for the offer, but said it wasn’t necessary. And I didn’t want it to be seen as inappropriate. I saw his brother for like two minutes. He’s a new partner, our superior. It just doesn’t feel right. So I folded the money into the napkin and asked that it be returned at the end of the evening,” she shrugged her shoulder. “Let him think he was buying them and then the money will be returned later. No harm, no foul.” She accepted her glass from me as we headed back toward our table and were, of course, delayed by more people that we chatted with along the way, just as we had on the way to the bar.

Monica and I mingled most of the night away, as per usual. We laughed with our fellow office members and we gossiped about our cases. We watched Antoinette from Stratton’s office who handled Wills and Estates win the fifty/fifty. She was so thrilled to have won almost three hundred dollars she almost tripped on the way back to her seat, but was saved by Malone as he reached his arm out and caught her around her waist. Everyone in the room laughed and she blushed from head to toe. Her husband later went over to thank Malone. They shook hands and shared a laugh between them.

Everyone enjoyed the large screen set up behind the band that flashed a slideshow of not only previous office parties, but also pictures that had been taken in the photo booth I had set up in the back of the room. There were funny face pictures, serious faces, groups of friends, and employees and spouses.

I tried to keep my focus off of the table to the left of the front of the room. I saw almost every woman – married, single, engaged or otherwise committed stroll by the table more than a few times. Malone rarely acknowledged, but Murphy smiled and winked and a few times even engaged in conversations with them. I did notice that he glanced back at our table a few times. I tried to pretend that I didn’t notice and that I was looking at something or someone else. Monica saved me a couple of times by pulling my attention away from the table.

Just after the salad course was served, Marc Hedgers stepped to the front of the room taking the microphone. Marc Hedgers was one of the founding members of the firm. He and Leo Kevinson started the firm almost thirty years ago. As much as everyone kept one eye on Marc at the podium, they kept their other eye on the head table.

“May I have your attention please?” He waited moment. “Excuse me. I know this is the time when dessert and coffee is served and people begin sneaking out,” he paused as everyone laughed, knowing it was true. “I know the heads of each department have had a chance to thank their staff. I would like to take a moment, on behalf of the other partners, to thank everyone for their hard work this year,” he paused for a moment. “I would also like to take this opportunity to introduce the newest member of our firm,” he raised his hand toward the head table. “Malone Scott has joined our firm from Collins and Chapman in Chicago.” Malone nodded and lifted his hand in acknowledgment. “Mr. Scott will be heading up our new Entertainment department. He will be bringing some of his own staff members and some positions will become available, but we leave that up to Mr. Scott to handle.” Malone nodded again in agreement. “If no one else has anything,” he looked around, “we would like to wish you all a wonderful, safe and happy holiday season.” Everyone cheered. “Thank you. Please enjoy the rest of your evening.” The room filled with cheers.

“So I hear you had a hand in the decorations for this shindig,” Murphy’s voice hit me like a snowball to the back of my neck. He seemed almost to have spoken right into my ear, startling me. “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.”

“Yes you did, or you would have approached me from the front.” I figured his brother worked for the firm, he didn’t. I didn’t need to take crap from him – flirtatious or not. “But to answer your question, yes. Yes, I did handle the decorations for the room,” I smiled up at him. “Are you looking for an event planner? I can give you a couple of names or invite you to my Pinterest page.”