Ready or Not (The Ready Series Book 4)(36)

“What about the furniture?” I asked, nearly whimpering.

“I’m sure you can handle it. Have a good night.” She winked. “Think of me.”

My eyes followed her as she took her time making her way to her back door with her perky little ass swinging behind her. I heard the door lock behind her as I sat there on my knees, sporting the biggest boner in history.

I looked down, picked up my phone, and scrolled through the pictures I’d taken. “This woman is going to kill me,” I muttered as I attempted to stand.

I had a feeling though that there would be no better way to go.





Jackson

A knock came to my office door late Tuesday afternoon as I was finishing up some notes on a case. I gave the okay to enter, and my boss Mark, one of the senior partners of the firm, greeted me. For a cutthroat lawyer, he was a pretty stand-up guy, and with each passing week, I had grown to like him more and more.

“Hey, Mark. How’s it going?”

“Not too bad. How about you? Things okay over here?” he asked as a sly smirk spread across his face.

Many people had let Mark’s young appearance sway them in the courtroom, assuming his lack of experience would hurt him in the long run. Those who doubted him were always the first to discover just how quickly he could crush them. He was a shark with a keen eye for detail and model good looks that could influence any juror in his favor.

“Yeah. Why?” I asked.

“Well, when I came over and said hi to Kate, I asked if you could spare a few minutes. She mumbled something and then said, ‘It wouldn’t do any good to call him. He won’t answer anyway.’ Then, she just shooed me in here.”

I shook my head, cradling it in my hands. It was all I could do to keep myself from banging it against the hard wood of my desk.

“So, not okay then?” he guessed, as I looked up to see him taking a seat in one of the plush leather chairs in front of me.

“Things could be better,” I admitted.

“You’ve been here barely a month, man. How did you piss off your secretary so badly?”

“I took her out on a date, maybe two,” I confessed.

He laughed before saying the words I’d repeated to myself over and over, “You’re a dumbass.”

“I know.”

“What were you thinking? You don’t shit where you eat.”

My face twisted in horror. “That is a terrible, terrible analogy.”

He shrugged. “I’m not the one who f*cked my secretary.”

“I didn’t f*ck her!” I countered. “I barely even touched her,” I added quietly.

“So, why is she so upset?” He leaned back, swinging his feet up onto my desk.

My eyebrow rose as he made himself comfortable.

“Oh, she wanted you to f*ck her,” he guessed. “And you brushed her off. You really are a dumbass.”

“I just wasn’t interested.”

“Then, why did you take her out in the first place?” he challenged.

“Because I thought if I dated her, I’d stop thinking about someone else.”

“That never works, my friend.”

“Obviously.”

“So, you left your sexy secretary hanging. What happened with the girl you were trying to forget?”

The small grin that spread across my face seemed to answer his question.

“Nice. Does Kate know about her?” he asked.

“She just called,” I said, grimacing slightly.

“Oh, hence the crazy talk I was confronted with out there.”

“Yep.”

“Dude, you’ve got to find a new secretary.”

“I can’t fire her because I’m an idiot! That’s just wrong, and…well, highly illegal,” I replied, my head finding the comforting cradle of my hands once again.

“No, you can’t, but Brayden needs a new secretary. His just left to be a full-time mom. Might be a good change of scenery for her.”

It wasn’t a terrible idea. “She’d probably be relieved to get rid of me,” I admitted.

“And in the meantime,” he said, “we’ll work on getting you someone new. Maybe a gay guy or a nice old lady.”

“Jackass.” I laughed.

The rest of our talk was boring and mostly work-related, ending with Mark telling me the news buzzing around the entire office.

“We got a call this morning,” he announced, his body nearly vibrating.

“Okay?”

“Senator Prescott is coming out of retirement. He’s apparently putting together a team.”

“What kind of team?”

“The word on the street is, he’s going to make a bid for the presidency.”

“Holy shit,” I whispered.

This was huge. Senator Douglas Prescott was well loved in Virginia and beyond. Coming from South Carolina where we had our own political superstars, I hadn’t followed his career closely, but I knew the bare facts. A conservative superstar, he’d gone from state politics all the way to US Senator, and he’d served for years before retiring during a time people believed to be the height of his career. Maybe it had just been a well-timed hiatus, so he could prepare for bigger and better things.