imagine how many excuses Malcolm would come up with to darken my door late at night…or any other time of the day, if it suited him.
I groaned under my breath, and Saint chuckled, bumping his shoulder against mine.
“Go easier on him. He’s a great lawyer,” he muttered, the smile of welcome for everyone in the room never leaving his face.
“Yeah, and completely unable to tell when he’s not at all wanted.” The memory of Malcolm sucking me off filled me with shame, and I’d have changed that bad decision in a heartbeat. As it was, I could only discourage him from believing anything else might happen.
Saint laughed again. “Talk about drama. Look, I get you don’t always like his attention, but he has a lot to teach these guys.”
Malcolm was still doing the rounds of the three interns in the room, shaking their hands and sharing pleasantries. He looked up and caught my gaze on him then winked.
“Did you see that?” I murmured to Saint.
“Sure did,” Saint drawled, “and it’s the exact reason I know Malcolm won’t make any moves on any of our interns.”
“Oh?” I tilted my head, interested to hear his reasons. Malcolm had only ever been proprietary—borderline inappropriate—with me.
“Absolutely. You see, these guys are all…too…” Sant paused and lowered his voice further. “Malcolm is clearly a bottom who likes his tops to have a certain—” He broke off again. “I mean, the interns in here probably don’t have what Malcolm needs. Malcolm prefers to hunt a more dominant sort of male.” He chuckled. “You doing okay, Nico? You look a little pale.”
Malcolm finished his meet and greet with the interns and joined Saint and me at the front of the room. He stood right up against me, until our shoulders brushed, and I took a step away. If I’d wanted a conjoined twin, I could have probably bought one online.
In contrast to Jamie’s professional appearance, Malcolm always seemed as if he’d slept in his suit, bathed in his cheap-smelling, overpowering cologne, and run out his front door without combing his hair or looking in a mirror.
He moved closer again, pressing against me, but if I took another step to my left, I’d be right up against Saint, and we’d all look like we needed carting off to the local asylum if we ended up molded against each other like some weird legal version of three wise monkeys.
Shifting my focus from Malcolm and his uncomfortable idea of presenting a united front, I gazed out across the interns, and I froze when my attention landed on Jamie. He was staring directly at me. No, not exactly at me. More like the side of me—specifically the side where I ended and Malcolm began. Or Malcom began and I ended. I wasn’t quite sure what effect we’d achieved.
Jamie looked away, focusing on the glossy table in front of him, then used his cuff as if wiping away a smear. But for a split second his face had creased in what looked a lot like pain—as if something had hurt him.
I couldn’t be sure what I’d seen, and I didn’t have time to reflect.
“Okay, now that we’re all here—thank you, Malcolm, for joining us—” Saint paused for the muffled laughter from the interns, and Malcolm swept a small bow, recognizing and probably enjoying that he was the source of fun.
I watched Jamie, but he looked up, focused intently on his brother. His eyes were wide open, his concentration almost tear-inducing.
“Welcome to all of you, and congratulations on being picked to work with us here this summer,” Saint continued.
I held in my small laugh of amusement and glanced at the solid wood floor. The competition hadn’t been all that tough, and Jamie had been the stand-out winner of the day.
“We’re really happy to have you here, but we hope you’re equally happy to be here. And also eager to learn—we have a lot to teach you.” Saint paused. “I won’t lie. It’s going to be hard work.”
I nodded, trying to meet the gaze of each of the three, but Jamie avoided my searching stare.
“First, a little bit of an icebreaker.” Saint rubbed his hands together and paced a couple of steps across the floor. “I’m going to ask you all to introduce yourself and tell us your area of expertise.”
No one spoke.
“Okay. Don’t all rush at once. While you’re thinking up your answers, we’ll go first.” Saint indicated us three, and the interns murmured more nervous laughter. “I’m Saint Caldwell, one of the