Falling for the Lawyer - By Anna Clifton Page 0,12
had haunted her continuously she’d refused to stew on her predicament. Instead she’d put her head down and worked hard on David Griffen’s remaining current matters. JP would need to turn his mind to them in the next twenty-four hours and with all the lawyers in the office so busy she’d decided to do as much of the legwork as possible to bring them up to date.
“I can’t leave yet. I’ve got to get these memos finished.”
But Alex was fibbing. The file she was working on could certainly wait until the next day. The real reason she wanted to stay behind was because she’d resolved to have things out with JP McKenzie.
No matter what lay in store for her she refused to wait for the guillotine to fall on her job at Griffen Murphy. She’d stand up to him and demand to know what his intentions for her were, even if that meant staying back for hours until he returned—if he returned at all.
“Have you anyone else you can go with, Soph?”
“Yes but I wanted you to come too,” Sophie explained, pulling a face of exaggerated disappointment.
“How about some time later in the week instead?”
“Okay, but is that a promise?”
“It’s a promise,” Alex assured her and watched on distractedly as Sophie disappeared across the office.
She sighed then, apprehensive about how long she would have to wait for JP to return. Well, she didn’t care. If she had to wait all night and catch him the second he walked through the door in the morning then that was what she would do.
She finished the work she was doing and then did some more filing as the office began to empty. By six o’clock every last person had left for the evening—even the lawyers. Alex was beginning to think she may very well have to wait until morning to see JP after all. But then the sound of loud, chirpy whistling greeted her ears. She froze where she stood at the filing cabinet, waiting to see whether her hunch that her new boss was heading back to his office was right. It was.
With his hands deep in his pockets and a distracted look on his face, JP McKenzie sauntered through the empty department he now headed up, a moving flash of dark blonde hair and dark suit. When he caught sight of her over the partitions his gait baulked a little before a smirk rose to his lips, his pace returned and he approached her.
Alex swallowed. All of a sudden her throat felt incredibly dry as she drove her gaze straight into those cobalt blue eyes that were already becoming familiar to her. “I was beginning to think you would never get back,” she confessed out loud before she could stop herself.
“I have that effect upon people—tenterhooks, you know … I’m kidding, Alex. If I’d known you were waiting I would have come down sooner. I was just upstairs talking to Justin Murphy.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Alex replied dismissively, shaking her head a little to try and clear a way for her thoughts. The problem was that something strange seemed to happen to her brain when JP McKenzie was near, including blurting things to him she had no intention of blurting. “I didn’t mind waiting. I’d like to talk to you.”
JP looked hard at her and then cocked his head in the direction of his office. “Come on. Let’s go in here. I’m glad you stayed. We’ve got a bit to go through.”
Yes, like your job is at an end, Alex thought grimly as she wandered into his office, the panorama of the city skyline opening out beyond his enormous windows.
“It’s been a long day and I’m definitely ready for a beer. Would you like a drink?”
Alex shook her head as he went to the small bar fridge inside one of his cupboards and helped himself to a light beer. He beckoned to her to sit down but she shook her head again.
“I’d rather stand,” she said and remained where she was in the centre of the room.
He looked at her askance but didn’t reply. Instead he moved to lean back against his desk as he lifted the beer to his lips.
“I need to know what’s going on,” Alex declared in an agitated rush. “I can’t bear this uncertainty. If you’re going to fire me then just do it now and let’s have it over with!”
JP stared at Alex, choked on his mouthful of beer and carefully removed the bottle from his mouth.