The Rivals - Dylan Allen Page 0,26

his sense of superiority hidden for much longer than you did.” She lays this indictment on me with the force of a sledgehammer.

Swish would be so disappointed in me right now, and there’s nothing worse than feeling that certainty settle down on my shoulders.

“Anyway, all I’m saying is, clearly, I have a type. With Nigel, all I lost was my job. You’re about to cost me my fucking life,” she says.

“Don’t say they actually fired you. Didn’t you have a contract or something?” I ask, ignoring her melodrama.

“I know you only date heiresses, so you wouldn’t know much about jobs and employment like the rest of us working stiffs,” she snarks. She’s making a joke, but a lash of shame strikes me right in the center of my chest when I remember the way I spoke to her.

“Most of us who have jobs are what’s called at will. I can quit whenever I want, and they can fire me for any reason. They found their reason and fired me,” she says simply.

“What did you do?”

“Nothing. I left. They offered me money to sign a nondisclosure, something saying I wouldn’t sue them for wrongful termination. I was tempted. That money would not have gone begging.”

“So, you signed it?” I ask.

“Hell no,” she says like it’s the stupidest question she’s ever been asked. “Of course not. I would dance naked on a pole in Little Rock before I took their hush money. I’ve worked too hard to let them drag my name in the mud. That is my story. And I’ll tell it if I want to,” she declares.

“So, have you?” I ask.

She sighs loudly. “No. Because it would destroy what’s left of my career. No one would ever hire me again. But, I hope they spend the entire three-year statutory period looking over their shoulders for that lawsuit. They’re playing games. I’m playing for my life. I have one shot to escape the future that I was born to, and I’ll be dammed if they take it from me,” the lioness on the ledge roars.

Goddamn.

She’s sexy as fuck when she’s angry. Her voice is strong. There’s no fear. No apology.

“Nigel made sure to stop by my office on my last day and tell me how sorry he was that things didn’t work out. He told me that I should lower my ambitions. I had a great body, a decent face and amazing hair. But my pedigree was all wrong. ‘Stop punching above your weight, find your kind,’ he said.”

“Shit. He’s a proper asshole,” I say.

“He’s worse than an asshole. He’s a hemorrhoid. Useless, painful, and rotten on the inside,” she says with real scorn. “My kind are hunters and trackers. We’re keepers of tradition. We’re salt of the earth. I refused to feel ashamed of that.”

My dick gets hard. Like her words are her mouth and they’re wrapping themselves around it, sucking as hard. Just how I like it.

Fuck. Me.

I’m about two minutes from jumping down on that ledge with her and finding my way under that little dress and making both of our dreams come true.

“Oh, about two weeks after I left, Nigel had what he called a ‘crisis of his conscience.’ But really, what he meant was that he wanted to fuck me again.”

My dick deflates. “Please spare me the details.”

“Oh, stop being a prude,” she says, misunderstanding my request. “Nothing even happened. I got home from another awful interview and found him sitting in his car outside my building. I lost it. I took my briefcase and started pounding his car. I broke his headlights and put a good dent in the hood before he drove off.”

“Did he leave you alone after that?”

“Yeah. He sent the police to me instead.”

“Shit.”

“Yup. Then, I got a call from my old partner,” she says.

“About him?” I ask.

“No. When I was fired, we were waiting for a ruling on a pro bono case I took on for the firm. Flood victims suing the insurance company for failing to pay legitimate claims. The ruling came back and we won. Big time. There was an appeal filed by the insurance company, and they wanted me to help with it,” she states. “Said they could get the DA to drop the charges if I did. So, I did. I could have been disbarred if I’d actually been prosecuted,” she says.

I whistle, impressed at their nerve. “Why didn’t they just assign another attorney?”

“I’m regarded as the foremost expert in the area of disaster relief financing for