I know this was no time to be unprofessional, and I didn’t get to where I am in life by being fucking unprofessional. But I can’t stop staring at Monique. She looks just as good— no, even better— than the last time I saw her. A time I’ll forever regret. She still has that great hourglass figure and curves that go for miles.
Time could stand still while I explored those curves— and it used to, back when things were great between us. I wanted to explore those curves right now. But, I had business to attend to. And Monique looks as if she wants to get out of here just as fast as she had come in.
“I thought—” she stammers, looking back and forth at Asher and then me.
“We know,” Asher says, stifling a laugh. “You thought we were in here hiring another human resources manager. That’s why you’ve been trying to pry the purpose of the meeting out of Madilyn and everyone else.”
She blushes— it’s so adorable— and says, “No, I was just worried… well, yeah.”
My Monique was never one to be at a loss for words. I must be having some affect on her. Just the way I’d planned.
“Don’t worry,” Cameron reassures her. “Your job is safe. You are really valued here and we would never think of hiring anyone else.”
She looks relieved, but then she looks back at me and blushes.
Fuck yeah. She still fucking wants me. It’s obvious.
“Okay, well, I’d better go now,” she says, walking towards the door and then looking back at us. “Unless anyone wants coffee, I mean? That’s why I came.”
“Uh huh,” Boyd says, with a grin. “Sure it is.”
“We don’t need any coffee,” Cameron says. “We’re good. But thank you.”
She leaves, and I’m determined to go after her— like I should have, way back when. But first, I have to wrap up this deal. Although the partners talk a big game about this being an initial meeting in the exploratory phase of a merger, I know I’ve got it in the bag. There’s not a firm on earth who wouldn’t want to merge with mine.
The question they’ve undoubtedly been asking themselves is why I would want to merge my firm with theirs. Sure, ours is expanding and the West is booming when it comes to being a market ripe for new legal work. And sure, this firm has done a great job of showing it’s capable of successfully merging and growing bigger.
But this firm has something else I want. Or should I say, someone else. And I’m here to show her I’m not going to let her get away from me again.
“Well, fellows,” I tell them, as they open up their laptops and get prepared for some long, boring session we won’t be having. “As someone I know likes to say, time is money and money doesn’t grow on trees so let’s use this time to make money, shall we?”
They give me a confused look. I don’t really expect them to follow what I’m saying. I just want to hurry and wrap up this one thing I came to do, so that I can get onto the next thing— or, person, I came to do.
“What I mean is, all that’s really left is for us to sign on the dotted line.”
They look even more confused, until Asher Marks, arrogant guy that he is, nods in slow recognition. “You’ve already decided to merge with us,” he says, sounding somewhat surprised but mostly proud.
“That’s right,” I tell him. “With your help, my firm is going to be the largest in the country. The largest in the world. We’re also merging with firms in Denver and Salt Lake City and Phoenix. As you probably know, we already have offices up and down the East Coasts and in Chicago and St. Louis. Therefore, nearly all points of the map will be covered.”
“That’s amazing,” Cameron Sanchez says, shaking his head. “That is truly amazing.”
Jumping to his feet, he extends his hand to me. “I’m very honored to be embarking on this journey with you. All of us here at the firm are.”
I shake his hand and nod at everyone else around the table.
“Well, then, it looks like we’re on the same page,” I say. “Where do I sign?”
“We haven’t prepared the paperwork. Just how do you know we want to merge with you?” Asher demands, still acting a bit pompous.
“Oh, come on,” Boyd tells him. “We can drop the act. We all know this is a good thing.”
“Yeah,” Asher says, smiling while he nods. “I don’t know what I was thinking. Let’s do it. The sooner we get out of here, the sooner I can get home to Madilyn and the pitter patter of little feet.”
“And the sooner I can get to the golf course,” another partner— whose name fails me at the moment— says.
Everyone laughs, and I say, “I have plenty of merger paperwork, considering it’s what I do. I’ll have my secretary send it over to get your comments on it. But let’s call this a gentlemens’ deal.”
We all shake hands, and then Boyd says, “About that… your secretary. Will you be bringing her to work here?”
Asher rushes in to interrupt.
“It’s fine if you want to,” he says. “It’s just that… this firm… I guess you should know. We have a certain reputation of not only being great lawyers, but…”
“…but also for being Sugar Daddy Central,” I fill in for him. Everyone’s face looks shocked. “I’ve done my due diligence,” I assure them. “And those rumors spread far and wide. You definitely hold the title of most number of office romances of any law firm I’ve ever heard of, and that’s saying a lot, since this kind of thing is rampant at law firms. Just ask any employment lawyer.”
Everyone laughs, but they still seem a bit uncomfortable.
“Don’t worry, guys,” I tell them. “It’s fine. I don’t care about that kind of thing. From what I’ve heard, you all married or knocked up your love interests and everything is peachy keen. It would only be lawsuits that I care about. And, you don’t have to worry about it happening between my secretary and me.”
They all look at me with a mixture of curiosity and confusion. I can tell they want to ask if I’m married. Or gay. Or super religious.
I smile and say, “My secretary is a guy.”
I stand up to leave, and I don’t add the other part of why they wouldn’t have to worry about it happening between my secretary and me, anyway. Boy will they be in for a big surprise when they find out.
My heart belongs to someone else, who already works here. And now I’m going to go get her and never let her go again.