Jess Bilson finished the brief she was working on and sat back in her comfortable office chair to have a mini celebration. She hated typing up legal briefs; it was by far the most tedious and time consuming facet of being an attorney. She could have had a legal aid or paralegal do it, but truthfully most of them did not have the experience and expertise to do it properly. You would think that was something they were supposed to be taught while obtaining their degree, but it seemed that more and more of them developed amnesia when it came to this menial and boring chore.

She was fairly certain that when their employer asked them to do a brief, most paralegals slopped it up so they would never be asked to do it again. Jess wasn’t sure why the incompetents were not just fired and solid replacements put in their place. But then again it had come to the point that so many of them had chucked this vital part of the job that now it was almost impossible to find one that was able to turn in a solidly researched and well written brief.

She picked the document up from the printer and smiled with satisfaction. That was one of the best parts of the job; the feeling of accomplishment she got after she had done some exhausting chore she hated. Now she was prepared for the next day in court.

Jess’ mind was now free to think about other things, besides a Netflix binge and several cups of hot tea—like the rock that had crashed through Alex Mathers’ window on their date the other day. She could not get the fear out of her mind and the loud crashing noise as the brick exploded through the window and sailed mere inches from her head. If it had hit her she might have been killed.

And she couldn’t understand Alex’s somewhat cavalier manner in dealing with the whole thing. How was it that nothing ever rattled the man? She could tell that he was very angry. He had that look in his eyes. His eyes were normally very sexy and she could find herself lost in them for days at a time, but that night there had been a darkness in them and a coldness in his face as he said he knew who threw the brick.

Jess’ first thought had been Dean. She was afraid she had started a bit of a rivalry between the two men, and while it was flattering that they were fighting over her, she really did not want to start a war between two alpha males. It was bad for the business they owned and had built together. She certainly never wanted to come between two friends.

But she had to admit a part of her found the whole thing exciting. It was very much the same sort of excitement that little girls dreamed about when they were planning their wedding to prince charming. That was the fantasy; to have several strong men fighting for your affections and waiting to see which one you would choose.

She realized it was childish and it was now starting to get out of hand. She needed to put a stop to it soon, but she was conflicted; she had no idea which man she wanted to pursue or even if she wanted to pursue anyone. She had done so well by just being by herself and focusing on her career for so long that it was tempting to tell them both that she wasn’t interested. It sounded so easy.

So, why couldn’t she bring herself to say it? Why couldn’t she bring herself to make a decision on this? Jess had always been proud of her ability to quickly make a decision based on instinct and to stand firmly behind it and accept the consequences, good or bad. She wasn’t used to being indecisive. So, why was she having this problem now?

It was all starting to have an effect on her work and her sleep. She had never been one to sleep much, but now the sleep she was having was so interrupted that she found herself tossing and turning and waking up every forty-five minutes to an hour. When she had to drag herself out of bed, it was a huge chore. She was used to bouncing up out of bed, ready to take on the world. She missed that version of herself.

What if it wasn’t Dean?

That thought had also crossed her mind. She had wondered about that woman who had accosted her in the restroom at the restaurant on her first date with Alex. That woman was clearly out of her mind and she could have thrown the brick or had someone throw the brick for her. Throwing a brick that hard and that far was not easy. It required someone with a certain amount of physical strength. The woman did not appear to be that powerful, physically, but Jess had heard that the mad often possessed great strength. When the adrenaline was flowing it was not impossible for ninety-five pound women to lift cars up off of their children. It was an idea that scared her to death. Did Alex really have that many enemies?

Then there was Dean. There was so much about him she didn’t know, but he seemed so much more down to earth than Alex. Was he really that sweet? Or did he have a dark side that he easily hid from view?

Jess packed up her things and started to leave for the night. She had just passed Dean’s office when he called out to her. She wondered if he wanted to have another in-office rendezvous. That was not happening tonight. She had given in because the idea excited her, but to do it here again was just a bit tacky and Jess hated repeating herself; she had to do enough of that in court.

She walked into his office to find him diligently at work, although most would not know it to look at him. He was sitting with his feet up on his desk, the computer’s keyboard resting on his lap, drinking a glass of whiskey, and watching a news program on his flat screen plasma TV that was mounted to the wall. It was almost as good as being home, she thought.

“Hey, Dean. How are you?”

“I wanted to ask you that same thing. Alex told me about what happened the other night. That’s insane,” Dean said.

“Yeah. It ranks right up there on my list of most shocking things that have happened to me.”

“Do you believe Alex actually vaguely implied that I might be behind it?”

Jess paused a moment, unsure of how to answer. She didn’t want him to know that she’d had a lot of the same thoughts.

“I swear I felt like decking the guy. How crazy is that?”

“It’s pretty crazy,” Jess said.

“Well, I just wanted to make sure that he hadn’t put weird ideas into your head. I know you are a lot more level-headed than he is, but I was just checking in with you. And I wanted to make sure that you weren’t too traumatized by what happened.”

“I’m fine. You don’t have to worry about me,” Jess said.

“That is great. So, other than that, how have you been? How is the Jones case coming along?”

“It’s fine. I’m fine. I’ve been working hard on it and I think it’s going to turn out ok.”

Dean looked at her for a moment without saying anything as if trying to size her up for something.

“What are you doing this weekend?” He finally asked, refilling his whiskey glass.

“Nothing much, probably just work.”

“You are so boring,” Dean joked. “You have to get out more. We appreciate how hard you work, but you have to put 'living' in there somewhere, too.”

“Well, you can’t have it both ways. Either you want me to rock out in court or you want me to have fun,” Jess said. She realized that it had come out a bit snottier than she had intended.

“Right you are,” Dean said. She was unsure which he was referring to or which way he preferred her to go. “But this weekend I was hoping you would accompany me to my cabin up North in Chesterville.”

“What?” Jess asked. He was asking her to go away with him for the weekend?

This was all coming very fast and she was almost offended at the gall that he had, but she was also a bit attracted to it. He had a way of making the ridiculous and absurd sound perfectly plausible. That was why he was so good.

“Yeah. I want you to go away with me for a romantic weekend. They have a great ski lodge not far from my cabin up there and I was intending on doing some skiing and maybe some snowboarding. Do you ski? Or snowboard?”

Jess swallowed hard.

“Yes, I do ski. I haven’t done any snowboarding though.”

“Well, it’s no big thing; I’ll teach you.”

“I’m sure you will, but I don’t think I can blow off work to run away with you for the weekend.”

“You can bring your work with you; I will as well. That way we can both work and play. It’s kind of my mantra.”

Jess smiled. The guy was so slick. It was almost impossible to say no to him. It had been forever since she had been away anywhere for a weekend. And the thought of hitting the slopes again sounded like a blast. She used to go skiing all the time with friends from her sorority when she was in college.

“Ok. I’ll go.”

Dean smiled and gave himself a chuckle. “Great. I can’t wait.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Dean.”

“Goodnight, sexy.”

Jess tried to hide the excitement in her walk as she stepped out of Dean’s office and walked down the hall. The more she thought about it, the more amazing it sounded. It was all very romantic and sweet. She planned to get some work done, but she planned to get more play done than work. That meant she had to pull a couple of all-nighters over the next few days, which wouldn’t be too hard; she was totally used to that.

There were some things in life worth making sacrifices for.