“I am.” He smiled. “I can see you here. And at the clinic,” he added with a wink.
The last part made me squirm.
“Great. Great.” He tapped his pen on the table. “You know this case reminds me of a review I worked on a few years ago. I had it printed in the Harvard Law Review.”
He rose from the table and strolled to his bookshelf. He paused on a leather-bound volume and handed it to me.
“You might find this interesting. I’m extremely proud of it.”
I moved to stuff it in my bag.
“Why don’t you look through it now?” he suggested. “We could discuss it.”
“I know your time is valuable, Professor Harrison. And limited.” I smiled. “I can read it tonight at home. Thank you for sharing it with me.” I didn’t feel comfortable sitting here while he watched me read.
“Really, it’s fine. Take your time.”
He returned to his seat, but nudged it closer. “I had another idea about the Foley case I wanted to discuss. It’s an important angle we have to consider. This suit is going to be in the headlines. I thought we could go over some strategies for handling the press. Using their influence to our advantage.”
“All right. Do you want to set that up for next week?” I retrieved my phone so I could check my schedule.
I felt the tap of his hand on my wrist and I looked up. My skin prickled.
“I was hoping we could grab a bite to eat and discuss it,” he revealed.
I knew I had frowned. I couldn’t help it.
“Are you asking me out?” It was hard to say the words. There was the possibility I had misread his intentions. My radar was permanently off course after Vaughn.
“Would that be so horrible?” He smiled. “We share a lot of similar interests, Emily.”
I shook my head. “I don’t think we do.” I pushed my chair back. I needed to leave.“You run the department. You run the residency program.” I was angry. I was insulted.
“Those are both true statements.”
“And we are colleagues on this case. A case that has huge implications for our government. A case that will affect Congress by possibly removing a current senator. And you want to ask me out? In the middle of all of that, you think it’s ok to ask me out?”
The irritation festered into something sharper and stronger. I glared at the man I had thought was someone I considered a mentor. I felt a new level of betrayal.
“I’ve enjoyed working with you. And you’re a beautiful young woman. I didn’t mean to offend you. I don’t see why it’s an insult that I think those two things can go together.”
I pulled the bag over my shoulder, removing his review in the process and slamming it on the table. “And it’s the fact that you don’t see it that makes you so dangerous. You’re no different than Senator Mitcherson,” I blurted. “This is the same shit Lana Foley dealt with. Only she didn’t see it until after she was pregnant.”
Max put his hands up. “Emily, I never suggested anything like that. I-I never meant to apply that sort of relationship. I never mentioned sex.”
I saw the panic in his eyes.
I didn’t care. I was furious.
“You didn’t have to,” I warned. “It was there in every word you spoke. Otherwise you never would have asked me to dinner.”
He looked stunned.
He had no right to hit on me. To tell me I was attractive. To want to spend time with me outside of this case. I was a professional. An intelligent woman who had earned her way into an incredible program. Who in the hell did he think he was?
“Emily, please wait.” He followed me to the door.