A red-haired man steps toward us. “Yeah.”
“Get me Mrs. Kent’s lawyer on the phone and patch it through to C-three,” he commands, grinning a little before tucking the files under his arm and holding his other hand out to me.
I take it gingerly, eager to get out from everyone’s stares. I know they’re only curious about me because he’s their boss, but it’s starting to make me a little uncomfortable. I’m not used to being around this many people: Tris, Clay, Izzie, Edward, and sometimes Nate and Charlotte, but never this many pairs of eyes on me all at once.
“I’m sorry about this,” he whispers into my neck.
“It’s fine. I…” I examine the hallway, noting all of the glass surrounding us—what is his obsession with glass? “Like seeing where you work.”
He must notice me scanning the place because he says, “I’ll give you a proper tour sometime, but for now my junior needs me.”
He motions toward another room made out of glass that has a young woman who looks to be close to my age and two men sitting inside: one older and one around Nate’s age.
Not letting go of my hand, I realize he’s bringing me into—whatever it is this is—a meeting?
“Is there a waiting room or somewhere I can sit away from everyone?” He shakes his head emphatically and opens the door, waving me through. “But… I really don’t—”
With a little nudge from him, I step into the room and it instantly quiets—you could hear a pin drop. Nate steps around me and I follow as he pulls out a chair for me at the other end of the long, glass table from where everyone is sitting.
I stare at it with wide eyes. “It doesn’t bite.” He tilts his head toward it.
I nod resolutely and sit down slowly, aware the other three people in the room are staring. It doesn’t seem to faze Nate as he lifts my hand and kisses it before he walks around the table, sha
king the hand of the older man.
“Joe, please forgive my attire. I was out hiking when I finally got a signal and all my messages came through at once.” He sits down in a chair beside him and I watch with keen eyes. “The city was closer than my home so I came right here.”
The man he called Joe chuckles. “At least you’ve got the legs for those shorts. I wouldn’t be caught dead in shorts these days.”
I’m like a deer in headlights, watching their interaction and seeing a different side to Nate. He’s calm and collected but there’s a power radiating off him, even in his shorts and t-shirt. I can’t imagine what he’d be like sitting here in a suit—wait… I can.
Finally pulling my attention from Nate, I catch a glimpse of the only other woman in the room and realize she hasn’t taken her eyes off me since I walked in here. They narrow slightly as she slowly turns toward Nate, clearing her throat.
“Nate, can we address the elephant in the room?” she asks, her tone biting.
I swing my gaze back toward Nate. “Excuse me?” He sits up straighter in his chair as his brows lower over his eyes. “I know I’ve put on a bit of weight lately, but…” he trails off and laughs at everyone’s expressions. I pinch my lips together because this is the side of Nate I know well… the side that likes to make a joke of things. “Alright, everyone, this is Lia, my girlfriend.”
He turns his head and gives me a secret smile, one that has me squirming in my seat. I wave, finding my voice as I turn to the man that Nate was talking to. “Hi.”
“Lia, this is one of my clients, Joe Kent, and two of my junior associates, Stacey, and Jamie.”
“Nice to meet you,” I squeak out as they all nod their heads in greeting.
“Nate, I’m not sure she should be in here,” Stacey blurts out.
Resting my elbow on the table, I tap the pads on my fingers against the glass and tilt my head, watching her. I get that she’s one of his—did he say associates?—but there’s something else to the way she’s looking at me and the way her hands tightened around her pen when Nate said, “girlfriend.”
Nate turns toward Joe. “I would trust this woman with my life but if you would prefer she step out of the room while we talk over your case, then she can.”
I grasp onto the sides of the chair, ready to push up and leave the room. I don’t mind if I’m in here or not, but I still manage to look back at Stacey for her reaction, and when she relaxes her hand, I can’t help the jealousy that comes bubbling up, which is absurd.
Joe swats the air as he replies, “She can stay, let’s just get this over with.”
“Certainly.”
I try to pay attention as they all go back and forth, legal talk and words I have no idea of their meaning being batted around like a ball on a baseball field—I’m in awe. Nate’s fingers move around folders on the table, picking pieces of paper up and reading off random ones. Those fingers were on me—inside me—only hours ago. Shit, don’t go there, don’t think about that, not here.
I’m inside my own head, remembering the way his lips felt against mine, the way he felt inside me, but even if I wasn’t, I still would have jumped as a voice fills the room after a loud beep. “I’ve got Peters for you on line one, Nate.”