“Hmm, you need to word this part a little different. As it’s written, you’ve left them an out,” he said.

Her head tilted in confusion. “An out?”

I couldn’t help but let out a laugh.

They both turned to look at me, and I couldn’t stop the laughter. I wasn’t sure if the hilarity I found in the situation was due to her stupidity, or if my plan of straddling him with her watching was becoming too close to reality, and I was going insane with desire. He’d been teasing me again all day long, and I was more than ready to jump him as soon as the moment presented itself.

“Sorry,” I said, my laughter dying down. “I…umm…just got an email and…it was funny.”

Jennifer huffed and roll her eyes. “Shouldn’t you be working instead of playing, Delilah?”

I turned to look at her and wondered where my stapler was in the paper tray that was my desk. Would it be bad if I chucked it at her?

Instead, I gave her a sweet smile and stood, grabbing my coffee cup. “Well, you know, emails from Jack Holloway that have bad spellings in them tend to tickle me.”

I walked out of the room, but didn’t miss Jennifer’s jab at me as I went. “God, she is such a bitch. I don’t know how you stand being near her.”

Nathan chuckled. “It’s not easy, trust me.”

I wandered down the hall in a Nathan-induced haze, combined with a red haze of the Boob-Squad murder plots that were roaming around in my brain.

In the break room, the coffee was out, again. I started a new pot, and as I waited for it to brew, slammed my head against the cabinet.

“Ah, there’s a ‘member’ in your office,” Caroline called from the doorway.

“Ha, what gave me away?”

“The slow destruction of the cabinet with your head?”

I turned to face her, pulling off a small smile. She returned it before her eyes widened and her hand brushed the hair away from my neck.

“What the hell is that?”

Fuck!

Nathan decided I was no longer allowed to hide my neck through scarves, and I’d been able to accomplish it with a combination of higher collars and having my hair down. I didn’t have one of my normal high-collared shirts on that day due to a heat wave. I just couldn’t take it.

In a nervous motion, I pulled my hair back around to try and hide the newest bite mark created by Nathan. It wasn’t that I was ashamed, because I wanted to display them, but it wasn’t appropriate for work. Especially in our profession.

“Nothing,” I replied.

“Nothing my ass, Lila. That is a f**king bruise in the shape of teeth!”

I shushed her, covering her mouth with my hand.

She laughed as I pulled my hand away, and I couldn’t help but join.

“Your guy really goes at it, huh?”

“Yeah, he gets a little…overzealous sometimes.”

“Am I ever going to meet Mr. Biter? You’ve been together for what? Over two months now?” Her eyebrow quirked, her expression demanding an answer.

“It’s complicated,” I explained with a sigh.

“Well?” She motioned with her hand for me to explain.

I looked from side to side, right in time to catch Mark entering.

“Later, okay?”

I returned my attention to the coffee pot and poured myself a fresh cup. Caroline saddled up next to me as we waited for Mark to leave.

As soon as he was out of earshot she was on me again, unrelenting. “What the hell is the big secret, Delilah?”

It was never a good thing when she used my full name. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“Dinner?”

She studied me, her bitch brow quirked. “Fine. But no more bullshit, that’s all you’ve been feeding me for weeks. I want to know everything. Everything. Hear me, missy?”

I nodded in agreement. “You better bring some wine.”

“Oh shit, it’s that kind of talk?”

I thought about it for a moment before changing my suggestion to something stronger. “Maybe some tequila.”

Caroline wrapped me into a hug and leaned in to whisper in my ear. “Fuck. Who the hell are you messed up with? I can see you’re in deep, and that worries me. Because you know I’ll f**k him up if he hurts you, right?”

I gave her a hug in thanks before agreeing. I headed back to my office with a fresh cup, thankful that I’d met her. Caroline was such a great friend, and one of the few I’d divulged my past to. It was strange and so wonderful to have someone who cared so much about me.

My hopes were high that Jennifer was gone, but alas she was still there.

Twenty-five excruciating minutes later, she left, and I was free to turn and glare at Nathan. He smirked at me and chuckled at my obvious disdain. All I could think the entire time she was there was, how in the hell did she make it through law school let alone pass the Bar?

The realization she was acting stupid popped into my head, and I wanted to slam my hand on the desk at the hilarity. She was stupid, just not law-stupid. She really thought he’d be interested in her if she acted like a dumb blonde?

An email showed up from Caroline, pulling me from my inner thoughts and reminding me to warn Nathan not to come over. I pulled my phone out of my purse and typed up a quick message, and sent it off to him.

Change of plans. Caroline is coming over. I can’t hide you from her any longer. I trust her. I’ll come over once she leaves.

In my peripheral, I could see him looking down toward his hip where his phone rested. His features scrunched up before returning to the computer screen in front of him.

The afternoon wore on, and at about half-past-five Nathan said goodnight, and I decided it was time to call it a day. I gathered up my belongings and walked down the hall to Caroline’s office. We headed down to the parking lot, talking about our day before separating and driving to my place.

As soon as we walked in, Caroline headed to the bathroom, and I walked into my bedroom, stripping off my skirt suit and finding some shorts and a tank top to slip on, as well as a set for Caroline.

I was surprised when not five minutes after we had arrived, my front door opened.

What surprised me even more was when I shuffled out of the bedroom, and found Nathan setting down a few bags on my kitchen counter.

He greeted me with a smile. “Hey. I picked us up some food to make dinner with. I was thinking that chicken bake you made a couple of weeks ago. God, that was good.”