Lewd and Lascivious | 18+

Favorite Lawyer 4

My first week at H.H and B has flown by. The case we're researching is challenging. Obviously, as the counsel for the defense, we're defending Rapsicore Manufacturing. It's a bit of a jolt to the system to know your client is guilty.

I'm not naive, I knew going into this that the clients wouldn't always be innocent. I just wish this one was, my first case as a lawyer and the client is guilty as sin.

We're working extra hard tonight so that we can take the weekend off. It's only just after six but I'm exhausted. We haven't left before ten all week.

Deposition starts next week, though and we need to have the research, statistics, legal standings, and precedents finished by then to give to Mr. Hutchins.

I look up as Dane rubs his hands over his tired face. The glow from his computer screen illuminates his skin. He has a light dusting of stubble over his chin today like he was too exhausted this morning to bother.

Over the last week, we've talked but I still don't know much about him. He is a very dedicated lawyer and really works hard. He doesn't waste time on chit-chat apart from lunch and coffee breaks.

I've learned that he is twenty-eight and was born and raised here. Yale was always his first choice for school and he wanted to be a lawyer after watching A Few Good Men as a kid.

He knows as much about me.

"Did you mark the phone records?" He asks.

"Yeah," I hand him a file, "It's here, they spoke for a total of forty-eight minutes over eleven phone calls. Before July 18th they were never in contact."

He pinches the bridge of his nose, "Shit, forty-eight minutes? That's going to be difficult to explain away."

"Exactly. I've been looking for something, anything we can use as a reason why they would have been in contact but..."

He drops the file down on the table before sitting and looking at his computer for a moment.

"Want to order dinner? I'm starving and it looks like it's going to be a really long night."

"Pizza?"

"You read my mind," he grins and scrolls through his phone before handing it to me. "Add whatever you like, I've got it tonight."

We work until he receives a message that our delivery person is downstairs. He leaves to get it and I clear a small space on the table for us.

As soon as he opens the door the smell of hot pizza fills the room. My stomach begins to growl embarrassingly.

"How are you adjusting to everything here? Not just here at the firm but in this city."

"It's... been interesting. I don't know anyone here, you're my only friend," I joke, "but I'm adjusting. I love the work and the city."

He looks at me with those damn eyes again. I can't look away, rippling pools of jade feel like they're pinning me to my seat.

"I'm your only friend?" He chuckles, "I might need to do a better job with that."

"No pressure or anything."

"You don't have a boyfriend here? Or back home?" He asks so casually that it doesn't feel like the question has any motive.

"No, no boyfriend." No boyfriend in two years, but he doesn't need to know that.

He nods his head and continues to eat. Everything he does is so attractive. The room is starting to feel smaller.

I clear my throat awkwardly, "do you have a girlfriend or a wife?"

Ugh, I'm such an idiot. His question seemed normal, curious. Mine seemed like I was asking because I was hoping for a specific answer.

"No," he says simply but there is a smirk tugging at his lips.

Shit. Now he thinks I like him. I need to change the subject, now.

"Favorite lawyer?"

"Thurgood Marshall, you?"

"Ruth Bader Ginsburg."

"Worst tv or movie lawyer?" His question makes me smile no one has ever asked me that.

"Ugh Jim Carey in Liar Liar," we both laugh.

"Jolie," he sits up slightly, "why did you come here? You could have gone anywhere. Why here?"

"I...uh... see you said 'you could have gone anywhere' but that's only partially true. This firm has a reputation for being top-notch but it's an east coast boy's club. Getting offered a position here meant a little more to me than the places that seem...equal opportunity." We both chuckle quietly, "I asked one of my professors for tips on the interview and he told me 'not to get my hopes up' about this place. I was top of my class but this door still didn't seem open to me."

He is staring at me so intently that it makes me shift in my seat.

"When they actually offered me the position everyone was shocked. Then the first thing out of their mouths was 'you're not going to take it are you?' Like... I don't know... I couldn't handle it. So I took the job. The thing I hate more than anything is being underestimated. This job wasn't the easy choice but I don't mind the work."

He looks... proud? I wish I could read him.

"Ruth Bader Ginsburg would be proud," he says quietly, "Jolie, I know you don't need validation from me but... you're brilliant. In the week you've been here you've been on top of everything, your research is solid, and your arguments are smart and unexpected. You definitely have a legal brain. I know the guys make it hard on you but it's because they feel threatened. Hutchins has been looking over your work and he's impressed, that freaks them out."

I'm blushing. Shit.

"Thank you, I... I appreciate that coming from you."

I'm not going to gush about how smart I think he is or how reading his arguments blows my mind, they are so clever and the precedents he uses are genius. He also seems to have endless memory when it comes to remembering past cases. I can't wait to watch him depose our experts and witnesses next week.

We spend the rest of our break talking about New York and my best friends that plan to visit soon. Very safe topics.

After eating we dive right back into research. The hours pass in a blur and my heavy eyes are wandering over to Dane's face instead of focusing.

He's so engrossed in the file in front of him that he doesn't notice me staring. His brows are furrowed and his glasses have fallen down his nose slightly. He has his bottom lip pulled in between his teeth while he reads. I want to bite his lip, to pull it into my mouth, to taste him. I force myself to look back down at my file. Stop it, Jolie. He is mentoring me, we're both professionals, at least, he is. I used to be.