His phone buzzed and he tugged it from his pocket to place at his ear. “Devlin.” No brogue. One eyebrow lifted. “I thought it was Wednesday. No. I need to—” He listened for several more moments. “Fine. Got it.” He clicked off and faced me again.
Ah. I pressed my lips together. “Don’t tell me. Your meeting with your boss Wednesday in Seattle was moved up to tomorrow.”
One dark eyebrow arched. “How did you know?”
Good guess. So he was going to miss my law firm opening. Nice move, Sasha. “Don’t worry about the opening tomorrow. It’s just a cocktail party, and it’s the same people you see at the Albertini family barbecue every Sunday. Mostly.” There should be a few law colleagues and maybe even a potential client or two, hopefully. Aiden had already helped put the office together, and it wasn’t like he’d miss anything.
“Are you sure?” He leaned in and kissed me, all strength and male.
“Yeah. Definitely.” I kissed him back.
“Good.” He pulled back, his eyes a deepening blue. “James Saber and I are headed over to pitch the operation because Sasha has something going on with the Lordes’ old ladies. Her cover is good, and she’s getting more info from the few real former members than I probably could.”
I’m embarrassed to admit, even to myself, that I was pleased Sasha wasn’t headed off to the Emerald City with Aiden. “Then we better make good use of our night.” I grinned.
He sighed. “Raincheck. Let’s eat dinner because afterward, I have to head to the Lorde’s complex and help put the plan together that we’re going to pitch.”
Of course he did.
Chapter 6
Istrode into my new law office, excitement, pride, and definite nervousness quickening my pace. I was a couple of hours early for the opening,and my handswere full of boxes.
“What do you have?” Oliver Duck rushed from the receptionist’s desk to help me. Oliver was eighteen with short claret colored hair, broad shoulders, and bright red ears. I’d hired him to help out at the law office after defending him in court, mainly because he was a good kid without anybody in the world.
“Just some file folders and knick-knack things to place around the office.” I dumped the remaining boxes on his desk.
Behind the desk, my cousin Pauley was organizing two of the four file cabinets. He didn’t look up. “You have no money and should not be buying knick-knacks.” Pauley was from the O’Shea side of the family and was already in college, even though he was only sixteen. He had dark hair, soft brown eyes, and I adored him.
“I only bought a few. How are the case files coming?” I pushed my hair back into a semblance of order.
“They’re color coded.” Pauley turned and looked at me briefly before breaking eye contact and returning to his task. He had autism with savant qualities and never kept eye contact for long.
Oliver started pulling business card holders out of a box. “Hey. I saw your and Clark’s cards. Do Pauley and I get cards, even though we’re only here part-time?”
I smoothed down my flowered navy blue skirt that I’d paired with a light white blouse. “Sure. Just order them separately from Cardley’s online and use different email addresses for each of you, so you can get the first 500 free. They have free two-day shipping.”
Oliver grinned, and his cheeks turned even redder. “Awesome. What should we put? Pauley?”
“I am a file clerk,” Pauley said. “Perhaps office organizer?”
Oliver shook his head. “I don’t want to put ‘receptionist’ on mine.”
I waved a hand in the air. “Pick whatever titles that fit. Clark and I just have ‘Partner’ on ours, so make it simple. Have fun with it.” I strode into Clark’s office, where he was finishing placing his diplomas and law licenses on the wall. Aiden and I had placed mine a few days ago. “Looks great.”
Clark turned around, today dressed in pressed tan pants, blue shirt, and fancy tie. “Thanks.”
“You clean up nice, Clark,” I teased.
“I know.” He grinned. “Can you believe this? We’re law partners in our own firm.” Then he blew out air, and panic replaced the awe across his expression. “Our little start-up fund from the ATF won’t last us long. We need clients and don’t have any.” He swept a hand around. “We just rented a huge office with no clients or income. What were we thinking?”
I smiled. It was reassuring that I was the calm one for once. “We’ll get clients. That’s why we’re having a grand opening and have used our last few dollars to place ads in the newspaper and on Facebook.” I partially turned to call out. “How’s the website and Facebook page doing, P?”
“Good,” Pauley returned, still working on the case files. “Oliver will take pictures tonight of the opening, and we will add those to both sites. I will not be taking pictures. No pictures. No crowds. No pictures. No pictures. No. Not me. No pictures.”
“Perfect. Thanks,” I said, turning back to Clark. “We’ve totally got this.”
He put down the hammer. “You’re totally full of it, you know?”
