‘No, I . . . This is just a job during term break. I’m Lauren.’ She attempted a smile but felt stupid and almost wished for the elevator’s steel cables to snap so that this dreadful journey would finally come to an end.
Tim Parker, the man she had lost an entire night’s sleep over, was even more handsome close up than he had been when she saw him at the diner for the first time. The tiny scar on his lip drew her attention. It was a flaw in an otherwise flawless face. A flaw that was deeply sensual, somehow. He was still looking at her, still waiting for an answer, and it flattered her – he was interested, even if it was only because he was probably thinking about calling Security on her. In his dark suit and pale-blue shirt that really brought out the color of his eyes, he looked a little older than he did yesterday. The suit jacket hid his athletic figure, which was a good thing because Lauren was finding it hard enough to think straight.
‘Lauren . . . Nice to meet you. So, you’re still in school? What’s your major? Traffic defense law? Economic law?’
Lauren could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks.
‘I’m in art school,’ she managed to squeeze out and breathed a sigh of relief that the fourth floor light finally came on.
She stepped through the doors as soon as they opened, keeping her head low.
‘Thank you, I can take it from here.’
She was about to reach for her binders, but Tim stepped out into the hallway with her before she could. Suddenly, the narrow hall with its soft, grey carpeting and its teal walls seemed to close in around her. The sheer presence of this man made her feel unsettled. Which she enjoyed – and hated at the same time. She’d never felt this way before. Need she remind herself that this Tim Parker person had a girlfriend – and so she urged her goddamn heart to get a goddamn hold of itself, do its job, and start pumping blood into her brain for a change.
‘Don’t be silly, they’re way too heavy. So, where are we going?’
He glanced down the hallway, and Lauren shrugged her shoulders. She’d be rid of him sooner if she let him get on with it. Without saying a word she marched ahead of him into the copy room. Her new skirt suddenly seemed very tight, and she thought she could feel him staring at her backside. Sheepishly, she motioned toward a table.
‘Just put them down over here. Thank you so much!’
Did her voice sound a little unsteady? She licked her lips and cleared her throat as inconspicuously as she could. Tim did as he was told and then wiped his hands on his upper thighs. He took a look around the tiny room and nodded.
‘So art, huh? And how . . . do you balance that with shredding documents?’
Didn’t he have someplace else to be? She was finding it hard enough not to propose right then and there.
‘Yep, art,’ she said curtly. ‘Peter Latham is my dad. I’ve no say when it comes to shredding.’
Her little joke made Tim smile, and he bowed his head in reverence. ‘I see.’ He looked at Lauren as if contemplating whether he should have guessed her status as first daughter here at the firm. ‘My normal advice would be to seek legal counsel in the case of employer coercion, but . . . but in this case . . . I mean, seeing that I might risk my job . . .’ He gave her a wink, and his dimples were back. ‘I won’t, but instead I will offer to help with these binders again any time you need.’
Lauren laughed out loud. She pushed the files aside and leaned with her hip against the tabletop to make herself look even skinnier. This Tim guy was a hole-in-one! Not only because he was devastatingly handsome, but also because he was a pleasure to be around. His voice was wonderful: deep and masculine and confident; and the fresh scent of his cologne conjured up images of him standing under the shower.
‘Oh, I see which way the wind blows. Where are all the good men who cross hell and high water for a damsel in distress? Who face every danger and pay any price just to win a lady’s favor?’
‘Sorry, haven’t seen any of those around in a long time!’ Tim admitted with a grin and turned toward the door. ‘But, Lauren, since you’re not going to sue the diner after all – perhaps we could, as compensation for my lack of heroic chivalry, go grab a coffee sometime?’
He was leaning in the doorway, waiting for her answer, and his ice-blue eyes were holding her captive. He engulfed her, wrapped her up in his smile, in his scent, and in his easy, noncommittal words. So what if she met up with him for coffee?
‘And what are you going to tell your girlfriend?’ she ventured.
Tim took an audible breath and ran his hand over his tie. Only then did he look up again. ‘You mean Caroline? From the diner?’ He hesitated. ‘She’s not my girlfriend. We . . .’
‘You’re just having sex?’
He curled up the corners of his mouth and raised his hands in an exasperated gesture.
‘That’s one way of putting it, yes.’
‘She’s . . . very pretty.’
Tim smirked. ‘So are you.’
Lauren felt the heat in her cheeks and a flutter in the pit of her stomach. She couldn’t fail to notice that he was coming on to her.
‘So she wouldn’t have a problem with us seeing each other from time to time?’
Now it was his turn to sheepishly rub his chin.
‘Exclusivity is not a requirement in our . . . relationship.’ He winked at her. ‘We can see each other – if you like.’
Lauren didn’t really know what to say. She didn’t want to muscle in on someone else’s relationship, but Tim was a great guy, and she felt drawn to him. On the other hand, what could really happen with a man who was somehow involved with someone else?
‘Lauren?’ he followed up on his question and glanced out the door, saying hello to someone who was passing in the hall. ‘So, what do you say? Will you go out with me?’
‘Fine!’ she caved in and pushed herself off the table. ‘But if the coffee is too hot again we’ll turn this into a class action suit. Art doesn’t pay, you know.’
A smile was dancing around his lips, and with a wink he disappeared into the hallway.
‘Lauren Latham,’ she scolded herself after spending several moments staring at the spot where Tim had stood only seconds ago. ‘You are not going to be silly and fall for a guy who is so obviously a womanizer!’
Deep in thought, she opened the first binder and pulled out a pile of documents. Then she started the shredder and spent several hours turning old minutes of proceedings into strands of paper spaghetti. In her mind she was still standing in the elevator with Tim Parker. And the more thinly cut paper strips the shredder spat out, the clearer it became to Lauren that Tim had to absolutely come to her birthday party. And if she had to invite the entire law firm just to convince him, then she would do that, too.
* * *
‘You’ve always been the kind of person who takes what she wants. And you have no idea how glad I was when you took the initiative,’ Tim admitted as he looked around. The people gathered here tonight had been a part of Lauren’s life for so much longer than he had. And he was full of gratitude that he was allowed to be one of them. Rachel, her brother Chris, and Lauren’s family were his family today, too. He knew, come what may, they’d be there for him. He knew he was going to need them, and soon. And he also knew that they would give him the support he needed when the time came.
‘That’s girls for you,’ Rachel chimed in. ‘If you guys can’t get your act together, then we need to take our fate into our own hands.’
She got up, bent forward, and threw a couple of pieces