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  Most of my colleagues were already there when I arrived. Seeing everyone standing together in one place really emphasised the gender imbalance in the company. There were jackets and ties as far as the eye could see. We had a few women on every floor, and a couple had even made it to the lofty ranks of Partner, but the firm was still very much entrenched in the old way of doing things.

  Despite my earlier reservations, I decided I couldn't get through the evening without a least one drink, so I snagged a glass of champagne on its way past and then set out in search of a friendly face.

  "You made it!" Elle said, as I found her at the other end of the bar. She was chatting to one of the new junior associates, a friendly young guy named Miles.

  "You sound surprised," I replied.

  "Well, this morning you did look a little like you might keel over at your desk."

  "What, and miss all this?" I asked, gesturing dramatically to the room.

  "It does have a certain... unique charm," Miles said, wearing a bemused smile.

  "First time?" I asked.

  He nodded.

  "You're working under Alan right?"

  He nodded again.

  Elle and I shared an eye roll. "Has he taken you to run the executive gauntlet yet?" she asked

  "I don't think so," he replied.

  "Well, don't worry, he will," I said. "He likes to start grooming his flock early."

  He gave a nervous little laugh. "I'm not sure I like the idea of being groomed."

  "Me either," I replied. "Certainly helps if you want an actual career though."

  His brow furrowed. "What do you mean by that?"

  I gazed at him for several seconds, my tongue poised on my lips, before shaking my head. I didn't have the energy for a rant right now. Besides, he'd see soon enough. "Never mind. Forget I said anything."

  "No, hang on," he persisted, "you can't make a comment like that and then just let it go."

  Elle had been watching the exchange with a mixture of amusement and resignation. She understood. She was in the same boat as me. "What she means is, this place is very cliquey. You get in with the right people early, you're set."

  He filled in the obvious blank. "And if you don't?"

  Elle shot me a glance and raised her eyebrows.

  I sighed. "Then expect to be shovelling shit for quite a few years."

  He chewed the inside of his cheek thoughtfully. "How long have you two been here?"

  "Six years for me, five for Elle," I replied.

  "And you're both still juniors?" he asked.

  I nodded.

  "Fuck. I take it that's not normal?"

  I shrugged. "Depends on your definition of normal. If you don't kiss the right asses then yeah, that's pretty much the way it goes."

  "Speaking of ass kissing, have you met the office's resident brown nosing queen yet, Miles?" Elle asked, nodding to the woman who was approaching us from across the room.

  "Can't say that I've had the pleasure," he replied.

  I grimaced. "Well it looks like you're about to get your chance."

  There was nobody in the office I disliked more than Jennifer Smart. The two of us had started at Little Bell around the same time, and from day one, we'd seemed destined to be rivals. Everything about her rubbed me the wrong way, and although she was as sweet as honey to my face, I knew the feeling was mutual. I'd assumed my eighty hour weeks and pristine work would trump her grovelling, but apparently I'd been mistaken. Two years ago she'd made Senior Associate, while I was still stuck shuffling paper. It was a victory she savoured to this day.

  "Sophia!" she said, flashing me a perfect beauty pageant smile. She had her fake nice act down to a fine art, but truth be told, I still didn't understand why so many people were fooled. There was something inherently unpleasant behind those angular features, a callousness that no amount of phony warmth could hide.

  "I was wondering if you'd be here," she continued. "I know you don't much care for these little gatherings."

  "Wouldn't miss it for the world, Jennifer," I replied, forcing myself to sound vaguely polite.

  "Well good. It's good to keep in touch with our clients, don't you think? Speaking of which," she nodded at the older gentleman standing next to her, "this is Mr Chardy. He's the head of development at Marvin Lemac. We've been handling their fraud case."

  I gritted my teeth. She had the most frustrating habit of making out that nobody else knew what was going on around the office except her. "I know who you are," I said to him, holding out my hand. "I'm Sophia Pearce. It's a pleasure to meet you."

  "Likewise."

  The others introduced themselves.

  "Sophia, Elle, and Miles here are all part of our junior associate team," Jennifer continued. "I know when you meet with us it might seem like it's just me or Alan handling your case, but we really couldn't do what we do without these guys. They're the ones doing all the grunt work."

  "Well you've done an excellent job so far," Chardy said.

  I nodded in thanks, not trusting myself to speak. Backhanded compliments were Jennifer's speciality.

  She glanced around the room. "Well anyway, it's been lovely chatting to you, but I want to introduce Joseph here to a few more people. You know how it is; so many Partners, so little time. Have a good night."

  Taking his arm she led him off into the crowd.

  "Well, she didn't seem that bad," Miles said, when she was out of earshot.

  "Are you kidding?" Elle replied. "That smile was so sweet I think I threw up a little in my mouth."

  "Have either of you actually done any work on the Marvin Lemac case?" I asked. They both shook their heads. "Exactly. She didn't need to introduce him at all. It was just another excuse to gloat." I threw back the rest of my champagne in a single long sip. "Fucking 'grunt work' indeed. I could strangle that bitch."

  "It sounded like a compliment to me," Miles said quietly.

  Elle and I looked at one another before bursting out laughing. "You have a lot to learn about this place," I told him. "Anyway, after that, I think I could use another drink. Back in a sec."

  I could see my plans for a dry night evaporating before my eyes, but if that meeting was a sign of things to come, I'd need all the help I could get. Little did I know things were about to get even worse.

  "What can I get you?" said the guy behind the bar.

  And for the second time in as many days, someone answered for me. "She'll have a Cosmo. And get me another beer."

  I rolled my eyes. "Actually, I'll have a glass of Shiraz," I said, turning to frown at my new companion. Taylor had started on my floor a year earlier, and since day one, he'd been trying to lure me into bed. I might have taken it as a compliment, if he hadn't done the same thing to every woman in the office. Sadly, many of them fell for it.

  Objectively, I guess he was good looking, in that blonde, bulky, frat boy kind of way, but he was such a gigantic ass that I found it impossible to see anything else. His daddy was some big hedge fund type who was friends with everybody, so Taylor spent his entire life coasting around on his enormous sense of entitlement. I think it annoyed him that I was so resistant to his 'charms', although he'd never say it.

  "If you're going to order for a girl, at least pay attention to what she's drinking, genius."

  He gave a little laugh. "Hey, I was just trying to be friendly. Do you always bite guys' heads off when they try to buy you drinks?"

  "This is the company bar, so you're not buying me anything."

  He flashed a smile that he probably thought was seductive. "Not here I'm not."

  I exhaled sharply. "Not anywhere."

  "Come on Sophia, at least hear me out. It's no secret you hate these things, so what say you and I get out of here? My dad owns this sweet little wine bar just a block from my apartment. We could drink whatever we want, on the house. No Cosmos there, I promise."

  I had to give him points for persistence, but at that moment I really just wished he'd disappear.

&
nbsp; I looked him straight in the eyes and grazed my teeth slowly across my bottom lip in that way that guys seem to love. "Close to your apartment, hey?"

  His face lit up. "That's right."

  "What about your dad? Does he live nearby too?"

  He blinked several times in confusion. "My dad?"

  "Yeah. I mean if we're drinking on the house, that would mean it's really him buying me drinks. It'd feel kind of rude going home with someone else after that."

  His expression crumbled, and I gave myself a little internal high five.

  "Well, we could go somewhere else if you like..." he said lamely.

  And then someone else spoke from behind me. "I don't think she's going anywhere with you." My heart turned a cartwheel in my chest.

  Even before I looked, I recognised the voice; low and strong and smooth as caramel. For a moment I was overcome by a powerful sense of deja vu, but it passed as the reality of the situation came crashing into me.

  "Hello Sophia," Sebastian said, sliding in next to me. "It's lovely to see you again."

  I stared at him with wide eyes, my tongue frozen in shock. He was the last person in the world I'd ever expected to see again. But there he was in front of me, smiling like he hadn't caught me huddled in his office cupboard just a day earlier.

  Taylor wasn't so easily rattled. He rocked back on his heels, an incredulous smile blooming on his face. "Hey buddy, we're having a conversation here."

  Sebastian's eyes flicked to him. There was no anger there. If anything, he looked vaguely amused. "No, you're harassing a girl who quite clearly wants to be left alone."

  Taylor bristled. "And I suppose she'd rather be talking to you?"

  "She'd rather be doing a lot of things."

  It was my turn to bristle, but nobody was paying any attention to me anymore. It was like I'd disappeared. They loomed up from either side of me, staring at one another as though they could make their adversary's head explode through sheer force of will. It was almost comical really, but laughter was about as far out of reach for me as humanely possible at that moment.

  "Is that right?" Taylor asked, his jaw tightening. "And just who might you be, friend?" He gave that last word a sharp accent.

  "Just a man who would like a word with Sophia, if you don't mind." In spite of the phrasing, there was no question in his voice.

  Taylor continued to stare. Pissing contests like this weren't exactly uncommon around the office. Give a bunch of overachieving jocks huge salaries and inflated senses of self-worth, and you're just asking for testosterone to fly. When push came to shove, Taylor usually came out on top, but this time I could tell he was losing. There was something so utterly indomitable about Sebastian. From the easy confidence of his smile to the raw intensity of his gaze and the dangerous grace of his movements, he was the epitome of a man who knew he'd get what he wanted. Taylor may have been his physical equal, but whatever primal hormonal reaction decided the outcome of those sorts of engagements was telling him to head for the hills.

  After a few seconds, he looked away. "Fine," he spat, snatching up his beer. "I'll see you around, Sophia." Turning, he stalked off into the crowd.

  I shook my head slowly. "What the fuck was that?" I spluttered, finally finding my voice.

  "That was me saving you from an unpleasant conversation." Sebastian didn't look even slightly embarrassed.

  "Saving me? I was talking to a colleague! What if I was enjoying myself?"

  He gave a little laugh. "What, with that guy?"

  I shook my head slowly, trying to gather my thoughts. His approach was nothing short of infuriating, but there were more important things to focus on.

  "Whatever. That's beside the point. What the hell are you doing here, Sebastian?"

  "I wanted to see you again," he said, like it was the most natural thing in the world.

  I had no idea how to respond. As confusing as it all was, part of me was happy to see him too. Just being near him again set something thrumming inside me. He looked every bit as gorgeous as he had the previous night. He'd traded his charcoal three-piece for a simple navy business suit, but it still did little to disguise the exquisite musculature beneath. His hair tumbled in long curls around his perfectly hewn face, framing a smile that hit me like a punch to the chest.

  "Surely there are easier ways to go about that. Like, maybe, a phone call?" I said.

  He laughed. "And would you have agreed to see me if I'd just rung?"

  "I guess not," I said slowly. "But I don't appreciate being taken by surprise, either. How did you even manage to find me? And how did you get in here? This is my office!"

  "It wasn't as difficult as you may think. There are only so many striking young lawyers named Sophia in Sydney." He glanced around. "As for how I got in, well Laurence Bell is actually an old acquaintance of my company. Once I knew where you worked, it was easy enough to organise an invitation."

  He knew Mr Bell? That was odd. Our boss was a notorious recluse. Yeah, his name was on the sign outside, but he rarely even came into the office anymore. He was like the good china that only got brought out for special occasions.

  Sebastian continued to stare, those magnificent eyes once again boring deep inside me. It made me uncomfortable. Sure, he was hot, and we'd gotten along well, but the whole situation had my hairs standing on end. Judging by last night, there was no shortage of women in his life. He had no reason to track me down. No reason, unless he was angry about having his privacy invaded.

  "Well, I don't think this is appropriate," I said, shaking my gaze free.

  "You mean after the way we left things last night?"

  My cheeks heated. "Look, about that, I can explain..."

  "About what? Breaking into my office? Or sneaking into our gathering?" He smiled at my expression. "That's right, I know. In fact I knew the whole time. You're not the only one who can act, Sophia."

  I closed my eyes briefly and drew a slow breath. "So why talk to me? Why not just have me thrown out?"

  "Does a man need an excuse to chat to a beautiful girl now?"

  I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, because pretty girls were in short supply last night."

  He grinned, and I felt myself melt just a little more. "Well to be honest, security was ready to escort you out the moment you walked in. We always have more than one set of eyes on that door. But I stopped them."

  "Why?"

  He shrugged. "I was curious. I wanted to know what kind of girl you were. Plenty of people have tried talking their way through that doorway over the years, but very few actually succeed." His expression remained mild as he spoke. He certainly didn't seem angry, but it was hard to tell what lay behind that charming exterior.

  "Well, thank you for not making a scene. I'm sorry I intruded. I was just messing around and it got out of hand. I never meant to go into your office at all."

  "You could make it up to me by coming home with me tonight."

  I did a double take, certain I must have misheard him. In light of everything that had happened, the request seemed completely absurd.

  "Are you joking?"

  "Why would I be joking?"

  "Oh, I don't know, because the last time you saw me I was huddled in your office cupboard, watching you smack your secretary like a child?"

  "You didn't enjoy the show?" he asked, not the least bit ashamed.

  I snorted. "It was a little Dita Von Tease for my tastes."

  That only widened his smile. "Is that so? People are always afraid of what they don't understand. Don't write it off so easily. You might be surprised by what you'd enjoy." The certainty in his voice was unsettling. It sounded less like a suggestion and more like a promise. I shuffled awkwardly on my feet, memories of last night's strange excitement echoing through my mind. I still didn't know why I'd reacted like that. This is what happens when you let your dry spells last too long. Even a spanking starts to seem appealing. You need to get laid, girl.

  "Well sorry to disappoint you, but that's not my style,"
I said, doing my best to keep my voice level, "so I'm sure my vanilla sensibilities will be incredibly boring for you."

  He reached out and brushed my neck lightly, raking his eyes over my body. "I doubt I could ever find this boring, regardless of what we're doing."

  I swallowed loudly. My mouth suddenly felt like it had been baking in the sun for hours. As much as I hated to admit it, his overt sexuality was a huge turn on. There was nothing sleazy about it. He was just a man who was utterly comfortable with himself and his desires. Once again, I found myself imaging what it might be like to give myself to him. There was no other way to describe it. With other men, I might have said 'sleep with' or 'fuck' or one of the hundred other euphemisms that springs to mind at such times, but with Sebastian, I got the sense none of those were quite right. Even with nothing kinky involved, sex with him would not merely be physical, it would be an act of sheer possession and power.

  Focus, Sophia. Think unsexy thoughts. Paperwork. Schindler's List. Ernest in a skirt.

  Urgh, too far.

  "What makes you even sure I want to sleep with you?" I said, purposefully pulling away from him. I swear it was like he had his own personal gravity.

  Annoyingly, this just made him laugh. "Is that really how you want to play this?"

  "I'm not playing."

  "Well neither am I. You can pretend if you want, but it doesn't change a thing." He leaned in close, as though whispering a secret. That intoxicating scent hit my nose once more, sending my hormones into overdrive. "Your body says more than any words ever could."

  A shiver rolled through me, coming to rest firmly in the centre of my chest. I hated how easily he could read me. It made me feel strangely helpless. How do you fend off a man who already seems to know your secrets?

  "You're right, my body is saying a lot of things," I said. "Like leave me the hell alone! I've been with men like you before, Sebastian. Hell, I work with them every day. Even if I was attracted to you, I wouldn't be interested in being another notch on the bed post."

  "What makes you think that's all you'd be?"

  I scoffed. "Because we just met yesterday — in rather extenuating circumstances, I might add — and now you're asking me to go to bed with you?"