As we waited for our first course to arrive, Walter straightened his silverware, lining everything up as though he had an invisible ruler to insure they were exactly one and a half inches from the edge of the table.
“How are you faring with the new client?” he asked, finally looking up at me with a gaze that missed very little in life. I suppose his keen observation skills and attention to detail were how one took a failing company at the age of nineteen and spent the next fifteen years turning it into a massive tea empire. Along the way, he’d acquired Arlo, in more ways than one.
“I think I’ve landed myself with a major pain in the ass. And you know I’m not into that.”
“Is it too late to dissolve the relationship?” Walter tilted his head in inquiry.
“Without costing the firm significant income? Yes.” I sipped the drink that had been resting on the table. Arlo leaned forward with a glance at Walter before turning my way.
“Is it the legalities or personalities?”
I half-smiled. “Definitely personalities. The company’s main liaison is pretty hard-driving. Not a very likable person. From a legal standpoint, I don’t think there’s any problem. The firm does have a lot going on right now, and I’m getting more and more of a feeling from Jones that he’s ready to hang it up. He’s done everything but hand me a timetable.”
“Do you have any partner prospects waiting in the wings?” Walter asked as he squared up his salad plate after the waiter placed it in front of him. I waited until our server had left.
“Not anyone who really stands out from the crowd at the moment. We have two people who are about equal in seniority, but I just don’t see the spark there that I’d like to in someone who’s going to possibly add their name to our letterhead.”
“Don’t you normally have interns joining you right about now?” Arlo asked. “I’d think that would ease some of your workload.”
Finn’s wide eyes and near panic at having spilled the coffee flashed through my mind. “Jones has a third-year law student back that he had with him last summer. I have an intern who’s still an undergrad.”
“That appears to be counterproductive,” Walter commented as he methodically cut his salad into bite-sized bits. Arlo, meanwhile, took a big bite, chewing with obvious enjoyment.
I shook my head, still marveling at how the two of them had forged a relationship. Not only was there Walter’s exacting, almost persnickety nature, but there was some disparity in their ages...although not nearly as much as there would be between Finn and me, which was so not happening, so I shouldn’t even be thinking about it.
I dug my fork into my salad with a little more force than strictly necessary.
“I think Finn can contribute quite a bit, despite his inexperience.” I defended Gabby’s choice in spite of my earlier irritation with her. “Maybe getting a big jump on seeing the inner workings of a law firm will help him fine-tune exactly what it is he wants to accomplish as an attorney and provide more direction to his studies. He’s a striking young man. Very intelligent and mature for his age.”
Arlo paused with a forkful of salad on his way to his mouth. “Sounds to me like you’ve already spent a fair amount of time thinking about this new intern of yours.”
“What?” I shook my head. “It’s not like that. I was just giving you my assessment.”
Walter arched a brow. “Are you positive? There’s a certain added fervor when you speak of him. Perhaps you should propose him as a Consort.”
I laughed, but even I could hear the edge of embarrassment in the sound. “I can’t deny Finn is a beautiful young man. He is eager to please...but perhaps a bit too timid.”
Arlo set down his fork and now had his elbows resting on the table until Walter frowned at him. Arlo was undeterred. “I would think that would be exactly to your taste, Tamsin.”
I glanced between the two of them in exasperation. “Look, I am not in the market for a lover. He’s a baby. In any case, it wouldn’t be a good idea to start anything with someone in my office. You know the old saying about not dipping your pen in the company ink.”
Arlo laughed. “Dating yourself or what?”
I glared at him, but before I could say anything, Walter chimed in. “Maybe you should try a contract with someone already here at the Club. Do more than an isolated date here and there.”
I waved off his suggestion. “I don’t have time right now to find a Consort. I have work waiting for me at home tonight once we’re done with dinner.”
Arlo touched my forearm. “We just want you to be happy, Tamsin.”
“It’s been ages since you last dated anyone,” Walter said, leaning back slightly as the server removed their salad plates and another server replaced them with their dinner plates. “Steve has moved on. Perhaps it’s time you did too.”
I stared down at the table, pushing away the memories of my last Consort. I had thought Steve and I were eminently compatible. He was comfortable in the role of sub, but as it had turned out, he wanted a dom who was a lot harder than me. There was a tremendous difference between discipline and pain, between submission and objectification. Steve probably hadn’t viewed it in that light, but I had. His tastes hadn’t even allowed for what I considered to be basic aftercare. I didn’t need another relationship that left me feeling lonely even with my lover lying next to me.
I cut the steak on my plate as though I were on a mission.
“I don’t have time for a Consort, and I definitely don’t have time to mess with an intern at my law office.”
5
Finn
I thought I would see more of Tamsin at work, but in the first two weeks of my internship with the firm, my sightings of my hunky boss were usually in passing...if at all. When we did see each other it usually involved only a nod or a smile. He had stopped once to ask me how things were going, making my heart pound so hard I could hardly respond. God was he hot!
Those occasions were isolated. I spent most of my time at Gabby’s beck and call, but I remembered every smile I got from him, storing them up to examine later.
At first, I had really worried that I had allowed the lure of a steady income and full-time hours to land me in a situation that I was going to hate. However, to my surprise, I found that I was actually enjoying my work.
For sure, I wasn’t doing a lot of lawyerly shit. In fact, most of it didn’t use more than five or six brain cells. Sorting and distributing mail, making coffee, and making sure files were where they were supposed to be wasn’t exactly mentally or physically taxing. They were small things, but they helped make everyone else’s jobs easier, so I took pride in that.
Gabby had told me that as the weeks progressed, I would be able to learn more about the law. It was just that right now they were exceptionally busy and hadn’t been able to set up a formal schedule to help my progress.
I was totally okay with that. After all, if they started asking me exactly what area of the law I wanted to make my concentration, then I might have to admit that I really didn’t care much about going to law school. Definitely did not want to start that conversation. First of all, I was a terrible liar, and secondly I really needed to keep this job. I had been very lucky to get it in the first place.