The Spark

“Not Decker,” he said after a moment. “The other guy’s been with us ten years. He’s put in his time.”

My heart sank. “Oh. So it’s more based on seniority?”

“Not always. I made partner after eight. Decker bills more hours than anyone, but he doesn’t need his ego stroked by making it in record time.”

I inwardly sighed. “Well, it sounds like you’ve made your decision, then.”

“There’s still time before the vote.” He reached across the table and laced his fingers with mine. “I have a bet with one of the other partners that Decker fires a client who did something stupid this afternoon. If he can manage to control himself and not do that and he takes good care of you, I might consider swinging my vote.”

***

“My place okay?” Blake buckled his seatbelt and looked over at me for an answer.

“Ummm... I think I’m actually going to just go home. I’ve had a headache coming on all day, and it’s that time of the month, so I could use a good night’s sleep.”

Blake frowned but tried to cover it up. “Of course.”

At my apartment building, he walked me to the door. “Are you free next Saturday afternoon, by any chance?”

“Umm...”

“We have a firm barbecue for the partners. To be honest, it’s usually torture. I could use the plus one. Most people bring their families or a date. Having you by my side would make the day more bearable.”

He read the hesitancy on my face.

“Plus, my partners would like to meet you.”

I was taken aback. “They know about me?”

“I had to mention I was seeing someone in order to get the approval from the other partners to allow me to add a pro bono case after we’d already gone over our allotment for the year. I might’ve bragged about what a do-gooder the woman I was seeing is.”

Damn it. How could I say no to being his plus one when he’d gone out of his way for me? I couldn’t, so I forced yet another smile. “Sure. A barbecue sounds fun.”

Since we’d gone to di

But my mind was elsewhere. It had been ever since Blake and I spoke about Donovan—even before that, if I was honest with myself. I also wasn’t quite sure how to handle the information he’d shared with me at di

I sat there for ten minutes, staring at Donovan’s phone number in my contacts while I debated it over and over again. At one point, my phone buzzed in my hand, and when I realized who’d texted me, it was the sign I needed to make a decision.

Donovan: Bud needs to push Storm working for him tomorrow until late afternoon. He forgot he has an appointment.

I typed back.

Autumn: Oh, okay. Thanks for letting me know. What time do you think I should bring him over?

Donovan: 3 should be good.

Autumn: Thanks.

I tapped my pointer finger to my lips for a minute, debating one last time how to bring up what I’d learned. Eventually, I decided it would be a better live conversation.

Autumn: Are you busy? Can you talk for a moment?

My phone rang five seconds later. I picked it up with a smile. “Hello.”

“Haven’t you figured it out yet?” he said. “I’m never too busy for you.”

God, I felt that velvety, deep voice down in my belly. The sound of it and his flirting had my smile stretching so wide, I was surprised my face didn’t crack. “I bet you say that to all the girls.”

“Nope. Just one.”

I laughed. “Listen, this is kind of weird to bring up, but I spoke to Blake earlier, and he asked me how everything was going with Storm’s case. I said everything was going great, and then he mentioned you were up for partner.”

“Okay…”

“He said he was still undecided on his vote, but that there were two things that might sway it in your favor.”

“What’s that?”

“Doing well on Storm’s case and—I don’t actually know what case this refers to, but he said you had a client who did something stupid today, and if you could manage to not fire him, that would bode well for you.”

Donovan was quiet for so long, I wondered if he might’ve hung up.

“Are you still there?”

He let out a long groan. “Fuuuuck!”

“What’s the matter?”

“I fired him twenty minutes ago.”

“You fired the client? I didn’t even know that was a thing.”

From the sound of his voice, I pictured him dragging his hand through his hair. “It’s my thing.” He paused. “Damn it!”

“Sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. I just…fuck…fuck…fuck! I need to get in touch with Bentley.”

“Is that the client?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright. Well, I’ll let you go deal with that.”

“Jesus, seven years of working my ass off could’ve gone out the window if you hadn’t told me that.”

It felt good to have helped. “Well, now I’m glad I went tonight after all.”

“Went?”

“To di

The line fell silent. When Donovan finally spoke again, his voice was flat. “I gotta run. Thanks for the information.”