“You want me to knock her out and steal her stuff? That might solve your financial problems.”

“I’ll think about it.” And I do. For all of three seconds.

“I’ll get a bat.”

My eyes flick to Penny. “I never knew you had a bloodthirsty side. You’ve only been here a few hours and already I’m seeing a whole new you.”

Penny’s mouth opens and closes again. But her retort never comes. Instead, she sucks in a sharp breath and grips the edge of the desk. “Sweet mother of hotness. Lookit the man candy she’s got with her.”

My heart skips a beat. Jake.

They sweep into the office and stop in front of Penny’s desk.

“I’ve brought you a new client,” Jake says as if he doesn’t know what happened two years ago between Sandy and Makayla.

My eyes flick to Sandy. She bites her lip and twists her hands around her insanely expensive handbag, then has the good grace to look away. She knows exactly what I think of representing her, which is no with a capital N.

“Would you excuse us?” I try to sound gracious, but my words come out biting instead. “I need to speak to Jake for a minute. Penny will look after you.”

“What the hell?” I spit out as soon as we’re in my office. “I appreciate you bringing me clients, but you need to check with me first. I can’t represent her. I vicariously hate her for tweeting Makayla’s ass in revenge for what she saw as stealing Max away.” And because she picked Jake up on the rebound from me and still holds a torch for him. Not that I’m about to share that little tidbit of information.

He arches an eyebrow. “I admire your loyalty, but you have to get over it. You need clients, and she’s desperate for a commercial litigation attorney with experience working at a big law firm. She started a company to set up summer camps for underprivileged kids, but she got into a land dispute with some developers. She’s been conflicted out of the big firms because of family and business connections. It’s a high-profile, five-million-dollar lawsuit, and she has the money to pay.”

Summer camps for underprivileged kids? Sandy? My resolve wavers.

Sensing victory, Jake closes the distance between us and rests his forearm on the door beside my head. His body is so close I can feel his heat and a tiny, betraying shiver of need races down my spine.

“What if she showed up at your legal aid clinic?” His voice softens. “You’ve never turned away anyone who needed help. It was one of the things I liked about you. Even though you were insanely busy, you always made time to give something back and that’s what you’d be doing by helping her. She’s trying to make life better for those kids. I know she’s made mistakes, but at heart, she’s a good person.”

I fix him with my best scowl. “You knew I wouldn’t be able to say no.”

“Hearts don’t change.” He taps my chest. “And yours is a good one.”

With a heavy sigh, I text Makayla. She texts back within minutes. She’s fine with me representing Sandy. In fact, she thinks it’s hilarious. She reminds me she revenge tweeted Sandy’s ass and it didn’t trend, so she considers them even.

“Makayla’s good with it too.” I tilt my head and give him a begrudging smile. “Thanks. I’m sure there are lots of Big Law escapees out there you could have recommended.”

Jake chuckles softly. “Is that all the thanks I get?”

“What else did you have in mind?”

He pulls me into his chest and teases my lips with his tongue. “I have a lot of things in mind,” he rasps. “Most of which I suspect would be inappropriate for a law firm. But if I had to choose one, it would be bending you over your desk in that f**king hot, tight little suit…”

My body heats in an instant and I gasp, cutting him off. He’s running hot and cold and I’m scrambling to catch up and deal with the sudden shock of arousal that has fired my blood.

He curls his hand around the back of my neck, holding me still as he leans in and ravages my mouth. My hands slide up his broad chest, twining around his neck to pull him down for more. With a groan, he curves one hand over my waist to grip my ass, fingers digging into soft flesh, pulling my hips so hard against him, I can almost feel every ridge of his hardened length between us.

My God. I’m sexing it up in my own law firm. All those years turning down offers to sex it up at Farnsworth & Tillman, I missed out. Big time.

“God, you’re so f**king beautiful.” He tugs up my skirt and traces a finger along the elastic of my panties, blazing a trail of fire across my skin. Moisture floods my sex and my knees tremble. I don’t care if it’s unprofessional to have sex in my office. I don’t care that Penny and Sandy are just outside the door. I don’t care if this is all a mistake. He says he wants me, and I want to feel him inside me so I know it’s true.

“I need you.” I drop one hand to his belt and work the buttons on my shirt with the other.

Jake hisses in a breath and jerks away. He takes one step back and then another, chest heaving.

Alone, on the edge, I lean against the door, my breath coming in short pants. “What’s wrong? What did I do?”

His voice drops to a strained rasp. “Nothing. You didn’t do anything. You’re just…hard to resist.”

“But…” My mouth drops open and my body aches with the sudden drop in arousal. “Is it Sia? Sandy said you were with her…”