The Intern: Enemies To Lovers

I adjusted my tie, loosening it at my throat. “Don’t I look good?” I gave him that winning smile I’d used today in the courtroom. “I crushed the Kennedy trial. My team at work is solid. I’m enjoying my job-mostly.” I chuckled. “What the hell could be wrong?”

He combed the side of his beard with his fingers. “I don’t know. I can’t quite put my finger on it.”

He was lawyering me, trying to see below the surface, analyzing my movements, my expression, looking for cracks in my exterior.

He continued, “But I can tell you one thing, Declan: I’m going to figure it out.”

I just hoped that didn’t involve testing the conference room table for DNA.

“Listen to me. Things are perfect,” I said. “There’s no need to waste any energy on something that doesn’t exist.”

“Well”-he stopped to take a drink-“I can see that things with Hannah haven’t improved.”

I sighed. “If her performance improved, maybe my attitude would. However, at the moment, she’s like a fucking wart on my team.”

He was quiet for a moment. “For real, do you think you’re being a little tough on her?” He raised his hand before I could chime in. “I’m not saying you should give her any special treatment. I’ve made it clear that I’m dead set against that kind of behavior, but is she really as bad as you’re saying?” He waited for a response. When I didn’t give him one, he added, “She’s young. Fresh. I assume she requires a bit of extra patience and attention, which we’ve compensated for by giving you an additional clerk. But finding that precedent? Come on, man. That’s not your average intern accomplishment, especially not on an intern’s first couple of days on the job.”

Where the fuck were the girls?

How goddamn long did it take to pee?

“Are you as invested in your other interns’ careers as you are with Hannah’s?”

“I put her in your hands. At this point, I can stop pretending it was a random selection-not that you ever believed that anyway. I did that because you’re the best, Declan, and that’s whom I wanted Hannah to learn from. I think she has what it takes to be the top in her field one day, and I can’t wait to watch her climb.” He leaned in, emphasizing, “Not because she’s a Dalton, but because she’s earned it. So, yes, I have a vested interest, but what I can’t understand is why you don’t.”

I didn’t know how to address that statement.

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I should have been flattered he’d chosen me to mentor his brightest, most promising intern. And, of course, I wanted the best for Hannah. But, fuck, this situation was messy as hell.

Rather than feeding him a lie, I said, “Says the man who preached so hard about favoritism. Bending the rules for your own flesh and blood? Doesn’t surprise me one bit.”

“You want to talk about surprise?” He fingered his cuff links. First his right sleeve, then his left. “When I asked Hannah how her internship is going, she sang your praises. Bragged about how much she’s learned from you. Said this experience has been better than she could have imagined.”

“So?”

“So …” His hands folded together, stilling. “I’m looking at two very different sides of the same coin.”

“I don’t know what you’re getting at.”

“I’ve been trying to get to the root of what’s bothering you. Originally, I thought it was because you were getting an intern. On the day you were hired, that made sense. But as time has gone on, I just can’t buy that theory. Then, I thought, is it really because she’s my cousin and future partner-an argument you used when you tried to pass her off to a different team? But I know you, and if anything, that would challenge you more. Which leads me to my final conclusion.”

I took a deep breath. “Which is what?”

“You’re more interested in her than you want to be.”

My brows rose, my heart beating in my throat. “Interested how?”

“You know exactly how.”

Sweat slicked across my palm as I barked, “What the fuck, Dominick?”

“Tell me I’m wrong.”

“You’re wrong. So fucking wrong.”

He leaned back in his chair, his arms crossing. “We’ll see about that.”

Anger pulsed through me.

Had I not hidden my feelings well enough?

Had I gotten soft?

I set my arms on the table, moving closer to him, locking our stares. “What exactly are you going to see?”

“Something has crawled up your ass since the day Hannah walked into your office. Men like you show rage when they’re trying to fight an attraction. I know how you work. How? Because it takes one to know one.” His hand lifted to his chin. “Here’s what I’m going to say about that. Hannah has about as much experience with men as she does with law. She’s innocent. Wholesome. What she doesn’t need is a man who fucks a different woman every night, who’s going to toss her the second he conquers her.” When his hand dropped, he brought his drink up to his mouth. “Like her brother, I’ve protected her my whole life, and that’s never going to stop.”

“You’re reading this all wrong.”

“Am I?” He set down the scotch, his eyes now challenging me. “If so, then just consider this a warning. But if I’m right about this, then also consider this a warning.”

What had happened with Hannah in the alley was a mistake. A night I had misjudged, and it shouldn’t have happened due to how much she had apparently drunk.

But the conference room?

The table. The window.

That piece of heaven between her legs.

That was … everything I’d wanted.

And it had been just as hot as the alley.

But it couldn’t happen a third time even though it shouldn’t have even happened a second time.

“The last thing she needs right now is a distraction.” He took a drink and freed up his hand, sticking it in the fold of his crossed arms. “She needs to finish out this internship, pass the bar, and then come take her place at our firm. I don’t want anything derailing that plan. Understood?”

“You’re wasting your breath.”

His face turned hard, edgy. “I’m glad we’re on the same page.”

The moment he finished speaking, the girls returned to our table, the scent of Hannah immediately filling my nose as she sat beside me.