Free The Client: Short And Steamy by M. S. Parker Page A

in and out, but I did have to work so many hours in order to bill my clients, and since Calvin and Associates didn't actually have any associates, I did a hell of a lot of overtime.
    I needed another me.
    Actually, I needed another lawyer or at the very least, a paralegal.
    I had an administrative assistant, and Haley was amazing, but I needed help with more than just administrative tasks. I needed a paralegal and a lot more than the intern I got on a limited basis too.
    I’d been trying to find help for a while, but so far, no dice.
    The past couple of weeks had been crazy, but most of that was because I’d been trying to juggle a personal life on top of business more than normal.
    My heart gave a girly sigh as I remembered the wedding I attended not that long ago.
    Carrie and Gavin were ridiculously perfect together, and so happy.
    Seeing Krissy had sent a pang through me, too, though not a good one. She'd seemed like she was holding together okay after her miscarriage, but how was I to know? I’d never wanted kids, couldn’t even fathom the idea. Krissy, she'd been walking on cloud nine ever since she'd gotten the positive test result...and then it was just gone. She lost the baby, and she’d gone from cloud nine straight down to the lowest sort of hell.
    Although we didn't talk as much as we had when we worked together, I knew how hard it'd been on her.
    I missed my friends.
    Which was why, in a couple of hours, I was hooking up with my closest friend.
    It wouldn’t be exactly the same as before, of course. Dena was living with her boyfriend – or rather, he was living with her . Arik was a defense attorney for the rich and powerful and wasn’t that a joke. Dena had finally landed her dream job, which was usually working for the people who fought against the rich and powerful. The ADA and the defense attorney. It should've been a Lifetime movie.
    But she was happy.
    That meant a lot.
    So far, I’d only spent a short amount of time in Arik’s presence, but Dena seemed happier than I’d ever seen her, so that was all that mattered as far as I was concerned.
    The song on the radio changed and I sighed, feeling more despondent than normal.
    The love song rolling out of the surround sound had a knot welling up in my throat, and all I really wanted to do was put down my pen and shut down for the day.
    No, what I really wanted to do was curl my knees to my chest and listen to the song, maybe sing along for a bar or two. As the woman wailed about how love had left her behind, I had to fight not to chime in.
    Sing it, sister.
    I needed to push this melancholy away before I hooked up with Dena.
    Not that long ago, the two of us were the ones who’d meet up and reminisce over the good old days, when it had been the four of us – Carrie, Krissy, Dena and me – hitting the town and looking to raise hell and have as much fun as we could.
    Then it was Krissy, Dena and me. Then Dena and me.
    Now, it was just me.
    The lone wolf...
    “You morose bitch,” I muttered. Throwing my pen down, I leaned back and rubbed at my temples. “Stop feeling sorry for yourself.”
    It wasn’t like I wasn’t happy for my friends. Sure, I’d expected some of them – okay, I’d always expected Carrie to settle down. Find a nice guy, fall in love, and get married. She was that sort of girl. The one we'd always had to drag out, push toward the hot guy.
    But then Krissy had gone and fallen in love too.
    Then, it happened to Dena.
    I was the last girl standing.
    I’d always thought Krissy and I would be partying and living the life for…well...
    Making a face, I snatched my pen. “You thought you’d be on the prowl with your BFF right up until you were fifty or something.” A mental picture settled in my mind, the two of us still running around like we’d always done, hooking up with men half my age. I hoped I aged as well in reality as I did in my daydreams.
    The image shifted to just me, and I found myself wondering just what I’d be