The Intern: Enemies To Lovers

That was my distraction.

Not what was coming out of it, but what it looked like.

The thickness of her lips. The way she licked them.

How she chewed the inside of her cheek when she feared what my response was going to be.

“Tell me how chocolate helps you focus.”

She pointed toward the container. “Try one. Trust me.”

“You want me to trust you?” I chuckled.

Trust wasn’t what had been built between us.

There was a brownie sitting in front of her, resting on a napkin, and she lifted it toward her mouth. “I didn’t poison them, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

I wasn’t worried.

I just wanted one thing on my tongue right now.

It wasn’t chocolate.

It was her cunt.

Since I couldn’t elaborate, I took a brownie out of the container and chewed off the corner. The rich, fudgy consistency made my mouth water, the Nutella layer melting over my tongue.

“Fuck …” I took another bite, shocked at how good it was. “This is incredible.” I even winked to add emphasis.

“I know.” She smiled. “Now, don’t you just want to scour over every piece of evidence and help me solve this mystery?”

“Ah, brownie points, quite literally.” I wiped my mouth. “Is that what you’re after, Hannah? Earning yourself some answers by feeding me?” I swallowed the rest of the dessert, not allowing my face to allude to the satisfaction I was feeling. “Or is this your way of testing me?”

Her grin faded. “Not at all. It’s just … I’m stuck.” She flattened her hands on the papers in front of her. “And I’m overwhelmed.”

“Not the answer I want to hear.”

“But an honest one.”

“Are we shooting for honest?” I gripped the back of the nearest chair. “This is one of Dominick’s high-profile clients. This is going to garner so much media attention; my face is going to be everywhere on the first day of the trial. I promised Kennedy a win. Do you think I can walk into the courtroom without an edge?”

The vein in my forehead was pulsing.

I could feel it as I snapped at her.

“No, I don’t think-”

“Then, what the fuck are you going to do about it aside from feeling sorry for yourself?” I lifted the back of the chair, the legs floating in the air, and I slammed it on the ground. “Are you going to sit here and pout about being overwhelmed? Are you going to eat an entire container of brownies? Or are you going to buckle down and figure out the fucking loophole?”

Her hands folded in front of her, making it easy for me to see how badly they were shaking.

When she saw that I’d noticed, she hid them under the table, her chest rising like she was panting.

“I can tell you what I want to do, but that’s not going to change anything,” she whispered. Her eyes left mine, darting around the room before they settled on the table. “I’m not trying to bullshit you. I’m in over my head. I don’t know how to find this answer. Where to look. How to search.” Her hands lifted, and she picked up the edges of the nearest notebook. “I’m trying. I’m looking. I’m digging. I am …”

I hadn’t expected her to locate the answer immediately.

She was too raw, too much of a novice to know where to find it.

What I wanted was to see the desire on her face.

The drive.

The look of longing that was staring at me right now.

I walked over to her, stopping when we were inches apart, facing the evidence that she had spread out in front of her. “These are pieces. One”-I tapped the first bit of evidence my team had logged-“two, three,” I said, counting as my finger grazed each one. “I don’t want you to look at the individual pieces, Hannah.” My eyes eventually met hers. “I want you to look at the entire picture.”

The brownie had only intensified the vanilla scent coming off her body.

I took a long, deep inhale.

Fuck me.

I was close enough that I could touch her. That I could skim my fingers across her cheek, taking in the softness of her skin.

Would she slap me?

Or would we end up naked in the conference room?

She’s your intern, I repeated in my head, and a Dalton and your friends’ cousin.

I lifted one of the folders off the table and handed it to her. “You’re trying to find a reason why Kennedy would send that email.” I gestured toward her hands. “Did you ever consider why he wouldn’t?” I could see her brain rolling through the different options, her expression changing as she began to bounce around ideas. “That’s it. Now, you’re on the right path.”

She took off her sweatshirt, dropping it onto an empty chair, the movement in her arms showing the muscle in her biceps and the narrowness of her waist. She slid her braid to the other shoulder. She wasn’t happy with that placement and shifted it again.

Silky, dark strands that would look incredibly sexy, wrapped around my wrist.

“You’re close, Hannah. Almost there …”

She glanced up, her eyes pleading with mine. “Declan-”

“Don’t say it.”

She suddenly looked defeated. She was tired. Hungry. She had wine flowing through her veins-I could see the tiny hints of burgundy on her lips. It didn’t matter. What mattered was that she was going to push through.

“You’ve been studying this case since your first day here. Analyze each of the different viewpoints. Work backward if you have to.” I had an idea, and I placed a brownie on her empty napkin. “What made me put that there, Hannah?”

“The brownie?”

I nodded.

She gazed at the dessert. “You want me to focus.”

“What other reason?”

She took several deep breaths. “You had a motive.”

“Yes.” I waited until her stare met mine. “Now, take it further. Did I put that brownie there for my advantage? Or because there were too many in the container and I wanted to make room for something else?” I paused, waiting. “Not everything is what it seems.”

Her mouth opened, teeth stabbing her bottom lip.

“Remember, there’s going to be times when the opposition presents something you’re unprepared for. You have to go into court, expecting this, or you’ll risk the chance of being destroyed. So, when it happens, are you going to roll onto your back and take it?”