Simple Kind of Man

Daniels and Associates was actually a bit of a joke, seeing as it was really just me.

I guess you could call it wishful thinking, but I really hoped that one day, it would be an accurate statement.

I'd opened the office six months prior and worked my ass off to get where I was. I'd graduated with my law degree a year before and moved back to the tiny town I'd been born in, Blessing, Texas. There were less than a thousand people there, but my grandparents, who'd raised me, thanks to my absent mother and father, lived in Blessing and therefore, it was where my heart resided.

I'd gone away to college and worried the whole damn time I was gone. Were they alright? Did they need any help? They were the sweetest people you'd ever meet, and so proud of me pursuing my educational dreams. Upon my return home, Grandpa Ray had asked what I planned on doing, and when I told him I wanted to open a law office, he'd smiled knowingly and advised that there was a bank account they'd been saving in for my whole life, waiting for me. Immediately, I withdrew $20,000 as a down payment, went to the bank, finalized the small business loan and opened up shop. I was thrilled to have found a classic, 1950s style house for sale right in the middle of Blessing and immediately set about to renovating it a bit, to make it work as an office.

The first six months flew by, and I managed pretty well considering I had decided on having no assistant. I was solely responsible for all the paperwork as well as the interviewing and hours spent in the courtroom. Everything had been rather quiet, but steady, and then Judith Bane walked into my office.

"What can I do for you, ma'am?" I asked, cordial as ever.

"You can give me a divorce from my goddamned husband, that's what you can do," she said, her arms crossed over her chest.

At that my jaw fell open slightly. Charlie and Judith Bane were a bit like Blessing, Texas royalty. It was a small town, but the Banes had moved to town ten years prior and Charlie's magic touch had revitalized part of the agricultural industry, and I could instantly imagine the gossip that would filter through town.

"Are you certain, Mrs. Bane?" I asked. "Divorce is a serious thing."

She nodded and took a seat across the desk from me. "He's a cheating bastard. I hate him. Can you handle this or should I go to a big time lawyer?"

The quiet slight against my abilities didn't go unnoticed, but the professional in me required that I not comment on it. "Well, Mrs. Bane, I can most certainly handle this for you and your husband," I said. "Why don't you tell me exactly what's happened?"

And so it had begun.

There were eight thousand things I had to do for the case, seventy-five hundred of which required paperwork and filing and in the end and I was pretty sure we'd have an easy case, given that Charlie Bane had already admitted to cheating on his wife with one Emily, who just happened to be Judith's cousin.
And then, Judith advised that she wanted sole custody of their kids and something inside of me couldn't quite agree with her - no man should be denied the right to see his kids because of an admittedly large indiscretion.- but I never let that show. The whole thing was rather ugly, but the facts were pretty straight. We had to work through their joint and separate assets, and I planned to try to talk her down a bit on the kid front. I prayed that would go smoothly.

We had scheduled a mediating session that morning, which meant Charlie and Judith, along with Charlie's counsel, would all be in my small office.

Charlie had hired Emily Nours. I wasn't familiar with her, but Judith had advised that it was a bit odd, because the three of them – Charlie, Judith and Emily – had been friends most of their lives; for years prior to the Bane's move to Texas. Just to be prepared, I did a little research on her. A quick Google search revealed that she had a degree in Law from a rather prestigious university, had lived and worked at a big office in Seattle, Washington for a year and a half before coming to Blessing, assumedly for Charlie's case only.

On paper, she looked perfect.

In person, the woman was mind-blowingly gorgeous, and I had to stop myself from staring.

"Are you Aiden Daniels?" she asked, a slight look of distaste on her face as she took in the small size of my office. Charlie stood behind her and I almost forgot to acknowledge him.

"I am," I said, standing up from behind my desk. Judith was already seated to one side of the room, an angry look on her face. I extended my hand toward Emily and her eyes shot downward as she walked in my direction. In the three seconds that she wasn't looking at me, I let my eyes rove up and down her form.

She was short – just a few inches over five feet tall – and had long, thick brown hair. It fell over her shoulders and over her chest and I had to make myself move my eyes away from the slight curve of her breasts beneath her shirt. Her hips were narrow and she was wearing a fitted skirt that left very little to the imagination, her long, shapely legs ending in tall heels. Her eyes were large and almond shaped, framed with long, dark lashes and her lips were full and pink.

In short, she looked delicious, and it threw me off a bit, because I was generally not the "eye a girl the minute she walks into the room" type.

Her eyes met mine as she reached the other side of my desk and a small, wry smile formed on her lips. She took my hand. "Emily Nours," she said.

I nodded and shook her hand, which was petite enough to fit inside of mine completely. She was the definition of feminine and I found myself just grinning at her, forgetting why she'd arrived.

As it turns out, she was all business.

"So. Here is some of my client's documentation. I have electronic copies of this, but thought you'd like a hard copy to look over on your own time."

I gulped. The phrase 'a hard copy' had just had a ridiculous effect on me. I released her hand and sat down, gesturing to the chair near her. "No, that won't be necessary … may I call you Emily?" She nodded. "Okay. Well, let's get right down to it then, shall we?" I said.

The four of us sat down and began a lengthy conversation regarding Charlie and Judith's personal investments, properties and other assets, as well as the few that they held jointly. The two were surprisingly well behaved until Judith made an inflammatory remark about her cousin and Charlie raised his voice in response. Emily lifted a hand and shushed him as she informed him that his response was unnecessary. "What was done is done," she murmured.

Judith stood at the end of our session and was the first to leave, after issuing a curt goodbye to Emily. Charlie told Emily he would wait for her in the waiting area and she looked at me.
"I'm hoping this goes smoothly." She handed me a card. "Call me at that number if you need anything. Otherwise, I'll see you in court in a few weeks."

"Thank you, Miss Nours, " I said. "I hope this meeting wasn't uncomfortable for you. I know my office is rather small."

"Not at all, sir," she said, and turned on her heel to leave my office.

Long after the door closed behind her, I sat, stone still.

I was focused on the beautiful woman that had just left my office, and the plethora of desires that had cropped up at her mere presence.

She was gorgeous, smart and capable. And when she'd called me sir, I couldn't lie: My ears and mind and … other parts of my body wanted to hear it in a different context.

I was going to have to rein that shit in if we were going to work together in any semblance of professionalism.

I shook my head as I pulled out Judith Bane's file. Finally, I began making notes about what we needed to get accomplished in the next few days.