"Are you sure you want to proceed with this lawsuit?" Monica asked Mrs. Konst who sat across from us at the long mahogany meeting table at our firm.

Mrs. Konst glared at us through thick, red framed glasses. "Why wouldn't I?" she barked with an icy tone.

"What you will owe us in legal fees is going to greatly exceed what you can reasonably sue Triton Industries for," I explained, glancing over the paperwork in front of me so I didn't have to face her death glare. "It's not worth it."

"Carrie's right," Monica agreed. "There's also no guarantee you'll win if you do decide to proceed. If you lose, you'll be responsible for the defense's attorney fees on top of ours, and if you win, our fees will drain your winnings. Either way, you'll have wasted a lot of money. You have nothing to gain from this."

"What about five hundred thousand?" Mrs. Konst asked, upping the amount she planned to sue her former employers for from thirty thousand.

"That's a big jump." I scribbled down the number on my notepad.

"That'll cover the fees, won't it?" she raised a sharp eyebrow, staring holes through the notepad.

"Maybe not quite that much," Monica grimaced. "You want it to be reasonable. Is it reasonable for Triton to settle for five hundred grand? Most likely not. You can certainly try it. If that's what you want to do, we'll put in the paperwork, but you have to understand it's a long shot with that amount."

"I will not be put off as unreasonable. My assistant will be in touch!" Mrs. Konst snapped, jumping up from her seat, quickly gathering her papers and leaving the board room with a dramatic slam of the door.

"I think she was a little more cheerful than usual," Monica said sarcastically.

I slumped back in my seat and groaned. It was midway through the afternoon and I was definitely experiencing that two-thirty feeling.

"She's a real peach," I rolled my eyes, neatly placing all my papers and the notepad inside a brown folder marked Konst. "I can't wait for this bullshit to be finished. If I never hear her name again it will be too soon."

Monica nodded, following me out of the room. Reaching my office, I slid the folder into the drawer in the filing cabinet marked K-M and sat down at my desk to see what the rest of my schedule looked like.

"How are things with you and Dream Boy?" Monica grinned, wiggling her eyebrows as she sat down in one of the chairs across from me.

After my confession of feelings this morning, we'd ended up having the best morning sex I'd ever experienced. Unfortunately, the work day crashed our party and we had to postpone the rest of the conversation - and physical activities - until after the workday ended.

Nick had left for work while I was in the shower, leaving me a note saying he'd be back once he got finished at the office.

"This morning I told him I wanted to try a relationship," I admitted, watching Monica's grin widen.

"Oh my god! What did he say?" She excitedly bounced in the chair.

"Well, we ended up having sex so I didn't really get an answer. He kissed me and it went from there. But he said he'd be back tonight after work so I guess we'll talk about everything then."

"Do you think he feels the same way?" She looked more serious now. "I know you really like Nick, but make sure you're not rebounding with him. You've only been single for a day. Don't you think it's a little soon?"

"I do," I nodded. I knew she was right. "I guess I figured Derek wouldn't be hard to get over since I hate his guts now. I don't really have anything to miss with him so it's easier for me to focus on someone new."

"Someone like Nick?"

I sighed, thinking about how dreamy he was. "Yes. Someone like Nick."

"I hope it works out," Monica smiled, standing up. "I've got two more meetings and then I'm out of here."

"Don't have too much fun," I joked, knowing she had a meeting with one of her newest clients, Rodney Harmon, who didn't seem to understand that his attorney wasn't interested in taking payment in the form of sexual activities.

"I might need a fly swatter to keep him away," she laughed, leaving the room.

I only had one other appointment on my schedule. Mrs. Benson, an elderly woman who owned a flower shop down the street from the firm had requested a meeting to discuss filing a lawsuit against a man who repeatedly stole white roses from her outdoor display. It never ceased to amaze me what all people would sue over.

While I waited on my next appointment, I killed time surfing the internet. I got the idea to look up Derek out of curiosity and typed his name into the search bar. A long list of results popped up, including Hampton, Burns and Hampton's website. Below that was an article by an online magazine about how Derek was rumored to be leaving the firm to head up another. The article was vague and didn't say which firm.

I picked through search results one at a time until I stumbled upon something I found interesting. The headline read Hampton, Burns and Hampton's Derek Hampton Leaving Chicago. I assumed it would be similar to the previous article I'd read but this one actually went into detail.

According to anonymous sources, successful Chicago native attorney, Derek Hampton of the highly praised Hampton, Burns and Hampton, will soon be leaving his father's firm for McAfferty Law. It is speculated that Mr. Hampton will be leaving Chicago to pursue new business endeavors in New York City and Rome.

Derek Hampton is currently the heir to his father's multimillion-dollar firm, as well as the new director of foreign business relations at Cordell and Spade. Hampton is quickly taking over in the legal world, proving his worth as a successful lawyer and business executive.

Reading this made me sick. Every article about Derek made him sound like some fantastic, successful attorney-slash-businessman. The authors of these articles had no idea who they were writing about. Derek Hampton was not a fair man. He was screwing over all these people behind their backs and they wouldn't even know it until after he'd fucked them over. An angry voice in the back of my mind threatened to go to the papers with the real story but I knew that would compromise the FBI's investigation.

"Miss Donovan?" Mrs. Benson said from the doorway.

I jumped slightly, startled. I'd gotten so wrapped up in reading about Derek that I'd forgotten all about my appointment with Mrs. Benson.

"Yes," I said, standing up to shake her hand. "Please have a seat."

Mrs. Benson was a sweet old woman I'd spoken to many times on the walk from my office to the little Vietnamese restaurant down the street that Monica and I frequented for lunch. I felt bad for her, working so hard on her flowers and then having someone repeatedly steal them.

"What can I do for you?" I asked, fetching a notepad from my desk drawer.

"Dear, I'm not interested in fighting a legal battle with someone who is obviously not interested in obeying the law," she said, folding her hands neatly in her lap. "But if I have to, I will."

I jotted down her name and the date on my pad. "Do you want me to explain the process to you?" I offered.

She shook her head. "I don't want to waste your time. I want to have an attorney write a stern letter to this man telling him to cease and desist. If he doesn't, I suppose I'll have no choice but to sue."

I nodded. "Have you tried contacting the police and filing a report?"

"They told me to install security cameras or start bringing all my merchandise inside," Mrs. Benson explained, obviously displeased with what the police told her. "I can't afford cameras and I will lose business if I don't catch the attention of people passing by."

"I'll get a letter written up and my assistant will deliver it to you," I told her.

She smiled warmly. "Thank you Dear."

I was thrilled to end that meeting, having only four minutes until it was time to head home. Once the clock struck five, the butterflies in my stomach began to dance at the thought of getting to see Nick when I got home. Within a couple minutes I was leaving the parking garage.

As I was merging onto the interstate my phone lit up with a text from Nick.

Can't wait to see you.

A cheesy grin splashed across my face and I pressed a little harder on the accelerator. I planned to order a pizza and possibly surprise Nick in some red lingerie. I was itching to get out of my pantsuit. I could only stand wearing business clothes for so long before I was ready to take a flamethrower to them out of annoyance.

Pulling into my driveway, my plans to surprise Nick were immediately doused in cold water at the sight of his Audi already parked in the shade of my oak tree. I was disappointed that he'd beat me home but I figured we could still order pizza and I could find some time later in the evening to try out that lingerie I had yet to wear for anyone.

I was surprised when I walked in the house to find a classic trail of red, pink and white rose petals scattered down the hallway. I smiled like an idiot, following the trail into the kitchen where I saw two tall vanilla candles burning in the middle of the kitchen table. Beside them were two wine glasses. I noticed my usual red table cloth had been replaced with an elegant white one that draped perfectly over the sides. There were two silver placemats with roses embroidered into them. The table was set with fancy napkins and silverware I only used on holidays and special occasions. I heard shuffling sound and the lights flipped on. Behind me stood the man responsible for my heart beating out of my chest.

"You beat me home," I stated the obvious, grinning and stepping toward him.

Nick smiled. "I couldn't very well do all this in front of you, could I?"

"I guess not." I looked down at the rose petals on the shiny wood floor. "What's the occasion?"

"No occasion," he answered and gently pulled me against his chest. "Just a man trying to show a woman a little romance."

It meant a lot to me that Nick even considered doing this. I never would've expected him to surprise me this way.

"You didn't have to," I smiled, wrapping my arms around his waist. "But I'm glad you did."

He nodded toward dinner on the stove. "I cooked. I'm not Rachael Ray so don't feel like you can't spit it out if it's terrible, but I gave it my best."

Keeping warm on the stove were steaks smothered in sautéed mushrooms and green onions along with baked potatoes topped in cheese, sour cream and bacon bits. On the counter was a bottle of red wine.

"You thought of everything." I was impressed.

"I have to be honest. I did have to call my grandma to make sure I cooked everything right," Nick chuckled and a soft blush rose to his cheeks.

He gestured for me to have a seat. Though I desperately wanted to change clothes, I went ahead and sat down, feeling my stomach growl at the amazing smell. Nick dished up two plates, setting them on the placemats and I watched him twist the cork out of the wine bottle. He poured the wine, setting the bottle on the table and taking a seat across from me. I noticed he'd changed out of his usual work clothes and was wearing tight navy jeans with a loose black button-up. His hair was combed neatly to the side and he looked good enough to jump on right there.

"This looks incredible," I said, cutting into my steak.

It had been a long time since I'd had a filet and I was more than ready to dig in. The mushrooms and onions had been cooked with Worcestershire, adding to the favor. I added a small amount of salt to my baked potato and once I took a bite, I was in heaven.

"Your grandma taught you well," I complimented.

Nick smiled, slicing through his steak. "It took many years and many kitchen fires to teach me."

As we ate, Nick and I talked about our days. I told him about Miranda Konst and Mrs. Benson. He told me he'd spent most of his day at the firm and swung by the FBI's office before picking up everything he needed to surprise me. He'd given the local police some new information he'd acquired and that was about it. By the way Nick explained everything to me, it sounded like he was leaving a few things out but I didn't question it. I wanted to enjoy our time.

"I realized something," I said, pointing my fork at Nick. "I never gave you a key and I know I locked the door when I left this morning. How did you get in here?"

He shrugged, smirking confidently. "Monica let me copy her copy."

"She knew about this?" I raised my voice. I was surprised she'd been able to keep it a secret all day.

He nodded, gathering a forkful of baked potato. "She started squealing when I told her my plans."

The thought of Monica freaking out in excitement over Nick surprising me cracked me up. I was glad she'd gone ahead and let him copy her key. That wasn't something she'd usually do, probably not even for Derek when we'd been together if he hadn't had a key. Which reminded me I needed to get that key back from him. That could wait though. I wanted to enjoy this night with Nick without distractions.

After we finished our dinner, Nick surprised me again with dessert. My favorite cheesecake with chocolate drizzled over it. To say I was in heaven had become an understatement.

"So how do you plan to spend the rest of the night?" I asked, taking a bite of cheesecake.

Nick smirked. "Just wait."