Barefoot Kisses: A Billionaire Love Story by Krista Lakes Read Free Book Online Page B

be in the courtroom for this!” I had to whisper or I knew I would scream it out. I couldn't believe my luck.
    “Get out! How?” Darcie asked, an excited smile filling her face.
    “It's part of the “Grooming the Next Generation of Lawyers” thing that the partners put on every year. Smith picks a non-lawyer employee who wants to pursue a law degree and shows them just how high they can go,” I explained. “I was selected as the employee this year, but the Ohio case was pretty much over, so I was promised his next big case. This is the next case!”
    “That's freaking fantastic!” Darcie hugged me, but pulled back after a moment with worry on her face. “But aren't Calvin and Alexa going to try and block you from doing it?”
    “They can't. This is through the partners. I have a letter from Smith himself saying I get to participate on his next case.” The odds of them going against the partners were so slim that I laughed, almost giddy with excitement. “This is over their heads as a mandate from their bosses. They can't stop me!”
    Darcie pulled me into another hug, squeezing me tight enough to make it hard to breathe. “Congrats, Lena! You deserve it so much!”
    “Thanks. I'll just be doing coffee runs and observing, but,” I grinned, feeling my dreams coming true, “I'm going to learn so much. It's perfect.”
    “I'm proud of you,” Darcie told me. The elevator chimed my floor. “ See you for lunch?”
    “Definitely,” I answered, stepping off on the fifteenth floor. Darcie waved as the elevator doors closed and took her up to the sixteenth floor. Someday, I would be going up there instead of down here to the Dungeons.
    The office was the usual buzz of morning business, but it sounded happier to me today than it had in a long time. Even my little work station looked better today and I didn't even frown at the stack of papers already waiting for my attention. In two weeks, I'd be in Texas helping Smith with the legal case of a lifetime. If that on my resume didn't get me a spot at Harvard, I'd eat my shoe. Plus, the icing on the cake was that I would be away from Alexa and Calvin.
    “I heard about your little stunt last night,” Alexa informed me, gliding up to my desk. I wondered how someone so pretty could be so evil. She was tall with dark, glossy hair that was always perfectly coiffed. Her eyes were a unique shade of gray with lashes so long they made a breeze when she blinked. Add in perfect porcelain skin, legs that stretched into infinity and a waist that was built for the designer skirts she always seemed to wear, and she was gorgeous. Gorgeous and incredibly evil.
    “I'm not sure what you mean, Alexa,” I replied diplomatically as I sat down at my desk. Most people thought that because she was so pretty there was no way she could be smart. I had learned the hard way that she had a ruthless mind that was always two steps ahead of everyone else. Alexa always got what she wanted. Always.
    “Don't play coy, Lena. It doesn't become you,” she sneered. “You went to the partners behind my back. You went to Kathryn without consulting me or even Calvin. The whole upstairs is talking about how the paralegal went straight to Kathryn on the Preston case. You breached protocol and there are some very unhappy people up there.”
    “Are they talking about what I found?” I asked, shuffling the papers on my desk. The last thing I had been expecting today was to get in trouble. Since Alexa was involved, I should have known it would happen. That was just the way my luck at work was tending to go this week.
    Alexa ignored my question and instead leaned over my desk and pitched her voice so anyone nearby could hear. “You report to me. I'm a lawyer and you're a paralegal. There's a reason why I make four times your salary. You had no right to bother Kathryn with something so trivial. Especially just to spite me because of your bad review.”
    A secretary stopped dead in her tracks and stared. Heads