Indispensable Party (Sasha McCandless Legal Thriller No. 4) Read Online Free PDF Page B

smiled back at her and waved her into the
office ahead of him. “After you, Counselor.”
    Sasha stepped past him and into the
office. The motion-sensing lights came to life, and Sasha looked around. The
room fit Connelly. It was understated and warm. The furniture was Mission
style: solid, sturdy, yet attractive. A brick red carpet anchored a seating
arrangement, and a large photograph of the Sedona Red Rock Mountains, mimicking
the red of the carpet, hung over the sofa.
    “Nice office,” she said.
    “Thanks.” Connelly moved over to
the desk and pushed a button on his phone. “Grace helped me decorate it,” he
said as the ringing of a telephone sounded through the speaker of the phone on
his desk.
    Grace was the woman who had
called Connelly’s cell phone earlier in the day. She’d also helped him pick out
his office furniture?
    “Grace?” Sasha asked.
    “You’ll meet her in a moment; she’s
my deputy,” Connelly said, holding up a finger to forestall further
conversation as a woman picked up the ringing phone on the other end.
    “Roberts,” said the woman in a
crisp, no-nonsense voice.
    Connelly had often mentioned someone
named Roberts when he’d talked about his new job. For some reason, Sasha had
assumed Roberts would be a man.
    She conjured up an image of the
female Roberts. Late middle-aged, with cropped gray hair and a firm handshake.
She probably wore pantsuits to work four days a week. But today was Friday, so,
in the time-honored faux informality of casual day, she would be dressed in
pressed khakis and a cotton button-down shirt—possibly light pink in a
concession to femininity.
    “I’m here,” Connelly said. “Come
down to my office when you can.”
    “Be right there, boss,” the woman
replied and ended the call.
    Connelly walked around his desk
and joined Sasha near the seating area.
    “Sit wherever you want,” he said.
“Do you want anything to drink? Grace can make some coffee.”
    Sasha raised an eyebrow. Connelly
had his female underling fetching coffee? How 1960s of him.
    “No, thanks,” she said, although
she would have loved a cup. Poor Roberts.
    There was a light rap on the
door, and Connelly walked over to open it.
    “We take security very seriously
around here,” he told her over his shoulder. “No one else’s key card will open
my door. Not even Grace’s.”
    “How’s everyone else’s work?” she
asked. Surely, the company didn’t program each individual employee’s card so
precisely.
    “Good question,” Connelly said. “We
can get into the procedures after Grace gives us her report.”
    He pulled the door inward, and a
tall, shapely redhead with bright blue eyes strode into the room. The woman’s
hair tumbled past her shoulders in big waves. Instead of the Brooks Brothers
business casual uniform Sasha had imagined, Grace wore a fitted wrap dress that
highlighted her curves and knee-high black boots with a heel that put her about
even with Connelly’s six feet in height.
    Sasha suddenly felt even smaller
than usual—at a hair under five feet and shy of one hundred pounds soaking wet,
she was used to being the tiniest adult in a room. But this woman was a
giantess. A gorgeous giantess.
    “How was the drive?” she asked
Connelly.
    “Easy. I had company. Grace
Roberts, this is Sasha McCandless,” Connelly said, gesturing toward Sasha.
    Sasha stood and tugged down the
hem of the oversized sweater she wore as a dress.
    Grace followed Connelly’s arm and
met Sasha’s eyes with a surprised look.
    “Oh. Hello, there,” she said,
crossing the room with a long, loping stride. She smiled broadly and stuck out
her hand.
    Sasha stepped forward to shake
her hand and found herself eye-level with Grace’s breasts. A hint of smoke-gray
lace peeked out from the neckline of her dress.
    “Nice to meet you,” Sasha managed,
ignoring the clutch of emotion in her stomach.
    Grace turned back to Connelly and
lowered her voice as if Sasha couldn’t hear her. “Um, I