"You know, you don't have to work with your dad," Zoe told Emily as they were making lunch in the kitchen. "You're a smart girl, you could easily get a job anywhere you want."
"I know, I want to work for the Lightman Group!" Emily was slightly annoyed. "It's a great opportunity. Seriously, how many kids straight out of high school can land a job like this?"
Zoe raised her hands slightly in a gesture of surrender. "Alright, I'm just saying...Are you sure you don't want to go to school full-time? This isn't the kind of job you leave at the office. It's time-consuming and might interfere with your education.
"Mom, chill, okay? I know what I'm doing."
I know what I'm doing. Emily thought to herself as she walked into the Lightman Group offices, for the first time as an official employee. She had been here a thousand times. The pale blue walls and glass doors were her second home.
"Oi, there's our new coffee girl! I'll take a double espresso, two sugars please."
Emily smiled and playfully punched her dad.
"That's not very professional, love." He joked. "Shall I call security?"
"Someone say security?" Agent Ben Reynolds poked his head around the corner. "Emily! Welcome to the team." He smiled warmly.
"Alright, enough chit chat." Cal grinned at his daughter. "Let's see what you've got."
They entered the lab, where Torres was interrogating a suspect in hit-and-run. Loker sat behind the glass, scrutinizing his face.
Emily felt her heart flutter a little when Loker turned and saw her. He smiled and stood awkwardly.
"Hey, Em." In his hurry to stand and greet her, he knocked some papers off his desk. "Oops."
"Sorry," She smiled and bent down to help him pick them up. Their eyes met, and she blushed. He laughed shyly.
They returned the papers back to their proper place on the desk. "Hey, let's get to work." Cal instructed Emily to sit next to Loker and watch how Torres was conducting the interrogation.
Emily was already an expert at detecting facial cues and micro-expressions. With a father like Cal, who wouldn't be? But she was still learning the right way to ask questions, and the subtleties of getting people to reveal things.
"I'm gonna leave you here with Loker." Cal squeezed her shoulder. "I've got things to do." He and Agent Reynolds left the room, leaving Emily alone with Loker.
He cleared his throat. "So, you're really working here, huh?"
"I always said I would. It won't be too different, I'm here all the time anyway." She laughed, "At least I'll be getting paid now."
Loker grinned. "Yeah,"
They sat in comfortable silence while watching Torres and the hit-and-run suspect. Emily tried to pay attention, but she was distracted by the man sitting next to her. She had always been interested in him. But she was afraid he saw her as a little girl, nothing more than the boss's kid. He was only four years older than her, but she had been only 16 when they'd first met. Three years later, and she still got butterflies when he smiled.
Two months later
Emily had easily adjusted to working for her father. However, she was still having a hard time working around Loker. Every small touch, smile, laugh...was driving her insane. She wanted to kiss him. She wanted him to hold her. Every day the urge became more difficult to ignore.
She made up her mind. She would have him. Eli Loker would be hers. She knew what she was doing.