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“See?” Max blurted out, handing her the coffee as she took a sip, grabbed him by the arm, and practically dragged him toward one of the courtrooms. “Bye fellas…”
“I didn’t think you’d actually show up,” Elana whispered under her breath. “Just sit back here, and please don’t say anything.”
“You look phenomenal,” he smiled tenderly, nodding… and hesitated.
“Oh! Hey, you have a lapel hole sewn into your blazer.”
“Um, yeah, I guess I…” her words trailed off as he pulled a small rosebud wrapped in ribbon with a bit of greenery out of his pocket.
“This was in a plastic case, and I had a pin to fasten it on you, but Larry, Moe, and Curly thought I was going to do something nefarious with a two-inch straight pin,” he smiled tenderly, trying to put it on her lapel – and then removing his tie clip.
He slid the clip over the stem of the rosebud, holding it in place carefully and straightened her lapel, before noticing that she was wearing the pearls he’d given her, meeting her eyes. She was staring at him like this was the first time she’d ever truly seen him.
“Go sharpen your claws, my pretty kitten,” he said softly.
“Max… you got me coffee and a flower?”
“That’s what incredible partners do.”
She looked at him, her eyes glistening so beautifully, and he saw her lip wobble precariously. He didn’t want to make her cry, and it made him feel so good to know he affected her in this manner. He was always going to show his pretty girl how much she meant to him.
“Don’t give up on me, remember?” he murmured in a hushed voice before leaning forward to whisper in her ear. “I’ll be picturing you naked in about two seconds.”
And was rewarded with her snort of laughter as she yanked back and looked at him in disbelief. He winked at her and didn't say another thing. He knew his girl needed to put her protective shields back up around her – and getting frustrated was one way to do it.
“I should have known you’d say something like…”
“Shhh,” he smiled. “Save all of your anger, frustration, and your sharp tongue to win your case.”
He watched Elana walk away from him, unable to resist glancing at her sweet, curvy, plump backside only to see her freeze as she looked over her shoulder at him – and he realized she knew.
She saw through his words, realizing why he’d teased her.
“Thank you,” she said openly, and his smile widened.
“Anytime.”
Max took a seat quickly at the back of the courtroom, watching the chaos around him. There were people sitting to his right, people coming and going, as Elana stood toward the front, shuffling papers, and went to speak with the other attorney. She shook his hand, walked back to her table, and glanced in his direction before focusing on the front. Obviously, the session was about to start.
A bailiff walked in, announcing the judge, and Max knew this procession only too well. Just seeing this gave him a shiver of recognition that nearly made him break out in a sweat – and his Elana thrived in this atmosphere?
Max stood up when instructed to rise and took his seat as the judge walked in, watching intensely from a different point of view. A man in handcuffs was brought in to sit next to Elana, and he watched her lean toward him, giving him instructions, as she nodded. A primal part of him wanted to yell for her to get away from that man, but he knew his girl wouldn’t respond well to that.
Nope.
Acting like a caveman would have the exact opposite effect he wanted from her. He wanted Elana to need him and want him, and that was why he volunteered to come here today – to see how she thought, to learn all he could about her, and simply to be in her presence.
As if on cue, he watched Elana get to her feet and felt his heart surge in admiration and wonder. She was cool, graceful, eloquent, and he couldn’t be more proud of her at this moment. She spoke succinctly as she described what had happened with an impassioned voice that rivaled any actress, and just seeing her in action was humbling.
He was dating this woman.
… And it hit him.
A freight train would have probably given more warning than his wild thoughts. He could hear the mental horn as it blared down, thoughts colliding in his mind, so staggering that he gasped hard enough to choke, causing him to cough briefly as he quickly covered his mouth, dumbstruck.
The second he’d seen Elana at the grocery store, he was hot and bothered under the collar. He hadn’t been joking about those thigh highs in the slightest because that was the stuff of dreams to him, but when push came to shove, he’d shoved back, parried, and dodged a bullet until now.
Seeing her speaking as she addressed the courtroom, he felt so many emotions within him that it was like being clobbered by the heavyweight champion of the world. Something in him reached for her, recognized her, respected and admired her and wished her name wasn’t Cole – but Carpenter. He wanted to claim her as his own.
