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“College professor accused of killing several students.”
“You don’t believe he did it?” I ask.
“Reese doesn’t. That’s enough for me to meet him.”
We eat and talk about the case. Once we’ve finished our lunch, which ended up being sandwiches and chips, Cole looks at his watch. “We need to leave in an hour. I’m going to call that attorney in Paris. I’ll be by your office to get you on the way out the door.” He walks to his desk, grabs a file, and hands it to me. “That’s Reese’s file on our potential client. Study it.”
“I will. Cole—”
His phone rings, and he walks away, leaving me no chance to talk to him.
I stand and walk to the door and I can feel him watching me, but I don’t turn back. I’m so damn stupid. Why did I tell him about the casino? And would they really go after my mother?
I walk to my office and I don’t even look at Maria as I pass her desk on the way. I sit behind my desk, and I decide I’ll just make the same payments I was making to the casino to Cole. I’ll stick it in his damn freezer if I have to, like my mother does her fun money.
An hour later, Cole appears at my door and he’s being all business. We head to the parking garage together and he clicks the locks on a shiny black BMW.
Once we’re inside, I glance over at him. “I have never actually seen you drive.”
“In the city it doesn’t exactly make sense, but we have an hour drive to get to the jail.” He glances over at me. “It’s paid. It’s done. You can scream at me tonight, preferably naked, but you can choose if you want to be on top or bottom.”
“I don’t know if I want to cry, kiss you, or hit you right now.”
He glances over at me, those blue eyes of his piercing as he says, “Let it build up. It’ll make tonight all the better.”
“I’m going to pay the payments I’ve been paying them to you.”
“If that’s what I wanted from you, sweetheart, you wouldn’t be in my bed.”
He starts the car and ends the conversation.
The meeting at the jail wins Cole over and me, too. Cole takes the case, which we both feel passionate about. The man is clearly the fall guy. That night we don’t fight over the casino money, but lying naked in bed with him, we do talk. “I really didn’t want it to go like this, Cole, but thank you.”
He strokes hair from my eyes. “I don’t want your thanks. I don’t need it. What I need is for you to stop putting limits on us.”
“If that was easy for me, I’d be someone else and maybe you wouldn’t want me here with you.”
“Good point, counselor,” he says, “You do know how to make your case.”
He pulls me to his chest, under his arm, and I whisper, “So do you, counselor,” before I fall asleep.
The next morning, I take a car service home again, and when I get to work Cole and I dive into the research to defend our new client. That becomes our new routine. I stay with Cole nightly and I’m home with my mother each morning. By mid-week, Cole has our new client out on bail, and the war with the ADA on the case has begun. The good news is that Ashley’s visa release is looking promising even if we can’t get any real answers on what she is accused of doing.
Come Friday, I have yet to have coffee with Cat, and she takes the situation into her own hands, showing up at the office with coffee.
My door is shut, and she says, “Talk.”
“He’s my boss and I’m falling in love with him,” I blurt, “and I’m too busy to even freak out about it.”
“Holy wow,” Cat says. “Tell me more.”
“I really can’t. I have paperwork to file on the case I’m working with Cole, a paper I’m working on for school, and Cole’s temporary secretary is failing to the point that I’m going to have to replace her.”
“That sounds like too much. We can fix that.”
“There is nothing to fix. I’m terrific. I love this. It’s an adrenaline rush. I’m finally here doing this. This is my dream.”
She laughs. “Okay. I’ll leave now and do so knowing that I need to bring you coffee more often if I’m going to actually see you the during next six months.” She hugs me and leaves and I get back to work.
