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Zac pulled back and looked at me then leaned in again and started kissing me more deeply. We were both breathing faster and wanting so much more than this illicit kiss. Everything came to an immediate halt, though, because Malcolm started stirring around again.
“Daddy, I need to go tee-tee,” he said, lifting his head up off my chest. Zac and I both looked down at him and he looked up at us with his sleepy blue eyes.
“Okay. I’ll take you to mermaid Stevie’s bathroom again. Did you have a good nap?” Zac asked him.
Malcolm slowly nodded, and then Zac picked him up and held him in his arms.
“We’ll be right back,” he said to me, glancing down at my lips.
“I’ll be right here waiting for you.”
Zac turned around and started heading toward my back door. I kept my eyes on them and couldn’t help but grin when Malcolm peeked over his daddy’s shoulder and gave me thatdimpled smile of his. It was only a few minutes later that the two of them rejoined me.
“As much as I hate to leave, I think we probably should. The sun is gonna be setting soon,” Zac said, looking down at Malcolm standing beside him. Father and son were holding hands. “I need to get this boy home and settled in for the evening, plus I have some prep work that I need to do on one of my cases.”
“Would it happen to be the case you’re opposing me on?”
Zac grinned. “Yes, it would be.”
“I see.”
“Are you ready to face off against me, Sinclair?”
“I’ve been ready, Buchanan.”
“No surprise there. Your Joan of Arc reputation precedes you.”
“And your warrior-in-court reputation precedes you.”
“How are we supposed to do all of this though, after…”
He cut his sentence short, but I still knew what he was asking me. He wanted to know how we were supposed to keep things professional after becoming so personal in our conversations, with our shared touches, and especially after kissing each other as passionately as we’d done only minutes ago.
“We’re gonna do what we both know is right.”
“In or out of court?”
I stared at Zac already knowing what my answer was about the “in court” part of his question. I would always do what was right when it came to covering my legal responsibilities. I’d fight like hell to defend the defenseless. It didn’t matter if I was going up against the sexy legal eagle, Zac Buchanan.
When it came to the “out of court” part of his question, I knew what my answer should’ve been, but I couldn’t say it because it wasn’t true to how I was feeling deep down inside. I didn’t want to do “right” when it came to the personal side ofmy relationship with Zac. Adhering to that moral standard was something that I wasn’t interested in doing any longer.
For thirty years, I’d done everything that Ishould, and look where it had gotten me. Now, this pastor’s daughter was ready to travel down a different pathway. The wrong one in the eyes of others—but it was the right one for me at this stage in my life. I had no clue where it was going to lead me and that was okay. I wasn’t scared and I had no expectations. I wasn’t looking for anything from Zac other than this fiery companionship between us that was filling the emptiness inside me. An emptiness that the past four years had put there. Zac and I were going to have to work really hard, though, at keeping what we were doing under wraps.
“In court,” I finally said.
Zac studied my eyes and then nodded. We both understood the agreement that we’d just made to do what we knew was right when it came to our jobs. We also understood the unspoken agreement we’d just made to do what was right for the two of us in our personal lives despite the moral conflict.
“May I call you later?” Zac asked me.
“I was hoping you would.”
“Is nine o’clock too late?”
I shook my head no. “I usually don’t go to bed until around midnight. Sometimes later.”
“So you’re a night owl?”
“I am. I love nighttime and how quiet it is. Everything seems so peaceful in the world when it’s dark outside.”
