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“Or my conference room,” Zac said, looking over at me again.
“If we do that, you know it’s gonna take a good while. There are so many records,” I said.
“Well, with two sets of eyes looking over them, maybe it won’t take too long to travel back in time.”
“Ah! Here’s the rest of the gang,” Brooke said, pulling my attention away from Zac.
I waved as they were walking up to the table and after sitting down, they placed their drink orders and we all began chatting. I loved this group of people I worked with. They were all good souls and desperately wanted to do right for others. The truth that lay within their hearts was so obvious and it warmed mine. The truth that lay within Zac’s did, as well. Although he and I were at opposite ends of the spectrum regarding whom we chose to defend in our profession, I knew Zac wanted to do right for his clients by upholding the law and protecting them just like I did mine. Everyone had that legal right.
Zac and Brooke began discussing some old cases with each other and while watching and listening to them, I thought about my case against Zac. It was scheduled for Wednesday and I couldn’t help but wonder how he was going to be around me in a courtroom setting. Although he and I had already talked about keeping things strictly professional when working, it went without saying that it was going to be a challenge. At least it would be for me. I would make myself do it, though; otherwise, my face would show exactly how personal I’d been with Zac, and that reality was a major conflict of professional interest.
I excused myself to go use the restroom, and on my way back to the table of my comrades, I saw Zac coming toward me down the hallway. He smiled as soon as we made eye contact and when we reached each other, he stopped in his tracks. So did I. He was standing in front of me now, not saying a word, and just gazing into my eyes. The sexual tension between us was palpable and thick and heated.
“I’m really happy to see you again,” he finally said.
“Same here.”
“Whenever you’re around, my whole body is keenly aware of it. All my senses are heightened and all I wanna do is touch you.”
Zac reached up and slowly ran his fingertips down one of the tendrils of hair hanging around my face. I kept watchinghim and wondered if he was going to stop there or touch me somewhere else. Then he grazed my cheek with his fingertips. I closed my eyes at feeling his touch and when I opened them, he was staring straight at me.
“So, Sinclair… Have you thought about what I asked of you this morning?”
I took a deep breath and nodded yes. “I haven’t stopped thinking about it.”
“Have you reached a verdict yet?”
“Yes, I have. I still feel it’s best that we don’t jump into the deep end of this thing between us. And it isn’t that I don’t want to, because I do and you know that. It’s just…”
Zac unexpectedly leaned in and kissed me midsentence. I kissed him back too. I did it fully aware of the risk that we were taking by possibly getting caught. I also knew how much I was contradicting what I’d just told him. All that it’d taken to make me do that was him kissing me. Being close to him like this weakened my will, as well as my knees.
The moment our kiss ended, Zac leaned his forehead against mine and we both sighed. Then he pulled back and gazed into my eyes. “I’ll see you back at the table in a few minutes.”
“Okay.”
“And FYI… I know it’s only a matter of time before you let me take you to bed. Keep drawing out the inevitable for as long as you need to, though. I’m a patient man and I’ll be ready whenever you decide to stop worrying about things so much and say yes to being my lover.”
Zac kissed me again—quickly this time—and then stepped around me to continue walking to the men’s restroom. I looked over my shoulder at him and right before he reached the door, I called out to him.
“Hey, Buchanan?”
“Yeah?” he said, looking back at me.
“Your lips have my gloss on them, so you might wanna take care of that while you’re in there.”
He reached up, swiping his bottom lip with his fingertip, and then looked at the evidence of our two secret hallway kisses.
“I’ll tell you again that I don’t mind your lip gloss being on me, but for security reasons I’ll remove it while we’re here at Mystic Bar,” he said, grinning. I couldn’t help but grin too. I also couldn’t help but acknowledge to myself that Zac was right. It really was only a matter of time before I let him take me to bed.
Damn, damn, damn.
After he’d closed the restroom door behind him, I started making my way down the hallway again, to go back to the table. Before rounding the corner, I stopped to compose myself. In a matter of seconds, Zac had nearly unraveled me.
When I sat back down, Brooke leaned over and asked, “Everything okay?”
“Yes. Why?”
“You just took a while is all.”
