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Luckily for him, we were able to drop him from our team so that he wouldn’t face any consequences for not showing up. With him being missing in action and all over the place since this whole debacle, I made a last-minute decision. Putting my phone away, I turned my attention to the here and now. Tiffany was on her way down from the stand after Mario’s redirect, and I noticed that she’d chosen to bring the skirts back as well as color. I had no complaints.
She wore an emerald-green skirt suit with a blazer that buttoned all the way up to her neck. The shoulders were a tad pointy, and her skirt was slim fitted. The color deepened the green of her eyes and made them appear sultry or maybe that was her darkened eye makeup. Half of her reddish-orange hair was up and tucked away. The other half flowed with soft loose curls down her back. Wisps of hair framed her face. And her lips were peachy. She looked like she came to make a statement. It was as if she knew people would stare at her today, and she wanted to give them something else to look at. Something that would hold her together if she fell apart at their intense penetration of her every move.
Her smooth legs crossed over each other on her way back to the desk and man, I found myself staring at her with my lips parted. If her strength and the way she stood up for herself and for us on the stand today wasn’t enough to admire, the way she looked made me curl my toes as heat flushed my skin. Giving her up, after all of this, sounded crazy to me. I couldn’t wait for us to put this behind us, maybe start over. Because damn, I was in awe of this woman and as confused as my feelings had been these past couple of days, fuck, I was just thankful to be seated in her company.
She sat next to me and let out a breath, allowing Mario and me to see the nerves she hid from everyone else. I reached over to brush her hair off her shoulders. To be honest, I wanted an excuse to touch her, to feel the softness of her hair move over my skin. There was no way I could bring myself to walk away from her, could I? After all this? The thought was ludicrous. She smiled at me as she felt my hand on her back.
“You’re doing great,” I said. “And thanks.”
“For what?” she asked, organizing her papers. Mario was up next, and she would be questioning him.
“For seeing me. For saying what you said about me having integrity and all. It really means a lot that you said that,” I said, moved with emotion that made my voice deeper.
She reached over and squeezed my leg. It wasn’t sexual; it was reassuring. Comforting. “I was just telling them what I’ve experienced with you and how that makes me see you. You know, everyone said the same about you when I just met you. I’m glad I stuck around to see it for myself.” She smiled and rubbed my leg before getting up and heading over to the podium, hitting me with a view of her ass and those shapely calves in soft pink, almost nude-colored heels.
Mario approached the stand, and their eye contact caused the molecules in the atmosphere to sizzle. Keeping my eyes on her, I prepared myself to be just as dazzled by her brain as I was by everything else about her.
Chapter 26
Mario
“Well,hello,Ms.Levine.”I smiled at Tiffany.
The confidence I exuded today had nothing to do with the fact that I wasn’t worried but at this point, we could only do our best, and the rest was out of our hands. Besides, when you had nothing to hide, it was easy to remain poised.
“You, Mr. Sharpe, can call me Tiffany,” she said, smiling back at me.
“Why don’t you all just stick to calling each other by your last names?” the judge chimed in, giving us both a look that reminded me of my teachers in middle school.
Tiffany and I giggled. “Yes, Your Honor.” We both spoke in unison.
Tiffany took a deep breath before addressing me again. Yet, I couldn’t stop smiling at her and as her eyes connected with mine, a huge grin crept up on her face, and her cheeks reddened. Man, I loved her. And damn, was it hard to pretend that I didn’t.
“Mr. Sharpe, I’m going to ask you some of the same questions Mr. Crawford was asked. Is that okay?” she said.
“Ask me anything. I’m all yours,” I responded with a wink.
It was hard not to flirt with her even though I knew that as much as I wanted her to be all mine in return, that would never happen. She was ours. That was something I was still wrestling with. Or perhaps she was no one’s, and I needed to grasp that—be grateful that she was choosing to fight for us because she’d chosen us.
Her parents didn’t like my response. Her mother kept looking toward the judge as if she wanted her to do something to stop us. And her dad ran his hand through his hair, keeping his head down.
Tiffany cleared her throat. “Well, I’m glad to hear that, Mr. Sharpe. When did you first meet Ms. Levine… Tiffany… me? Your Honor, is it okay to refer to myself in the first person? It feels a bit silly doing otherwise,” she said.
The judge paused and lowered her head before raising it again. Shrugging, she responded, “I suppose there’s no harm in it. This is unlike many other cases.”
Tiffany smiled back at her, and I found myself focusing on her lips. Kissing her for no other reason than to do so because I felt moved to was one of my favorite things to do. And now, my own lips tingled with need. I had to bite down on my bottom lip to keep myself in check.
“Thank you, Your Honor.” Tiffany nodded before turning to me. She must have seen my desire for her in my eyes; her own eyes flickered in response as she let out the softest gasp over her microphone. “Hm,” she said. “Mr. Sharpe, when was the first time we met?”
“The first time we met was this year at your graduation party from law school,” I said. The memory of the way she captivated me at first glance rushed through my body.
Tiffany nodded, and her voice grew a little bit shy when she asked, “Why don’t you walk me through what was going through your mind that day when we met?”
“Objection, Your Honor! Relevance? And why on earth is he flirting with her? This is a court setting,” Mrs. Levine roared.
“To be fair, Your Honor, this is how we speak to each other. We just can’t help it, but I can try to tone it down a bit if it seems as if we’re flirting. However, the question itself is relevant to establish his mindset in relation to Mr. and Mrs. Levine’s accusation,” Tiffany said.
The judge looked between Tiffany and her parents before nodding. “Please try to tone down the flirting. Overruled.”
