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Authors: Maureen Smith

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BOOK: A Legal Affair
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Chapter 6
 

D
aniela was surprised, and more than a little relieved, when they made it out of the building and to the parking lot without encountering Shara Adler.

“We can take my car,” she told Caleb. She glanced at the helmet tucked beneath his arm, then added hopefully, “Unless you want to take me for a spin on your Harley?”

He looked down at her tight-fitting skirt, and his eyes darkened. “You’re not exactly dressed for it,” he said gruffly.

Daniela swallowed, tingling from the heat of his brief perusal. “Guess not.”

They reached her car, a silver Mustang that gleamed in the morning sunlight. Caleb ran an appreciative eye over the sleek, classic contours of the vehicle. “Nice whip.”

“Thanks. I like it, too.” She unlocked the doors and dropped her laptop and backpack into the backseat next to Caleb’s helmet and leather satchel. As she slid into the car beside him, she saw that his legs were too long in the confined space, his knees colliding with the dashboard.

“Sorry about that,” she said, grinning as he adjusted the seat. “The last person who rode in the passenger seat was my mother, and she’s only five-two.”

He smiled a little. “How tall are you?”

“Five-seven.” She started the car and reversed out of the tight parking space. “From what I understand, my father was very tall, and that’s where I get my height from. He passed away before I turned one.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Caleb said quietly.

“Thanks. In a way it was both a blessing and a curse that I was too young to remember him.”

Caleb nodded. “I can understand that.”

Daniela maneuvered through the parking lot bustling with students and faculty, and turned left at the first intersection. “How long have you been teaching at St. Mary’s?” she asked, though she already knew the answer. Might as well get used to pretending not to know certain details about him.

“Five years.” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him studying her profile. “Are you originally from San Antonio?”

She nodded. “You?”

“Born and raised.”

“Ever wanted to live anywhere else?”

“Can’t say that I have. You?”

“Not a chance.” She slanted him a whimsical smile. “Guess we’re kindred souls.”

He chuckled low in his throat and shifted in his seat, heightening her awareness of him. She drew in a breath of his clean-scented male warmth and fought to keep her mind on the road, and not the way his jeans molded the hard, sculpted muscles of his thighs.

“You
do
know that there’s a coffee shop on campus,” he commented. “And a Starbucks right around the corner.”

“Yeah, but I figured you might prefer to go somewhere less…populated by your students and colleagues.”

His mouth twitched with wry humor. “If I was afraid to be seen in public with you, Miss Moreau, believe me, I wouldn’t be here. Maybe
you’re
the one who’s afraid to be seen with me.”

“No way,” Daniela said quickly—too quickly.

A lazy smile was his only response.

Two minutes later, she pulled into the parking lot of Anthony O’s Coffeehouse and killed the engine. Together they climbed out of the Mustang and walked toward the restaurant.

Caleb held the door open for her and she brushed past him, the brief contact raising a prickly set of goose bumps along her skin. When she looked over her shoulder to thank him, she found his hooded gaze on her mouth. She trembled, actually
trembled,
and somehow forced her legs to keep moving toward the hostess station.

At that early hour, the café wasn’t crowded. Natural light poured in through floor-to-ceiling windows, and soft jazz wafted throughout the dining room that featured an inviting turquoise color scheme.

They were shown to a booth near the back and presented with menus. Caleb ordered a cup of the house blend along with the beignet Daniela had promised.

“I’ll have an espresso,” she told the young blond waitress, “and a small serving of vanilla ice cream.”

When the waitress slipped away to fill their orders, Caleb cocked an amused brow at Daniela. “Coffee and ice cream?”

She grinned. “Ever tried it?”

“No.”

“You should. It’s one of those simple pleasures everyone should experience at some point in their lives. Like watching a sunset…or riding a motorcycle.”

Caleb chuckled, leaning back in the booth. His T-shirt stretched across his wide chest, displaying the solid muscle structure that bunched and rippled beneath. “Still lobbying for that free ride, huh?”

Her grin widened. “Can’t blame a girl for trying. I’m nothing if not persistent.”

“I’ll be sure to remember that.” With his arms spread over the back of the leather cushions behind him, he looked relaxed and content, not to mention heartthrob-sexy. “Why do you want to be a lawyer, Miss Moreau?”

“Please, call me Daniela.” At his guarded look, she hastened to add, “At least outside the classroom. It feels weird to be on such formal terms over a friendly cup of coffee. Please?”

He hesitated, then gave a slight nod. “All right. Now, tell me why you want to be an attorney. Were you a prelaw major in college?”

“No, accounting.” It was another detail, like her first name, that she and her brothers had decided not to fabricate. The less she lied about, the less risk she ran of blowing her cover. Theoretically, anyway.

“I earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting, became a CPA and went to work for a large accounting firm. But, after just three years, I knew it wasn’t for me.”

“How did you know?”

Something in his gentle tone made her want to tell him everything—about the long nights, demanding clients, unscrupulous bosses. About the tears of frustration she’d shed on the way home, then quickly scraped away before going inside the house so her mother wouldn’t notice and worry even more.

“I was unhappy,” she said simply. “The reason I became a CPA was that I’d always been good at math, so it seemed the natural choice for me to go into accounting. And, quite honestly, I wanted to make a lot of money—and I did.”

“But it wasn’t enough for you,” Caleb said softly.

“No, it wasn’t.” A sardonic smile curved her mouth. “When the whole Enron scandal broke, I realized that what had happened to those employees could just as easily happen to me. The next day, I walked into my boss’s office and handed him my resignation letter.”

“That took a lot of guts,” Caleb said in a voice laced with admiration.

She shrugged. “Not really. I should have done it a lot sooner.”

Caleb nodded slowly. “So, what have you been doing since then?”

“Freelancing. Preparing taxes, doing bookkeeping—stuff like that.”

The waitress materialized with their orders, setting each item carefully on the table. “Is there anything else I can get for you?” she inquired, looking at Caleb.

He shook his head, and Daniela asked, “May I have a spoon?”

“Oh. Sorry.” The girl fumbled out a set of linen-wrapped silverware from the front pocket of her apron and passed it to Daniela without ever taking her baby blues off Caleb. “Can I get you anything else, sir?”

His mouth twitched. “I’m fine, thanks.”

“Okay. Well, just let me know if there’s anything else you need. Anything at all.”

“Will do,” he said with a wink that made the girl blush. “Thanks.”

Daniela shook her head at Caleb as the waitress moved on to the next customer. “Is it just me,” she muttered, “or have you ever noticed the effect you seem to have on every female that crosses your path?”

He took a sip of steaming coffee, dark eyes glinting with amusement over the rim. “How would you know that? We’ve been acquainted all of, what, two days?”

“Three days. I met you bright and early on Monday morning.”

“Not so early,” he pointed out dryly. “You were ten minutes late to my class.”

“Semantics.”

He laughed, a strong, deep sound that rumbled up from his chest and made Daniela’s toes curl inside her wood-heeled Jimmy Choo sandals. “You’re going to make a fine lawyer someday, Miss Moreau,” he drawled.

“I’ll choose to take that as a compliment,” she quipped, enjoying the repartee so much that she didn’t bother correcting him on the formal address. She spooned vanilla ice cream into her mouth, then followed up with a sip of espresso.

A deep, languorous sigh escaped her lips.
“Mmm-mmm.”

Caleb was watching her, cup halfway to his mouth. “That good, huh?” His voice sounded rough, tight.

Daniela nodded, grinning. “It’s a sensory thing. You know, the combination of rich, hot coffee mixed with sweet, cold ice cream. Mmm, heavenly. You should try it.”

He shook his head. “No, thanks.”

“Come on, try it,” Daniela coaxed, holding out a spoonful of ice cream to him. “I think you’d really like it. Try it. I insist.”

Caleb hesitated, then leaned forward to accept the sweet offering. As she slid the spoon into his mouth, she was caught off guard by the sudden heat that bloomed in her belly and spread outward like a slow, thick liquid.

Her heart thundered at the very male look that filled his eyes as he watched her watching him. Slowly he ran his tongue over the sensuous curve of his bottom lip, removing traces of the creamy concoction.

“You’re right,” he said silkily. “It is good.”

Her breasts felt tight and achy against the lace bra she wore. Without thinking, she drew the spoon into her own mouth and licked off the remainder of vanilla ice cream, imagining she could taste
him.
It was the most erotic experience she’d ever had. The only thing that’d be more erotic would be Caleb licking ice cream from her body.

She shivered convulsively.

“You, uh, were supposed to take a sip of coffee right afterward,” she said huskily. “To, uh, get the full effect.”

His eyes darkened, stoking the flames already building inside her. “I think I did.”

Her pulse accelerated, and she felt a thrill of wicked pleasure at his words. Another minute of this, and she’d be begging him to take her into the bathroom and do unspeakable things to her.

Fortunately, Caleb chose that moment to glance at his watch. “Let’s talk about your case brief.”

As opposed to having hot, kinky sex in a public restroom.

Biting back a sigh of regret, Daniela reached under the table for her purse. As she rummaged around for a pen and the small notepad she’d brought to take notes, Caleb’s gaze wandered to the flat-screen television mounted in a nearby corner of the restaurant. A KSAT-12 news anchor was reporting on the early-morning indictment of a local labor union boss. Carlito “Lito” Olivares, president of the Oil Refineries Workers Union, had been charged with embezzling over one million dollars from various employers represented by his union.

Shaking her head in disgust, Daniela was about to make a scathing comment when something in Caleb’s demeanor stopped her. A muscle worked in his tightly clenched jaw, and he gripped his coffee cup so hard, she worried it would shatter in his big hand.

With mounting curiosity, she looked at the television, then back at Caleb. What was going on here?

One of the waiters turned up the volume on the television. “…is also charged with defrauding the union by submitting false entertainment vouchers, using union funds to purchase personal airline tickets and billing the organization for $30,000 in personal telephone calls made on a union-issued cell phone. Olivares is expected to enter a not-guilty plea at the arraignment next week. We’re also getting word, from sources close to the Olivares camp, that legal heavyweight Crandall Thorne may soon step in to represent Olivares on this case.”

Daniela snapped to attention. Crandall Thorne was going to defend the corrupt labor union boss? Was that why Caleb looked so ominous? Did he have a problem with his father representing Olivares? Or did he disagree with Olivares’s indictment?

When Caleb returned his gaze to hers, his face was devoid of expression. Calmly he took a sip of coffee and set the cup back down on the table.

Daniela studied him carefully. “Crandall Thorne is your father, isn’t he?”

“Yes.” He inclined his head toward the notepad in front of her, making it clear he didn’t want to discuss the matter further. “What can I help you with?”

Daniela wanted to press him for more information, but she knew she wouldn’t get very far.

Reminding herself once again that it would take time to win his trust, she launched into a detailed explanation of the problems she was having with her case brief.

 

 

It was, Caleb admitted to himself later that afternoon, one of the stupidest things he’d ever done in his life.

He’d had no business having coffee with Daniela Moreau.

Not when thoughts of her had taunted him for the past three days.

Not when he’d found himself seeking her out almost from the moment he stepped foot in the classroom that morning.

And definitely not when, in the middle of drilling her on a case, he’d found himself imagining her silky-soft skin against his own, imagining her warm, lush body writhing beneath his as he made love to her.

He’d had no business having coffee with her.

His first mistake had been getting into her car. The eight-minute ride to the restaurant had been pure torture. Every time Daniela shifted in her seat, the high slit in the side of her skirt exposed the shapely curve of a milky-brown thigh. Every time her slender hand palmed the gearshift, working the manual transmission with the skilled ease of a pro, his imagination—along with his libido—kicked into overdrive.

By the time they reached the coffeehouse, he’d been half out of his mind with lust.

Was it any wonder he’d put up little resistance when Daniela offered him a taste of her ice cream, holding out the sweet sampling like Eve beckoning to Adam with the forbidden fruit? Against his better judgment he’d accepted the offering, and the answering hunger in Daniela’s dark, sultry eyes had sent need rushing straight to his groin.

Who would’ve thought that something so simple, so seemingly innocent, could be so mind-numbingly erotic? When Daniela turned around and slid the spoon back into her own mouth, Caleb just about lost it. It took a monumental act of willpower not to haul her across the table and into his lap, onlookers be damned.

BOOK: A Legal Affair
2.75Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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