The Law of Attraction (8 page)

He was failing to put her out of his mind. Failing to forget that he wanted to be with her more than he'd wanted anything in a long time. “I don't always win,” he said.

“But you do most of the time.”

“Yeah.” But winning the Massey case didn't seem as important as winning more time with her. That mind-set created a huge hazard in terms of his goals, especially if he lost the trial due to lack of concentration. He needed to stay grounded. He needed to quit wanting her, and that was highly unlikely.

“Right here,” Alisha said, pointing to the exit.

The conversation turned to navigating the streets leading to her apartment—a typical three-story, sprawling complex that Daniel guessed would fall into the midrange rent category. At least the neighborhood looked relatively safe, he decided as he pulled into the space Alisha indicated.

He stopped and turned off the car, earning him a questioning look from Alisha. “Thanks for the ride,” she said. “I'll see you in court tomorrow morning.”

“Tomorrow morning?”

“The Massey hearing. Motions, that sort of thing.”

Damn. He was worse off than he'd thought. “Oh, yeah. Guess I need to check my schedule more often.”

She unsnapped her seat belt and sent him a smile. “You know, if you're not quite ready, we could postpone it.”

“I'll be ready.” He was ready right now—to kiss that sassy look off her face.

“I hope you sleep well tonight.”

“I would if you were with me.” He shouldn't have said it, but he couldn't seem to stop his mouth from spewing what was foremost on his mind.

“We're not heading down that road tonight, Counselor.”

She was trying to depersonalize the relationship by going
back to the “Counselor” thing. “I'm only being honest,
Alisha.
”

“And I'm going in now.”

He unsnapped his seat belt. “I'll walk you to the door.”

She pointed straight ahead. “My door is right there. You can watch me to make sure I get inside safely, if that's your concern.”

“I'll be sure to do that.” He'd watch every little move she made, all the while wishing he could go through that door with her.

“Good night, Daniel.”

She had one leg out of the car when he noticed what she was leaving behind. “Aren't you forgetting something?”

She frowned. “If you're going to say a good-night kiss, forget it.”

“I wasn't, but that's not a bad idea.”

“Yes it is.”

He gestured toward the floor of the car. “Your purse.”

“Oh.”

She scooted back inside and they both reached for the bag simultaneously. In the process, they practically bumped noses, and Daniel inadvertently touched her leg covered in a sheer stocking. He couldn't stop his hand from sliding up her calf, couldn't stop his face from turning to hers. Couldn't prevent his mouth from finding her mouth for the bad-idea kiss that wasn't supposed to happen.

But it did happen—with the force of an explosion. The purse dropped back onto the floor, their arms came around each other and the fight to prevent this very thing was completely lost.

Daniel didn't give a damn. He only cared about how she responded to the kiss—with a challenging play of her tongue against his that left no doubt in his mind she needed the contact as much as he did.

He pulled away and pushed her hair back to kiss the spot
behind her ear, then her throat, before lowering the sleeve of the clinging black dress to kiss her bare shoulder. He slid his tongue along the rise of her breasts, then worked his way back up to nibble on her neck, then back down, taking the material lower and lower with one hand while he slid his other up her thigh, higher and higher.

Before things went any further, he brought his mouth to her ear and whispered, “Let's take this inside.”

“We can't, Daniel.”

“You want it as badly as I do.” He confirmed that when he found the juncture of her thighs with his palm and discovered dampness and heat radiating through sheer silk. “You want me to come inside.”

Her breath caught and then released slowly. “Yes, I want it.” She tugged his hand from beneath her dress. “Which is why I'm not going to let you in.”

Daniel collapsed against the seat and rubbed a hand over his jaw. “No one's going to know, unless the misconduct police are lurking behind the hedge.”

“You're probably right. No one would know, but I'd know. And let's face it, if you come into my apartment, you know what will happen. We'll be up all night and we have to be in court early tomorrow.”

Daniel would be up all night in every sense of the word. “Okay, I hear you. But I don't like it.”

“You don't have to like it. You just have to accept it.” This time she picked up the purse on her own and opened the door. “I'll see you in the morning.”

Unfortunately he'd see her in a courtroom, not in a bedroom. “Yeah. In the morning.”

At least she left him with a smile when she said, “Hope you get some rest.”

Sure. That seemed about as impossible as not giving her another thought.

Alisha strode to the apartment without looking back, and
Daniel couldn't help but laugh when she dropped her keys twice before finally unlocking the door. She might pretend she could turn off their attraction, but he knew better. She wanted him as much as he wanted her. And someday soon he'd have her again.

 

Alisha wanted to scream, loudly, when she had to rush out of the shower to catch the ringing phone. After tucking one towel around her dripping body and wrapping one around her wet hair, she clasped the receiver and delivered an irritable, “Alisha Hart.”

“Did you get home okay?”

She'd hoped the caller would be Daniel, pleading his case again. How stupid was that? “Yes, Joe, obviously I'm home. I realize Julie wasn't feeling well, but it might have been nice if you'd told me you were leaving. I would have gone with you.”

“I figured Daniel Fortune would take care of you. Did he?”

“I don't have to answer that.”

“He took her home,” Joe said, obviously relaying the information to his wife.

“Nothing happened, Joe.” Unfortunately. “He brought me here and left immediately. I'd appreciate it if you'd keep that to yourself.”

“Not a problem. But it's too bad you didn't get to do him before he took on the case.”

Oh, but she had. Not that she'd admit that to anyone. “By the way, how is Julie feeling?”

His chuckle sounded a lot like a growl. “Oh, she's feeling real good right now. She made a quick recovery as soon as we got into bed.”

Wonderful. That's all she needed to hear—Joe and Julie getting it on between the sheets when her sex life was nil. Of course, that could change with one phone call to Daniel Fortune, if she gave in to the little voice that kept telling her
to go for it. “Remember, we've got the Massey hearing in the morning. I need to make sure everything's in order.”

“You've done everything you can, Alisha. The rest is up to Judge Slaphappy.”

“Slaphappy?”

“That's what they call him at the courthouse. He's got that whole Texas vernacular down even though he grew up in Jersey. He's kind of weird.”

“Just as long as he's fair, I can live with weird.” Maybe Judge Slagle would be able to relate to the somewhat bizarre Les Massey. “Good night, Joe. Give Julie my best.”

Not five seconds after she hung up the phone rang again. “Alisha Hart,” she answered, followed by a sigh.

“I forgot something.”

She was about to forget her manners. “Make it quick, Joe. I still have some work to do before I go to bed.”

“Julie has her first doctor's appointment in the morning, and the hearing's scheduled at the same time. But I can—”

“Go. I can handle it without you.”

“I'll be in the office first thing and we can go over the arguments then if you want to, before you and I have to leave.”

“Fine.”

“And think of it this way. You and the iceman can conference all by yourself afterward, maybe in his office, on the desk…”

“I'm hanging up now, Joe.” And she did.

Just as Alisha was about to dress for bed, the damn phone rang again. This time she barked out, “What do you want now?”

“You know what I want.”

A full-body shiver coursed through Alisha at the mere sound of Daniel's voice. “A bedtime story before you turn in, Counselor?”

His laugh was low, masculine and oh so sexy. “I'm not ready for bed yet. In fact, I'm not even home yet.”

“Where are you?”

“Outside your apartment.”

Needing confirmation, Alisha walked to her living room window and parted the curtains. There he was, sitting in his car in the same space he'd been occupying when she'd left him. “What are you still doing here?”

“I was just thinking about something.”

“About what?” As if she didn't know. She'd been thinking the same thing, too. Thinking about it in living-color detail, as a matter of fact.

“You look cute with your hair in a towel. And I'm wondering what you have on under that robe.”

She snapped the curtain closed and began to pace the room. “Wouldn't you like to know?”

“That's why I'm asking.”

And he'd definitely asked for it. “Nothing.”

He groaned. “Thanks a lot.”

“Sorry,” she said, even if she wasn't really. She was getting warmer by the minute, though.

“I need a favor from you.” The way he said it, in a late-night husky voice, almost had Alisha saying, “Anything.” Instead she chose to admonish him one more time. “We've already been through this, Daniel. I'm not going to let you come inside.”

“I want to be inside of you. Real bad.”

“Would you please can the suggestive comments?” Before she ran out to the car and tackled him like a noseguard.

“All right. But that wasn't what I was going to request anyway.”

“Then what?”

“Tomorrow morning don't wear a dress. I won't be able to concentrate. In fact, make sure you're covered all the way up to that great neck of yours.”

“I do believe you think that if you sweet-talk me enough, I'm going to let you into my apartment and into my pants.”

“I didn't think you were wearing any.”

“Go home, Daniel.”
Before I let you in.

“I will. But there's one more thing.” He paused. “It's going to happen again between us, Alisha. Soon. I promise you that.”

The line went dead, and Alisha's entire body, from the roots of her wet hair to the ends of her water-logged toes, came completely alive. Damn Daniel Fortune's confidence. Damn his overt sexuality. And damn herself for reacting to him so strongly.

When she heard the sound of his car pulling away, she headed for her bedroom closet and pulled out her favorite outfit. A nice beige tailored jacket, matching above-the-knee skirt and black silk shell. She intended to win this case, and if she had to use questionable tactics to achieve that goal, then so be it. Distracting Daniel Fortune certainly couldn't hurt, because no doubt tomorrow morning he would do the same thing to her.

D
amn if she didn't wear a dress. Not exactly a dress but a skirt that to most would be considered professional. But to Daniel it was distracting because it revealed a good deal of her legs. Everything about her this morning was distracting—from her hair bound by a low ponytail that spiraled down her back to that pair of three-inch spiked black high heels.

She definitely stood out in the courtroom among the matronly court reporter with teased silver hair and Les Massey who'd cut his hair and actually looked somewhat respectable dressed in a cheap black suit. Daniel turned his attention back to Alisha. More accurately Alisha's mouth. She had great lips, and he knew that intimately. All night long he'd been thinking about that mouth. Hell, he'd been thinking about all of her. If he'd gotten more than four hours' sleep, he'd be surprised. And he didn't expect to get much sleep in the near future if he had to face her with any frequency.

They stood as the honorable Judge Grady Slagle entered
the courtroom. Tall and rail-thin was an understatement when it came to the man's frame. His hair had crawled off the top of his head and traveled to his upper lip in the form of a bushy mustache, and his thick, horn-rim glasses made his eyes look comical.

“Y'all be seated, folks,” he said as he sat on his judicial throne. After they were all settled in, he turned his attention to Alisha first. “Now if counsel would be kind enough to state their appearances for the record, we can get this over and done with real quick.”

“Good morning, Your Honor. Alisha Hart for Mr. Lester Massey.”

“All righty then.” Slagle leveled his bug eyes on Daniel.

“Daniel Fortune for the people, Your Honor.”

Slagle grinned, revealing a yellowed set of crooked teeth. “Well, boy howdy, Mr. Fortune. They've sent in the big dawg. How'd you get saddled with this one?”

“Just answering the request of my superiors,” Daniel said, shuffling the papers set out on the table before him.

“Okeydoke, let's dispense with some of this business. First of all, Ms. Hart, I respect you giving it a good shot, but your motion to dismiss all charges is denied. Now let's start with your motion to repress the statement from the witness who talks about a weapon. Wanna comment on that, Mr. Fortune, since I'm not seeing a formal charge yet?”

Daniel expected that, and he also expected the probability he'd get shot down on it. “The witness claims he saw Mr. Massey throw something into the river that appeared to be a gun.”

Alisha gripped the arms of her chair. “Your Honor, as far as I'm aware, no gun has been recovered.”

“That true, Mr. Fortune?”

Krauss had really screwed up this one, and Daniel was going to take the brunt of it. “Yes, sir, that's true.”

“Then if we ain't got a gun, that pretty much voids your
witness's statement and I'm going to grant Ms. Hart's motion to suppress. And since you no longer have a witness's statement, I'm thinking that means you won't be bringing that charge. Unless you expect the investigation to turn up a weapon in the near future.” He stared at Daniel expectantly, awaiting an answer.

“As far as I know, the search has been suspended for the time being.”

“Because no weapon exists,” Alisha interjected. “The only thing my client had on his person was a set of maracas.”

“Maracas.” Slagle grinned, then cleared his throat exaggeratedly. “Well, as far as I'm concerned, due to lack of evidence, I'm going to assume the prosecution isn't going to try to introduce this again.”

Daniel tugged at his tie. “No, sir.”

Slagle picked up another document. “Okay, I'll hear arguments on the motion to dismiss the indecent-exposure charge.”

“Mr. Massey's genitals were not exposed,” Alisha said. “He—”

“Your Honor,” Daniel interrupted. “We have a witness who claims she did, in fact, see Mr. Massey's genitals.”

“Where is she, Mr. Fortune?” Slagle asked.

“Unfortunately unavailable today. But she will be here during the trial.”

Alisha turned her glare on him. “According to the penal code, even if Mr. Massey's penis was inadvertently exposed…” That's when the court reporter's shoulders began to shake and a snort came out of her mouth, drawing everyone's attention and momentarily suspending Alisha's commentary. “As I was saying,” she finally continued, “according to the code, a person commits an offense if he is exposed and if he has the intent to arouse.”

Daniel leveled his gaze on hers. “According to the statement, Mr. Massey was aroused.”

Slagle picked up another document and slid the glasses up
on the bridge of his nose with one bony finger. “That would be from a Miss Ramsey, who states here, ‘I saw it when that sash blew up. Like, you couldn't miss it. I mean, like, the thing was
huge
and saluting the flag.'” He regarded Daniel again. “I'm guessing she means ‘thing' as in privates?”

Daniel hated this whole thing. “If you'll read on, she does use the clinical terminology later in her statement.”

At that point, Alisha leaned over to speak with Les Massey, and Daniel immediately noticed the creep putting his hand on her shoulder. The exchange looked a little too intimate. But then, seeing any guy with his hands on her made Daniel's blood pressure rise.

She straightened and addressed the judge again. “Your Honor, Mr. Massey states that even if the sash had blown up, he would not have been exposed because it was fashioned like a diaper.”

Slagle didn't bother to conceal his laugh. “A diaper?”

“Yes, sir. It covered his buttocks and his genitals before being secured at his waist in a bow.”

“Was he wearing a diaper at the Alamo?”

“No, sir. He wore a full-length open duster and a pouch.”

“A coonskin tail, sir,” Massey said, looking very pleased with himself.

“What about at the zoo?” Slagle asked.

“A loincloth,” Alisha answered, her gaze drifting to her hands folded before her, the first sign of her discomfort. “And I find it unusual that out of hundreds of witnesses, this Miss Ramsey is the only one who's come forward with the exposure accusation.”

Daniel saw his chance to step in and took it. “Regardless, she stands by her assertions.”

Alisha finally looked at him. “Considering the incident took place at night, the light was limited, so I don't see how she can be so certain she saw anything from where she was standing on the other side of the river.”

Daniel cleared his throat. “Might I remind defense counsel that it was the holiday season and the area was decorated with various lights.”

“And might I remind the prosecutor that if these lights provided ample illumination, then one would assume more than one witness would have seen Mr. Massey's ‘thing.'”

Good point. “Maybe she was the only one looking.”

Alisha released a sarcastic laugh. “Yeah, right. It's bad enough we're wasting time and money trying this case that the state is determined to make my client into a hardened criminal.” Her gaze zipped from Daniel to the judge, who appeared to be greatly enjoying the exchange. “No pun intended.”

Slagle tented his clasped hands beneath his pointy chin. “I'm inclined to agree that this is a stretch.”

Daniel was already getting whipped and the official trial hadn't even begun. “But—”

“Now, Mr. Fortune, you gotta let me finish. I'm going to let the jury decide on Mr. Massey's intent and whether he let the bull out of the barn ready to breed, so the motion to suppress Miss Ramsey's statement is also denied.”

Somewhat of a victory for Daniel, but the victory was short-lived when Slagle said, “Ms. Hart, I am going to allow the subpoena of Mrs. O'Reilly's medical records.”

He knew exactly where Alisha was going with that one—attack the assault victim's credibility. “I'm inclined to question the necessity of that, Your Honor.”

“Save it, Counselor,” Slagle said. “You'll both have your day in court because Mr. Massey will be bound over for trial. On that note, this is your lucky day, Mr. Massey. I'm going to make this a real speedy process. I've cleared my docket for a week from next Monday to start the show. Any problem for either of you counselors?”

Daniel did a mental countdown. That gave him all of ten days to get up to speed on the particulars, when he wasn't juggling his normal caseload. “No problem,” he said anyway.

“That sounds fine,” Alisha added. “But I would respectfully ask the court to consider letting Mr. Massey be released on his own recognizance until the trial since he can't afford any bail.”

Now that would thrill Vera, Daniel decided. “Your Honor, we went through this during the arraignment. Mr. Massey has no real job, lives with so-called friends and has no real ties to this community. I don't believe—”

“Neither do I, Mr. Fortune. Mr. Massey will just have to be a guest of the state until he appears in court.” Slagle turned his attention to Massey. “And in the meantime, young man, I'm warning you to keep the garden hose in the shed. Is that clear?”

Les tugged at his tie. “Yes, sir. I sure will, sir.”

“Good.” Slagle regarded Daniel and Alisha. “Anything else you two would like to say?”

Daniel and Alisha muttered “No” simultaneously.

Slagle banged his gavel—a little harder than necessary, in Daniel's opinion. “Then this hearing's officially adjourned. But I have a couple more things to talk about, off the record.”

Just when Daniel thought he might actually make a quick escape, he was about to endure a lecture. For a brief moment he worried that somehow Slagle had become privy to the private dealings between opposing counsel. Pure and simple paranoia. No way Slagle could know.

“I'm sure that you, Mr. Fortune, and you, Ms. Hart, saw the coverage on one of those national news shows this morning?” the judge asked.

Daniel exchanged a glance with Alisha and realized she was also in the dark. “I'm afraid I missed that,” he said.

“I did, too,” Alisha added.

Slagle stroked his mustache like a pet. “Well, it was mighty interesting. And now that this case has gained national attention, we're going to have one hot media fiasco on our hands. I don't think I have to tell you two what that means and I also don't want to see either of you grandstanding for the cameras and trying this case in the press. Is that understood?”

“Yes, Your Honor,” Alisha said.

“I understand completely.” And Daniel did because he'd been through this situation on more than one occasion. He suspected Alisha had not.

Slagle stood. “See y'all in court.”

Daniel collected his notes and shoved them into his briefcase while Alisha spoke with her client before they carted him off. He hated more and more that this case continued to stand in his way of pursuing her. Not that he hadn't done his share of pursuing last night.

He could use a crash course in resistance, he decided as from the corner of his eye he watched her gather her things. He watched every little move she made up until the time she left the courtroom without giving him a second glance.

He needed to ignore her, forget her for the time being, an exercise in futility. Truth was, he didn't want to ignore her. He just plain wanted her.

 

The minute Alisha left the courtroom, the crush was on. Several reporters stood at the end of the corridor, held back by a line of stoic security guards. The only way out meant walking right through the cameras and chaos.

“Hope you're ready for the first circus act, Ms. Hart.”

Alisha caught a whiff of his cologne first before she turned to find Daniel standing behind her, one hand hidden away in his pocket, the other clutching a briefcase. “Appears to be that way,” she said with a fast glance at said circus. “Are you going to go first, or should I?”

He nodded to his left. “I'm going to my offices via the staff elevator.”

How heroic. “You mean you're going to just throw me to the wolves all by my lonesome?” she asked.

“It's all a part of the game. Might as well get used to it now.”

“And you're not going to say anything?”

“You heard Slagle. We don't need to try this in the press. ‘No comment' is always your best recourse in this situation.”

Like she didn't know that. “Exactly what I intend to say. It's not going to make the hassle any easier, though, because they're not going to give up.”

“True, so you're welcome to hang out in my office until they go away.”

Seductive images came to her with clarity. Images of clearing Daniel's desk and having a fine time behind closed doors. “Oh, now that's a good way to raise more than a few eyebrows.”

“As far as anyone knows, we could be discussing the particulars of the case. Unless you're worried we might give something away.”

“Such as?”

“I don't think I have to verbalize that, do I?”

No, he didn't, although she remembered quite clearly his verbal skills on New Year's Eve, among all of his other skills. “I'll just take my chances with the reporters.” That seemed much safer than taking a chance by being alone with him. She knew all too well where that might lead. And she might be tempted to be the leader.

“Good luck.” He withdrew his hand from his pocket and held it out to her.

A simple handshake, outlining the boundaries, and that should have relieved Alisha. But in reality it disappointed her. However, this was business, and business came before pleasure, particularly in this instance. As a goodwill gesture between opposing parties to satisfy the press, she took his hand into hers. Before he let her go and walked away, he ran his thumb over her palm, sending a sensual message that nearly short-circuited Alisha's faltering composure.

She didn't have time to be excited over Daniel Fortune, even if she was. She didn't have time to play this game, even though she really wanted to play. Right now she had to face the folly.