Page 31 of Legally Mated
I didn’t care. Whatever he picked today, I would eat it, because there was, all of a sudden, a light at the end of thetunnel.
Laine tossed my suit jacket at me. “Let’s go out thebackdoor.”
That was strange. “Why?” I asked curiously as I slipped my arms into thesleeves.
His jaw worked and he frowned. “Just humorme,okay?”
My heart fell and I lost my appetite entirely. “You’re really seriousaboutthis.”
He shrugged into his own jacket with sharp, angry movements. “That’s part of it, but it’s Dan too. He sent a fucking email around while I was in court, letting people know that you weren’t to be seen in the office. I’m a partner too. He can’t just decide who Iworkwith.”
Lysoon, he was getting all worked up about this. “You’re a junior partner, not much better than an associate,” I hissed at him in a low voice. “He’s a managing partner. Dammit, Laine! Do not get yourself firedforme!”
He rounded on me, and it was the other Laine, the one that frightened young prosecutors in court. “No. You will not set yourself on fire to keep him warm. Or me. You need to keep your skills sharp, even more now, if you’re planning to attempt the Bar again. For that, you need to work, andstudy.”
“I can study at home. And I can work with Eva,” I said gently, refusing to let himintimidateme.
He didn’t say a word, just pulled me to him roughly and kissed me as if he was ready to throw our lunch date out the window in favor of sating some other appetite. My head spun with the heat of it, and the couch looked more and more inviting as he nipped at my lips and explored the contours of my mouth with absoluteconfidence.
When the kiss ended, I leaned against him for a moment, both of us breathing as if we’d been running from lions. I didn’t want to go out, to break this moment, as his scent rose to my nose and I parted my lips so I could breathe him in moredeeply.
“Lunch?” he murmured in my ear. His lips brushed gently against it, sending shivers overmybody.
“I suppose we have work to do this afternoon,”Isaid.
“Some. But maybe we can take part of the afternoon off? And I want to run this other ideapastyou.”
“Yes,” I breathed, and leaned in to steal another kiss before reluctantly stepping away from him. Lunch was going to be torture, but the reward later would be entirelyworthit.
Chapter24
Iwasn’t entirelycomfortable with Laine’s determination to lift his leg and piss on everything in front of his managing partner, but at least I got him out of the building for a while. Laine—the king of malicious compliance—was taking Dan at his word. I wondered how he’d sneak me in and hide me once Dan was back from trip, and whether I shouldn’t just put my foot and down and refuse to be part of him tugging on Dan’s tail. That would be the smart move, the politicallycorrectmove.
But there was a part of me cheering Laine on and I was struggling between the good Garrick and thebadone.
Laine kept his promise of hamburgers and we ate at a tiny little bistro around the corner from the courthouse, with the most amazing burgers I’d ever had. I didn’t even complain when Laine paid, because I was nearly comatose with overeating and so mellow I would have let him buy me a suit if he’dasked.
“I need to drop some stuff off at the courthouse,” he said as we left thebistro.
“You’re filing your own motions now?” I joked as wewalked.
“No, you’re filing them. I’m going to go talk to the prosecutor we drew. He’s got a case starting in about half an hour. I should be able to find himherenow.”
I laughed and accepted the sealed envelope he held outtome.
It only took a few minutes for me to drop the paperwork off with the clerk, and then I tracked Laine up to the fifth floor, where he was giving the prosecutor, a man named Burgess, shit. He saw me walking down the corridor and patted Burgess on the back, then stepped past him to come meet me. Over his shoulder, I saw the prosecutor watching us with a speculativeexpression.
“What was that about?” I asked as we headed downstairsagain.
“Just letting him know that I filed a motion to suppress the gun in the case we’re dealing with. He knew it was coming anyway.” Laine glanced around and I thought for a second he was going to say something, but he just shook his head and led me out of the elevator and into the lobby. “What are your plans thisafternoon?”
“Hit up the law library? Unless you have something you need me to do.” We stepped out of the courthouse into bright sunshine, almost a shock after the cool dimness of thecourthouse.
“Why don’t we take the entire afternoon off? I’m feeling rebellious and I don’t have any meetings scheduled for this afternoon. Let’s go do something, maybe get ice cream in the park. You can tell me more about Washington.” Laine unbuttoned his suitcoat with a satisfied twist of his fingers. At least this time he didn’t put a hand on my shoulder—I’d trained him out of that in public,finally.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I said. “Remember, you hire me because I’m cheap, not because you give a shit or we’re friends. Even this…” I grimaced. “I’m not sure we should have had lunch here. And you’re already in Dan’s badbooks.”
“We’re colleagues,” he said firmly. “And you know that’s only the coverstory.”
