And I couldn’t blame her. Everyone knows cobras, tigers, and sharks are dangerous. But the bottlenose dolphin? So sweet looking and loveable, their whistle plays harmony when you pet them on the top of the head. But accidentally injure one and they will attack. It’s true. My hobby, other than fucking and working, is watching the National Geographic channel.
Kierra Albright is a bottlenose dolphin. She’d just recommended thirty days in jail to the judge, rather than the fine she’d told us she would offer less than a half-hour ago.
“Give me a minute. Take a seat in the galley, and I’ll come get you in a few. I need to have a word with the ADA. Alone.”
Emerie nodded, even though she looked like she was on the verge of tears, and I took a moment to let her compose herself. Then I opened the gate that separates the spectators from the players in the courtroom and led her to an empty row in the back. As I started to walk away, I saw a tear roll down her face, and it stopped me in my tracks.
Without thinking, I lifted her chin so our eyes met. “Trust me. You’re going home tonight. Okay? Just trust me.”
My voice startled Kierra in the ladies’ room across from the courtroom.
“What the hell was that all about?” I locked the door as she turned to face me.
“You can’t come in here.”
“If anyone asks, I’m identifying with my feminine side today.”
“You’re an asshole.”
“I’m an asshole? What the hell was with all that ‘Nice to see you, Drew,’ crap? ‘I’ll recommend a fifty-dollar fine, and you’ll be out of here in time to play golf.’”
She turned away from me and walked to the mirror. Slipping a lipstick from her suit jacket pocket, she leaned in and lined her lips in blood red, saying nothing until she was done. Then she gave me the widest, brightest smile I’d ever seen.
“Figured your new plaything needed to get used to being told one thing and then having another happen when she least expects it.”
“She’s not my plaything. She’s a…friend I’m helping out.”
“I saw the way you looked at her, the way you had your hand on her back. If you aren’t screwing her already, you will be soon. Maybe she needs a night in county lockup because you can’t handle yourself in the courtroom. Might sour her to your charm. Come to think of it, I’m doing the woman a service. She should thank me.”
“You’re out of your mind if you think I’m going to let you get away with this. Emerie has nothing to do with what went down between the two of us. I’ll ask Judge Hawkins to recuse himself if I have to.”
“Recuse himself? On what grounds?”
“On the grounds that your father plays golf with him every Friday, and you yourself have told me he gives you whatever you want. Did you forget how much you liked to talk shop after I fucked you?”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
I had been standing at a distance—ten feet away in front of the locked door—but I walked slowly to where she was standing, getting nice and close.
“Try me.”
She held my stare for a long moment. “Fine. But let’s do this the way adversaries are supposed to. Not threatening below the belt. We’ll make a deal.”
I shook my head. “What do you want, Kierra?”
“You want your client home tonight. I want something in return.”
“Fine. What do you want?”
Her tongue glossed over her top lip like she was starving and looking at a juicy steak. “You. And not in a bathroom or the back seat of an Uber. I want you—a proper date where you take me out and wine me and dine me before you sixty-nine me.”
“Oh my God. I can’t thank you enough.”
“Let’s just pay the fine and get out of here.”
As I sped her out of the courtroom, Emerie seemed to interpret my rush to be about her taking up too much of my day. But it wasn’t that at all. I’d almost made it out when Kierra called after us.
“Drew, do you have a moment?”
“Not now. I need to be somewhere.” Anywhere but here.
I kept my hand on Emerie’s back and continued moving, but my client had other ideas. She stopped walking.
“We need to go,” I said.
“Let me at least thank the ADA.”
“That’s not necessary. The city of New York thanks her every other Friday when they hand her a paycheck.”
Emerie’s eyes scolded me. “I’m not being rude, just because you are.” With that, she turned and waited for Kierra to catch up.
She extended her hand. “Thank you so much for everything. I was a wreck this morning when I thought I might be taken into custody.”
Kierra looked at Emerie’s hand and snubbed her. She turned her body my direction and spoke to me while responding. “Don’t thank me. Thank your attorney.”
“Yes, I’ll do that.”
“But don’t thank him too much. I don’t want him worn out.” Kierra turned on her heel and waved goodbye over her shoulder. “I’ll call you for our appointment, Drew.”
Emerie looked at me. “That was odd.”
“She must be off her meds. Come on, let’s get you out of here.”
By the time we paid the fine and picked up copies of Emerie’s warrant clearance, it was nearly four o’clock.
Out on the court steps, she turned to me. “I hope you’re not anti public displays of affection, because I need to give you a hug.”
I actually wasn’t much of a public affection person at all, but hey—I wasn’t getting paid for this wasted day, so I might as well get something out of this. Those tits pushed up against me were definitely better than nothing—might even be better than a full day at six seventy-five an hour.
“If you insist.”
The smile she shot me was pretty damn close to as perfect as I’d ever seen. Then came the hug. It was a long one—those tits and that tiny, lithe body enveloped me into more than a courtesy hug. She even smelled good.
When she pulled back, she kept her hands on my arms. “I’m going to pay you back for today. Even if it takes me years.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“No, I mean it.”
We spent a few minutes more talking, exchanged numbers in case any deliveries showed up for her, and said goodbye. She was heading uptown, and I was heading down, so we parted in opposite directions. After I took a few steps, I looked back over my shoulder and watched the sway of her ass. She looked just as good going as she did coming.
That made me think… I bet she looked even more incredible when she was coming. Just as I was about to turn back around, Emerie turned in my direction, and she caught me watching her walk away. She smiled big and gave a last wave before turning the corner and disappearing out of sight.
I wanted her to pay me back for today, alright.
And I could think of several ways I’d like to collect.
Emerie
I lifted my buzzing cell to my ear, catching the time as I did. Almost eleven p.m.—late for anyone to call.
“Hello?”
“Emerie?”
That voice. I didn’t have to ask who it was. In person, his voice was deep and raspy, but it was downright gravelly on the phone.
“Drew? Is everything okay?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Because it’s sort of late.”
I heard the phone move around and then, “Shit. Sorry. I had no idea. I just looked at the time. I thought it was maybe nine.”
“Time flies when you spend most of the day in court with criminals, doesn’t it?”
“Guess so. I went back home, started to catch up on some work, then stopped in my office. I must’ve lost track of time.”
“I came back home, had a few glasses of wine, and felt sorry for myself some more. Your evening sounds way more productive. Are you still in the office?”
“Yeah. That’s what made me call you. I’m sitting here thinking that when you find a new office, it’s going to look very nice.”
What an odd thing
to say. “Thank you. But what makes you say that?”
“Glass and dark wood. I like it. I would have taken you for something more girly, though.”
“What are you—oh, no. They delivered my office furniture today?”
“They did.”
“How? How did they even get in when you were with me all day?”
“My contractor was here finishing up, and I hadn’t had a chance to tell him what went down yet. He thought he was doing you a favor by letting them in.”
I banged my head against my kitchen counter, then kept my forehead pressed to it to stop from bludgeoning myself. I couldn’t catch the groan that came from my mouth, though.
“I’m sorry. I’ll deal with it right away. First thing in the morning.”
“Take your time. My stuff is still in storage. I can keep it here for a while.”
“Thank you. I’m so sorry. I’ll get on the phone first thing in the morning and make them come back and get it. Then I’ll come wait at your office so you don’t have to deal with it, if that’s okay.”
“Of course.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Stop saying you’re sorry, Emerie. Ex-cons are hardened. They don’t apologize. I’ll see you in the morning.”
I laughed, because it kept me from crying.
“Hello?” I knocked on the half-opened door and listened to my voice echo back to me. The door pushed open, and I was surprised to find the lobby area still empty. I thought my furniture would have been dropped here.
In the distance, I heard a voice, but couldn’t make it out. I stepped inside and yelled a little louder. “Hello? Drew?”
Rapid footsteps clanked against the new marble flooring, each step growing louder until Drew appeared from the hallway. He had his cellphone up to his ear and held up a finger as he continued with his call.
“We don’t want the house in Breckenridge. My client hates the cold. She can keep it, but it will be the only property she’s leaving this marriage with.” A pause, then, “No, I’m not nuts. After I hang up, I’m going to send you some photos of the Breckenridge property. I think they’ll convince you that Mrs. Hollister really enjoys that house.”
Just then, a FedEx deliveryman appeared with a hand truck full of boxes. Drew moved the phone from his ear to speak to him. “Give me one minute.”
Deciding the least I could do was help him out, I signed for the delivery and asked the nice delivery man to stack the boxes on top of the plastic-covered reception counter. Drew mouthed thank you and continued his call.
While he was semi-yelling at whoever was on the other end of the conversation, I took a minute to check him out. He wore what I assumed by the fit was a very expensive suit. The sleeve on the arm holding the cell was pushed back, revealing a big, expensive-looking watch. His shoes were shiny and his shirt crisply pressed. His hair was dark and too long for a man who shined his shoes, and his skin was tanned from his recent vacation, which made his very light green eyes stand out even brighter.
But it was his lips that were impossible not to stare at—so full and perfectly shaped. He really is beautiful. I wasn’t sure I’d ever thought of a man as beautiful before. Handsome, yes. Hot, even. But beautiful fit the bill to describe Drew Jagger—no other word did him justice.
He finished up his call. “Seriously, Max, how many cases have you been on the other side of the table staring at my pretty face? You don’t know when I’m not bluffing by now? Look at the photos, then let me know your answer on the offer. I think you’ll find it more than fair after things are put in perspective for you. Her twenty-year-old ski instructor was teaching her a new kind of snowplow. Offer’s on the table for forty-eight hours. Then I have to make another phone call to you, which means my client gets another bill and your offer goes down by a fuck of a lot.”
Drew pushed a button on his phone and looked up at me, about to speak, when it started to buzz in his hand. “Shit.” He sighed, eyes flicking to his phone again and back to me. “Sorry. I need to take this, too.”
A Poland Spring delivery guy wheeling big jugs of water knocked at the front door. I looked at Drew. “I got it. Go take your call.”
Over the next fifteen minutes that Drew was on the phone, I turned away a solicitor, answered the ringing office phone buried under a tarp—twice—and signed for some legal documents served to the Law Offices of Drew M. Jagger. I was bluffing my way through a prospective client call when Drew reappeared.
“We’ll have to thank Mr. Aiken for recommending you.” I listened for a moment and then added, “Our rate is...” I caught Drew’s eye. “Seven hundred an hour.”
The corner of his mouth twitched.
“Sure. Why don’t I make you an appointment for an initial consultation? Let me put you on hold for just a minute so I can look up Mr. Jagger’s calendar.”
I pressed the button and held out my hand, palm up. “Is your calendar synched on your phone?”
Drew pulled his phone from his pocket and handed it to me. “It is.”
Opening his mobile Outlook calendar, I scanned for the next opening. There was nothing for a solid month. “Can you move your dinner with someone named Monica from six to eight, and I’ll book Mr. Patterson for four-thirty next Wednesday? He said it’s urgent. He may need a restraining order to protect his assets like you did for Mr. Aiken.”
“Done.”
I reconnected the call. “How about four-thirty next Wednesday, the eighth? That’s perfect? Great. And our standard retainer is—” I looked to Drew, and he held up ten fingers. “Twelve thousand…Okay, thank you. We look forward to seeing you then. Goodbye.”
Drew looked amused as I hung up. “Did I raise my hourly rates from six seventy-five to seven hundred?”
“No. That extra twenty-five dollars is mine. For every hour you bill him, you can take it off of what I owe you. I figured out that my bill for eight hours yesterday is fifty-four hundred dollars—I pay the standard rate, of course, not Mr. Patterson’s inflated rate—so if you could bill Mr. Patterson for a few hundred hours, that would be great.”
Drew chuckled. “There’s the spitfire who attacked me with her mad Krav Maga skills a few nights ago. Your lack of tenacity had me concerned yesterday.”
“I was arrested and almost thrown in jail.”
“I’m heartbroken. You had such little faith that I would get you off?”
“That woman was out for my blood at first yesterday. What did you say to her to get her to change her tune anyway?”
“We made a deal.”
I squinted. “What did you have to give her in return for lightening up on me?”
Drew looked me in the eyes. “Nothing important.”
The office phone began to ring again behind me. “Do you want me to…”
He waved me off. “The answering service will pick it up. Come on, I’ll show you your furniture.”
“I thought it would be in the lobby.”
“Tom thought he was helping, so he had them set it up in my office.”
I followed Drew down the hall, and he opened the door to the large office next to the file room I’d been working in. The other day when I was here, it hadn’t been done—moldings and trim still needed to be hung, and everything was covered by tarps. The contractor must have worked all day yesterday to get it finished.
“Wow. It looks beautiful in here. Except…” I thought better of sharing my thought and shook my head. “Nothing. It looks beautiful.”
“Except what? What were you going to say?”
“The office is beautiful. It really is—tall ceilings, wide crown moldings, except…everything is white. Why didn’t you paint any color? It’s kind of boring all white.”
He shrugged. “I like things simple. Black and white.”
I snorted. “Good thing you came back when you did, then. I’d already picked out a bright yellow for your office. Copy room was going to be red.”
My beautiful desk actually did look amazing in his giant office, even w
ith the boring white paint. The top was a thick tempered glass, and the bottom had dark mahogany legs shaped like a workhorse. I wasn’t generally a modern furniture person, but the desk was so beautiful and serene-looking that I had to have it.
“The furniture company wouldn’t give me a time, but they’re supposed to come today to pick it back up. They wanted to charge me a forty-percent restocking and pickup fee. Took me an hour on the phone with a manager to explain they’d violated their own delivery contract by letting an unauthorized person take delivery.”
“You’re good on the phone.”
“I worked as a customer service rep for a printer company through college. I remember what made me really listen and bend the rules for a customer after a long day of complaint calls.”
Drew’s cell phone began to ring again. He looked down at it, then decided not to answer.
“Take it. I’ll get out of your way. God knows I’ve taken up enough of your time. And you seem really busy.”
“It’s okay. I don’t need to answer it.”
“Is it just you in this big space all alone?”
“I normally have a paralegal and a secretary. But my secretary went out on a few months of medical leave two weeks ago, and my paralegal decided to go to law school out of state.”
“Sounds like you’re going to be pretty busy.”
His cell phone rang again, and this time he said he needed to take the call. He told me to make myself at home, but…there wasn’t really anything to do. Drew went into the file room and sat down at the table I’d been using as my desk, and I went back to the lobby. After removing the rest of the plastic from the reception desk, I found some cleaning supplies in the bathroom and wiped it down before setting up my laptop.
In between catching up on emails, I answered the office phone and took messages.
When Drew came back out an hour later, he looked annoyed. “My cell phone died. Could I borrow yours for a few minutes? My cordless is in storage with the rest of my crap, and I was almost done hammering out a settlement. I don’t want to give the attorney time to reconsider all the stupid things he just agreed to.”