When she pushed out the door into the cool, misty night, that potential mistake was leaning against the lone lamppost, hands in his pockets, face illuminated by the halogen bulb. Suddenly making that mistake didn’t seem like such a bad idea.
You should do him, Hart….
Alisha could not imagine that. All right, she could imagine it. And she had. Several times. She certainly wasn’t going to make the first move. Or any kind of move, for that matter. But she faced a certain dilemma. She had to walk past him on her way to the pay-by-the-hour parking lot across the street. Of course, she could ignore him—as if that were really possible since he’d already seen her. Or she could sprint to her car with only a muttered good-night.
How silly. She could handle this situation with adult diplomacy.
This is not that difficult, Alisha.
Stepping onto the sidewalk, Alisha studied the stars and blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “A really nice night for sex.” Oh, crap. She’d been paid a visit by Freud instead of Baby New Year.
Daniel pushed off the pole and narrowed his eyes. “What did you just say?”
Alisha felt the fire rising to her face and more than likely she probably looked as if she’d been slapped. Someone should slap her for the questionable comment. “I said it’s a nice night in Texas.” Good save, Alisha. “Why?”
“Because I could’ve sworn you said something about sex.”
She folded her arms beneath her breasts and prepared to lie. “I’m not surprised you thought that. I hear men think about sex about every six seconds.”
“A total exaggeration. More like every ninety seconds.” He topped off the comment with the most patently seductive smile she’d ever seen on a man.
“I stand corrected.” Although right now standing before him made her want to drop to her knees in brazen worship as if he’d been ordained as a D.A. demigod.
I’d do him…in a heartbeat….
A round of pop, pop, pops from a series of firecrackers echoing through the streets yanked Alisha back into the real world, where defense attorneys and prosecutors didn’t mingle, especially between the sheets. Yes, it happened, that much Alisha knew. But not to her. She’d learned her lesson the hard way, and since that time she’d walked the professional line even though right now she wanted to walk right up and kiss the esteemed Daniel Fortune. The way she’d fantasized about kissing him for months now. She’d fantasized about a lot more than that.
He broke the silence by asking, “Why didn’t you wait inside until midnight?”
She hugged her bag to her chest. “First, it’s too crowded. Second, Billy Wade was singing like a wounded banshee. Third, sleep’s at a premium these days and I need to get home.”
“Yeah. I imagine it is with the Massey case pending.”
She attempted to look appropriately incensed—very hard to do in the presence of a man who took charisma to a whole new level. “You’re determined to get me to discuss that, aren’t you?”
“No. Just making an observation.”
And that was the reason for his attention. “You’re being too polite to me, Counselor, which leads me to believe you’re making nice so I’ll give you a clue about my strategy.”
“There’s a couple of things you need to know about me, Counselor. The Massey case isn’t my problem because my job is to prosecute the worst of the worst. Felonies, not misdemeanors. And I don’t make nice with a woman to gain information.”
“Then what do you hope to gain by making nice?”
“I don’t hope to gain anything. At least, not in terms of our professional relationship.”
Alisha wasn’t sure where this could be leading but she did know it could be down a dangerous path. “We don’t have anything other than a professional relationship.”
“We could.”
That almost shocked Alisha right out of her viselike heels. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re a prosecutor and I’m a defense attorney.”
“No reason why we can’t be friendly outside of the courts.”
Alisha could think of one big reason—namely she’d gotten a little too friendly with a colleague and she’d lived to regret it. “Maybe having a personal relationship with associates might work for you, but I’ve never considered it to be a wise move.”
“I don’t know if it works for me because I’ve never done it before.”
That was a hard one to swallow. “You’re telling me that you’ve never fraternized with one of the many female attorneys in this town?”
“Never found one I cared to fraternize with.” The look he gave her said, Until now. Or maybe her imagination was commandeering her brain again.
Turning the topic back to their profession seemed wise. “By the way, I wanted to add my congratulations on your handling of the Richardson case.”
“And I should congratulate you on bulldozing the new guy into taking a plea on the Langston case.”
“I didn’t bulldoze him. I just did some serious negotiating.”
“You scared the hell out of him.”
She lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Okay, call me scary. I’ve been called worse.”
“Such as?”
“Stubborn. Single-minded—”
“Sexy as hell?”
Ha! “Can’t say that I’ve heard that in anyone’s verbal repertoire when describing me.”
“Well, it’s in mine, because you are. Especially tonight.”
Alisha fought the inclination to look behind her to see what other woman had arrived on the scene. She pointed toward the street. “I’m going to head home now.” Before she did something totally stupid.
“Where do you live?” he asked.
“In an apartment north of town, about twenty minutes away.”
“I’m a lot closer. Only a few blocks away. The new condo development.”
“The one that overlooks the river? That’s rather pricey. I didn’t know the D.A.’s office paid so well.”
“I manage. The view alone is worth it.”
“I’m sure it’s great.”
“You should come over tonight and see for yourself.”
Surely this couldn’t be happening to her, a tremendously sensual man asking her over. Actually it couldn’t be happening, or it shouldn’t. “Let me guess. You want me to go over your briefs.”
“My briefs are in order, unless you feel the need to do a quality check.”
She rolled her eyes for the second time tonight, even though she had a sudden image of doing that very thing. “You’re a big boy. I’m sure you’re quite capable of tossing out your old underwear when necessary.”
“We were talking about underwear?” His grin was teasing and terribly tempting.
She laid a dramatic hand on her chest. “My apologies, Mr. Fortune. I guess I’ve confused you with all of the other male jurists who just love to throw out