"Not yet,” he whispered, pulling back a few inches "I want... "
"What is it?" I asked.
"I want you to know that I mean it,” he said. "I don't want to rush tonight."
I understood his meaning.
"Okay," I said, placing my palm against his heart and smoothing out the fabric of his shirt.
"Oh Blair," he said, pulling us closer once more and speaking with his lips pressed against my forehead. "I just want to be with you."
I leaned in and rested against his chest, the crown of my head nestled perfectly into the crook of his neck.
"You’re with me,” I whispered. "I'm not going anywhere." I didn’t want to move, but I also knew that we both had court early the next morning. "Do you want to go get some clothes for tomorrow and stay over?" I asked.
"I have a suit in the car. I picked up my dry cleaning this morning,” he said.
"Well that works our nicely."
"Yes it does,” he whispered.
We fell asleep on the couch wrapped in each other’s arms while the television flickered with some late show.
Chapter Eleven
"Aiden and Blair! Sitting in a Tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" The sound of Kelsey's mocking voice cut through my sleep like a knife through butter.
I opened my eyes immediately, regretting having fallen asleep on the couch due to the muscle cramp slicing through my neck muscles.
Sometime in the night Aiden and I had repositioned to a semblance of lying down. My head rested on the arm of the couch, and Aiden was just lifting his head off of my shoulder. His hair stuck out in disheveled spikes. I could only imagine what I must have looked like.
I glanced up squinting at my roommate who stood over us with a grin on her face and her arms crossed.
"Good morning, Sunshine,” she beamed.
I carefully sat up, untangling from Aiden as he also became vertical. I rubbed my neck to try and relax the cramp.
"Coffee?" I said, giving Kelsey a pleading look.
"In about ten minutes," Kelsey said while still giggling as she headed to the kitchen. "I gotta say though, you guys looked adorable all snuggled up together. Just adorable. Too bad I didn't take any pictures before waking you up... Oh wait! I did!"
Her laugh veered into a false maniacal cackle.
"Great."
I rolled my eyes and looked over at Aiden who glanced at me with a sheepish look. We both burst into laughter at our scenario. The clock indicated that we had about three hours before we had to be at court, plenty of time.
"What do we do now?" Aiden said, raking his hands through his hair.
"I think breakfast is in order at least,” I answered.
He chuckled and stood, adjusting his clothing and heading off to the restroom. I met Kelsey in the kitchen just as she had the coffee brewing. She looked at me wide eyed.
"What?!" she said in a stage whisper.
"I don't know," I said with a shrug. "We just fell asleep on the couch together."
"That's like.... I don't know. That's way serious!"
"It kind of is, isn't it,” I agreed.
"More serious than sex even, I would say,” she said with a knowing nod. Her face relaxed and she spoke again in a normal tone as Aiden stepped into the kitchen behind me. "Coffee?"
"Thought you'd never ask,” he said, reaching for the mug that she held out to him.
"I'm going to go and get ready for the day," Kelsey said in an attempt to avoid being the third wheel.
She gave me a significant glance behind Aiden's back as she exited the room, which I responded with by rolling my eyes. Despite the obvious awkwardness, as soon as she was gone Aiden walked over to me and kissed me on the forehead.
"Good morning," he whispered.
"Good morning," I said.
I felt strangely light headed, as if everything were falling into place. A small part of me felt a tiny amount of victory, since waking up with Aiden had been a fantasy of mine for a long time. I poured myself some coffee after he did and I opened the cabinets to see what we had to offer for breakfast.
"Let's see,” I said. "Would you like some Pop Tarts?"
"Seriously?" he said. "Do you have any eggs?"
"We do not have eggs,” I said.
"You stay here and get ready for work,” he said. "I'm going to run down to the store and get you a proper breakfast. I don't know how you enter the courtroom everyday on nothing but toaster pastries. Honestly, Blair." He shook his head but the look in his eye betrayed his continued playfulness.
"Okay," I said with a small laugh. "If you say so."
"I'll be back in ten minutes,” he said, pulling on his jacket and grabbing his car keys on his way out the door.
I took the opportunity to take a shower and get dressed while he was gone. When I exited the bathroom buttoning my blouse, I was met with the undeniable scent of frying bacon. When I walked into the kitchen I discovered Aiden working two pans on the stove top, bacon and eggs, and putting on a pair of oven mitts to take the biscuits out of the oven. He turned to me and grinned.
"Kelsey let me back in on her way out,” he said.
"What did you do?" I asked in astonishment.
"I made you breakfast," he insisted. "That's what I did. The biscuits came from a can, but we were on a time crunch. Next time I'll make them from scratch. But watch. You'll do great today in court. Better than you ever will have done before."
So he can cook more than just fish.
"All because of your breakfast,” I said.
"Yup."
He leaned over and kissed me before grabbing a couple of plates out of the cabinet. We ate together at the counter sill laughing over the absurdity of our morning, and he headed off to shower and change.
We discussed the idea of arriving a few minutes apart from each other to the court house, but settled on just getting there when we got there. We were in separate vehicles after all.
"Besides," I said. "I think Ms. Klein is on to us already."
The trial continued with remarkable success in the following days. The senior partners met up with us as we arrived at the court house and as always we awaited the summons from the bailiff. We had received word that the test results had returned with the DNA found underneath the victim's finger nails. The results supported our theory, and both of the senior partners agreed that we would be close to a verdict soon. My task for the day was to resume my questions regarding the test results.
"I'd like to call Detective Roger Ingram to the stand,” I said as I stood, upon the judge’s invitation.
Prosecution hadn’t had anything new, and so the line of questioning defaulted to the defense, to us. I waited the appropriate time while the detective was sworn in. Then I turned and picked up the test results, several eight by ten pages tucked into a clear plastic binder, the most important page moved to the top to be read with ease.
"Detective," I began, turning my body to include the jury with my voice.
The audience had filled out considerably as news of the police oversight had spread. Court junkies, local online activists and family members of both families filled the wooden benches across the small barrier. I handed the test results to Detective Ingram.
"Do you care to tell the court what document I have just handed to you?"
"Yes." He shifted his weight as if the gaze of the entire room upon him caused him pain. "This is a test result on some DNA."
"Specifically which DNA."
"The DNA found at the crime scene."
"Where, specifically was the DNA found?" I said, turning to look him right in the eye.
I had seen the pictures of Rita Shaw's body. I hadn’t intention of easing up on his discomfort.
"Underneath her fingernails,” he said.
I walked over and stood behind the chair in which sat Darius Shaw, who watched the exchange with wide eyes.
"Do you care to read to the courtroom what the test was for, specifically?" I asked.
"The test is to dete
rmine the match between the DNA found and that of Darius Shaw,” he said.
"Thank you, Detective," I said. "Before we continue, indulge me with some information first. You have been working in homicide for a long time. Isn't that so?"
"Yes, that is so,” he said.
"Would you say that it is safe to assume that the DNA found underneath the finger nails of Rita Shaw to be that of the killer?"
He murmured something indistinguishable.
"I'm sorry?" I said, making a show of being unable to hear what he had said.
"That is a fair assumption, yes,” he said in a louder tone.
"Would you care to read to the courtroom what the results say, as to whether the DNA belongs to our client, Darius Shaw? Specifically, do the test results match?"
He paused and shifted once more in his seat, with his eyes cast low. "No they do not."
"So the DNA found under the finger nails of the victim, Rita Shaw, does not match the DNA of our client Darius Shaw. Is that what I understand you to be saying?"
"Yes, that is correct,” he said.
"Is it even possible," I continued. "That the DNA found belongs to anyone related to our client, Darius Shaw?"
"No,” he mumbled.
"I'm sorry?" I asked.
"No, it is not possible."
"No further questions,” I said, giving the jury my best Pollyanna smile as I walked the length of the court room, circling around the table as I took my seat.
I glanced over to the senior partners who both looked at me with approval, nodding and smiling. Ms. Klein gave me a subtle wink.
I glanced over to the prosecution. The entire team of lawyers scrambled through their notes with wide panicked eyes. The judge crossed his hands while waiting for their response. Finally the lead prosecutor stood.
"The prosecution would like to request a twenty-four hour recess,” he said trying to act cool, but I could see the slight tremble in his hands as he spoke.
"Granted."
The judge lifted the gavel and brought it down with a pop. The bailiff took over at that point and excused the jury and then the rest of us. Ms. Klein leaned over to me.
"Excellent work Ms. Michaels,” she whispered.
"I have to be honest," I said. "Aiden was the one who discovered the test was missing. My part was developing the line of questions. We worked on it together."
"Team work pays off once again,” she said with a knowing glance.
As soon as she and Mr. Mahoney had left the room, Aiden stepped to my side. He acted as if he were going through his notes and spoke in such a way that only I could hear him.
"Do you want to have dinner with me tonight?" he asked. "I think we have this case in the bag."
"I think so too," I said. "Dinner sounds great."
"Great," he said.
The look in his eye, such boyish optimism. Maybe Aiden had been right, I thought. Maybe this wasn't the best of circumstances, but maybe we would be okay after all.
I felt like I walked on clouds as we headed out of the courtroom. The senior partners had stopped in the hallway to confer over something before they left and saw us walk out together.
"Aiden," Mr. Mahoney said from across the hall. "Would you care to come by the office for a moment before your day ends?"
"No, not at all,” he said.
I couldn’t help but wonder what they might be meeting about, and why I hadn’t been included in the invitation.
Aiden turned to me as we reached the parking lot. "I'll pick you up around seven?" he asked.
"Yeah," I said, bringing my mind back to the present. "That works for me."
He trotted off to his car as I watched after him. I tried not to let the disheartening feeling ruin my mood. I had recently decided that I would be happy if Aiden got the job. He deserved it, much to my chagrin. Initially I had hoped that my competition might be a shady bottom feeder that I could easily outperform, instead I had gotten Aiden Player.
Sweet, stubborn, charming, and despite the gap in our acquaintance probably knew me better than anyone on the planet, aside from my mother.
I still wanted the job, and I hadn’t conceded yet.
Nor would I, I decided.
I still intended to fight for the full time job, but I would do it the right way. Aiden was no stranger to competition having grown up with five brothers. That much I knew. Losing to him would sting, yes, but it would not be a total loss. I was a strong contender, and I had two weeks left to prove to the partners that I was the right fit for the firm.
I opened my car door and sat down, plunging the key into the ignition.
Enough about that right now, I thought.
The case is not even over, and I have nothing to worry about just yet. Whatever they were seeing him about had nothing to do with the final judgment most likely. Just like the jury couldn’t decide the fate of our client, the partners didn’t yet have the final determination of who would get this job, unless of course I was far worse at my job than I thought I was.
I pulled the gear into reverse, and carefully glanced behind me. As I pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road, I shook my head, imagining the negative thoughts tumbling out of my head, so as to no longer darken my thoughts. I had better things to worry about now, I decided. I had a date to get ready for.
I found Kelsey in the living room when I arrived home.
"I'm going out with Aiden tonight,” I said before even saying hello. "Help me figure out what to wear."
"I can't,” she said as she pulled on her jacket. "Blake is picking me up in fifteen minutes. How are things going with Aiden? You two looked awfully comfortable this morning."
"Well I am going out with him tonight," I said as I kicked off my shoes and landed on the couch, rubbing my soles.
“True." She grinned. "There he is. I gotta run, but have fun tonight."
"You too," I called as she grabbed her purse and headed for the door. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"
"Based on recent developments that gives me a lot of freedom,” she said with a smirk before disappearing out the door.
"What is that supposed to mean!" I called but she was already gone.
The silence of the apartment surrounded me like a warm hug. It occurred to me that I had been going nonstop for several weeks, surrounded at all times by either Aiden, Kelsey, or the partners.
The thought about what Aiden may have been meeting with the partners kept niggling at my mind no matter how much I tried to forget about it. I knew that seeing him later would put my mind at ease. He would probably tell me about it right away. I made myself a promise that I would not ask him unless he brought it up.
Enjoying the silence, I laid my head back on the couch and closed my eyes. My mind traveled even further back to the incident at Aiden's house. In true lawyer fashion I examined my actions, wondering how I could have handled the situation differently, and of course picking apart Aiden's actions as well, trying to determine if I needed to be more concerned. I didn’t think so. I only knew that I needed to stand by my promise that I would not share this information with anyone.
The very thought of Aiden made a smile spread across my face. I thought about the fun we would have later. Maybe I could even convince him that we should have dinner at his place. I could already think of a few things I might have in store to persuade him. I chided myself a little bit for having waited so long to be with him, but enough day dreaming, I said.
I stood and headed to my room to find something cute to wear. A minute later, I headed to the bathroom and turned on the shower, hoping the hot water would cool my thoughts. No matter how much I tried to focus on getting ready and being excited to see Aiden, I couldn’t let go of the idea that the meeting had some meaning.
I knew I was a good lawyer.
I would not have even been offered the opportunity if I weren't. The matter of who got the job might not even be an issue yet.
As I stepped into the shower, I decided with firm resolution to pu
t the idea out of my head and focus finally on getting ready for our date. The hot water awakened my skin as I let it pour over my face and body.
If Aiden was offered the job, the worst case scenario remained that I would find another job at another firm. Absolute worst case, would be that I would have to take an unpaid internship somewhere. I would have to cross that bridge if it came about, but I truly believed that everything would work out.
So far I remained confident that I had good standing with Mahoney and Klein. I had been performing well in the courtroom, and the case seemed to be veering in a direction in which I could show off my assets.
The game wasn’t over yet.
Not by far.
At a quarter to seven I stood in front of the couch in my living room, wearing a red dress. I picked it out for the swishy skirt and the flattering collar. I liked the way it accented my waist. My makeup looked good and I had pulled my hair up into a dressy pony tail. I felt as if I couldn’t do much with it, as thick as it was.
All in all I felt pretty and was excited to see Aiden though it had only been a couple of hours.
I glanced at the clock, and sat down on the couch, absently flipping through the channels to pass the time before he arrived. I lay my earrings on the coffee table to give the pretense of putting them on at the last minute when he would arrive.
I definitely had butterflies, but the good kind this time.
Seven o'clock came and went. He was probably running late, though in the time that I had been with him, he had never once been late. He remained infuriatingly punctual. All I could do was match it at the firm.
At seven fifteen I stood and began to pace. I wondered if I should call him, and I checked my phone to see no messages or missed calls. I sat down again, crossing my arms and wondering if I should call or just wait.
For the time being I opted to wait.
The television depicted a rerun of an old sitcom that I used to watch back in high school. The humor rang hollow this time around, but I watched it, nervously fiddling with the strap on my purse.
By seven thirty I stood and picked up the phone once more, debating on whether or not to call him.
Tempted (A Player Brother Romance Book) (A Standalone Novel) (Player Brothers Book 1) Page 17