by Alison Charm
“Think you can win the case?”
She grunted. Like the man cared. Either way, they would lose nothing. Their reputation might hurt for a while but the publicity would do them good and she could always win it back. Charles Felix raised an eyebrow and stared with amusement. He is always amused in her presence like she is the constant entertainment. Well, she could see the reason.
“Why are you asking?” She returned haughtily and packed her stuff.
“You need to do a lot of research yourself now that Candy’s gone.” He rounded the table, closing in on her. She didn’t budge, putting files into her briefcase.
“I always do.” Which was the truth. If she let Candy do research, she would have lost her title as one of the best. The girl was only ever interested in her nails and what she wore. Talk about disgracing her entire sex.
“Free tonight?”
The seductive whisper could only mean one thing. Charles wanted to have another go at it. They were practically naked the last time when she put an end to it. Permanently. He seemed to be on board but a week later, he wanted to continue. Tilting her head to one side, she took in his intense gray eyes going all stormy like a rainy day. The complete opposite from Carson’s light blue eyes. Should she do it? Just a kiss, seeing how the man even waited until eight when everybody left to ask her. A reward.
The kiss turned carnal almost immediately. Kisses do that to her, it’s like her kibble. The button of her blazer holding her breasts popped out and it would have gone on the floor next except for a creak of the door slicing through their make out session. They both pulled back and saw their latest hot client at the door. The light behind him shadowed his facial expression but his posture was stiff. She had only ever seen it once when they first met. The bastard was arrogant before, having been accused of raping a fellow model but she still helped him knowing he is innocent. And even helped him to her body. Drat.
Clearing his throat, Charles excused himself and was only given a twenty centimeter amount of space to escape. What a narrow escape. Jasmine chewed her lips to stop herself from laughing hard. Smirking, she finally dissected the man wearing a leather jacket and blue jeans. Holding a cap and dark shades, no doubt an attempt to disguise himself. Oh, how he needed to read the ‘Disguise for Dummies 101’.
Her briefcase was in her hands as she walked up to him. Only when she was a foot away did he turn back from glaring at Charles to stare down at her. His blue eyes searched her face for God knows what before he turned away, running his hand over his hair. The action tugged at her heart and she was having difficulty concentrating. Any seconds longer in such close proximity would cause her self control to unravel faster than toilet paper. Gripping her brief case tightly, she felt the cool handle transmit some of its cool to her heated body and she was able to think somewhat analytically. This was different from his arrogant signature. Since he did not move an inch, she pushed out, sliding her breast across his chest. She is tall for a woman, her head reaching his chin.
As she passed, her breasts held on by her silky blouse brushed right across his nipples. He stumbled back, hitting the door like Candy the other day but she walked on. Her heels broke the silence and faltered when she reached the elevator, waiting for her ride for five seconds when he finally joined beside her. From the steel doors in front of her, she could see his blurry image, his hand running his lush hair again.
“Did you have dinner already?”
His words stopped her heart from pumping for seconds before her cognition returned, signaling that her brain required oxygen to breathe. What did he say? Confused about his purpose and the high possibility that it was just his sick way of making conversation instead of an invitation, she dismissed it.
“Jaz?”
Her chest ached hearing him call her so intimately. God, his deep timber voice was an utter sin, reminding her of the way he whispered her name in bed. The elevator chimed and she practically needed to stomp into the elevator just so she could reign in her desire to pounce the annoyingly handsome man. He followed close behind as she pressed the button to ground floor. The silent ride down from the 25th floor provided sufficient time for him to continue his inquiry but none came. So she was hearing things. Great. To be hallucinating at the age of 28 is surely humiliating.
Her steps were reassured by anger as she made her way out to the parking lot, her heels clacked on the hard pavement, punctuating her rage. The man behind her followed and she let him. When she arrived beside her car though, she had had enough. The only car in the lot is hers so she didn’t need to worry about being overheard. Wheeling around to face her aphrodisiac god, she waited for him to talk. Carson reached out to her shoulders and she smacked his hand down, the sound was hard enough to let her know it hurt. If looks could kill, Carson should have died but he still stood there immune to her glares.
Sighing, “Jaz, we need to talk.” Right.
“You talked two years ago.” She replied sarcastically. He winced and nodded.
“I know you’re mad.”
“I’m not mad.” She retorted immediately. Oh, she was furious but since long ago she decided he wasn’t worth it. No men were.
“You are.” He stated, his eyes challenging her to deny it. The denial was on the tip of her tongue but she swallowed it. She would not give him the satisfaction of seeing how much his mere presence affected her. Instead she remained silent, fuming.
“Jaz, would you talk to me? This is the only time we can talk.” He murmured, his eyes showed his pain and she instantly wished to collapse into his embrace. However, she knew how that look had made her almost lose everything.
Not again.
Never again.
Raising her eyebrow, she smiled. “We’ve already talked, Mr. Bane. I’ll see you next week when I have something more to show you.”
Surprised, she heard him chuckle. He took a few steps back before addressing her in his playful tone just a few days ago. “Yah, of course.”
This shift in his mood was a side of him she had never seen before. They had only been acquainted for about a month and all their time was spent in closed doors so it was natural that she never saw much of any other side of him. No, she would not go there. Before she could analyze further, her phone rang. Finally.
“Lincoln.”
“Hey.” The masculine voice on the other side brushed against her ears and she shivered. Beside kisses, she loves a deep voice. Leaning on her car door, she smiled. Carson stiffened in her field of vision but she didn’t care. She wanted him to hear this. A little payback tickled her sadistic side for revenge.
“I’ve got the file. Want to see?”
“Sure, baby. Anytime you want.”
The voice on the other side was silent and then there was a deep amused chuckle. She practically giggled at how easily he caught up with her. Smart and funny. He was one of the few who can take her jokes.
“Oh, I want you now.”
“Anywhere, too?”
“Absolutely.”
“Your place then.”
At that, Carson finally strode off. She watched as his muscles bulged with each step away from her. The way his pants would wrap around his thick thighs, showing her his taut ass. Those powerful strides were just the cherry on top of his wonderful, delicious joystick. The bastard.
A loud vroom of a motorcycle disturbed the cool night air and she watched as Carson pulled out. It should still be his Mary. He loved the bike he named after his dead sister.
“Hey, ya alright?” The man on the other side was now all serious. She was silent for too long, staring after the man she never wanted to leave again.
“I’ll be right there.”
Chapter 2
Stretching her arms above her head, she arrived at the door step of Detective Willis’s townhouse. Actually, it could as well be called a mansion seeing how he owned the next three townhouses. The man was seriously rich. Why he ever bothered to become a cop was a mystery. And this mystery she had no trouble leaving al
one. It would not be good to get too close.
“Hey, I got chicken parmesan with vegetable rice, want some?”
She grinned and strolled in through the open door. “Of course.” Pulling her blouse free from her sleek pants, she undid some of the confining buttons. His eyes skimmed down her long smooth neck to the rise of her breasts pushed up by her bra, offering a wonderful line of cleavage. After giving her an appreciative few minutes, he got back to dinner.
There would never be anything between her and Willis but she enjoyed flirting with him. Only until he gets a girlfriend. She would never be a wedge between any relationships. She had too much pride in that.
Finding the file on the coffee table as usual, she began reading. She was lucky to meet Willis who was not only wealthy, but influential with a cousin of some big guy in the police department. He provided information for her to solve her cases and she helped him analyze those sick idiots so he can put them behind bars, permanently. They had such great chemistry at work so why oh why could she not hook up with this amazing man? She knew the reason and one of them is because she did not want to open up the skeleton in his closet.
“So Vanessa Golding is just a stage name?” She read aloud. The name suited the slut though. Crap. She should not call her own client that but it is clear as day the woman has some hidden agenda.
“It’s rare to see you working for a woman.” Edward Willis slid a plate in front of her and she flung the file back on the table to begin her dinner, suddenly famished. Her feet brought up and tucked beneath her ass. Willis obviously had gone through the files already so she might as well get his perspective first. Many lawyers found that getting someone’s perspective before forming their own would cause problems like bias and all but in her case, it was a complete one eighty. In fact, her ideas form better after listening to someone’s perspective. Usually it was after hearing what others are thinking, allowed her to understand the normal reaction. Her job is to think of the unthinkable and her head definitely loves thinking about the impossible. Carson Bane for one. Would she ever get over that? Not possible. Drat. Her darn mind…
Willis sent her a devilish smirk and began talking. “The woman is like a chameleon. She has many names after travelling across the country’s foster care system. Finally landing herself a big role in some rich dude’s film when she’s like 21, made her big. Married four times and after the third popped out a kid. He’s like three now.”
Licking her fork, she looked at Willis who seems to enjoy nothing more than watching her. They exchanged smiles and he continued. “She ran away to England to do some movies but stopped around two years ago. She signed up for a drama but something happened and she got dropped.”
“And you got all that from her file?” She asked, raising her eyebrow.
“Now, you know we don’t keep taps on people like that.” He grinned. So he did a little research on his own, the sneaky bastard. She was about to do that tonight after she wrapped up her other cases.
“She’s guilty of something.”
Willis stared at her, his eyes shone in the dim living room, intrigue was not quite the word to describe those greens. “You know I think highly of you, but don’t you think your conclusion is pretty premature?”
“Not if she cried crocodile tears and dressed like a hooker.” Seeing Willis’s raised brow, she rolled her eyes and retrenched her observation a little, “Well, not exactly like a prostitute, but she did dress nice enough. She’s supposed to be worried about her kid, not dress for a gala.”
“Hmm…” The man rubbed his thumb on his chin and repeated the sound again.
She knew she should not ask, but she did anyway. “What?”
“You’re jealous.” He leaned back against the sofa and rested his arm across the sofa’s back. His other hand typed gently on his thigh. She wanted to deny it. She should but the silence was already too long. She was unprepared to hear him call her up for it.
Smiling instead, she leaned her head against the red sofa’s back pillows, staring up at him. His eyes darkened with desire as he took in her inviting pose. One leg extended towards his would sometimes touch his pant leg and the way she rubbed the little space between them, her arms squashed her breasts together, giving an impressive cleavage no doubt. Her lacy black push up bra with tiny red flowers right across the area of her nipples, teased him.
Suddenly not interested in debating on her jealousy, he leaned forward and kissed her on the lips, the side of her mouth and the part that drove him insane with lust. Pushing her down so her head rested on the sofa’s arms, he unbuttoned her blouse further down without cutting off eye contact with her. She knew how to entice men – watched dozens of porn with her best friend so she licked her upper lip slowly from one side and then bit her lower lip with her front teeth.
His expression turned daze, in a lusty trance. He grabbed her bra and none too gently ripped it up, making her jump in shock much like her breasts. A gasp released from her lips but he didn’t care. His eyes stared at her erect nipples. It must be rare and crazy to be proud of your nipples, but guess who is? Her areola ring is paler like her light skin tone but the tip where little Montgomery’s glands are, is rosy. The pointy tips ached from the chilling air, her bra resting on top of her large plentiful breasts. It was worthy of an AV moment.
She shouldn’t push unless she wanted to put out but she did. Her leg rose up slowly. He did not move a muscle nor did his eyes shift because of her movement. He waited patiently for her. Unable to disappoint her audience, she brushed her knee against his bulge. A hiss was released through gritted teeth yet he remained kneeling on the couch, staring down at her, his hands in tight fists from his concentration rested on either side of her head.
So silly. He did not need to be patient with her. She began to rub him in earnest with her knee. The moan was like a tortured growl from his throat and then he was on top of her, sucking her nipples with alternating bites and licks as if desperate to wring milk from them. The pleasure.
The man definitely possessed talented skills with his tongue, teeth and mouth. Judging by his large bulge, he possessed the girth to make sex with him mighty enjoyable. His hand palmed her crotch when his mobile rang. A lawyer and a cop. Two professions that could never ignore a ring.
Sighing against her breasts long and loud, he finally sat up. The ringing continued in the background as he stared down at her. She stretched like a Cheshire cat, pushing her bare assets further up. He growled in annoyance and squeezed the flesh on her tummy.
“Vixen.”
“Pervert.”
He shot her a glare before he went to answer the call. His back turned from her but not before he showed her that slight upturn of his mouth, belying his true emotion. Pulling her clothes back in place, she got a feeling that this was a wakeup call for her. For her to stop playing with fire, to start thinking about her darn future. This must be the dreaded early life crisis where the thought of marriage finally settled in the mind. Her father certainly asked her enough times. The man would not give up harping about it ever since dear mama passed away. Perhaps it was time. Her best friend already married and gave birth. Jasmine Lincoln is still alone.
“Sorry, I got to head to the office.”
Yup. A wakeup call.
~~~
Waking up dissatisfied and thinking that you are probably going to die as a lonely spinster woman with twelve damn cats was like the worst. And that just happened to be her morning before court. She rarely went to court battles because she tended to settle everything with other lawyers. Nobody liked to have strangers hold their future. The judge slammed down the gavel for the third time.
“Ms. Lincoln, please calm yourself in court.” Judge Reynolds’s wise eyes bored into hers. His silver glasses reminded her of Dumbledore. He was not someone to be reckoned with even if he did not own such a steel voice.
She smiled as if she yells at defendants every damn day, “Sorry your honour. I am just terribly surprised that the defendant who
is innocent would still return to see the deceased Mr. Higgs not Monday, not Tuesday, but Wednesday! Someone who has been suffering from long term mental abuse could actually hold off for two days is certainly a feat that only Mrs. Higgs can do. Oh, sorry. Ms. Lowes.”
“A – Obje – ”
“I’m done, your honour.” She interrupted and smiled at the state’s young lawyer. A pity. So young. The man sweated as he shakily sat down and then stood back up again, remembering that it was his turn to talk. His eyes tried not to stare below her chin. Her conservative suit hugged her breasts and her curvy hips were hugged by her A-lined skirt ending right at knee level. Nobody would accuse her of purposefully distracting but that was exactly what she is doing. Her calves were even covered by thin stockings. Completely innocent, not. She rolled her eyes heavenward. Whatever the lawyer said did not matter because she was going to discredit it all the same.
“Objection.” It was time to end this. She stood up and stared right at the defendant. Ms. Lowes shook like a leaf as she waited for Jasmine to speak. Her lips quivered and eyes tried to hold up the challenge but Jasmine possesses something the woman didn’t – a guilt free conscience. Well, as much as conforming to society values allowed. After deeming the sweating silence long enough, she spoke.
“Ms. Lowes knows that Mr. Higgs is having an affair. She knows that he’s allergic to shellfish. She knows he will be home a week early. She even has the key. Evidence A through F shows her knowledge in all counts showing the credibility of her words. With her athletic built, she can reach from her friend’s house to Mr. Higgs in ten minutes. She has enough time to dice Mr. Higgs and return.” She let everyone soak on that for awhile. Judge Reynolds raised his brow in slight amusement. He was used to her antics but never called her on them. She continued while trying to hide her ‘gotcha’ smile, “To test the theory, a similar woman with the same height, build and weight has volunteered to participate in the experiment. Please watch.” Everyone watched the screen while she stared at the woman, not missing her twitches.