Distiller's Choice (Bourbon Springs Book 4)
Page 10
“…I’ll grant you that she’s cute, but I’m not so sure…”
“That innocent text?…”
“You go to hell…”
She almost stood up and cheered when Walker abandoned Jana and went across the courtroom to sit in front of the other counsel table.
But then Jana got up from her seat and followed Walker across the courtroom and took a seat next to him. CiCi couldn’t tear her eyes away, even though her fingers rested on the controls of the monitor, ready to flick it off at a moment’s notice.
“Do that again and I’ll ask the bailiff to remove you,” Walker said through clenched teeth after Jana had positioned herself next to him once more in the courtroom. “Get the message: I don’t want to be around you. Leave me the hell alone.”
“Walker, this is ridiculous why can’t we…”
And he got up for the second time, this time moving far to the back of the courtroom to park himself very near Deputy Carver, who was standing at the door.
CiCi laughed out loud rather than cheering when she heard Walker tell his ex to leave him alone (thank goodness those microphones at the counsel table were so good!). And if need be, CiCi knew she could definitely arrange for Ms. Pogue to be removed from the courtroom—or at least admonished to cease her harassment of Walker. CiCi allowed her mind to wander; she soon was lost in a daydream where she was telling Judge Craft how a juror was pestering another and that something ought to be done.
“Bailiff, please bring that juror—the redheaded lady—up to the bench,” Judge Craft intoned in CiCi’s fantasy. “We need to have a little talk…”
She laughed, full of relief. Her qualms about Walker which had arisen once Jana had entered the picture over the weekend had been defeated by his unequivocal rejection of his ex.
Impulsively, CiCi texted him before she could talk herself out of it.
Meet me at the doughboy statue outside after you’re done?
She waited nervously for a response, but then realized that she wouldn’t get one until after orientation was over; Judge Craft banned the use of cell phones in his courtroom, even for texting purposes.
So she had to wait.
Orientation seemed to take twice as long as Walker thought necessary and finally drew to a close around eleven o’clock. He’d given up the idea of talking to CiCi that day and bolted out the nearby courtroom door, happy to be done with his civic duty for the moment and anxious to get away from Jana. In his haste, he didn’t check his messages until he was across the street and nearly to his car.
CiCi’s text nearly made his heart stop, and he almost dropped his phone in the rush to respond.
You bet.
He recrossed the street, passing Jana in the crosswalk as he returned to the courthouse square. Jana gave him a curious look, but said nothing and went on her way.
When Walker cleared the edge of the courthouse and saw the small parklike area to the northern side, he immediately spotted the doughboy statue and CiCi. She was sitting on a concrete bench with her legs crossed, looking away from him at a group of prisoners who were being led through a side door of the courthouse in orange jumpsuits, leg shackles, and handcuffs.
She turned and saw him approaching and rose from the bench to greet him with a smile.
“How was orientation?” she asked.
“Tedious.”
CiCi nodded and looked nervous. “I… um… saw you on the monitor with Jana.”
“You were watching?” he asked.
“Yes. And I could also hear your conversation through the feed too,” she said. “I’m sorry, but when I saw you on the monitor you looked unhappy, out of sorts. I could tell something was really wrong. So I admit it. I turned up the volume and listened.”
He was taken aback by her news but then realized it was the best thing that could’ve happened. “Jana can be charming and sweet—but not always. She has another side.”
“So I saw and heard.” She retook her seat and he joined her. “And speaking as the Craig Circuit Court Clerk to a juror, I’m sorry she put you in such a bad spot during orientation.” She explained that she usually had the sound on the monitor on when at her desk and that she’d turned up the volume when she’d sensed something was wrong. “I’ve spotted problems between jurors just by watching and listening to the feed from the courtroom.”
He shrugged. “I dealt with it, so it’s over. Let’s forget it. So… have you thought any further about that date?”
“The Tavern? Yes, but what about this Saturday instead of waiting another week?”
“Sounds great.” He grinned and then looked at his watch. “Is it too early to take you to lunch?”
“Not at all.” She rose from the bench. “Let’s go to Over a Barrel. I think they have their famous chicken salad today—at least that’s what I overheard one of the sheriff’s deputies talking about earlier.”
Walker stood and took her hand. “So are you my girlfriend again?”
“Maybe,” she said with a shy smile.
“When will I know your decision?”
“I’m pretty sure my answer will be unmistakably clear,” she said. “But right now, I need to go back inside to get my purse so we can grab a bite to eat. Wait here and I’ll—”
CiCi’s cell phone rang in a distinctive tone, and she explained it was one of her deputies.
“Yeah?” she answered wearily, giving an apologetic look to Walker. “How can that be? Did they say when they’d be back?” CiCi demanded and took a few steps away from Walker. “Well, okay, I’ll be right there.”
“Duty calls?”
“I’m afraid so. The cleanup crew in the basement says they have to leave to go to another emergency—like this whole courthouse isn’t one—and I need to get down to the basement to see what they’ve accomplished before they leave.”
She briefly explained about the water leak and the damage to some basement files.
“Can I come along?” Walker asked. “When I was in college, I worked part-time for one of those cleanup outfits. I might be able to spot whether they’ve done all they can do.”
CiCi took Walker up on his offer, and in a few minutes they were in the basement of the courthouse. Walker roamed around the large room filled with boxes of old files, giving the area a quick review while CiCi talked with the foreman of the cleanup crew. Walker then took CiCi aside and told her that he thought they’d done a thorough job. Armed with the benefit of this information, CiCi dismissed the crew, and they were left alone.
“I’d better go check the evidence vault again,” CiCi declared and marched out of the basement storage room.
Walker followed CiCi down the basement hall until it ended and turned to the right; to their immediate left was an ancient-looking dark wooden door. CiCi pulled out a large ring of keys from her pocket and unlocked a series of formidable brass locks before the door swung open to admit them.
“We’d already cleared this room as being untouched by the leak, but I wanted to check again. Not sure I trust any of the plumbing in this old place anymore,” she explained to Walker as the door closed behind them.
“What is this place?” he asked and looked at the rows of shelving. It reminded him of a rickhouse, except that instead of barrels of bourbon there were objects like guns, knives, shovels, and dusty boxes which contained things he probably didn’t want to see.
“Where we keep old evidence,” she said, briskly walking up and down the two aisles to inspect the walls and floors. “Looks like everything is okay in here.”
On the right was an old couch that had seen better days along with a low coffee table.
He pointed to the objects. “Was that furniture evidence?”
“No,” CiCi said and laughed. She walked over to the couch and put a hand on the back of it. “A former judge used to like to come down here and take naps,” she said. “Nice and cool and hardly anyone is in here. In fact, only clerks usually come down here to store the evidence.” She giggled. “Although I have he
ard a story about Rachel and Brady getting trapped in here right after they’d both gotten appointed to the bench. And I’ve also heard stories that they sneak in here from time to time on their lunch hour.”
“Creepy place to get trapped.” It was straight out of a cheap horror flick: bad lighting, all kinds of potential weapons, and a remote location.
“I don’t think they found it creepy,” CiCi said, her gaze fixed upon the couch.
Walker spun, looking at the door and then back to CiCi. “Wait—you said they got trapped in here? As in locked in?”
CiCi nodded and smiled mischievously. “Yep. One of the custodians interrupted—er—found them. It was after hours, and they thought they’d be stuck in here all night. But the custodian came inside to sweep because he’d forgotten to do it the night before.”
Walker went to the door, fearing they’d been locked in like the two judges. He tugged at the door, but it wouldn’t budge.
“Um, I think the same fate has befallen us.”
“Maybe that’s not such a bad thing,” CiCi muttered to herself.
“What?”
“Nothing, nothing. We’re not locked in,” she said and walked to the door. “Look, I’ve got my keys.” She dangled the key ring in front of her face, letting the keys jangle as she shook it.
Then she looked at the door and turned one of the locks.
“If we’re already locked in, why did you just lock the door again?”
Smirking, she threw her keys on the coffee table and cast a quick look at the couch.
“I just made sure no one can get in,” she said.
“So you just locked the whole world out?”
She nodded and stepped closer to him. “After Brady and Rachel got locked in, we changed the locks. But Brady made a request right after he got elected that the door have a lock on it so it could be locked from the inside. Now why would he have wanted such a thing do you think?”
Walker burst out laughing. “You said the custodian interrupted Rachel and Brady? Was that the right word?”
“That’s how he described it to me,” CiCi said proudly. “Wormed it out of him after their relationship became public.”
Walker smiled and glanced at the couch. “You know what? I found a softer place.”
Chapter 11
She blinked at him, baffled. “What?”
Smiling, Walker grabbed CiCi by the forearms and spun her onto the couch and onto her back. He then fell on top of her and brought his mouth down on hers, smothering her laughter.
CiCi drew her arms around him, delighted to feel Walker against her again—and also delighted that a hard limestone wall was not digging into her backside. His mouth moved from her lips to her neck where he began to suck and tickle her with his tongue. CiCi fleetingly worried about him leaving a mark on the delicate skin, but her concerns were quickly driven from her mind when he kissed her again and drew his tongue along her lower lip.
He gently broke the kiss. “Think the judges will mind us borrowing their love nest?”
“Not at all,” she said breathlessly.
“Their story certainly had a happy ending.”
“And our story got interrupted the other day,” she said. “I think we need to pick up where we left off, don’t you?”
His answer was to kiss her again, then sit up and slowly slide his hands under her shirt until the tips of his fingers found the edge of her bra. He wiggled them underneath the fabric until his full hands were over both breasts and CiCi was writhing and moaning beneath him. Walker then moved his hands around to her back where he deftly unhooked her bra.
“Smooth,” she said in panting admiration.
“I do have my talents,” he said, lowering himself over her once more. He pushed up the shirt and her bra until her full breasts were exposed to him.
With his palms and fingers splayed over her breasts but eyes on her face, Walker gently caressed her; their eyes locked, and the air was no longer cool but warm and charged. He bent to kiss her, then moved lower, with his mouth falling over the full areola of one breast. After momentarily surrendering to the pleasures he brought her, she grabbed Walker’s head, pulling his lips from her chest.
“Okay,” she said, gasping, “it’s official. You’re my boyfriend. Not that you really needed confirmation of that fact.”
“I’m hoping to be more than that to you,” he said and kissed her hard on the lips.
She pressed her breasts to him as she tugged and pulled at his pants, pushing the shirt up until their bare chests were together. Walker shuddered against her and ground his growing erection against the top of her thigh.
He returned his mouth to her breasts again while one hand moved under her skirt and then up her bare thigh. When he reached her hip, his hand stopped.
“A thong?” he asked. “You?”
“Yeah, it’s freakin’ hot. Haven’t you noticed?”
“No complaints here.” He brushed aside the scant fabric between her legs.
CiCi’s head fell back against the cushions of the couch, and she gasped as Walker began to explore and stroke her.
“And no complaints here either,” she whispered. CiCi closed her eyes and wholly abandoned herself to Walker’s touch.
He slowly and mercilessly stroked her before slipping fingers into her wetness, and she clenched around him as he rubbed his thumb against her pert clit. CiCi began to thrust and buck her hips against his hand, and he teased her by moving that thumb in slow circles over her most sensitive spot.
God, the nerdy guy was good!
CiCi was barely able to steal looks at Walker through half-lidded eyes heavy with the thick haze of desire. His fingers, his movements, his touch were magic and produced the most delicious sensations to all the right places. She almost felt sorry for Jana for having lost such an able lover.
Almost.
Because Walker was hers now. He’d chosen her.
CiCi spiraled up to a precipitous height and spasmed around Walker’s fingers. She clenched and ground herself against him as she came while Walker never once relaxed the pressure of his hand. Her orgasm was so intense that she could only whisper his name during her descent back to reality.
The next thing of which CiCi was aware was Walker’s gentle kisses on her face and cheeks. She nuzzled her face into his chest and dozed.
CiCi sighed deeply and put a hand to Walker’s face. “Thank you.”
“My pleasure.”
“Actually, I think it was mostly mine.”
After some more cuddling which involved CiCi’s hands exploring Walker’s broad chest, they both went to the bathroom in the basement before heading back upstairs. Walker needed more time to get his erection under control, so they sat together a little longer on the old brown couch while CiCi recounted stories she’d heard of the old judge who used to like to nap in the evidence vault. There was no time to grab lunch now, although the hour had been passed far more enjoyably than had they shared a meal.
As they boarded the elevator, Walker said he needed to be on his way and that he’d call later to discuss plans for Saturday. She immediately started to ponder what to wear and resolved to make sure she had a clean thong for the big date. Then she thought why bother at all with undies? It was sure to be hot on Saturday—in more ways than one.
The elevator doors opened, and they were deposited on the first floor in the lobby. What had been a sweet and sexy encounter turned embarrassing when CiCi locked eyes with Brady, who was standing at the sheriff’s station talking with one of the sheriff’s deputies. CiCi felt her face burn as she watched recognition spread across Brady’s face as to where she had been with Walker. The elevator buttons clearly indicated that they had ascended to the lobby from the basement level.
Walker gave her a quick kiss to the cheek, said good-bye, and left through the front doors. The moment he was gone, Brady burst into laughter.
“Oh, shut it!” She turned to catch the elevator but, finding it unavailable, made a dash for the
stairs.
Brady followed, catching up with her in the stairwell.
“C’mon, CiCi.” Brady sighed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”
She stopped on the first step with her hand gripping the rail. “Too late.”
“Your secret is safe with me,” he said in a low voice.
“Oh, please. I don’t have a secret,” she hissed.
“Not from me you don’t because guilt about something was plastered all over your face,” he said. “You were in the basement, which I happen to know can be a nice place to visit on occasion.” His teasing presumption irked her, and she started to climb the stairs. “Wait, CiCi. Honestly, I’ll keep it to myself. You’re just lucky Kyle wasn’t around to see what I saw. Think about that for a sec—he’d tell Hannah in a heartbeat, and then half the county would know you were in the basement with—”
“And what about Rachel?” she demanded, trying to ignore the possibility that Hannah would find out about her tryst in the basement with Walker. “Can you please not blab about what you think or suspect you saw to your wife? Then again, what am I asking? It’s not like you two were good at keeping your own secrets.”
“And that wasn’t a secret we should’ve kept,” Brady acknowledged and took a few steps to follow her up the stairs. “But I have your back. I won’t tell a soul.”
CiCi returned to her office on the second floor to the welcome news that the air-conditioning had been fixed and that a small cluster of dead raccoons had been removed from the attic. The auditors, however, remained in the conference room. The good news was that they hadn’t bothered anyone, nor had they asked where she had been. CiCi hoped they would be done with their work in the next few days and life in the Craig County Courthouse would return to normal, whatever that meant.
And after the fun in the basement with Walker, CiCi knew she’d just entered a new normal in her relationship with him: he’d attained the rank of serious boyfriend. And the possibility that he wanted to be more to her than that thrilled her but scared her too.
Because Jana was still out there.