DEFENSE
Authors: Glenna Sinclair
Copyright © 2016
All Rights Reserved
. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.
Table of Contents
Katie
“So,” Jessica said, leaning over and taking one of my nachos. “Your secret new client. Did he do it?”
She munched on the chip as I shook my head and cleaned the guacamole off my fingers.
“Attorney-client privilege, dummy,” I said. “Or, in other words, of course not.”
Jessica smiled mischievously. “That means he did, doesn’t it?”
I raised my eyebrows and gave my head a little shake. “It
means
I’m telling you jack shit.”
Jessica rolled her eyes and slumped back in her seat. “You’ve become boring. Do you know that? Ever since you took that job at Newland & Ross you’ve turned into...” She waved her hand in the air, searching for the word.
“A lawyer?” I suggested.
Jessica clicked her fingers as though she’d struck on the word. “A bore.”
I laughed. “Thanks.”
We were seated in the bar Jessica had been working in since graduation. I felt bad for my best friend. She hadn’t progressed career-wise at all, while I’d climbed the ranks before finding myself at one of DC’s best law firms. But maybe she was right in one respect—I had become quite boring.
“I mean it,” Jessica pressed. “When was the last time you had sex?”
My mouth dropped open, shocked by her brashness. “That’s none of your business!”
“Since when was it none of my business?” Jessica argued. “Back in college we shared every gruesome detail, didn’t we? Remember Marco, the guy who tried to do the whole BDSM thing with you? And Julius, who could only come if you were wearing socks…”
“I remember, I remember!” I cried, trying to get her to shut up. People were starting to look. I lowered my voice. “I haven’t had time, okay?”
Jessica shook her head. “That is a sad state of affairs, my friend. What job pays well enough to replace sex?”
“I just have different priorities at the moment,” I said, trying to shake it off. But she did have a point. I was grinding myself into the ground, working flat out from dawn till dusk. Was I missing out on the important things in life—love, sex, pleasure?
“We need to find you a man,” Jessica said.
I sighed. When Jessica fixed on an idea, she didn’t let it go.
“Once I’ve finished this case,” I said, trying to appease her.
“No, Katie,” Jessica replied. “Now. Because after this case, there’ll be another, and another, until you’re forty years old and having to get Tim to donate you his sperm for artificial insemination because you never found a man to settle down with.”
Tim was our roommate—our gay, stoner roommate—and probably the last person in the world I’d want to be artificially inseminated by.
“Jessica, you’re being ridiculous,” I said. “I’m twenty-six. There’s plenty of time for all that.”
She leaned across the table, her eyes fixed on me. “Seriously,” she said. “When was the last time you had sex?”
I thought long and hard. “Like, last year, maybe?”
Jessica dropped her head in her hands. “We need to get you laid. Like yesterday.”
She stood up and grabbed my hand, pulling me to standing. I was still in my work suit, feeling like an idiot surrounded by glamorous women dressed to the nines for their Friday night out.
Jessica dragged me to the bar and propped her elbows on it. Her golden hair flowed over her bare shoulders. The dim lights glistened off her tanned skin. She looked every inch the Californian surfer chick. I pressed down the crinkles in my black pinstripe pencil skirt.
“You know I’m on call, don’t you?” I said, feeling awkward standing beside her.
“So?” came her reply.
“So, I can’t get too hammered or anything.”
Jessica shot me a withering look. “How often do you get called? At 11 p.m. on a Friday?”
I looked at my sensible, flat shoes. “It hasn’t happened yet. But you never know.”
With that, Jessica turned away. “Tequila please, Jonas,” she said to the barman, a young, sandy-haired guy with dimples in his cheeks. The second his back was turned, she looked at me and wiggled her eyes. “Well? What about Jonas?”
I gave her look. “He looks about sixteen.”
“He’s twenty-one,” she contested.
“There’s not a muscle on him.”
“There is,” she said, a glint in her eye. “He’s strong. Trust me.”
My mouth dropped open. “You’ve already done it with him, haven’t you?”
Her eyes had wandered to his jean-clad backside, bent over as he fetched a couple of shot glasses.
“Might have,” she said, biting her lip.
“Jessica!” I cried, smacking her arm. “I am not sleeping with anyone you’ve been with first!”
It was just too much like college. Jessica was the sexy seductress that every boy wanted and I was the studious bore who couldn’t handle her drink. I’d lost count of the number of evenings that had ended with me falling asleep on a couch while Jessica made out with some hot guy next to me.
“Ugh, okay,” Jessica said, rolling her eyes. “You want to make this a challenge, then I’ll try a bit harder.”
Jonas returned with the tequila shots for us. “What are you ladies up to tonight?” he said, his words directed solely at Jessica.
I sighed inwardly.
Jessica’s blue eyes sparkled. “We’re trying to get Katie laid.”
My stomach turned from embarrassment. I could feel my cheeks becoming hot and knew that meant I was blushing. With my Irish ancestry, I was extremely pale, with dark hair and gray eyes and a tendency to turn red at the smallest of provocations.
“Oh,” Jonas said, looking at me for the first time. I noted the way his gaze slid down my fusty suit and back up to my eyes. He didn’t seem particularly impressed with what he was seeing. “Well, I clock off here at midnight. If you haven’t found anyone,” he looked back at Jessica, “give me a call, yeah? I’m having people over. There’ll be plenty of eligible guys there.”
He went off to serve another person. I wanted the ground to swallow me up.
“Great,” Jessica said, looking over at me. “We have a backup plan. You’re a hundred percent getting laid tonight.”
“I don’t feel in the mood anymore,” I said glumly.
Jessica rolled her eyes. She was more than used to my mood swings.
“Get your shot down you,” she replied. “You know it only takes one for you to lose your inhibitions.”
She was right about that. I may have inherited my Irish ancestors’ colorings, but I definitely hadn’t inherited their strong stomach for alcohol. At a petite five-foot-two, it didn’t take much to get me drunk.
“Come on,” Jessica urged. “Once you’re a little tipsy you’ll be totally up for it. You’ll suddenly realize how repressed you’ve been, how much your loins are burning!”
I grabbed my shot glass and downed the tequila, mainly to get Jessica to shut up. The liquid burned on the way down, settling in my stomach. As the warmth spread through me, I wondered if Jessica was right about me being repressed. I guess there was only one way to find out.
“Jonas,” I called to the barman. “Two more shots.”
***
I couldn’t quite remember how we’d ended up at Nick and Seb’s apartment—the two guys we’d been dancing with that night—but here we were. I’d only had four shots, but it was enough for me to be slurring my words. Jessica was a good two or three ahead of me, but she was maintaining her composure as she riffled through the CD rack looking for something to put on. I could see the way both guys were looking at her and wondered how disappointed the one who ended up with me would feel. Right now, Jessica had all the power. Whoever she picked, Nick or Seb, would be hers, and I’d be left with the discard.
Music began playing from the stereo. It was a sexy dance track. Jessica stood up, her eyes glinting with mischief as she began to dance seductively. She moved her hips like a pro, her long, tanned arms stretching up above her head as she bobbed up and down. The heat coming off Nick and Seb was palpable. I wasn’t surprised; even I found the sight of Jessica’s sexy dancing pretty hot.
Jessica beckoned to Seb. He leapt up like an eager puppy. Jessica began dancing against him, writhing. His hands fell to her hips. His eyes were wide, like he’d just hit the jackpot.
“Wanna drink?” Nick said, leaning over to me. He was watching Seb and Jessica dancing with a look of envy in his eyes.
“Sure,” I said with resignation.
We left the two of them dancing in the living room and went into the small kitchen. Nick got a bottle of port from the cabinet.
I laughed. “I thought only old men drank port.”
Nick placed two glasses in front of me. “You’ve never had it? Guaranteed to get you happy drunk rather than miserable drunk.”
“Oh,” I said, coming over all awkward. “It’s that obvious?”
Nick gave me a shy smile. “I was referring to myself.”
He poured me a small glass of the dark crimson liquid, then one for himself. We chinked them together under the murky light in the kitchen.
“You’re miserable?” I said, my heart heavy. Of course he was; his roommate had won Jessica and all he’d been left with was me.
“It’s just…” Nick began, then his voice trailed away. Then he looked me square in the eyes. “Seb is such a jerk,” he said abruptly.
“Oh,” I said, a little taken aback.
A blush to rival my own crept up Nick’s cheeks. “Sorry, it just drives me crazy. Your friend seems nice and all, but I don’t get why she’d want to be with someone like him. I’ve heard him through the walls, you know, and it usually sounds like he’s having way more fun than her, if you get what I mean.”
I took a sip of my port. It was incredibly sweet and warming. “You mean he’s a selfish lover?”
“I mean he uses women like sex toys,” Nick said dryly.
I laughed. “Well, Jessica calls men ‘walking dildos,’ so I guess they’ll get on just fine.”
Nick chuckled and took a swig of his drink. “How come you’re friends with someone like her?” he said. “You seem completely different.”
I wriggled uncomfortably. “By which you mean she seems free-spirited while I seem like a frigid bore?” I challenged.
Nick’s expression turned to one of horror. “Shit, no! God, I didn’t mean that at all!”
“Sorry,” I said, embarrassed. “I’m just so used to guys fawning all over Jessica and acting like I don’t exist.”
“I meant the opposite,” Nick said. “She—if you don’t mind me saying—comes off a little desperate. You’re chill. The total opposite. You seem like you wouldn’t just fuck any guy you met.”
“You’re right about that,” I said, thinking of the year-long dry spell I was going through.
Nick was looking at me in a way that I hadn’t seen in ages. A way that made my insides start to burn.
“I don’t do this often…” he said awkwardly. “But I really like you, Katie. Can I kiss you?”
I was taken aback. I couldn’t remember a time when I’d been asked if I could be kissed.
“Yes,” I heard myself say before my brain had had a chance to consider.
Nick set his glass down on the table and paced towards me slowly. He held me by the hips lightly and pulled me gently towards him. A flame of desire ignited between my legs. Nick touched his mouth against mine so delicately, the sensation was almost ticklish, and totally moreish. His tongue entered my mouth, and he softly licked me. It felt amazing, like nothing I’d ever felt before. His lips moved like he had all the time in the world and was determined to taste every part of me. I let out an involuntary moan.
Nick pulled back, his eyes blazing. I felt my red cheeks flaring up.
“That was the hottest noise I’ve ever heard,” he said.
“Oh,” I replied, not knowing what to say and not used to being the center of someone’s sexual desire.
Nick pulled gently on my hips, and I took a small step closer to him. Our bodies touched, and a thrill of electricity ran through me. I could feel that Nick was becoming erect, and the sensation made a wave of desire crash through me. I raised my lips up to Nick’s, and we kissed. It was still slow, still gentle and soft, but there was a power behind it like none I’d ever felt before. Arousal built inside of me, and the way that Nick kissed me so gently made it feel like it was trapped behind a dam, as though just one touch could send the whole thing exploding out.
Just then I heard the sound of stumbling and giggling in the hall. Jessica and Seb were on their way to his bedroom.
Nick pulled back, looking irritated, and sighed.
“They’re going to kill the mood,” he said. “Give it five minutes and all we’ll be able to hear is grunting and wailing….”
“Not if we put on music,” I replied, alarmed by how brazen I was. But I wasn’t about to let this moment end, and no amount of squawking or squealing coming from the next room was going to stop me.
Nick’s eyebrows rose. “Well, okay then,” he said.
He went over to the small TV in the corner of the kitchen and turned it on. He flicked the channels until he found one that was broadcasting a radio channel. I’d never really understood the point of putting radio on TV and watching someone sitting in a booth, but I wasn’t about to complain.