The Law of Attraction (5 page)

“You can drive me back to my car.”

“I thought about that, but that would mean we'd have to get
dressed, and I prefer you without clothes.” He slid his hands down her bare back and gave her bottom a squeeze. “And even if I did take you back, that means you'd have to drive home with all the drunks. I'm not willing to let you do that.”

“Then you're going to hold me here against my will?”

“I'm going to hold you against me all night.”

Alisha's heart took a little tumble over the sincerity in his voice, the sudden softness in his expression. He brought her mouth back to his and kissed her again. A surprisingly tender kiss, gentle and thorough and thought-robbing. She now faced two options—forcing the issue and demanding he let her drive home or staying with him until morning.

But he was right—driving could be costly in terms of her safety. And being in his bed could prove costly in terms of her emotional distance. Yet when he nudged her aside and stood, staring down on her with his gorgeous body in full view and his hand extended for her to take, she didn't hesitate.

Daniel Fortune might be dangerous, but he was the kind of danger she could definitely enjoy on a daily basis.

D
aniel awoke the next morning to find the space beside him unoccupied. He sat up and rubbed a hand down his chest, hoping the hot redhead hadn't fled without at least telling him goodbye. He also had another pressing issue—the tent he'd pitched beneath the sheet. Making love in the morning was among his favorite pastimes, and frankly having more of Alisha Hart this morning sounded like an excellent idea.

He crawled out of bed and discovered he was stiff in a few places he hadn't expected. Sex on a couch had a disadvantage in terms of comfort, but he wouldn't change a thing. The only thing he'd change is the fact they'd both fallen asleep before they'd utilized his bed. He'd just have to mark that down on his to-do list, provided Alisha agreed. He intended to ask as soon as he found her.

Without bothering to dress he began his search in the bathroom, but he didn't discover her there. No one in the guest room either. He walked into the living room and found it de
serted. Next stop, the kitchen, where he came upon a pot of coffee brewing but not the missing defense attorney. He did find a note taped to the refrigerator. After pouring himself a cup of the brew, he pulled the paper down and read the scribbled words.

I had a great time last night, Counselor. Here's my number. Just keep it off the bathroom wall.

His laugh was part amusement, part disappointment. He'd planned to spend the day with her since neither would be required to work, even though he had plenty of work to do. But the day wasn't close to being over, and hopefully a phone call would remedy her absence.

Alisha Hart was one hell of a woman, and he didn't intend to let her get away that easily. At least, not until he argued his case.

 

When Alisha answered the phone, she expected to hear her mom or dad wishing her a happy new year. Instead “Why did you run off without waking me up?” came through the line in a deep, provocative tone.

Daniel Fortune was more intoxicating than ingesting a barrel of moonshine. Just the sound of his voice nearly caused her to drop the receiver. “I tried to wake you, but you were snoring away.”

“Did I keep you up with my snoring?”

“Not really.” She hadn't minded it at all. But she hadn't slept all that well either, mainly because she'd been in a strange bed with a man who by all rights was practically a stranger. However, she had gotten to know him much better last night, and that made her blush like the devil.

“I should've told you to jab me and I would've turned over,” he said. “I usually only snore when I'm on my back.”

He had been on his back, giving Alisha the opportunity to study all the little details—from his solid chest, which was covered in a thatch of hair that thinned into a stream running
down his belly, and below that… Well, that was the stuff female fantasies were made of. “You weren't that loud. It sounded kind of like a purr.”

“A purr? I sure as hell don't purr.”

“I'm so sorry. I certainly didn't mean to wound your macho pride.”

“I'm definitely wounded. Those scratches look pretty bad this morning.”

“You're not going to let me forget that, are you?”

“I will as long as you promise me you'll wake me before you leave the next time.”

Next time? “Actually I did try to get you up before I left.”

“I said wake me up. Believe me, you did get me
up.
”

Her face fired up, right on cue. “That's not what I meant. I shook your shoulder. I swear, I don't think a grenade would have roused you. Anyway, I needed to get home and get some work done.”

“It's a holiday, Alisha. You should take the day off.”

She slid the reduced-calorie TV dinner into the microwave, stirred the good-luck black-eyed peas simmering on the stove and prepared to tell a little fib. “Actually I'm supposed to have dinner with friends, maybe watch a bowl game or two.”

“You like football?” He said it with typical male enthusiasm.

“Love it. My mother's responsible for that. Nothing gets her more excited than the gridiron.”

“Now I know how to get you excited—turn on the game of the week.”

He had her excited now. So much so, she jumped when the microwave signaled it was time to rotate the container. “What are your plans for today?”

“I was hoping to spend the day with you.”

“Sorry, but I can't.” And she was sorrier she'd lied. Earlier she'd turned down Julie's dinner invitation because she intended to work. She'd turned Daniel down because she needed time to assess where this whole thing was going.

“I can't change your mind?” he asked.

Oh, he probably could if she let him, which she wouldn't. “Maybe some other time.” A big maybe.

“I'm going to see you again, Alisha. And next time we'll do it right.”

“I didn't know we did it wrong.”

He released a throaty chuckle. “I meant
right
as in having dinner. An actual date. I don't want you to think that last night was only about sex.”

“It wasn't?”

“I'd be lying if I said I don't want you back in my bed, but I would like to get to know you better outside of bed.”

“Do I need to bring out the arguments again as to why we shouldn't even consider that?” she asked.

“You can, but I'm not going to listen. We have no real conflict of interest at the moment and we can be discreet about it. I think we should just go for it and see where it leads.”

Probably places Alisha had never been before. In fact, she'd taken that first step last night when she'd gone to bed with him. Correction: gone to sofa with him. “I'll think about it, but I'm not going to promise anything.”

“Go ahead and think about it. I'll pick you up Monday night. We can have some dinner.”

“Daniel, I—”

“I'm not going to take no for an answer.”

“You're definitely living up to your reputation. No negotiating, no settling.”

“No holds barred when it comes to us. And this is about us, not about our jobs. We deal with our careers during the day, and that leaves the night open for whatever we want to do together.”

Alisha shivered, even in the warmth of the kitchen. “I guess we could have dinner, as long as it's in an out-of-the-way place.”

“You can come here. I'll make dinner.”

“You cook?” This man was simply too good to be true.

“Yeah. I can cook. I can do quite a few things that would probably surprise you.”

She had no doubts about that. “Then I guess I'll see you Monday night.”

“And if I happen to see you Monday during the day, I'll try not to touch you in public, although it's going to be damn hard.”

She'd definitely avoid the stairwell and Judge Riley's chambers. “Have a nice day, Daniel. And happy new year.”

“You, too, Alisha. And if you start having any reservations, just remember us together last night. It's only going to get better.”

Any better and Alisha might lose herself totally to this enigmatic prosecutor.

But what the heck. She'd lived in a celibate shell for over a year. Long past time to make up for lost time. After all, what was the worst thing that could happen?

 

“You want me to do what?” Daniel glared at Allan Vera, the current D.A., hoping he hadn't heard correctly. Maybe he hadn't. All morning he'd been distracted by thoughts of a defense attorney he couldn't get out of his head.

Vera released a rough, irritated sigh. “You heard me, Daniel. I said you have to take the Massey case.”

Of all the asinine directives, this one had to top the list. “Krauss is handling it fine.”

“I'm taking Krauss off and putting you on it. The city leaders want this one to go away quickly.”

“I've got a full caseload and the Jamison murder trial still pending.”

“Jason Jamison is still on the loose.”

“Yeah, but that doesn't mean he won't be caught soon. In the meantime I plan to build a solid case against him.” As far as Daniel was concerned, any man who would strangle his lover and shoot his own brother with calculated precision de
served to suffer all the punishment the law would allow. First, they had to catch him.

“This Massey thing should be easy enough,” Allan said. “Krauss has already handled the details. You don't have to do much of anything but show up in court to argue the case.”

And in doing so, face off with a woman he wanted so badly he could taste her. The little taste he'd gotten two nights ago hadn't been nearly enough. Now it might have to be, unless he could somehow get out of this whole thing. “I don't have time to handle some frivolous trial just to satisfy the city leaders.”

Allan ran a hand over his balding head and kicked back in the office chair, hands resting on his bulbous belly. “Those city leaders make sure you get paid. And they answer to the citizens, who pay your salary.”

“I handle felonies, not misdemeanors.”

“Don't forget this one involves an assault of an elderly woman who broke her arm. That's serious business. If we don't stop him, someone else is going to get hurt, maybe worse next time. The city wants this guy off the streets, and in order to ensure this they want the best on the case.”

Daniel couldn't disagree that the guy should be stopped. He just didn't want to be the one to do it. “Why don't you take it?”

“No can do. I'm about to go on vacation in a few weeks, so I need to take care of my own business. I'm taking the wife skiing in Purgatory.”

And in turn sending Daniel straight to hell. The devil would be joining Vera on the slopes before he agreed to this. “We can put Goeble on it. He's got tenure.”

“Goeble's a suck-up, not a decent jurist. He's more interested in parading his ass around, pretending to be a lawyer just to impress his father's cronies. As soon as he's able, he'll be out of here to join some high-dollar firm.”

Daniel couldn't argue with Vera's assessment of Goeble either. “I'll find someone else then.”

“No. You'll do it. Mayor Davies has been inquiring on the
status of the case on a daily basis. He trusts you to get Massey tried and punished to the fullest extent of the law before he causes more harm.”

Easier said than done with Alisha acting in Massey's defense. “Do you realize who's representing him?”

Vera pulled a file in front of him and flipped it open. “Alisha Hart, formerly of Gailey and Breedlove. I hear she's pretty good.”

“She's damn good.” And Daniel knew that on more than one level.

“And that's why we need you to do this, Daniel. If she's a formidable opponent, then we need to throw the best at her. You're the best.”

Daniel had worked hard to earn that reputation and now he wanted to curse it. “I'll cut a deal and be done with it.”

“No deals.”

He held back a string of foul expletives threatening to explode out of his mouth. “No deals? Hell, Allan, I'm not suggesting we let him walk. I can get him some time on the assault charge without dragging this into court.”

“We want him in court. People like this Massey guy need to see that we don't tolerate this kind of thing on our streets. Pettigrew insists we make an example out of him, and you know what kind of power he wields with the party.”

Daniel didn't like the wealthy city council member and he liked him even less now. “Why is he so involved?”

“It seems his soon-to-be-ex trophy wife has joined Massey's fan club.”

“The guy has a fan club?”

“Yeah. They call themselves Masses for Massey. Best I understand, it's made up of mostly women.”

“This case has the potential of getting way out of hand.”

“True, and I know you'll handle that aspect, as well.”

Damn Les Massey for screwing up his life. “I'm still not comfortable with any of this.”

“Get comfortable with it. The party's going to be watching you closely. If you play your cards right and get a solid conviction on this one as well as the Jamison case, you're in as the next candidate. You'll be sitting at this desk this time next year.”

Right now Daniel didn't give a damn about the party or the election. “Then you're saying I don't have a choice in this matter.”

“That's exactly what I'm saying.” Vera stood and walked around the desk, laying a palm on Daniel's shoulder and guiding him to the door. “I trust that you'll have this menace tried and convicted so quickly that you won't have to waste more than a minute of necessary time. You'll handle it well.”

For months now Daniel had wanted to handle Alisha Hart and he wished he hadn't waited so long. Hadn't been so cautious. Now he wouldn't be able to handle her at all except during the trial, and that would have to be strictly business. At least for now.

As Daniel strode down the hallway on the heels of his anger, Allan called after him, “One more thing, Daniel.”

He turned to face his boss, reluctant to even consider what that one last thing might be. “What?”

“You have a press conference at noon to announce that you'll be in charge of this case.”

Great. Just freakin' great. “Is that necessary?”

“Pettigrew thinks it is, and he has the mayor in his corner.”

Pettigrew could kiss his ass, Daniel thought as he walked into his office and slammed the door behind him. The last thing he needed was to try some idiot who got his rocks off getting naked in public. Getting naked was much safer when done in the confines of a private residence. An unexpected image of Alisha Hart—naked—vaulted into his brain. He jerked back the chair from behind his desk and collapsed into it, cursing his bad luck and overboard libido.

He needed to get his priorities straight. He couldn't let his
major need for Alisha Hart's company derail his goals. Since he'd signed on with the district attorney's office at the beginning of his career he'd had designs on the top position. Since that first time as a kid when he'd witnessed his father knocking around his mother—and couldn't do a damn thing about it—he'd vowed to see justice done. His desire to put criminals behind bars hadn't lessened a bit, and neither would his desire for Alisha. At least, not anytime soon.