Page 11 of King of Justice

Playfully, I reached for her hand and grabbed it—it was freezing. “You won’t be.”

“Hey!” She quickly pulled it away, recoiling into the far corner of the couch. “Quit it.”

She was clearly apprehensive around me, and I couldn’t exactly blame her. Many lawyers brought out the cynic in most women like her, which was something I couldn’t fix in a few hours.

“I’m serious. When you fall asleep, your body temperature goes down. By the looks of it, you could freeze to death.” I tried to make my tone a little lighthearted, even with that warning.

“Oh, this is for my own good, is it?” She shot me a skeptical look.

“It is!” I insisted. “Why would I need to make a move right now? I’m not stupid. You’re my only ally in this storm.”

She narrowed her eyes. “And what movie is that from?”

I stared ahead, pretending to try to remember. I heard her laugh and sensed that she might put down her guard around me—or was this me being high?

“I know a thing or two about movie clichés, my friend,” she added. “Soon enough you’ll claim that we have to get naked to use our body heat—”

“No, no, no.” I chuckled, wagging a finger in objection. “That’s not my game.”

“Your game? Who talks like that?”

I turned to her, humorously asking, “Not my… move?”

“Whatever, dude.” She shook her head and popped a cracker in her mouth, following it with a sip of soda. All the food coloring from the soda must have made her lips redder. Staring at her, I caught myself wondering if I would taste cherry if I kissed her. I quickly dismissed the thought. “Okay, look.” She put out both hands in the air. “Maybe if we take off our coats and huddle up, we can use them as blankets. Double up the layers?”

“Ah!” I leaned back with my head, chortling. “So that’s your move.”

“I’m using your logic!” Her pitch got higher.

“Let’s test it.” Putting aside my snack, I stood up and proceeded to take off my coat. Again, my imagination took me to watching her undress. She couldn’t have been taller than five-five. I could pick her up and lay her down on this couch…

Drowning in my fantasy, I missed actually seeing her take off her coat. When I looked again, she was shrunk there, shivering, holding it up, waiting for me to sit next to her. As I scooted over, I was surprised that I hadn’t smelled her perfume earlier. I made a sniffing sound with my nose. “What’s this?”

“Cheese? Cherry pop?”

“Amber with a hint of… white floral?”

Rolling her eyes, she ended it with a sharp stare. “Stop hitting on me.”

“I’m not!” The wind outside blew stronger, causing the windows and doors to rattle and jangle louder. A sharp draft attacked, making her dip her head between her shoulders, breathing in sharply. Looking at her head so low beside my shoulder, I raised my arm. “May I?”

She looked up. “What are you doing?”

Slowly and barely touching her shoulders, I laid down my arm and admitted, “I’m just trying to get you warm, is all.”

Wedged in under my arm, she pulled the coats over her shoulder, sighing and murmuring in a low voice, “I’ll allow it.” She then paused before saying, “For once, let’s hope the big man actually means to help the little man.”

I chuckled. “So many jokes!”

“Bring it.”

“First of all, you being a man puts me in an unusual position.”

“You know what I mean.”

“You can’t possibly be serious. I just took on one of your most challenging cases for free.”

“What was it? Survivor’s guilt?”

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