Page 5 of By His Side

“So it is about qualifications?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Is it? Or is it about me building a bond with my new PO? I’m supposed to do that, right? Only, I know very little about you with which to do that, so I started with the obvious questions.” He sat forward again, elbows braced on the table and head cocked to one side. “I’ll be more imaginative.” His gaze dropped to my left hand. “Not married. Are you straight, Darien?”

I gaped at him, Felix not only smiling, but barking out a laugh. It transformed his entire face, softening his features and making him look less dangerous. I fought the wave of heat threatening to turn my face red, meeting his gaze instead and refusing to blink. He was still smiling, the tiny laughter lines around his eyes making him look even more attractive. “No, you’re not,” he said, his voice even. “But then I knew that from the way you looked at me when you came in. You’re gay or bisexual.”

How the fuck was I supposed to answer that question? Not answering it would look like I had something to hide, or that I was ashamed. But answering it didn’t seem like a good idea either. I was always open and honest with clients. How had Felix Church got me figuratively curling up in a fetal position so quickly and easily? I took a deep breath in and then let it out again, refusing to let him win. “I’m bisexual, if you must know, but I prefer women.”

“Do you?” A slow smile spread across Felix’s face. “So you have a girlfriend?”

“Not currently.”

“But you’re looking for one?”

“Myworkkeeps me busy.” I stressed the word work, hoping it would serve as a reminder why we were both here, that this wasn’t a social visit.

“When was the last time you went on a date?”

“Last night, actually.” I was suddenly glad about the date with Emily. It might not have been much fun when I’d been on it, but it was serving a purpose now.

“Was she hot?”

“None of your business.”

Felix held his hands up in a defensive gesture. “I overstepped. I apologize.”

He didn’t look sorry. He looked like he was having a lot of fun at my expense. I tapped my finger on the folder. “We should—”

Felix bit his lip to stop himself from smiling, something about the way he did it going straight to my cock. He waved his hand in a grand gesture. “Go ahead. But don’t worry about rushing. My schedule for today is fairly blank. The same as it’s been for the last seven years since they threw me in this hellhole.” Bitterness tinged his words before he seemed to give himself a mental shake. “All I’ll be doing once youleave is going back to my cell, stripping down to my undies, and…” He left a pause, his voice having dropped to a deliberately low timbre. “… working out every single one of my muscles until it hurts. My cellmate likes to watch. He finds it fascinating. I don’t know whether he wants me or he’s just jealous that he can’t get the same muscle definition as I can, but he can barely take his eyes off me.”

The fucker was flirting, the picture he’d conjured up an alluring one. It was working as well, my cock swelling in my trousers.Don’t fall for him.Had he flirted with Katherine? Is that why she’d seen fit to give me a warning? If he had, I expected she’d given him short shrift. I couldn't imagine anyone more loved up than she was with her husband. Unfortunately, I had no such buffer to hide behind, only my weak insistence that I preferred women. Which was true. Usually. But there was something about Felix Church that had me forgetting that.

Felix reached over and tapped the folder, his finger dangerously close to my hand. “I thought you had some questions to ask me.”

I pulled the folder in front of me, leaving Felix with no option but to lift his hand. He seemed to be all about control. Everything on his terms. It made me wonder who’d really been in charge when it came to the murder of the young girl? Had it been Felix, and he’d set his boyfriend up as a stooge? If so, the courts had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker, Felix getting a much softer sentence and escaping a murder charge altogether. I vowed to do what I never did with my client’s crimes and carry out some research. With the man sitting opposite me, it seemed like being forewarned would be forearmed.

“Mr. Church,” I began, having opened the folder to the first page.

He snorted out a laugh. “Really? Are we going to be Mr. Church and Mr. Quinn? How delightfully old-fashioned. What about when we go to bed together? Will we keep it up then?”

For a moment, I thought I’d misheard him. By the time I’d concluded I hadn’t, he was already laughing. “That’s not… We won’t… That is…”

He laughed harder at my discomfort. “Relax. I’m just having a bit of a joke. My method of flirting is rusty. More sledgehammer than feather duster. I’ll try to tickle rather than pound in future. Although…” That slow smile appeared again. “Some people like a good pounding.”

Before I said something I might regret, like telling him he should be extremely grateful I’d agreed to take on his case, and that if I walked out on him, he’d have no one, I counted to ten. That wasn’t my style, and I didn’t want it to be. He might be difficult, but it was on me to work out how best to handle him. “I’d rather you didn’t flirt.”

“Why?”

“It’s not appropriate. I’m your PO and you’re my client. Our”—I hesitated to use the word, but for want of a better one I did—“relationship, is and always will be purely professional.”

Another smile. “I was just having a bit of fun. I enjoy seeing if I can make you blush. I don’t get a lot of fun around here, as you can probably imagine.” When I stayed silent, he sighed. “Go ahead. Ask your questions.”

I quickly scanned the page of notes from Katherine, her handwriting not the easiest to decipher, but then she wouldn’t have expected anyone else to have to read it when she’d written it. The major bone of contention seemed to be where Felix would stay when he got out of prison. “It says here that you’ll be staying with your mother when you get out?” I glanced up to find that Felix’s expression had gone tight, all traces of flirtatiousness gone.

“That’s right… I will.”

“Only… we haven’t had confirmation of that from her yet. We’ve contacted her a few times, but she hasn’t returned any of our calls.”

“She will.”

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