Page 40 of Pleading Innocence

My pulse started bouncing out a doomsday tune within my eardrums as the cogs turned in my head. A bitter taste settled on my tongue at the embarrassing need that clutched my pants before. Here I was, standing and drooling over a woman who felt nothing for me other than spite.

It was impossible to believe that my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me. Anger built inside me at the fact that I was still fawning over her like a complete fool. How else could I explain the fact that she was here, with the opposing counsel? I knew she was angry with me when she left Crawford & Beam, but I didn’t expect that she would be angry enough to get a job at a law firm working in opposition to Crawford & Beam in an attempt to screw me over.

Look, I knew she could be petty. We both could be—but that petty? And it wasn’t even that big of a case. I couldn’t believe I’d wasted over two weeks missing this vindictive woman. More than anything, damn it, I was even more angry at the fact that every time I stepped inside a courtroom now, I’d think of this frickin’ moment.

Before I knew what I was doing, I was storming over toward their table, trying my best to keep myself contained. Probably should have kept my ass plastered on my seat, but well, if she was doing this to get a reaction out of me, she was successful. To get closer to her, I walked around the table since she was sitting in the corner toward the end. I cleared my throat.

“Tiffany,” I said in an effort to get her attention. Her eyes shifted from her document to my black, polished, and shined derby shoes. They flew up in an instant and she looked up at me with green rings around large pupils.

“Jared,” she gasped.

She swallowed and her cheeks reddened. My dick throbbed but I shook off the flush of desire that ran through me, reminding myself that she was probably just embarrassed that I walked right over here. Maybe she thought that I would have just stayed on my side of the courtroom, fuming. She certainly hadn’t missed me and thought of me fondly since she was obviously here to try to distract me.

“Can I speak to you outside?” I asked, pulling my eyes away from hers before I melted within them.

“Um…,” she started, looking around and up at the clock. I tried not to pay attention to the length of her neck or that sexy bone that stuck out when she turned her head.

I cleared my throat. “We’ve got like five minutes. It won’t take long.”

She turned to a woman who was staring at me, studying me. Tiffany whispered something to her, and the woman nodded.

Tiffany turned back to me. “Okay, make it quick,” she said, hurrying to her feet.

There was an urge to growl that I was doing exactly that, but I fought it. I swallowed against the tightness of my tie, shifting it and moving out of her way so that she could walk ahead of me. That was a bad idea. I should’ve led the way because I was now stuck with the view of her backside. And sure, her legs were covered by long, dark, loose trousers, but they fit her well and the memory of her bare legs never left me. I watched as she crossed them over each other while she walked, and my breath hitched. Swearing under my breath, I cursed myself, pulling my head upward to look at the top of her head.

Damn it.

In the moments I couldn’t help but think about her, I’d imagined that if we saw each other again, it would be rife with sexual tension. I was half right since I was the only one affected and I was hot with embarrassment. Out the door and into the court hallway, I ran my hand through my graying hair. My hand stilled halfway as she watched me, her skin flushing again. When my eyes caught hers, she dropped them, giving me a once-over. It was the fact that my heart kicked up at the thought that she was drinking me in that irritated me. She couldn’t have been affected by me if she was here trying to get back at me.

“What is it, Jared?” she asked, looking at the delicate watch on her wrist and glancing back at the courtroom door.

Losing it, I raised my voice in a loud whisper. “What are you doing here?!” I asked.

“Working,” she said pointedly.

“Okay, let me be more specific. WHY are you here, working alongside the opposing counsel? You must have known I would be here. What are you trying to do here, Tiffany? Is this your way of trying to get back at me?” I asked.

She rolled her eyes. “I knew you’d think that.” She looked away toward the door as if she wanted to walk off, then she dropped her eyes to the navy-blue-and-red carpet in consideration. “Look, I’m sure it looks strange, but I had no idea until I got the job, and by then it was too late.”

“Too late? You just left Crawford & Beam. Couldn’t you pass the assignment off to someone else? Or are you just that vindictive?” The words shot out of my mouth.

She narrowed her eyes on me. “Excuse me?” she asked. “I needed a job, and when I got one, I didn’t think I should…” She paused and pointed a finger at me. “You know what, I was trying to be kind, but I don’t owe you an explanation, Jared Crawford! Who the hell do you think that you are?”

My mouth twitched with the need to say something else when I heard “All rise!” coming from inside the courtroom. Shit. I should have been in there with my client at that moment. It wasn’t a good look for counsel, especially leading counsel, to be late. I clenched my mouth shut, and she groaned, staring daggers at me. Storming away from her, I went to stand at the door. I couldn’t go in until everyone was seated again. Damn it, Tiffany was already getting under my skin in the damn courtroom.

She came up next to me, but I was already off, walking away from her as soon as the doors swung open.

Chapter 25

Tiffany

Thattwat!Thatdelicious,aromatic twat. I’d been trying my damndest to avoid him today in that courtroom. My only defense was to keep repeating ‘don’t make eye contact’ to myself like it was a mantra. Though I tried not to be aware of the moment he entered the courtroom, his familiar warm citrus scent wafted through the air. He didn’t speak loudly so his voice blended with the rumble of other bass-toned voices in the room, which worked out fine for me because I could imagine it was anyone.

My eyes had been plastered on a document I already knew like the back of my hand, since I’d read it over several times. But at least it gave me something to do instead of resorting to staring at my phone looking like I didn’t want to be there, because I did. It was exciting to be in a courtroom, up front and center, sitting with my colleagues and hearing the discussion firsthand. Learning directly. My heart pounded with excitement at the opportunity, and it pounded with dread that Jared would trample on it like the fee-fi-fo giant that he was, always finding a way to stampede all over my mood.

When he asked to speak with me, I shouldn’t have agreed when I knew he didn’t have a kind word to express. But his stupid brown eyes sucked me in, and my stupid pulse picked up in excitement when I saw him. He looked good, he smelled good, and he could’ve asked me to walk anywhere with him at that moment and I would have.

And silly me, in a moment of surrender, hope still rose inside me at the thought that he would surprise me with some understanding. I shook my head. Of course he didn’t. He did exactly as I thought that he would, and I wanted to wring his thick-ass neck for it. But as much as I wanted to wrap my arm around his broad, muscled shoulders and pull him into a chokehold for practically ordering me out of the courtroom to give me a scolding like he was still my boss or something, I needed my eyes not to glaze over in anger so that I could focus on the road. My head was swirling with thoughts of his stupid face once more, but I was driving back to the firm.

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