Page 26 of Love and Order

“The hardest part was leaving for a mission and not knowing if I’d return.”

Their eyes held each other’s, and something raw passed over her face. Like she’d felt the same fear and emptiness before. He wondered if she had nightmares too, or managed to chase her bad memories away with pure willpower. For months after his last mission, he’d struggled to get a good night’s sleep without medication. Even now, if he didn’t exhaust his body with a workout before bed, he’d have a restless night’s sleep with memories of missions that had been tough or gone wrong.

“We should get back,” she said, breaking through his thoughts.

Both their baskets were empty.

“But what about a dessert?” he said, trying to lighten the moment.

“Really? Do you have a treat after every meal?”

“Now who is judging?” Standing, he grabbed their trash and tossed it out. “Besides, it’s on our way back, sort of.”

She shook her head but fell into step with him. They were both quiet until they exited the park, and he pointed to a cookie shop across the street.

“I better not, but you go ahead,” she said.

He flinched. Only an idiot offered cookies to a diabetic.

“I’m sorry. We can skip it.”

“No way. I wouldn’t want to deal with a cranky man child who missed his dessert the rest of the day.”

On instinct, he reached out to touch her, just a gentle tickle on her side, but she reared back and almost fell off the curb. He was forced to pull her closer to him, and in the next second, their bodies were flush against each other. Her arms tensed for a moment, but then she melted into his arms, each part of her melded to him like a missing half.

“I didn’t know you were so ticklish or responsive.”

Her eyes were like deep blue pools with unknown depths he wanted to dive into. Her chest heaved, her lips parted, and her eyes fell to his mouth. She relaxed further, pressing into him with no resistance. He was only a few breaths away from kissing her when she came to her senses.

“My sides are very ticklish, and I expect you not to take advantage of that, now that you know.”

“I’ll try to warn you next time I’m going to tickle you.”

Her face lit up with mischief, and her hands settled on the front of his chest over his suit blazer.

“Something tells me that won’t help me avoid it.”

He let his hands drop as she stepped away and instantly missed how she’d felt in his arms the second she was gone.

“Maybe I’ll have shaved ice,” she said, reading the neon sign from across the street in the cookie shop window.

Clearing his throat, he reminded himself not to push his luck.

“They’re good. I’ll get one too—something to cool us down.” His voice was strained, but she didn’t comment.

They each tried the coffee-flavored shaved ice as they walked back to the office, and he knew he wanted to spend more time with her outside of work. As expected, her demeanor changed the closer they got to the office until the casual version of Hailey was replaced by his colleague and competitor. But he was going to figure out more ways to spend time with her because there was no doubt in his mind she was the real prize in this competition for partner.

Chapter Seven

Hailey

After lunch andseveral more hours of sifting through financial documents, they decided to file their own request for financial disclosure of Mr. Tovar’s personal financial portfolio. Multiple accounts weren’t included in the initial tranche of discovery shared with them, and they needed to know why. When they returned from the courthouse, Hailey noticed a buzz in the rookie bullpen. Before she made it to her desk, another one of the rookie lawyers blocked her path. Smith was an Ivy League graduate and walked around like an entitled punk that was better than all the other rookies. He was always making snide remarks about the junior associates that went to state colleges, like Hailey.

“Looks like Maguire won that bet: he managed to thaw the ice queen,” Smith said with a tone of distaste. “Pay up, fellas.”

“You should’ve learned in that online law school that it’s illegal to gamble at work,” Finn said.

“As if, Maguire. You know I went to Yale.”

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