Kelly saw the kiss coming but she was powerless to stop it. Her brain kept screaming for her to shoot to her feet and run as far away from Spencer as she could, yet her body refused to move. Her eyes wide, she watched him come closer and closer and closer… Their lips met.
His lips were just as firm as she expected, but his kiss was surprisingly soft and almost tender. Warm desire coursed through Kelly and before she could stop herself, she’d closed her eyes and relaxed into the kiss. She sighed, the parting of her lips allowing Spencer access into the interior of her mouth. His tongue darted in, met hers and stroked. Any chance of reason disappeared then.
Kelly sunk deeper into the kiss. She kissed him back, let her lips dance against his and reveled in his taste. In all her dreams, she’d never imagined that Spencer would taste this good or that he’d be such an amazing kisser. His kisses were as hungry as they were breathtaking. As hot as they were fierce. He thrust his tongue against hers and suckled her lips repeatedly, leaving her gasping in pleasure.
When his hand cupped her cheek, Kelly rubbed her face into his palm, eager for more of his touch. There was no thinking here, just feeling. With his lips and tongue, he aroused a wealth of emotions that left her reeling in need. His hand moved to her arm then dragged her upwards and into his arms. Kelly was so lost in a maze of sensuality that she obediently followed his urgings to sit on his thigh.
His muscles rippled beneath her, sending a sharp ache straight to her core. With a moan, she shifted slightly and straight into his groin. Then she felt it – thick, long and pressing firmly against her thigh.
It was feeling that blatant evidence of his arousal that finally did it. It yanked her out of the kiss and off him so fast that she didn’t even realize that she’d moved. One moment she was on his lap and the next she was on her feet. Her breathing quick and uneven, she stared down at him. He stared right at her, and for a long moment neither of them spoke.
Kelly broke the silence. “I have to go.”
He didn’t protest when she grabbed her purse from the couch. He didn’t stop her when she made for the door like she was being chased by the devil. All he did was watch her. It was only once she was in the elevator that she could breathe again. Dragging in long breaths, she leant against the wall.
What had just happened?
What the hell had just happened?
Had she really kissed Spencer? The guy who’d sent her to jail. Yes, yes she had. And it had been a damn good kiss. Was she sick? She pressed the back of her hand to her forehead and found it as cold as ever. Nope, she wasn’t sick. Then that left only one explanation. She was crazy? Completely and irrevocably insane! Someone get her a straitjacket.
By the time she got home, she was still in a daze. Sin immediately noticed. “What’s wrong?”
Kelly, who was sitting on the couch, staring into space, didn’t answer.
“Kelly!” Her friend jabbed her elbow into her side.
“Hmm?” Kelly turned her wide-eyed gaze to her friend.
“What’s up?” Sin asked, concern etched in her pretty face. “You’ve been out of it since you came from work.”
“Have I?”
Sin nodded.
For a second, just a second, Kelly considered telling her friend what had happened, then she changed her mind. There was no good way to confess what she and Spencer had been up to without revealing how she was the biggest hypocrite in the world. After how frequently and loudly she’d badmouthed Spencer, she should’ve been the last person kissing him.
She sighed. “Nothing’s wrong.”
“Something’s wrong!” Sin insisted.
“No.” Kelly shook her head. “I’m just thinking about a complicated case at work.”
Sin’s eyes narrowed in disbelief. “What case?”
“Um... it’s a case about… about a woman who sent her workmate abusive messages,” Kelly pulled up one of their current cases.
Fortunately, her explanation of what the case entailed was enough to distract Sin. Unfortunately, it couldn’t do the same for Kelly. Her thoughts were determined to stay on Spencer. Their kiss kept replaying in her dreams the whole night as if taunting and tempting her.
The next morning, she woke up bleary-eyed after a night spent tossing and turning. Guilt and annoyance battled for control within her as she prepared for work. How could she have betrayed her father like that? Though she wanted to curse Spencer for daring to kiss her, she knew this was as much her fault as it was his. He’d given her enough time to run from the kiss. And when she’d ended it, he hadn’t forced her to come back for more or stopped her from leaving. She groaned when she recalled how enthusiastically she’d responded to his kiss, how eagerly she’d fallen into his taste. She must’ve lost her marbles.
Yeah, that was it. Temporary insanity.
Her brain wasn’t working right when she’d kissed him, and she knew why. Spencer had saved her and even been hurt in the process. After that who could blame her for letting her guard down? That kiss was empathy and gratefulness at work. Nothing more. That’s right. It was just a thank you kiss. Since that’s all it was, there was no reason to continue agonizing over it or over-analyzing. All she needed to do was pretend that it’d never happened. That would be easy, right?
Wrong!
As soon as she stepped out of the elevator and saw Spencer standing by the reception desk talking to Marie, memories of the kiss flooded in. Her heart skipped a beat and her pulse began to gallop like it was being paid to run. She didn’t even have time to compose herself because right then both Marie and Spencer turned towards her.
“Good morning, Kelly,” Marie greeted.
“Morning,” Kelly managed to return even as her gaze riveted on Spencer. He didn’t greet her but his eyes lowered to her mouth, and she could tell that he was thinking about that kiss too. Heat raced through her whole body to center in her lower stomach. Fortunately, Angelina chose that moment to walk into the reception.
“What are you all doing out here?” Angelina asked right before she noticed the sling that Spencer was still spotting. She frowned. “What happened to you?”
Spencer glanced at his arm. “Accident.”
“Accident?” Angelina’s eyes widened with horror. “Where? How? Are you okay?”
It was obvious that Angelina was genuinely concerned. She insisted on getting all the details about the accident and even brought up the possibility of suing the city to pay Spencer’s hospital bills.
“She must be really worried,” Marie commented as she and Kelly watched Angelina and Spencer disappear into his office. “But then again, it’s expected. Love doesn’t disappear just because you broke up.”
Kelly turned surprised eyes to the receptionist. “Love?”
“Yeah, didn’t you know?” Marie leaned forward to whisper. “Those two used to date.”
No, she didn’t know that. Minutes later, Kelly had all the pertinent information; Spencer used to date Angelina, Angelina cheated on him, he broke up with her. Technically, the information should’ve been useless to Kelly. However, she couldn’t stop thinking about Spencer and Angelina as she headed to her desk. From how Marie had described it, Spencer had been head-over-heels for Angelina and had a hard time letting her go. Love that deep was hard to forget.
Did he still have feelings for Angelina? Kelly wondered. Maybe Angelina’s concern wasn’t innocent. Maybe she had feelings for Spencer too.
Stop. Kelly gave herself a mental slap. Their feelings were none of her business.
Still, she couldn’t help keeping an eye on them during their team’s meeting. Every time Spencer leaned towards Angelina to tell her something, a hot ball of… something… bubbled within Kelly. Every time Angelina smiled at Spencer, Kelly had to press her palm to her lap to keep from snatching Angelina’s hair.
What the hell is wrong with me? Kelly pressed the back of her hand to her forehead to make sure she hadn’t caught some kind of bug. Her actions drew Spencer’s eyes to her. His gaze met hers then lowered to her lips. He was thinking about their kiss, wasn’t he? Fresh heat pulsed through Kelly and she had to lick her suddenly dry lips. Spencer’s eyes darkened perceptibly before they slipped away from her leaving her still throbbing with... something.
By the time the meeting ended, Kelly was a jittery bundle of messy emotions. She couldn’t sit still at her desk. Before she knew it, she was on her feet and on her way to Spencer’s office. After a short rap of her knuckles on the door, she entered the room.
“Kelly?” Spencer looked up from his computer. “What can I help you with?”
It was only then that she realized that she didn’t even know what she was doing here. “I… uh… I wanted… uh…” She stumbled over her words.
Spencer saved her. “Are you here for Xavier Lee’s file?”
“Yes. Yes.” She nodded enthusiastically. “That’s what I’m here for.”
“I already emailed you the soft copy.” He picked a green file off his desk and held it out to her. “But you can have this too. Make Duke a copy.”
“Sure.” She crossed the room to take the file.
The moment their fingers brushed, immediate electricity raced through her. Her eyes wide with surprise, Kelly jerked her hand away and took a step back.
But Spencer, it seemed, hadn’t felt that strange electricity. His tone was calm and unaffected as he asked, “Anything else?”
She wanted to say ‘no, there’s nothing else’ and immediately leave the room, but she couldn’t get her feet to move. Seriously, had he really not felt that ping? Wasn’t he feeling a little shaky on the inside like her? And what about his chest? Wasn’t there something sitting on it and restricting his breathing like it was doing to hers?
Instead of leaving, she asked, “How’s your arm doing?”
“My arm?” Spencer smiled softly as he glanced at the offending limb. “It’s okay. The sling’s just a precaution. It should be off by tomorrow.”
“Oh, that’s good!” She rubbed the back of her neck as she searched her brain for a something new to say so she wouldn’t have to leave the room. “Uh… I just wanted to thank you again for saving me yesterday.”
Spencer smiled. “Yesterday’s thank you was enough.”
“Yeah… but you know… thanks.” Kelly was aware that she looked and sounded like a damn fool but she couldn’t stop herself.
“Anything else?” Spencer watched her with raised eyebrows.
“Not really. Thanks again.” This time Kelly turned, determined to leave this room even if it killed her. However, she only managed two steps before she spun to face him again. “About yesterday.”
Spencer’s lips lifted in a smile and his eyes danced with amusement. “You already said thanks.”
“Um… not about that.” Kelly pulled in a deep breath. “About the kiss.”
Oh God, what was wrong with her? Why was she bringing up the kiss when she’d already sworn to forget it?
Spencer stilled and his eyes widened as if he was just as shocked that she was bringing it up, but all he said was, “Yes?’
“We were in a nerve wracking situation yesterday.” Her speech rushed, she added, “I almost died, you saved me and got hurt in the process. Therefore…”
His gaze uncomfortably intense, he mimicked, “Therefore?”
“Therefore, the kiss was an accident caused by our over-excited state. That’s why I think we should forget about it,” she explained even though on the inside she was banging her head against the wall. Why? Why? Why was she talking about this? As if her mouth had a motor of its own, it kept running. “It was a mistake that should never have happened.”
She waited for Spencer to respond but all he did was study her keenly like he couldn’t quite understand what she was talking about. She didn’t blame him. She didn’t understand herself either.
OH, SPENCER HAD understood her alright. She thought that their kiss was a mistake. That was too bad because he thought differently. It wasn’t a mistake to him. Actually, it was the best thing that had happened to him all week. Even now he could remember how good it had felt to finally kiss her, to finally have her in his arms after thinking and dreaming about it for so long. Her lips had been incredibly soft and her taste sweeter than he’d imagined. The kiss had been amazing and felt so damn right. How could he forget it? How could he think of it as mistake?
However, knowing his and Kelly’s history, he could understand her reaction. What woman would be ecstatic about kissing a man who’d hurt her as much as he had? Telling her right now that he was attracted to her and that he didn’t think the kiss was a mistake was akin to setting the room on fire. She’d probably run, and that was the last thing he wanted to happen. He wanted to keep her close to him – very close. So he changed the topic.
“About Xavier Lee’s case.” He offered, “Why don’t you take first chair?”
Kelly blinked. Then blinked again. “What?”
“You need to get on the horse sometime, and this is the perfect case,” Spencer explained. “You and Xavier already have a connection, and his case isn’t that complicated.”
The case was a simple arson. Xavier Lee was a restaurant owner, but the building that housed his restaurant wasn’t his. Once the restaurant had started to do well due to Xavier’s vigorous marketing, his landlord had kicked him out then promptly opened a new restaurant in the same place. Days later, the building caught fire while Xavier was inside it. Fortunately, Xavier had escaped with only a few burns on his back. Unfortunately, his presence at the scene and history with the landlord had landed him firmly at the top of the suspect list. Weeks later, the Arson Squad had established that the fire wasn’t accidental and Xavier was arrested.
Xavier claimed he was innocent. Though Kelly hadn’t said anything during their briefing of the case, Spencer could tell that she believed Xavier. Spencer wasn’t sure about Xavier’s innocence, but after seeing Kelly’s instincts at work a couple of times, he was leaning on the side of innocent. Fortunately for them, all the prosecution had was circumstantial evidence. All Kelly needed to do was prove that the circumstantial evidence wasn’t irrefutable proof that Xavier was the arsonist.
Kelly swallowed. “You want me to take first chair?”
“Yes.” Spencer tapped his fingers on his desk. “Is that going to be a problem?”
Frankly, Spencer wasn’t sure she could do it. Though she’d second-chaired for both him and Angelina a couple of times, she still hadn’t stood in front of a judge or a jury. Furthermore, she had the tendency of over-empathizing with their clients. But this was the only way to test her metal. He expected her to start trembling right then like most trial-virgins, maybe even burst into pleas for pardon.
Kelly surprised him by grinning. “No, it won’t be a problem.”
Suspicious that she hadn’t heard him right which is why she was smiling so hard, Spencer asked, “So you’re okay with first-chairing this case?”
“Yes, I am.” Kelly nodded vigorously. Her expression earnest, she said, “Thank you for the opportunity. I won’t disappoint you.”
Suppressing his instinctive smile, he said, “Please don’t.”
He expected her to leave his office, but she hesitated. Biting her lip in that way that had him remembering their kiss, she haltingly asked, “Will… will you be my second chair?”
This time he couldn’t hide his smile. “Were you planning on asking someone else?”