Days later, Kelly still couldn’t forget the kiss. Trying to convince herself that it was merely a thank-you kiss had failed too. There was no denying the heat that raced through her body every time she thought of that kiss, or the sudden tightening in her lower belly whenever her gaze met Spencer’s. She would’ve preferred to avoid him until she cooled off, but that was kind of hard to do when she was preparing for her first trial and he was helping her.
“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury,” Kelly started as she stood in front of Spencer’s desk. “My client-”
“Haven’t you memorized it yet?” Spencer, who was watching her keenly, interrupted her mid-sentence. He pointed to the paper she was reading from. “You’re not going to walk around court with that are you?”
“I’m not but-”
“Lose the paper.”
“Sorry.” Kelly crumpled the paper in her suddenly moist palm. Though this was just Spencer, and she had indeed memorized her opening statement, she couldn’t help the instinctive nervousness. She pulled in a deep breath then started again, “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, my client…”
“Nope.” Spencer cut her off firmly. “Call him by his name. You want to humanize him right out of the gate so your audience will sympathize with him.”
“Okay.” Kelly swallowed then started again. “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, Xavier Lee did not start the fire. He was its victim.”
“Strong start.” Spencer nodded. “Good job.”
Kelly tapped down on her instinctive smile. It was weird how just one compliment from him could get her stomach fluttering. More confident, she lifted her chin. “The prosecution will try to convince you that Xavier was so angry about being thrown out of his restaurant that he deliberately torched Abigail Fowler’s building.”
She met Spencer’s eyes, trying to channel that fierceness she’d seen him wield so skillfully several times in court. “They’ll claim that he did it because he was angry. That he did it because he was selfish. That he did it because he wanted revenge. But this is simply not true. I believe the evidence and witnesses will show-”
“Uh uh.” Spencer shook his head. “Lose the ‘I believes’ and the ‘I thinks’. It lowers your credibility. Say it like it’s a fact.”
“Got it.” Kelly cleared her throat before continuing, “The evidence and witnesses will show that Xavier Lee is hardworking, honest and forgiving. These allegations are contrary to his character and not worthy of belief…” She went on, giving him a taste what she planned to say in court.
Spencer stopped her several times to correct her. Maybe another lawyer would’ve found the constant interruptions annoying, but Kelly appreciated them. Frankly, she was glad that she’d ended up working under Spencer and Angelina. Her peers in other departments were jealous of her and Duke because they had the most trial experience of any of the younger lawyers in the firm.
Furthermore, Spencer wasn’t stingy with his knowledge. In the last few weeks of working with him, she’d learnt so much from him that she’d instinctively started to think of him as her mentor. Who’d have believed it? Spencer Chambers as Kelly Garner’s mentor? This was about the time pigs usually started to fly.
Kelly spent the next few days arming herself for her very first trial. When she wasn’t practicing her opening statement on everyone including Teddy’s dog, she was looking for evidence and witnesses to exonerate her client. However, even with all that preparation, she couldn’t help the butterflies that invaded her stomach on the morning of the trial.
“You’ll do great,” Spencer reassured her as they walked up the stairs to the courthouse. Setting his hand on her lower back, he said, “You’ve prepared enough.”
She quickly stepped away from him. She was already nervous enough; she didn’t need his touch making her even jitterier. By the time the judge walked into the court and everyone settled in for the opening statements, she was a wreck on the inside. Even worse, the A.D.A’s opening was really, really good – so good, Kelly began to doubt her own opening.
Oh God! What was she going to do if she wasn’t good enough? What if her wacky speech ended up just pissing off the jury? What if her client ended up going to jail and getting the max sentence just because she was bad at her job? What if-
“You’ll be fine,” Spencer whispered in her ear. “Just imagine that you’re talking to your friends and trying to defend your brother.”
His words made no damn sense. The members of the jury weren’t her friends – not when they were staring at Xavier Lee with those accusatory gazes. And Xavier was too old to be her brother. Yet still, Spencer’s words seemed to calm the storm brewing inside her.
“Does the defense wish to make an opening statement?” Judge Marcia Clark turned her sharp bespectacled gaze to the table that held Spencer, Kelly and Xavier Lee.
Her muscles tight with anxiety, Kelly rose to her feet. “Yes we do, Your Honor.”
“Alright.” Judge Clark nodded. “You may proceed. Ms. Garner.”
The silence in the room was almost overwhelming as Kelly pushed her chair back then circled the table. Her heels made a light tapping sound as she strolled and came to a stop just inches from the jury box. The jurors stared at her; some assessing, some skeptical, some curious.
Despite the fear roiling deep within her, Kelly forced a smile. “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.”
“Good morning,” they responded in hushed tones.
“Ladies and gentlemen, that is Xavier Lee.” Kelly turned to point at her client who was looking appropriately somber where he sat. “You can call him Xavier. You can call him Lee. You can call him Mr. Lee or you can just call him Cuddles like his mother does.”
The courtroom burst into chuckles.
Their amusement was like a salve. Suddenly all the nervousness drained from Kelly and her muscles eased. She lifted her chin and let her smile fade slowly. “What you cannot do in this case is call him guilty.” Eyeing the jurors one-by-one, she continued, “Because from the facts, from the evidence, from the law, you will conclude that Xavier is not guilty. It’s that simple. Xavier Lee was building a new life in this country, not starting a fire.”
From there on, it was smooth sailing. It almost felt like she’d been born for this. Each word fell from her lips with the ease of honey dripping off a spoon. Despite having prepared her statement meticulously, she found herself changing parts of it as she went along to make the speech stronger and more convincing. By the time she was done, many of the jurors were looking at Xavier Lee with pity instead of recrimination.
“It went well, didn’t it?” she asked Spencer once they were out of the courtroom almost an hour later.
Smiling, Spencer nodded. “It did.”
“Yes.” She pumped her fist and grinned widely. Without conscious thought, she stepped closer to him. Spencer instinctively opened his arms, and a moment later, she was engulfed in his embrace. Against his shoulder, she said. “Thank you for helping me out. I don’t think I could’ve done it without your help.”
“Don’t underestimate yourself.” Spencer’s voice rumbled against her hair as he stroked his hand over her back. “I think you would’ve done just fine.”
That stroke of his palm on her spine turned what should’ve been an innocent hug into something… more. Suddenly, she was aware of how closely he was cradling her to his body. He wasn’t soft or cushiony, but there was something oddly breathtaking about having those hard muscles press into her chest.
Something hot seared through her and she found herself moving her hips unconsciously closer to him. As if he was feeling those same weird feelings cruising through her, Spencer tightened his arms around her and dragged her even closer to him. Her breath caught, held… and for a moment she just stood still in his arms, reveling in the sudden tightness that engulfed her whole body.
Then she realized what they were doing and where they were.
Quickly, she stepped out of his embrace.
“Um… sorry,” she stammered as her eyes flew to his face. Though his expression was inscrutable, his eyes had darkened perceptibly. Forcing a nervous smile, she said, “I didn’t mean to do that.”
“It’s okay.” A muscle in his jaw flexed as if to refute those words, but all he said was, “I guess you were excited.”
“Yeah, I guess I was.” Looking everywhere but at him, she said, “Anyway, thank you for all the help you gave me.”
Even though she tried to convince herself that it was just a hug and there was no need to dwell on it, there was no hiding from the fact that it’d felt good to be in his arms again. And she’d liked it, she finally admitted. But it wouldn’t happen again. She and Spencer were like ibuprofen and alcohol; not meant to mix. No more kisses, no more hugs. In fact, she was even banning longing looks.
She could do this, she decided determinedly before turning back to her work.
BECAUSE OF HER case, Kelly ended up staying in the office later than her coworkers. As with Dee Roberts case, her instincts told her that Xavier Lee hadn’t started the fire. But working with Spencer had taught her that instincts meant nothing to the law. Evidence was everything. Now, she was working hard to pile up the evidence to support her instincts.
Of course, Spencer stayed late too. If there was a trophy for most workaholic lawyer, Spencer was well on his way to winning it. What was he working on anyway? Kelly wondered as she finished up with her research at around eight. It had to be something really important since he hadn’t come out of his office in over three hours. Should she offer to help? After all the help he’d given her with her case despite his own heavy case-load, it was the right thing to do, right? She turned off her computer, stood up and headed to his office.
“Come in,” Spencer called out when she knocked on his door.
When she entered his office, she found him seated on his couch. He was reading from his laptop while several documents and books lay spread on the coffee table in front of him. His coat and tie were long gone, and his shirt was folded at the sleeves like that of a man hard at work.
His eyes widened in surprise when she walked in. “You haven’t left yet?”
“No.” She closed the door behind her. “I was looking at some old arson cases to see if they’d come in handy for Xavier’s case.”
“You should check out Sebastian Puller’s two-thousand-and-nine case.” He set his laptop on the coffee table and sat back on the couch. “It’s a little similar to Xavier’s.”
“Yeah, Angelina already told me about it.” Kelly crossed the room to come to a stop in front of the coffee table. Tilting her head to peer at his documents, she asked, “What are you working on?”
He made a face. “Arguments for Carrie Anthony’s case.”
“Carrie Anthony?” Kelly winced.
She could understand Spencer’s distaste with the case. Carrie Anthony was a woman who’d been accused of standing by and watching while her stepson got beaten up by his schoolmates. If she’d stood by because she was scared, the case would’ve been different. However, the only reason Carrie had done nothing to help her stepson was because she didn’t like him.
It was an awful case, and both Spencer and Angelina had tried to convince the managing partners not to take it. Unfortunately, Carrie’s uncle was the state’s governor. Short story; her money and connections had won the firm over. Spencer and Angelina had drawn straws to decide who was taking the case, and Spencer had lost.
“Have you decided how you’re going with it?” Kelly asked as she settled beside him.
Closing his eyes, Spencer leant his head against the back of the couch. “I advised her to plead guilty and negotiate with the D.A. for a lighter sentence because there were so many witnesses. But she says she doesn’t want to be known as a child-abuser.”
“But that’s what she is.” Kelly leaned forward to pick up one of his books. She glanced over the contents of the open page. “This might work.”
Spencer opened his eyes and leaned towards her to see what she was reading. Immediately, his masculine scent and warmth assailed her senses, sending sparks of awareness through her. Unaware of his effect on her, Spencer read the open page then shook his head and sat back.
“Nah, won’t work,” he said. “The cases are too different. In that case, the woman was a victim of abuse too. Carrie was just a spectator – and a happy one from all accounts.”
Kelly pulled a face. “I hate this case.”
“Tell me about it. Cases like these are the reason I became a prosecutor.” Spencer dragged in a deep breath. “Can you imagine what the boy was going through as he watched someone he thought of as his mother watching him get beaten up? This is going to screw him up for the rest of his life. And now I’m supposed to defend that witch?”
Kelly watched him quietly. “Do you think you can do it?”
“I don’t know.” Spencer rubbed the bridge of his nose. “But what I do know is that I wish I was on the other side of the case. Somebody should get that kid justice.”
He seemed so affected by this case, as if his soul was being stripped piece by piece with every second he spent thinking of ways to defend Carrie Anthony. Kelly wanted to hug him and tell him to just drop this case. She wanted to ask him why he was even at Chambers & Quinn when it was so obvious that he was made for the District Attorney’s office. But she didn’t do or say anything because she already knew the answer. She was the reason.
AS DISTURBING AS the Carrie Anthony case was, Spencer knew he couldn’t drop it. Not just because it’d been sent directly from ‘above’, but because everyone deserved a defense, even serial killers. Furthermore, if defense lawyers went around cherry-picking clients and only defending the innocent, business would be pretty slim.
Though Kelly lapsed into silence, he was ridiculously aware of her sitting quietly beside him and palming through his books. So aware of her was he that he knew the exact second she became drowsy and the moment she relaxed back into the couch. But his awareness spiked further when her head slumped in his direction.
Acting purely on instinct, he caught her head with his hand to keep her from falling to the couch. She must’ve been extremely tired because she didn’t even awaken when his palm cupped her cheek. Gently, he shifted her head back so she was lying with her head back against the couch. But Kelly, it seemed, was uncomfortable with that position. Her head lolled in his direction again and he caught her again then set her right. However, when it happened two other times, he sighed and finally surrendered to fate. He shifted closer to her then rested her head on his shoulder.
It was hard to work with Kelly’s head on his shoulder. Not because she was heavy, but because his eyes kept drifting to her face. He tried to focus on the document he was reading, but couldn’t help coming back for a better look. So this is what Kelly looked like when she was sleeping? Relaxed, quiet and even more beautiful than he expected.
Smiling faintly, he reached to push back a braid that had escaped the tight knot that she held her hair in. However, once his fingers glanced over her dark skin, he couldn’t help trailing them against her cheek. Her skin was so silky, so soft, such a stark and beautiful contrast to his… He jerked his hand away when Kelly frowned and whimpered in her sleep.
Still asleep, she shifted on the couch as if to get more comfortable. When that wasn’t enough, she turned her body slightly, tucking her face into his neck. Spencer stiffened and his breath caught in his throat. When Kelly threw her arm over his torso, awareness zipped through him like electricity.
He could feel her warm breath as it fanned his neck. He could feel her heavy breast pushing against the side of his arm. Spencer drew in a shaky breath to steady his suddenly erratic heartbeat but ended up taking in a huge gulp of her intoxicating feminine scent.
He went hard as a rock.
If that wasn’t a clear sign that things had already gone too far, he didn’t know what was. Reluctantly, he shifted her arm off his upper body then turned her so she was leaning back against the couch again. Once she was off him, he stood up then moved her so she could sleep on the couch. Something about his movements must’ve awakened Kelly because her eyelids suddenly drifted upwards. A second later, she was staring up at him.
Spencer stilled as their eyes locked.
Kelly frowned then her tongue peeked past her lips as if inviting him to look. And he did. His gaze riveted on those lush lips, took them in. His heart started to pound as want, need, desire suddenly filled him. Before he knew it, he was lowering his mouth towards hers.
At first, all he had to work with was her lips. Then her lips parted, welcoming him into a world of sweet and breathless wonder. He kissed Kelly slowly, letting his tongue slide inside, savoring her intoxicating sweetness and warmth. Damn, she was addictive.
Though the kiss awakened a raw and aching feeling within him, Spencer knew that he needed to stop it. He’d already gone too far past the line that Kelly had drawn. Reluctantly, he dragged his mouth away from hers and started to straighten to his full height.
He didn’t get far.
Kelly cupped the back of his neck and yanked him right back down to her. Their lips met again. This time, she was the one who suckled his lips, the one who pushed her tongue into his mouth, the one in control. Once she took the lead, it was over for Spencer. Even if he wanted to turn back, he couldn’t.
With a low growl, he pressed his lips harder over hers and deepened the kiss.