Spencer was deep asleep when the sudden ring of his phone yanked him from his dreams.
“Ugh!” He groaned as he stretched out his arm and blindly patted the nightstand in search of the offending gadget. When his fingers bumped into it, he grabbed it, swiped his fingers over the screen and put it to his ear. “What?”
“What?” Lawrence’s overly peppy voice echoed on the other end of the line. “Is that how you answer your phone these days?”
“Not again,” Spencer mumbled under his breath. “Why are you calling me, old man?”
“Are you still asleep?”
“What do you think?” Spencer practically growled.
Lawrence laughed. “Yeesh! Down Fido.”
“What do you want?”
“Nothing really,” the older man said. “I was just bored after exercise and thought I should call you to wish you a good morning.”
“Wish me good morning? Bull!” Spencer snorted as he opened his eyes into thin slits. Immediately, the morning’s bright light bit into his eyes and he quickly closed them. “You just wanted to brag about how many miles you ran today.”
Lawrence didn’t bother denying the accusation. His voice filled with glee, he boasted, “Five miles. I finally did it. I finally hit five miles.”
“Yay! Congratulations! You’re a star.” Even though Spencer affected a bored tone, he was genuinely happy for his godfather. And proud of him.
In the months following his heart attack, Lawrence had developed a love affair with exercise and weight loss. He’d already lost fifty-three pounds. Why did Spencer know the exact number of pounds his godfather had lost? Because Lawrence had made it a point to celebrate then analyze to death after every single pound he lost.
It was exhausting. And heartening.
If calling Spencer every dawn to announce his successes for the day was what it took to keep Lawrence healthy and alive, then Spencer was all for it. Who needed sleep anyway?
“Thank you for the well wishes,” Lawrence continued cheerfully. “You know I really didn’t think I could do it. When I woke up this morning, my legs were aching, and it was so damn cold outside. But then I just said to myself ‘Lawrence, you have to do this’. Then once I started running…” and on he went.
Though Spencer yawned and groaned under his breath, he kept listening as Lawrence prosed on. Fortunately, the man had an early morning meeting. After filling Spencer’s ear for another five minutes, he ended the call.
His eyes still closed, Spencer tossed his phone back on the nightstand then turned to his side, straight into Kelly. She was lying on her back, her eyes closed and lips parted slightly as she drew in deep breaths and exhaled just as deeply.
The moment Spencer felt her warm body against his, a smile lifted his lips. Somehow just being near her, seeing her, breathing her, was enough to lift his mood. Grinning, he slung his arm over her tummy and scooted closer to her.
“Spencer!” the apparently awake Kelly mumbled without opening her eyes. Her voice groggy with sleep, she complained, “Your arm is heavy.”
“No, it isn’t.” He closed his eyes and buried his nose in her t-shirt covered shoulder. She smelled like his woman; feminine with a delicate hint of jasmine. Her scent sent familiar shivers of desire and tenderness racing up and down his spine. He took in a deep gulp.
“It is.” She tried to push his arm away, but he only tightened his hold on her.
For good measure, he also slung one leg over hers as he said, “It’s not heavy.”
“Ugh! Hey, Mr. Chambers, get your body off me,” Kelly protested as she slapped his leg under the covers. “Seriously. You’re a nuisance.”
“Your nuisance.” He kissed her temple.
“That’s corny as hell. Get off me.” This time, she shoved him hard. So hard that he rolled not just off her, but straight off the bed.
He fell to the floor with an ‘oof’ as pain raced up and down his right hip. That pain was soon forgotten when he saw Kelly’s pretty face peering down at him. Worry was written in every line of her expression, as she asked, “Babe, are you okay?”
“Come here, woman.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her down to join him on the floor.
“Spencer!” She squealed as she landed squarely over him. “Let me go.”
She tried to crawl away from him but he grabbed her ankle and yanked her right back into his arms. He locked his legs around her torso. “Where are you going?”
“Let go,” she protested loudly.
When her protests only yielded a firmer squeeze, she went into attack mode. She turned in his arms and pounced on him. Because he was tempering his strength to keep from hurting her, she somehow ended up on top of him, straddling his back as he lay face down on the floor.
“You’re going to pay for ruining my sleep.” She cackled evilly before pushing her hands underneath his t-shirt to tickle his back.
“Ugh! Ugh!” He squirmed in a futile attempt to get away from her. Why would she do this? She knew how sensitive his back was.
“I got you now,” she teased as she ran her fingers up to his armpits.
“Noooo, Kelly,” he protested even as a gurgle of laughter rose in his throat.
Soon he was laughing like a mad man while still trying to get away from her wicked fingers. He twisted his body underneath her until he was on his back and she was straddling his waist.
“Please, please, stop,” he pleaded through chortles of breathless laughter.
“Say you’re sorry,” she demanded, wiggling her fingers threateningly.
“Sorry. Sorry,” he sang, “Sorry. Sorry.”
“You’re so easy.” She laughed. Her beautiful brown eyes gleaming with amusement, she bent to kiss him. She kissed him until he wasn’t laughing any more, just craving her. When she finally ended the kiss, it was to bury her face in the crook between his shoulder and neck. With a smile, Spencer soothed his hands over her back in gentle strokes.
It was hard to believe that they’d been together for over seven months now. Seven months sounded like such a long time, yet they felt like too little time. Despite the time that had passed, Spencer still woke up every day feeling like he didn’t know his fiancée completely. Like she was a present he needed to open every day if he wanted to know what was really inside her.
Every day he woke up more in love with her than the previous day. He loved her so much that he wondered if it was possible to love someone too much. In the first few months of their relationship, he’d dreaded waking up to a new day. What if that was that day Kelly woke up and remembered everything he’d put her through? What if that was the day she left him?
But she’d showed him that there was nothing to fear. That she loved him just as much as he loved her – maybe even more. And she wasn’t going anywhere. All the fears and doubts that plagued him were now like ghosts; emotions he vaguely remembered feeling but no longer dwelt on.
Kelly was here to stay. She was his forever, just like he was hers forever.
He cupped her nape and tilted her head upwards so he could kiss her again. She fell right into the kiss, melting into him like he was a part of her. Her lips were warm and giving as they danced over his and seduced him deeper into the kiss.
With her practically seated on his cock, it was inevitable that the kiss would turn into something more. He arched his lower body upwards as they kissed and ground himself against that warm, delectable space between her legs. Kelly purred in delight then began to dance over him, making his cock grow and swell with each erotic twirl.
With a groan, he lowered his hands to her ass. He squeezed her fleshy buttocks before moving his hands upward to the waistband of her pajama-shorts. His intention was to drag those shorts down her ass and get her naked. However, before he could follow through with his plan, Kelly murmured, “What time is it?”
They both turned desire-hazed eyes to the clock on the nightstand.
Seven-eighteen.
Shit. Their desire took an immediate backseat to the panic that engulfed them. Kelly rolled off him with speed he didn’t even know she was capable of and jumped to her feet. Spencer followed suit.
The race to the bathroom began.
Kelly zoomed past him, making a beeline for the en-suite. He chased after her. Unfortunately, he wasn’t fast enough. She got there before him, and promptly slammed the door in his face and locked it.
“Yo, Kelly.” He pounded on the door. “Open the door. I’ve got court.”
“So do I,” she shouted back.
“Then let’s shower together.”
“So you can maul me?” He could’ve sworn that he heard her eyes roll as she guffawed. “Boy, bye.”
“I won’t lay a hand on you,” he promised. “I swear. I just want to shower so I’m not late.”
“I don’t think so.” There was a shuffling sound as if she was walking away from the door.
“Kelly, Kelly, Kelly,” he called out and pounded on the door. But it was no use. Minutes later, he heard the sound of water running.
The lady took her sweet time in there. By the time the lock turned, it was just ten minutes to eight. Kelly emerged from the steam-filled room with a smirk. “It’s all yours.”
“I’ll get you for this,” he threatened before rushing into the bathroom.
Within seconds, he was in the shower cubicle and turning on the water. Sometime in the course of his shower, he heard the main door open. He expected Kelly to open the shower door to say something but she didn’t. She was probably getting something from the cabinets, he reassured himself as he went back to slathering soap all over himself.
As it turned out, he was wrong. Horribly so.
Kelly hadn’t come in to take something from the bathroom, she’d come to put something there. Specifically, his phone. Then she’d gone on ahead to lock the door. His eyes wide with disbelief, Spencer jerked the doorknob, turning it this way and that way, but the door didn’t open.
Wow! He knew she had an evil streak, but this was too evil.
The only good thing she’d done was leave him his phone so he could ring for help. By the time Spencer got the building superintendent to let him out of the bathroom, it was eight-twelve and counting. Only eighteen more minutes.
Spencer had never dressed so fast or sprinted to the underground parking lot with such speed. By the time he got to his car, he was panting and already sweating. As his luck would have it, this was the day everyone in New York had decided to take out their cars. A trip that should’ve taken him fifteen minutes took thirty-three minutes.
Dread simmering deep in his belly, Spencer took the courthouse stairs two-at-a-time. When he gingerly opened the door to his assigned courtroom and stepped in, it was to find Judge Alfredo Luis dressing down Assistant District Attorney, Michael Kirkland.
“Mr. Kirkland, it seems like you don’t know the details of this case,” the judge scolded. “Wasn’t Spencer Chambers supposed to handle this case?”
The red-faced Kirkland stared down at his shoes. “Yes, he was, but-”
“Where is he?” the judge barked.
Despite the panic roiling within him, Spencer called out, “Right here, Your Honor.”
His arrival caused a burst of murmurs as everyone turned to watch him stride down the gallery and past the bar. Everyone, in this case, included the curious observers, the angry judge, Kirkland who sagged in relief at Spencer’s entrance, the disinterested defendant, and the defendant’s amused lawyer, Kelly Garner.
Yes, that Kelly Garner.
Spencer ignored her to focus his attention on the judge.
“Mr. Chambers.” Judge Luis turned and glanced pointedly at the enormous clock right above the bench that said it was now eight-fifty-six. He gestured for Spencer to come forward. “A word.”
Spencer only paused to shoot Kelly a narrow-eyed glare before approaching the bench.
“You know I can’t stand lateness-” Though the judge’s voice was low, there was no mistaking the annoyance thrumming beneath it. “- especially when it comes from the prosecution.”
“I’m sorry, Your Honor,” Spencer apologized. “It won’t happen again.”
After the scare Lawrence had given him, Spencer had realized that life was too short to not spend time with the people he loved or doing the things he loved. With Kelly’s support, he’d given in his notice at Chambers & Quinn and rejoined the District Attorney’s office. His former colleagues hadn’t exactly welcomed him with open arms, but things were getting better now. Besides, it was home.
His experience with Kelly and as a defense lawyer had left him more empathetic and thorough. These days he investigated cases himself to make sure that the evidence was irrefutable, then he considered the defendant’s circumstances before deciding on his prosecution strategy. It was a marked difference from the cold, clinical way he used to operate.
Kelly on the other hand had stayed with Chambers & Quinn, and in the process become a formidable opponent. Now he regretted training her so well because she knew all his tricks. Whenever they came up against each other, he felt a nervousness that he never felt with other defense lawyers. The nervousness was because he knew her chances of beating him were just as high as his chances of beating her. She was single-handedly bringing down his conviction percentage. If he wasn’t so proud of her, he’d be annoyed.
“What happened?” Judge Luis brought him back to the present. “Why were you late?”
“Ah.” Spencer scratched the back of his neck as he struggled to keep from looking back at Kelly. He couldn’t exactly reveal that his fiancé had locked him in the bathroom, so he hedged, “A small traffic accident.”
Judge Luis’s narrowed eyes said he didn’t believe him. His tone sarcastic, the judge said, “Next time have small traffic accidents on your own time.”
“Yes, Your Honor.” Spencer nodded.
The judge waved him away with an annoyed huff and a dismissive flick of his hand. It was only after Spencer settled behind the prosecution’s table that he drew his first easy breath. He turned his head sideways to glance at the defense table and found Kelly grinning back at him. She gave him a small wave. How you doing?
Frowning, he pointed at his eyes with two fingers in a v-sign then at her. I’m watching you, and I won’t forget this.
She smirked then gave him a fake tremble. I’m so scared.
Spencer shook his head and chuckled underneath his breath. God, he loved this woman.
“Okay, now that the real lawyers are here-” The judge drew their attention. “-can we get some work done?”
They both put on their war face. “Yes, Your Honor.”
│ THE END │
Thank you for reading ‘How To Tempt A Crook’. I hope you enjoyed reading about Spencer and Kelly’s journey to their happy ending as much as I enjoyed writing it. Let me know what you thought by leaving a review at your favorite store/site. Again - Thank you.