The Law of Attraction

“Yeah maybe for an extremely short-term relationship, like however long it would take to screw me. I don’t want to have a one night stand with a guy I face in court every day. To tell you the truth, I don’t really want to have a one night stand with anybody, no matter how hot they are.”

“So maybe he’d be willing to invest more than one night for you. We should ask Mark.” Mark Patterson was a fellow public defender who had been friends with Mr. Pierce and Mr. Roth in law school. They had managed to remain close even though they worked on opposite sides of the courtroom now. Together they were probably the three sexiest guys and the three biggest womanizers in the Philadelphia criminal court system, but Mark was still pretty cool just to hang out with, and he and Jess were really good friends.

“No! He would say something to him and then if you were wrong I would feel so embarrassed that I wouldn’t be able to do my job. Besides, he would see me as just another one of his groupies and I want him to respect me.” I was already having flashbacks to college. One adventure in complete humiliation was more than enough, thanks.

“And what if I were right?”

“Then he could always ask me out, couldn’t he? It’s not like it would be hard to track me down. I see him practically every day. I wouldn’t hold my breath though. I think he’s pretty content randomly screwing Barbie dolls that he meets in bars and clubs.”

“Well, I definitely don’t think he would ask you out unless you let him know that you were interested too. Sometimes you act so stand-offish around him.”

“I do?”

“I know you well enough to realize that you’re just attracted to him, but he probably wouldn’t know that. Well, he might figure it out after today. You seemed pretty flustered when he came over to talk to you and you did ask him to comfort you.” She laughed to herself as she started taking notes on a file.

“Oh God,” I moaned. “I’m such an ass**le.”

“Don’t be embarrassed. He always looks at you like he wants to toss you in the jury box and have his wicked way with you. He also keeps moving closer to talk to you. I thought he was going to sit on your lap today and you obviously liked it.”

“Yeah, well, he smells good,” I said and paused to think about that for a second. “I need to get out more. I'm sniffing the prosecutors.”

Commonwealth v. O’Neal

The next day arrived, just as Jess had threatened, and once again I found myself up against Mr. Pierce in court, wishing that he had me up against the courtroom wall. He was becoming increasingly distracting, especially now that she had filled my head with all of her theories that he wanted me too. She was such an enabler sometimes.

“Okay Ms. Ginsberg,” Judge Channing said at the conclusion of the preliminary hearing. “Time for argument. Will we be attempting to amend the Constitution today?”

“No, Your Honor. I wouldn't want to become predictable,” I replied with a smile. Judge Channing wasn’t exactly a fan of mine, by the way. “It's the defense position that the Commonwealth has not made out the charge of attempted homicide. Mr. O'Neal allegedly shot Mr. Anthony in the leg at close range. Clearly if he had intended to kill him he would have aimed higher.”

“He would have aimed higher. I see. Mr. Pierce, your response?”

“Your Honor, Mr. O'Neal shot Mr. Anthony using a nine millimeter handgun on a crowded street in front of at least thirty witnesses. The Commonwealth has presented sufficient evidence to bind all charges, including attempted homicide, over for trial.”

“I'm sorry, Ms. Ginsberg, I'm going to have to go with Mr. Pierce on this one. The fact that your client is a lousy shot doesn't provide a defense. All charges are held. Schedule it for trial.” They led my client away and I headed back to the defense table to gather my things. Mr. Pierce came over to hand me the copy of the order. That was different. Prosecutors weren’t usually that polite. Instead of walking away he stayed there – so close I had to look up to talk to him. Wow, he was tall.

“He would have aimed higher?” he asked with amusement.

“Look, when you represent a guy who shoots somebody in front of sixty witnesses let's hear what you have to say, okay?” I turned around and leaned over to put the order in the file and when I turned back I caught him totally checking out my ass.

“Thirty witnesses,” he said, and quickly looked up at a group of cops coming in the door. I couldn’t help myself, I totally checked out his beautiful body and when he looked back, of course he caught me doing it. I yanked my eyes away from him and cleared my throat.

“Thirty, sixty. What difference does it make? Were they nuns too, by the way?” When I glanced back I saw him trying to stifle a laugh.

“I must admit that I admire your creativity.” I wondered if he meant it or if he was just teasing me as usual. I looked at him directly again and I saw his eyes drop to the bottom lip I was gnawing on nervously. I couldn’t handle the way he was looking at my mouth like that so I turned to gather the papers on the defense table. I was always freaking gathering something when he was around! I really needed to have sex again soon, and God, I hoped that I wasn’t thinking out loud again.

“Thank you, Mr. Pierce. I try. I'll be doing a second show later this afternoon. Just wait until you meet Tiny,” I said, starting to pack up my files. He couldn't hold back anymore. The laughter escaped but he politely covered it with a cough. I glanced up and caught sight of his beautiful mouth and my eyes lingered there. I wanted that mouth on so many parts of my body.

“Did you say something?” My gaze flew back up to his eyes. Shit!

“Month. It’s been a busy month,” I mumbled and bit down on my bottom lip to prevent myself from saying anything else out loud. His eyes dropped to my mouth again and they actually seemed to get a little darker. I was starting to sweat and feel a great deal of tension in the room that had nothing to do with Mr. O’Neal’s poor aim. I had to get the hell out of there. I went to grab lunch before I grabbed Mr. Pierce and found out if he tasted as good as he smelled. Jesus! I felt like I needed a cold shower.

Commonwealth v. Kaminsky

At one o'clock we were back in front of the judge. “Okay, Ms. Ginsberg. Can't wait to hear what you're going to come up with this time,” Judge Channing said. Nothing like a vote of confidence from the judiciary.

“Your Honor, we all know that retail establishments sometimes discard unwanted or defective merchandise. It was perfectly reasonable for Mr. Kaminsky to have mistakenly believed that the merchandise in question here had been abandoned.”