Nadine opens her front door, and stares blankly at her visitor.

"How do you know where I live?" she demands finally.

"I checked your file."

"You checked my—" She stops short. "That's really creepy."

"I know. But you stood me up."

"I didn't stand you up, Mike; I cancelled. I had to work," she says. "I told you that." Wordlessly, she stands aside to let him in.

"I know. Bess confirmed."

"You checked with my boss?"

"My ego needed reassurance."

"That's the problem with having such a big one," she mutters. She closes the door behind him. "All the maintenance."

"I heard that."

She ignores him. "So," she says, spreading her hands out, "just to summarize — you accessed my information from the personnel database. You checked up on my whereabouts with my employer. You showed up uninvited to my home. Just so you know, Mike, these things seem like warning signs against dating you."

"Will you let me make my case as to why you should?"

"Mike..."

"We're both members of the bar," he challenges. "Let's litigate it."

Well. It's not really in her nature to back down from a challenge.

/

"So the thing is, I really like you. I'm a little crazy about you, actually. And I think we could make something work, but here's the thing."

"Uh-huh," she says. She tries to focus on his words. She has to know what he's saying if she wants to be able to counter.

"I don't like games."

"I'm not playing games," she says. She arcs under his hands. "You are."

"That... may be true. But I would like to stop." His fingers speed up, making tight little circles.

"So then stop!"

"Stop?" His fingers still.

"No. No, don't—don't stop that," she gasps. "You know what I meant."

/

"I'd like to see you again," he's saying now. "For real. A date."

"I still don't think—"

But he starts to kiss his way down to her navel before she can finish that sentence. "Just… just hold that thought," he says. He pushes her knees apart.

"This isn't fair," she mutters, but it's weak.

"Like I was saying," he continues, stroking one hand up and down her thigh, "I'd like to see you again. And I want you to say yes." He runs his thumb over her hip bone. She squirms, but he isn't even looking at what he's doing; he's staring up at her face, waiting for an answer.

She lifts herself onto her elbows. "Is this your strategy?" she asks. "This would never hold up in a court of law." Her hips shift involuntarily against the sheets.

"That's why you try it in arbitration first," he murmurs. His tongue traces aimless patterns across her skin. "Anything goes. Say yes or I'll stop."

"Is that a threat?" She bumps his chin on accident and he kisses her again, this time with a hint of tongue. She bites her lip.

"I think you tend to prefer the term — what is it? — Oh. Yeah. 'Inducement'," he says. He swipes his tongue over her just once, applying enough pressure to make her breath hitch. When he lifts his head to look at her again, his eyes gleam. "This is an inducement."

"I can't believe this," she mutters. "You're gonna use oral sex to induce me to go out with you?"

(It's... kind of working.)

"Yep." He steals another taste and her hips twitch. "If you say yes, I'll keep going." Another lick. "If you say no, well, I'll probably still keep going, because if this is the last opportunity I get, I'd like to make the most of it. But," he says, and he's grinning now, "if you say yes, I'll get to do it again the next time, and it'll be better because I'll have learned a thing or two about how to get you off—"

"Yes!" Nadine says finally, cutting him off. It drives her crazy, how much he talks. She buries her fingers in his hair. "Just keep going."