As we entered the courtroom, we were informed that 12 jurors had been selected and that they were still looking for the two alternates. Oh hell yes! That meant we could both be called as alternates. If we were alternates, we wouldn't have to deliberate. I could just be…near her. I could see myself spending more time with this lovely woman. Much more time with her. How the fuck did that happen? An hour ago I was hiding my heart, and in that hour she changed my mind. Well, shit. She is good. There were five of us in the courtroom. An older woman, holding a cane, a man who looked like he could use a good shower, shave and maybe a couple of AA meetings and an attractive woman in her late thirties, who appeared to have her act together. Then the pair of us. As I was checking out the competition, she had pulled out a sheet of paper and a pencil. On the paper, she drew a tic-tac-toe grid. Of course, she started by placing an X in the middle. We went back and forth, passing the pencil for our turns. Her X, my O. The first game was a draw, as were the ten that followed. We were getting no where fast. With a smug smile she changed tactics. She drew a series of dots in even rows and columns. She then drew a line from one dot to the closest one to it. When she handed me the pencil, I had no clue what she wanted me to do.
She chuckled, then whispered, "The idea is to draw a line connecting two dots, starting from the line I drew. Then continuing back and forth. But you don't want to set your opponent up for making a box. Then when you make a box you put your initial in it like this." She turned the paper over, drew a box with dots on the corners, then filled it in with a T. "The one with the most boxes wins." "I get the feeling you have an unfair advantage here," I whispered dryly as I took the pencil and started to draw a line.
We took turns drawing lines, passing the pencil back and forth. I let my fingers glide along hers each time. And I was right. She knew much more about this game than I. The paper was coved with little boxes with the letter T. I had maybe three boxes with a P in them. She was kicking my ass at this stupid fucking little game and it made me adore her all the more. Somehow I wasn't the one doing the seducing anymore. The tables had turned.
The lawyers selected the put-together lady in her thirties as the first alternate, leaving one position open. It was a position I did not want if Thief wasn't with me. The hobo man was called up next and I hoped that being sober was not a requirement for jury duty. He was juror number 627765. I was juror number 627766. As he was led to the stand for his interview, they asked me to come sit in the juror box. I reluctantly got up. If I was selected now, she would not be there with me and there was no fucking way I wanted to do this without her.
I had to get out of this. I stared at her as I sat and listened to the questions. Memories of her kisses flooded my thoughts. I licked my lips. She smiled, lifting her hands to her neck and pulling her hair into a bun on top of her head. She absentmindedly fanned her neck. It suddenly felt very warm in here to me too. She let her hair go, shaking it out and it fell around her face and down her shoulders. She then reached into her bag and took out a piece of gum, placing it on her tongue and folding it into her mouth. The sight had me aching for her.
She was seated next to the door. There was a good chance that she could get out that door, and I would never see her again. For some crazy reason, I really didn't want that to happen. In this short time, she had gotten under my skin. I wanted to know everything about her. I'd have liked to believe it was just a sexual thing, but I knew better. I wanted to know her. More than that, I wanted her to know me. Shit! I just met her. Count me among the fools.
To my relief they announced that selection was done. The rest of us were free to go.
I stood to walk toward the door, watching as she made her way out the door. She didn't even spare me a glance over her shoulder.
I wanted to run after her, but I couldn't get to the door without knocking over the little old lady with a cane in front of me. Carlisle and Esme had raised me better than that. Fuck. Fuck! Just like that? No! I couldn't let it go at that. I couldn't let her go like that. I hoped she would be waiting outside the door. The entire achingly slow walk to the door, I convinced myself she would be there. I would walk out to find her waiting for me. But, as I stepped into the hall, it was clear that she wasn't. She was just gone. I looked in every direction and she was no where to be seen. I had to assume that I was the only one feeling the situation.
Well, it was fun while it lasted. I hadn't met someone who captivated me so quickly, and now she was gone. Figures. I walked down the corridor that lead to the vending machine. As I passed by the door to the room we had been in, I noticed it was partially closed. I leaned closer to look inside. That's when her hand landed on my arm and pulled me into the room.
Imagine my surprise that her blouse was unbuttoned to her belly button., affording me a great view of her cleavage.
"Looks like you might have missed a button or two," I moved in close.
"Do you think you could help me out with that?" she smiled at me.
"Sure," I reached for the first undone button, pulling the shirt together, letting the back of my hand brush across the bare skin above her navel.
Her hand came over mine. "No that button is fine," she motioned to a fastened button. "This one needs fixing."
Fuck. Me. This woman was asking me to take her shirt off. Now, we had done some heavy flirting and petting for that matter. But seriously, this was a rush. I felt my heart rate increase as I released the buttons. I brought my hands up to her shoulders, pushing the material down her arms and off her body. She stood before me in just a pale bra and her suit skirt.
"I thought you were gone," I whispered as my hands moved over the bare skin on her shoulders. I found thin straps. My fingers moved down the straps, to the lace below.
"Should we really be doing this?" her smile told me that she wasn't telling me to stop.
"No." We really shouldn't on many levels. Not the least of which being, I was pretty sure my privileges as an attorney would come into question if I were caught in this situation. Her fingers came to the material of my shirt, unbuttoning from the top down. "We're going to anyway, aren't we?"
"Yes," I breathlessly spoke as my lips came down to her neck.
She pushed my shirt off and it fell to the floor on top of hers. I pushed her up against the wall.
"Oh yes, exactly what I wanted." her eyes were wild with desire.
"You want it rough?" I felt her hands run over the muscles on my back. I pulled her body close to mine, feeling her soft skin pressed against my chest. I gasped, she moaned.
"Oh, E…, you feel amazing. I want you. But…I don't know that I can do this here," she had brought her hands up to my face.
"You want to stop?" I swallowed hard. I was really worked up. This was going to fucking hurt.
"I think we should, for now. Let's get together another time. More private."
"We could go to my place, now." I didn't want to stop. I kissed her hard. She met my intensity.
"Damn it, I want you. I just want to rip our clothes off and finish this here and now. But I just can't." Her hands were still running up and down my chest slowly, her touch sending shivers up my spine. "Meet me at Denny's on Monday at 6pm." She reached down, grabbed my shirt, put it on and burst from the room.
I didn't have time to respond. She was gone and now all I had to cover myself with was her flimsy shirt. How was I going to get to my car without running into someone I knew?