“I’ve prosecuted and lost a couple of other cases involving fetal deaths,” she said, finding half a brain somewhere in the midst of the emotion and waywardness attacking her. “One a domestic violence case. The other a landlord who refused to fix faulty wiring and a fire broke out. The mother suffered severe enough smoke inhalation that she lost her baby.”
As difficult as the conversation was, it wasn’t overpowering her now. She was back in her element. In control. Jayden was a good listener.
“My point here is that I know Suzie Heber told the complete truth four years before. I know what her husband does to her. I know this based on the evidence before me, the interviews Suzie gave, the compelling reports that were offered live in court. Not based on what I might want to believe. And this time? Yeah, maybe I feel some personal emotion to it all, but I’m out to see justice served for Suzie. For the baby she lost through no choice of her own. Not for myself.”
Emma had no doubts. No wavering. Nothing but a sense that she was doing what she had to do. What was right to do. No matter what Jayden thought.
* * *
Jayden leaned in then and kissed her. Probably the absolute wrong thing to do. He did it anyway. Just leaned over, ignoring the slight twinge in his side, and planted his lips squarely on hers. She’d bared her soul to him, and he’d just needed to connect with her in a tender, personal moment. A sign of caring. Of support. Not of desire.
It was possible he’d have straightened right afterward. Apologized. But when her lips moved against his, opening slightly, he pressed harder, opening his mouth to taste her more completely. To let his tongue talk to hers and come to an agreement the two of them couldn’t seem to reach any other way.
Their jobs took everything. And somedays, it raised emotions that needed an outlet. Something that would dispel built-up tension when winning the case wasn’t an immediate option.
Without breaking from the kiss, he put his hands at her waist, and stood, helping her up with him. She took a step, he leaned, and their bodies came together, moving side to side, just enough to create friction where he was hurting most. Reaching a hand down, Emma cupped him there. He swelled even more, eager to do what they must to deactivate the attraction that would inevitably detonate at some point and kept distracting them from what mattered mos
t to both of them.
The job.
He was ready to lay her down on the lounger not two feet away. To push her skirt up her hips, get her panties out of the way and come.
Condom. The thought floated in and out. Wallet.
She was rubbing slowly, methodically, on his fly, her tongue kissing him with more fire than he’d ever felt from a woman. Her nipples were rock-hard. He could feel them against his chest. Arms around her, he pulled her closer, meaning that they touched with more pressure, not more completely. The only way to be more complete was to get unnecessary clothing out of the way and be inside her.
Moving against her hand, Jayden had to remind himself to slow down. No matter how urgent the business matter at hand, she deserved a man who respected her womanhood, not an animal about to devour her.
“You want to move this inside?” he asked, thinking that the bed would be more comfortable to her. And his wallet...was it in his back pocket?
“Something wrong with that lounger?” She moaned against his lips, sending more shuddering need through him.
“Hell no,” he muttered back. Having sex outside...hell yeah.
She was reaching for his fly. He went for her breasts. Cupping them simultaneously, no padding there, moving his palms against the tips while she worked the button on his jeans. The closure gave and the relief of pressure was both a blessing and a curse. He slid his hands inside her blouse, liking the thin silk separating his skin from hers. So thin, he slipped beneath it easily and then around to undo the clasp. Almost as easily as she yanked down his zipper.
He sprang free. He had to have her. The pain was almost excruciating.
Her breasts were partially bared now, the nipples exposed to the warm night air. Had he undone those buttons? Hoped to God he hadn’t ripped them.
Pushing her backward, holding her tight as he guided them toward the lounger, Jayden sank his tongue deeply into her mouth, mimicking other things he’d like to do with it. Thinking about them. And still somehow managing to get her on her back without falling on top of her.
Or dropping her.
He dropped his jeans instead, stepped out of one leg, and then, with a knee between hers, he lowered himself down, sliding her skirt up as he went. The material was tight, as though teasing him, and he pushed harder, exposing silk-laced cotton underwear.
The thin silk he’d been expecting would have seduced him. This...this conservative piece of fabric, that screamed “good girl” to him enticed him on a whole new level. He had to stop a second, hold on to his release with every ounce of willpower so that he could give her the pleasure he’d promised this coupling would be for her.
“I need to get a condom,” he said, shocked at the tension in his voice. Like he was being strangled.
“I’ve got one.” She pulled it from the waistband of her skirt. A little pocket there? Or had she been wearing it there, between her waistband and that delectable skin all night?
If he’d known, he’d have been hard all through dinner.
He almost exploded when she ripped the packet open with her teeth, and yanked at her panties as she sheathed him with her delicate hand. It should have been awkward. His big body on that lounger for one, but she moved in tandem with him, doing her jobs while he did his, rubbing her crotch against his hand as he bared her to the openness of his backyard.
He entered her effortlessly. Gloriously. As smooth and tight and right as it had ever been. Expecting it to be quick. Hard. Instead he slowed as he moved. Looking at her. Finding her staring right at him. Into him.