Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 108531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 543(@200wpm)___ 434(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 543(@200wpm)___ 434(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
Sure he wasn’t. She hadn’t taken him up on the gas offer since her car was in Herve’s shop and Quaid drove her where she needed to go. Although, apparently the girls had gotten their weekly free slushies, and went in for chips every day after school. Sienna was making sure they used that bit of compensation.
The judge frowned. “I don’t like it. It’s confusing. Also, I would like to point out that the two of you have requested not one, not two, but four different court dates.”
“Yes, Your Honor.” She wasn’t sure what the problem was. “We have four cases, so we need four court dates.”
“But we only had two civil court dates all last month,” the judge pointed out. “When am I supposed to fish?”
She bit back a groan because she wouldn’t get anywhere yelling at the judge to do his damn job. Things moved differently in Papillon. Everyone here expected to have some kind of a life outside of work.
She’d even started thinking it was nice to not work eighty hours a week. It was kind of fun to sit with Quaid at night and eat popcorn while watching a movie, or read a book while he wrote on his laptop. She’d rarely done that before, since her firm had demanded every second of her time.
Next week they had plans to go to one of Papillon’s many festivals together. They would walk around the park grounds and eat yummy food and listen to music.
“I’m sure we can’t keep up this pace for long,” she promised.
“Oh, we can keep it going for a long time,” Quaid countered, his voice going all low and sexy despite the fact they were in court. “You will find I have an enormous amount of stamina when it comes to my work, Your Honor. Up until now, I haven’t had a worthy adversary, but Ms. Cardet is proving to be a fine opponent. The citizens of Papillon should understand they now have two champions, and we’re willing to get into the ring anytime they need us to.”
He made every word sound like a temptation, like a promise of pure pleasure, and she was blushing.
“Are you sure you’re all right, Quaid?” Judge Brewer adjusted his glasses. “Your voice sounds funny.”
His voice sounded like he was hot for her and ready to take her to the nearest private place and throw down, like he couldn’t wait to tear off her clothes and get inside her.
God, she hoped no one could see how hard her nipples were. That man could get her hot with nothing more than a look, but he wasn’t supposed to do that in the courtroom. They had a deal. Because they were on opposite sides of most of the cases they were working on, they didn’t talk about the cases together. When they left the office and went upstairs, they didn’t talk about work. They talked about his books and what she was reading. They talked about the news or TV shows and movies.
Even when they weren’t together, she was thinking about him all the time. Every minute of the day, he was there in the back of her mind. She was in high school again, and he was the object of her affection.
Except this time, he seemed to be right there with her.
“I am perfectly fine, Your Honor. More than fine,” Quaid said with his confident smile. “And we’re ready to go because Ms. Cardet is right. This case is about what we owe our neighbors and how we treat each other here in Papillon.”
“Well, it seems to me Geraldine there treats her neighbors to a whole lot of skin,” the judge shot back.
That got the people in the courtroom laughing.
“You’re welcome, Andy,” Geraldine said with a wave. “You should come out on Friday. We’re having a party. Everyone is getting so tan. You know you could use a little vitamin D.”
“Is there any way you could settle this out of court?” The judge looked a bit desperate. “I’m supposed to fish on Friday.”
“What do you say, Cardet?” Quaid liked to use her last name when they were working. “Do you want to settle?”
He was so annoying sometimes. “If by settling you mean your client ceases to scare off my client’s customers with her adults-only parties clearly visible to the public, then yes. We can settle. I even have damages drawn up. Also, I have witnesses who can clearly show that it’s not merely adults who are being affected by Geraldine’s protests.”
Ivy and Kelly were ready to be sworn in and hoping it would be during school hours.
“Yes, I saw that you’re bringing in your nieces.” Quaid chuckled. “I’m ready to show that Geraldine’s protests are also of a feminist nature, proving that body shaming is damaging. Showing girls and women that they are beautiful at any age is important.”