The Law of Attraction
Page 56

“It wasn’t dangerous.”
“Gabrielle, anything could be dangerous right now. You know that. And you wound up crawling around in a dumpster. I really don’t want you doing things like that anymore.” He didn’t want me doing things like this anymore? Who was he, my dad?
“Oh? And you’ll never go out to a crime scene or go out to interview a witness in the field huh?”
“I’m a guy,” he said, like that explained everything.
“So. Female prosecutors do it too.”
“Yeah, but they’re not my girlfriend and they’re not getting harassing letters.” He was starting to sound annoyed.
“They probably get lots of harassing letters.”
“Okay, have I mentioned that they’re not my girlfriend?” He was definitely sounding annoyed now.
“Even before the letter, you were worrying about me going into lock-up to interview clients charged with violent crimes.”
“Because you could get hurt and there are plenty of male public defenders who could do it.”
“But I can do it and it’s my job to do it. Next you’ll be telling me that you don’t want me to represent anyone charged with a violent crime in general.” I was getting rather annoyed now too.
“Well, now that you mention it…”
“Braden! I’m a criminal defense lawyer. I defend criminals. All kinds of criminals. Not just criminals that you approve of.”
“Well, you can’t expect me not to worry or care, Gabrielle!”
“Are you guys arguing?” Jess asked.
“Are we?” I asked.
“Maybe a little but that’s okay. Couples argue. We’ll figure it out and we can have make-up sex later,” Braden said, and Bruno yipped.
“Hey, I think the dog knows that word,” Mark said, studying Bruno curiously.
“Look who his parents are,” Adam said dryly. “God knows what he’s been exposed to. He probably needs psychoanalysis.”
“Okay, you know it’s getting late, guys and we all have court tomorrow, I’m sure,” Jess hinted.
“Yeah, I had better be heading home. Come on Adam, I’ll drop you off,” Mark said.
“Let’s go, Sherlock,” Braden said to me. By the time we got back to his place it was eleven. He put Bruno in the bedroom and came back into the living room area, shutting off the lights. “Look,” he said and pulled me over to the window. I could see the city lights. The view was gorgeous.
“It’s beautiful.” I sighed.
“You’re beautiful.” He stood behind me and pulled me against his chest. “I’m sorry if I sounded pushy. I’m feeling very protective of you and I’m not used to that. I just don’t want you getting hurt.”
“I know Braden, and believe me, I love the fact that you care so much. I care about you too. It scares me that you make enemies of dangerous people every day. It’s what you do, though, just like defending them is what I do. I won’t knowingly put myself in any actual danger. How’s that?”
“I guess it’ll have to be good enough. Do you want to do this for the rest of your life?”
“I don’t know. Sometimes I think so and other times I don’t.”
“Do you want to have real kids someday?” Wow, Braden was talking about kids. That was surprising to say the least.
“I think so. I’d like to be married first, though.”
“Of course,” he said, like that was a given. Wasn’t this guy a major player a month ago? This was a rather quick metamorphosis. Something about it felt right, though, and I think he just sensed it too. “So you really like the lights, huh?”
“Yeah, I really do.”
“I’ll be right back,” he said and went over to a closet. He grabbed a comforter and brought it back to where I was standing and spread it out on the floor. “Let’s make love here then,” he said quietly. He had never called it that before. He sank down and pulled me down beside him. Then he laid me back and kissed me sweetly and softly, my lips, my cheeks, my eyelids, my jaw, my ears, my neck, my everywhere. I sighed with both contentment and arousal. He undressed me slowly and then undressed himself, holding my gaze the entire time. Then he covered me with his wonderfully warm body and sank into me as the lights sparkled in the distance. We made love, slowly and tenderly until finally we climaxed one after the other. Afterward we laid there holding each other for quite a while before heading off to bed. Bruno was asleep doing his little Chihuahua snore and I fell asleep in Braden’s arms.
* * *
The week went by quickly. By some miracle all of my cases were pretty normal. There were no confused fanny grabbers, geriatric pot-heads or armed robbers who worked the counter or offered to show ID. Just your typical run-of-the-mill felons. I had a few cases against Adam that week, which gave him the opportunity to catch up on teasing me about something besides my love life. Bruno took well to doggy day care, where he was reportedly quite popular. Braden and I were spending every evening together at either his place or mine. Bruno learned to accept hanging out in the living room and eventually forgave us for playing the humping game without him. His reward for being so understanding was that he got to sleep in the bedroom with us when we were done playing. In his own bed of course. He now had one at each of our apartments.
Unavoidably, after spending several hours on Thursday night talking in bed and making love, Friday morning arrived. Braden and Adam were flying out to Pittsburgh to avoid a five-hour drive and they were leaving at ten, so I said goodbye to him before I left for work in the morning.
“So, you’ll text me to let me know you got there okay?”
“Right, and you’ll text me to let me know that you and Bruno had a good day?”
“Yes, and you’ll call me to say goodnight?”
“There’s some kind of cocktail thing. Should I call you before or after?”
“After. Then you can just relax. You and Adam are sharing a room?”
“Yeah. I’ll probably leave the party a little early so I can speak to you privately. In case I get mushy. Or horny. Or both.” He kissed me and then he said goodbye to Bruno and we parted ways.
I dropped Bruno off at doggy day care and made it to the office by nine. I didn’t have court that day as so many prosecutors and judges would be out of town. Jess and Cam and I were all planning to take the afternoon off to go in search of costumes and finalize plans for Operation Cole. Mark would be coming by at noon the next day.