gotten a little too friendly with a colleague and she’d lived to regret it. “Maybe having a personal relationship with associates might work for you, but I’ve never considered it to be a wise move.”
“I don’t know if it works for me because I’ve never done it before.”
That was a hard one to swallow. “You’re telling me that you’ve never fraternized with one of the many female attorneys in this town?”
“Never found one I cared to fraternize with.” The look he gave her said, Until now. Or maybe her imagination was commandeering her brain again.
Turning the topic back to their profession seemed wise. “By the way, I wanted to add my congratulations on your handling of the Richardson case.”
“And I should congratulate you on bulldozing the new guy into taking a plea on the Langston case.”
“I didn’t bulldoze him. I just did some serious negotiating.”
“You scared the hell out of him.”
She lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Okay, call me scary. I’ve been called worse.”
“Such as?”
“Stubborn. Single-minded—”
“Sexy as hell?”
Ha! “Can’t say that I’ve heard that in anyone’s verbal repertoire when describing me.”
“Well, it’s in mine, because you are. Especially tonight.”
Alisha fought the inclination to look behind her to see what other woman had arrived on the scene. She pointed toward the street. “I’m going to head home now.” Before she did something totally stupid.
“Where do you live?” he asked.
“In an apartment north of town, about twenty minutes away.”
“I’m a lot closer. Only a few blocks away. The new condo development.”
“The one that overlooks the river? That’s rather pricey. I didn’t know the D.A.’s office paid so well.”
“I manage. The view alone is worth it.”
“I’m sure it’s great.”
“You should come over tonight and see for yourself.”
Surely this couldn’t be happening to her, a tremendously sensual man asking her over. Actually it couldn’t be happening, or it shouldn’t. “Let me guess. You want me to go over your briefs.”
“My briefs are in order, unless you feel the need to do a quality check.”
She rolled her eyes for the second time tonight, even though she had a sudden image of doing that very thing. “You’re a big boy. I’m sure you’re quite capable of tossing out your old underwear when necessary.”
“We were talking about underwear?” His grin was teasing and terribly tempting.
She laid a dramatic hand on her chest. “My apologies, Mr. Fortune. I guess I’ve confused you with all of the other male jurists who just love to throw out those clichéd legal pickup lines.”
“You mean things like ‘Let’s engage in a little discovery’? ‘I’ll show you mine if you’ll show me yours’?”
“Yes, but we can’t forget my personal favorite—‘Let’s go back to my place and study the penal code.’”
He took a step toward her. “How about ‘I have no statute of limitations when it comes to making you feel good’?”
From the deep, compelling tone of his voice Alisha inherently knew he was telling the truth. “I’ve never heard that one before.”
“That’s because I just made it up. I can be pretty quick on my feet.”
She was surprised her feet were still holding her up. “Very creative, Counselor. And to quote another cliché, I don’t want to end up as another notch on your bedpost.”
He sighed, a rough one. “Why is it that women always think men have ulterior motives?”
“Probably because they do.”
“Believe it or not, my reasons for inviting you over don’t have anything to do with sex.” He rubbed a hand over his nape. “What if I told you that I could just use a friend?”
She could tell him she related to that on a very personal level. “I’m sure you have plenty of friends.”
“Sometimes it’s hard to know who your friends are in this business.”
How true, Alisha thought. “I’m not sure we can really be friends.”
“Sure we can.” He moved a little closer. “We can have a friendly conversation, like we’ve been doing since the first time we met.”
“Friendly? You call telling me my car was a piece of junk when I asked you about a mechanic the other day friendly?”
“And then you told me in explicit detail where I could drive it.”
“True, but you deserved it.”
Daniel shrugged. “I think you take everything too seriously.”
“And you don’t?”
“Yeah, most of the time, but not around you. Beats the hell out of me why you bring out that side of me.”
Exactly what Joe had said earlier. “That’s because I’m not like most women you know. I don’t automatically swoon in your presence.” It took great effort on her part not to do that.
“To be honest, I like that about you. That’s why I want to spend some time with you. We can watch the fireworks from my living room window. Do you see a problem with that?”
Alisha saw a big problem—namely she’d be sorely tempted to climb all over him if he moved even a millimeter closer. “For all intents and purposes we’re opponents.”
“We’re not opposing each other on any case.”
“We could in the future.”
“I’m not concerned about the future. I’m only thinking about tonight.”
How tempting it would be to take him up on his offer. How very, very tempting. But Daniel Fortune’s status as an unflappable attorney was second only to his rep as an in-demand lover.
He took another slow step toward her. “Do you really want to spend the rest of the evening alone, Alisha?”
She didn’t want to react so strongly to the way he’d said her name, but she did. “I’ve been alone before.”
“So have I, but it’s New Year’s Eve. People shouldn’t
