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Then she took a quick breath, swallowed, and put her own hand in his, shaking it firmly.
“It’s just Quinn,” she said.
Julius smiled, careful not to show his teeth too much.
“I’m Julius,” he said, releasing her hand. “This is my mate, Hudson.”
Hudson and Quinn shook hands, Hudson murmuring a nicety.
“Thanks,” said Quinn. “I mean, sorry. I gotta get back, my parents are probably pretty mad.”
She nodded once and then turned, rushing back down the hall, her hips and perfect ass swaying from side to side in her skirt.
Julius and Hudson stared. They couldn’t help it.
I could watch her walk away all day, he thought.
“She’s afraid of us,” Hudson rumbled, leaning his face toward Julius’s ear.
“But she’s brave,” Julius said, his eyes lingering on her form as she turned a corner and disappeared from sight.
“I bet we could make her less afraid.”
Julius turned to face his mate, finally letting go of some of his control now that she was gone.
Right away, he started to get an erection. He tried to ignore it.
“We can’t,” he said. “Hudson, you know we can’t.”
“Can’t is an awfully strong word,” Hudson said. A smile began to spread across his face. “Don’t you mean shouldn’t?”
Julius’s palms began to sweat, his bear growling inside. He fought down the urge to grab Hudson’s face in both of his hands and press the other man against the wall of the courthouse.
People are watching, he reminded himself. Your colleagues are watching.
Hudson put one hand very, very lightly on Julius’s shoulder. Just a gentle touch between mates.
Julius’s knees went weak, his bear clawing to get out.
Mate, it was saying. Mate. Mate.
Julius licked his lips and glanced down the hall, at the line of closed, dark doors.
One of them was the jury sequestration room — almost always empty.
Acting far more calm than he felt, Julius grabbed Hudson’s hand. They walked down the hallway, and Julius nodded to a colleague of his, the assistant State’s Attorney. The man waved back, a manila file folder in one hand.
“Did I ever show you the jury room?” Julius asked, just a little bit too loudly, to Hudson. “It’s got an absolutely beautiful mural of the first city council of Granite Valley, you know.”
“I don’t believe I’ve seen it,” Hudson said, playing along.
They passed two women walking quickly, both wearing skirt suits and pumps, carrying paper coffee cups. The women didn’t even look at Julius and Hudson.
They reached the door to the jury room and Julius opened it, the brass doorknob blissfully cool in his hand. He stood perfectly straight as he let Hudson go through the door first, looking one last time over his shoulder at the other people in the hall.
No one was paying them any attention. Julius felt his shoulders relax with relief, and then Hudson’s hand grabbed his and pulled him inside.
He had barely shut the door behind him before he was pinned against the wall, Hudson’s mouth on his, the other man’s hips pinned against his own.
