Eleanor snorted. “You are impossible.”
He grinned wider, completely undeterred. “I’m irresistible. There’s a difference.”
She folded her arms, chin tilted in challenge.
“Oh, I’d love to hear your closing argument, Mr. District Attorney.”
Reid’s eyes sparkled. He let his voice drop to that lazy, confident drawl that always made her heart skip.
“All right then. Exhibit A: undeniable charm. You laugh at my jokes—even when you’re trying not to.”
She rolled her eyes, but her mouth twitched.
“Exhibit B: persistence. I don’t give up—ever. Not on a case, not on an argument, and definitely not on you.”
He stepped a little closer, his voice softening.
“Exhibit C: I see you, Eleanor Elizabeth Harper. The real you. The one who’s brilliant in the courtroom, fierce with her friends, and who pretends she doesn’t melt when I do this?—”
He brushed his knuckles gently along her cheek.
She shivered despite herself.
His smile faded into something steadier.
“And finally… Exhibit D. The clincher.”
He took both her hands in his, gaze steady and sure.
“I’m already falling head over heels for you.”
Something in her chest stuttered, her heart kicking against her ribs. Reid leaned in a fraction, enough that she could feel the warmth of his breath, enough that the "DA" persona vanished and left only the man who had spent weeks systematically dismantling her defenses.
“You’re not supposed to say that,” she whispered, her voice betraying her by dropping into a low, smoky register.
“I’m a truth-seeker, Ellie,” he murmured, his gaze dropping to her mouth with a hunger that made her knees turn to water. “And the truth is, I’ve been a goner since the first curve on the road to Bryson City.”
The teasing confidence was still there—but underneath it was something deeper now.
“So go ahead, Counselor,” he said softly. “Argue all you want. But you’re going to fall for me.”
He squeezed her hands gently.
“Because I’m not giving you a single good reason not to.”
The porch fell quiet.
For a moment, Eleanor simply stared at him.
The confident grin was gone now. Reid stood there waiting, watching her like the outcome of the most important case of his life depended on it.
Her heart pounded so hard she could hear it.
She opened her mouth.
Closed it again.
For the first time in her life, Eleanor Harper—who could dismantle witnesses and dismantle juries without blinking—had absolutely nothing to say.
