The man chuckled. “Just call me Daddy Warbucks.” He extended his arm toward her, and she braced herself. She realized that he was offering her a bag. “Welcome to town. I hope we get to know each other better.” There were gloves on his hands.
Bree didn’t touch the bag, not knowing what was in it. The contents could very well be illegal and somebody could be photographing this encounter.
He lowered his arm and held the bag at his side. “Most everyone can use a little extra support.” This guy seemed to have targeted her specifically, but his purpose was unclear.
“And just who would this welcoming gift be from?” Bree asked.
The man gave her a chastising smirk and a head shake. “That’s not important right now.”
Bree knew she looked shocked. There was no proof, but this seemed an initial step for her to become involved in something nefarious. The most likely explanation was bribery for her judicial cooperation.
“This is between us,” the guy said. “Just a friendly howdy.”
“And if I want to contact you?”
“Don’t you worry about that.”
Bree was in shock and couldn’t think of anything else to say, so she nodded.
“Now you be careful.” The warning tone of the deep raspy voice hit Bree as a threat. And after a prolonged look, the man turned and walked away with the bag. Bree tried to watch him, to see if she could see him get into a vehicle, maybe even catch the license plate number, but he walked out beyond the lot and disappeared into the dark. Well, she wouldn’t forget that voice.
Brazen. Terrifying. While she’d seen a wide array of crime as a defense attorney, it had never been personal. This felt court related and very personal, even if the guy hadn’t been specific beyond his howdy. He obviously knew she was new to town and had targeted her.
After taking a few deep breaths, she climbed into her car on shaky legs. Bree placed her salad on the front passenger seat, even though she’d lost her appetite. She slumped back and closed her eyes for a full five minutes before she pulled herself together. The entire incident had scared her—she had little doubt that it was job related. She needed to share what had occurred with her presiding judge tomorrow morning. With Tess.
Chapter Nine
Tess was in her office starting her day when Helene knocked on her door. She called for her to come in.
“Judge O’Brian just made an appointment. It sounded like she really wanted to meet with you this morning, so I agreed for her to be here in just a few minutes. I hope that’s okay. Then you have Simon Huffington scheduled a bit later.”
“Thanks, that’s fine,” Tess replied as Helene closed the door.
Tess sat back in her chair. Bree…what in the world could she want? She’d just been in this office last night. They’d kissed, a superb kiss that Tess knew she’d initiated and fully participated in. Afterward, she’d gone home and taken a long shower. Crawled into bed with Thelma and Louise. Let herself feel depressed. She was pathetic, wanting a woman who wasn’t ready to want her in the way she wanted Bree. And so many reasons why she shouldn’t want a workplace romance either.
Just thinking about the situation that she found herself in made her eyes moist. So, was Bree’s visit going to be personal or professional? A few minutes and she’d find out. She headed into her private lavatory to splash a little cold water on her face. It wouldn’t help her makeup, but the wetness she’d just wiped away had already started to ruin that. She quickly layered on a fresh application.
It wasn’t three minutes after she’d settled back behind her desk that there was a knock on the door. Tess looked down at the motion on her desk that she’d been trying to work her way through. She kept her head tilted down as she called out, “Comein,” but she let her eyes shift up to take in the doorway under a half-lidded gaze.
Helene opened the door and announced Bree’s arrival, then stepped back as Bree came into her office. Bree looked tired, but still so appealing. Tess couldn’t prevent herself from straightening and locking gazes with her. Helene shut the door, and it was just the two of them.
Tess nodded at the chair and considered that less than twenty-four hours before, she’d been kissing this woman. Her pulse thrummed, and her unwelcome libido tap-danced between her legs, but she schooled herself to appear as stoic as she could manage. She was on the job.
“Judge O’Brian.” Tess had no idea what to say, so she decided to let Bree lead.
“Can we talk?” Bree blinked a few times. She appeared stressed, and that elevated Tess’s own stress levels. Last night, she’d thought they’d parted with an understanding of where things stood, even if her heart kept telling her that she wanted to find out if they could have more.
Tess nodded. “Go ahead. I’m listening. Part of my newly acquired position. Bench-worn judge listening to newbie.”
“After our encounter last night—” Bree started to address that topic, but Tess cut her off by holding up her hand, palm out.
“I agreed with you last night, about getting ahead of ourselves. I understand the concerns.” That didn’t mean that Tess wasn’t fighting every emotion that was swirling inside. It was practical, but she’d had a moment of foolishly entertaining visions of finally muffling those echoes of inadequacy she’d dealt with for a lifetime. Bree had managed to generate hope that this could be different, but those echoes were back with a resounding roar. Tess refused to let them be heard.
Now it was Bree’s turn to hold up her hand, stop-sign fashion. Her brow was furrowed, and Tess acknowledged thatsomething was really bothering her. She hoped she hadn’t caused that level of anxiety in Bree.
“Tess, I’m not here about last night. At least not about what happened here. I came to talk to you in your professional capacity, as the presiding judge of this court. Even if you didn’t vote for yourself,” she quietly added, “I voted for you without hesitation.” Bree’s final statement was a whisper.
Tess fought the pleasure she felt at Bree’s declaration. She nodded and waited. Tess watched Bree gather her thoughts and compose herself. Her blue eyes calmed and her soft pink lips relaxed. Tess acknowledged how sexy Bree was, stressed or not.
