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Luna barked, proof that she was ready to go, regardless of whether or not the humans were done.
He shoved his feet into loafers, not bothering with socks, and opened the door.
He was a coward for not talking to her about Paul, but it didn’t matter. His relationship with his brother wasn’t the problem. Paul would be gone soon. His brother wouldn’t surface again for a year or two, and by then his relationship with Jayna would be on solid ground or completely dead because she would be in New Orleans or Houston or Dallas.
He clipped the leash on Luna’s collar and started toward the stairs.
“And pie, Quaid.” Jayna stood in the doorway of his bedroom, leaning her gorgeous body against the frame without a stitch on.
She was going to be the death of him. “Pie it is, then.”
He was rapidly discovering he would do just about anything to keep her.
chapter eight
“Your Honor, this is not a case about private property laws.” Jayna faced the judge, not looking her opponent’s way at all. Quaid looked far too hot in his tailored suit, and she would remember how he looked even hotter without the suit on, and then she would stare at him and maybe drool a little. It was better to pretend he didn’t exist. “This is a case about what we owe to our neighbors. This is a case about community and kindness.”
One full week of living with Quaid and she was already getting used to how nice it was to have an actual partner. The last few years of her marriage, she and Todd had barely been roommates. They’d talked about nothing beyond the firm and how to get another step up the ladder—usually with her being the one making the sacrifice to help him up.
Quaid took Luna out on walks every day so Jayna could sit and quietly have coffee in the mornings or read her book in the evenings. He’d bought groceries without her when she had a meeting, carefully getting everything on her list and then cleaning up the kitchen because she’d cooked. He hadn’t brought up the fact he’d bought everything or that shewas living rent free in his house. He’d simply taken the dishes and done them after refilling her wineglass.
“There are social contracts,” she continued. “And Geraldine Oliver is breaking her social contract to her neighbor Jimmy Abbot.”
The judge held up a hand. “Wait, I thought you were Geraldine’s lawyer and Quaid was Jimmy’s. I’m confused.”
Britney looked up from her stenotype. “They changed, PawPaw. Now Quaid is representing Geraldine and Jayna is here to present Jimmy’s case.”
“Why?” the judge asked.
“I think Quaid wanted to charge Jimmy too much and Jayna was willing to be paid in chips or something, and Quaid didn’t want to get left out, so he agreed to take on Geraldine’s case pro bono,” Britney explained.
Geraldine raised a hand. “I’m paying him by knitting him a sweater, Your Honor.”
“And I’m paying her in gas, too,” Jimmy interjected. “I’m not being cheap or anything.”
Sure he wasn’t. She hadn’t taken him up on the gas offer since her car was in Herve’s shop and Quaid drove her where she needed to go. Although, apparently the girls had gotten their weekly free slushies, and went in for chips every day after school. Sienna was making sure they used that bit of compensation.
The judge frowned. “I don’t like it. It’s confusing. Also, I would like to point out that the two of you have requested not one, not two, but four different court dates.”
“Yes, Your Honor.” She wasn’t sure what the problem was. “We have four cases, so we need four court dates.”
“But we only had two civil court dates all last month,” the judge pointed out. “When am I supposed to fish?”
She bit back a groan because she wouldn’t get anywhereyelling at the judge to do his damn job. Things moved differently in Papillon. Everyone here expected to have some kind of a life outside of work.
She’d even started thinking it was nice to not work eighty hours a week. It was kind of fun to sit with Quaid at night and eat popcorn while watching a movie, or read a book while he wrote on his laptop. She’d rarely done that before, since her firm had demanded every second of her time.
Next week they had plans to go to one of Papillon’s many festivals together. They would walk around the park grounds and eat yummy food and listen to music.
“I’m sure we can’t keep up this pace for long,” she promised.
“Oh, we can keep it going for a long time,” Quaid countered, his voice going all low and sexy despite the fact they were in court. “You will find I have an enormous amount of stamina when it comes to my work, Your Honor. Up until now, I haven’t had a worthy adversary, but Ms. Cardet is proving to be a fine opponent. The citizens of Papillon should understand they now have two champions, and we’re willing to get into the ring anytime they need us to.”
He made every word sound like a temptation, like a promise of pure pleasure, and she was blushing.
“Are you sure you’re all right, Quaid?” Judge Brewer adjusted his glasses. “Your voice sounds funny.”
His voice sounded like he was hot for her and ready to take her to the nearest private place and throw down, like he couldn’t wait to tear off her clothes and get inside her.
