Chapter Thirteen
LOUIS WINKED AT one of the kids sitting in the front row of the courtroom, doing his best to radiate confidence, although unlike the kid, he didn’t necessarily feel it.
The first two rows were filled with members of a local Lower East Side youth community center.
Each of them wore a bright green T-shirt to represent the group, an organization that provided after-school programs for public school kids in the city.
Unfortunately, they were also at risk of being evicted, thanks to a hefty amount of unpaid back rent.
They were working furiously to get the center a government grant to keep their doors open, in addition to pursuing private donations, but time had run out before they could get the full amount together.
He’d taken the case, hoping he could get them an extension.
Otherwise, all the kids who watched him so seriously from the front row wouldn’t have anywhere to go after school.
Most of their parents even relied on the center to keep them safe and occupied with positive activities until they got home from work.
The judge indicated he should proceed. He spent the next fifteen minutes giving a detailed outline of everything the community center administrators were doing to make up the rent payments.
He presented all the necessary documents, all the while feeling the weight of thirty sets of eyes on his back.
He’d gone before this judge a handful of times, and the guy was tough.
So when the judge granted the extension, Louis almost asked him if he was sure.
Relief swamped him when a cheer went up behind him.
He turned to give the kids high fives, when someone snagged his attention.
Roxy? She stood all the way in the back of the courtroom, looking slightly out of place and completely baffled as she watched him.
Before he could command his feet to move, he’d already closed half the distance separating them.
After a tiny head shake, she met him halfway.
“Rox.” He reached out and cupped her cheek.
Couldn’t help it. She looked so fresh and gorgeous standing in the dusty courthouse full of mostly miserable people.
There was something about the way she was looking at him, too.
As if she’d just seen him for the first time.
Was that a good thing or a bad thing? “What are you doing here? Is everything okay?”
“Everything is fine.” She surprised him by turning her face into his hand, brushing his palm with her lips.
Part of him wanted to bask in the fact that she’d come to find him at work, instead of waiting until tonight.
Not only that, but she seemed ... relieved to see him.
It should have had him pounding his chest like some modern version of Tarzan, right?
This girl who’d been running him around in circles was standing right here in front him, accepting his touch.
So why was the happiness he felt tempered by worry?
Roxy walked with her shoulders thrown back.
The word walk really didn’t describe it.
She glided, with a twist of her hips after each step.
Louis knew this because he’d made a study of how she moved, mostly how she looked when moving away .
Right now, a little bit of that confidence was missing, and he had a good idea why.
Dread made itself at home in his stomach.
He wanted to kick his own ass for feeling a spark of pleasure that she would come to him after having a bad audition, but it was there, growing by the second.
He wanted to make everything better for her. Now.
She cast a glance over his shoulder, back toward the excited voices of the kids. “I didn’t know this is what you did.” When her eyes found his, they were speculative. Possibly even a little impressed. “That was amazing. You saved their youth center.”
“For now.” He scratched the back of his neck, wondering why hearing praise from her made him feel so much better about it. Maybe because no one in his family, or his firm, ever brought it up. The only people he ever discussed it with were Ben and Russell. “Still a lot of funds to pull together.”
“But you’ll help them.”
“Yeah.” Oh man, it felt way too good to bask in her glow of approval. He had to change the subject, even if it would be an unpleasant one. “How did the audition go?” Louis asked, positive he already knew the answer. Obviously she hadn’t gotten the part.
“I’ll tell you about it later.” She tossed her hair over her shoulder and looked up at him from underneath her eyelashes, full mouth tilted in a smile.
He almost did a double take, wondering if he’d imagined the lack of her usual boldness when she’d arrived.
It was definitely back in full force now .
.. and directed squarely at him. Not many things could get him hot in this setting.
Inside the walls of this courthouse, he stayed focused on his job.
He took it seriously. There was nothing sexy about paperwork, judges, and shitty coffee.
The second Roxy locked those green eyes on him, he knew what she wanted.
Knew why she’d come. His pulse started to hammer, every muscle south of his belt tightening up.
No, no. Not here. Why is she doing this to me?
It felt as though he’d been in a dry spell for eleven months instead of eleven measly days.
His mouth had gone dry, his palms were on fire with the need to touch her.
She must have sensed his dawning understanding, because her smile widened. With a single finger, she traced the buckle of his belt. “Is there somewhere we can talk?” When she wet her lower lip, he groaned under his breath. “Please, Louis?”
With a quick look over his shoulder, he made sure no one was within earshot.
“You’re coming over tonight, Roxy.” His voice had deepened so much it was almost unrecognizable.
“I was already planning on fucking you into next week. After this, after you coming here and doing this to me, I’m going to make you scream until you lose your voice. ”
Her cheeks had turned red, but she didn’t look embarrassed. She looked turned on. By him. For him. “I can’t wait until tonight,” she whispered. “I can’t.”
That need he’d felt to make everything better for her hadn’t gone away, it had only shifted.
Now it raced out of control. He was standing in the middle of a busy courthouse, his colleagues and professional acquaintances roaming the halls around him, and he saw none of it, none of them.
He could only see Roxy with her pleading eyes and parted lips.
He’d knelt down on his knees in front of her this morning, and now his body demanded he do it again. Take care of her.
In the midst of it all was that aggressive part of him only Roxy seemed to bring to life.
He wanted to be mad at her for bringing him to this state.
Days’ worth of fuck-me kisses and stolen touches had him unable to say no.
He couldn’t pass up an opportunity to touch her if he tried.
No matter where they were standing. And yeah, he kind of wanted to be mad at her so he’d have an excuse to give it to her hard.
With how he felt, there wouldn’t be any other way.
This wouldn’t be what she deserved, but his body ached, and his ability to think beyond getting her alone had started to fade along with his resolve.
“Louis,” she murmured, going up on her toes to lay her mouth over his. “I promise to be quiet, but I need you to fuck me into next week now .”
That did it. The mental image of her fighting to contain a scream had Louis grabbing her hand and dragging her into the closest stairwell.
As they went down the stairs, he slowed his pace slightly in deference to her high heels, but as soon as they got down two flights and he pulled her out of the stairwell onto a floor populated by administrative offices, his stride picked up speed again.
Most of the doors leading to occupied offices were closed, thankfully, since his and Roxy’s presence on the floor would be unusual.
Not that he could summon the ability to care, with his heart slamming against his ribs like a wrecking ball.
It took every ounce of his willpower not to turn and push her up onto the closest surface, right then and there. Just don’t look at her. Not yet.
Halfway down the hall, he spotted a door with a frosted glass window.
Behind the glass, he could see the lights were off, so he went straight for it, Roxy clipping along behind him in those heels that made her legs look a mile long.
The heels he’d bought her. God, knowing she wore something he’d bought only made him more desperate to get her on the other side of the door.
He turned the knob and pushed it open. His brain only gave him a split second to process they were in a file room before the need to touch her overrode everything else.
He gripped Roxy’s hips and pushed her up against the closest file cabinet, hearing the rattle of its drawers as if through a fog.
Her breath shuddered out past her lips as his mouth descended.
Right before their mouths locked together, he saw her cockiness slip.
The same lost expression he’d seen on her face when she’d walked into the courtroom blanketed her pretty features once more, and it revved his need even higher.
She’d find herself with him. He could make it all better.