Hollywood's Baddest (8 page)

She worked hard that day and all of the next day on his case, doing everything she could as far as researching other similar cases and digging up history on Lucas to try to find something; anything, that might help him.

The next morning she was sitting at her desk still hard at work when her phone rang and she didn’t look to see who it was, she just reached over and picked it up to answer it.

“This is Alexis.” She said politely.

“Alexis…” came a familiar drawl, “this is Lucas. I got your voicemail and wanted to call you back.”

She could hear that sexy smile in his voice and her cheeks flushed just at the sound of it. “Oh, thank you. I appreciate your calling me back. So, you got the message about the arraignment? It’s the day after tomorrow.”

“Yes, I did get that, thank you. Warren mentioned it as well. I’ll be there for it.” He confirmed, and she breathed a huge sigh of relief.

“Thank you, Lucas, I’m glad to hear that you’ll be there. We need to talk about it. We need to go over what the courtroom procedure will be, what your plea will be, and what will happen depending on how you plead. When do you have time to talk between now and then?” she asked, hoping they could get it out of the way quickly.

He chuckled softly. “Well, I was thinking it would be nice if you could come by here. You’re doing so much for me and being such a big help, that I thought I would make dinner for you and spoil you a little bit. What do you think, can you come by tonight? We can talk about the case and get that all squared away.”

She closed her eyes. Dinner with clients was something she never did. It was something she considered unprofessional unless it was a business meeting that couldn’t be done at any other time. She thought about it carefully and realized that this was probably one of those times and that her immediate apprehension to having dinner with him at his house probably had more to do with the way that he flirted with her and the way that she responded to it deep inside that made her want to say no.

She realized that if she acted professionally with him the whole time she was with him, that nothing would go wrong and that she would be able to clearly communicate with him the importance of the arraignment and how it would all go.

Sighing in resignation, she rolled her eyes and nodded. “Yes, I guess I could come by for dinner. Thank you, Lucas, that’s very thoughtful of you.”

“Great! I’ll look for you around five, if that works. You can help me with it a little, and we’ll talk business, and then we can eat in peace.” It sounded to her as if he had the whole evening planned out already. She closed her eyes and stopped her mind before her thoughts went any further than that.

“Okay. See you at five. Thank you,” she said politely, and she bid him goodbye and ended the call.

It would be fine, she promised herself, it was nothing more than a business dinner with her client. Telling herself that fact did nothing to temper the butterflies that were beginning to zoom around in the low depths of her belly as she thought of eating dinner with him at his home.

She scolded herself silently and turned her attention back to the work she was doing, making herself let go of all the thoughts in her mind except those which has nothing to do with Lucas Ryan.

She didn’t let herself think about it until she went home from work that afternoon to get ready for dinner, and found herself standing in front of her closet, trying to decide what to wear. Deciding what to wear was almost never a problem for her, as most of her day to day wardrobe consisted of suits with dress pants or a skirt. She had considered wearing a suit, but it just didn’t seem right for a dinner; not even a business dinner. It was too much. She knew it would be a casual evening, and she didn’t want to over dress for it.

Several minutes later, she settled on a butter cream colored sundress that fitted her form well without showing too much skin. She thought as she stood before her full length mirror, turning left and right, that it flattered her figure without revealing more than she wanted him to see. She paired it with sandals and a simple sea shell necklace and after a few long moments of arguing with herself over whether or not to wear her hair up, she finally gave up and decided to let it hang down.

It fell straight and thick to her waist, and she thought as she looked at her reflection, that she was staring at the rare image of herself in a relaxed state; or as relaxed as she had been in a long time. She smiled at her reflection, liking what she saw, and telling herself that it was going to be a nice evening and that she should enjoy herself.

She parked in front of his house and tried to steady her nerves as they danced about beneath her mocha skin. She went to the door and rang the bell, holding the bottle of exquisite wine in her hand with a death grip.

He answered the door with a smile, looking as casual as he had the last time he had welcomed her to his home, except that he was wearing a button down short sleeved shirt that was only buttoned partway, and which clung perilously close to his rock solid muscles.

She stared at him for a moment and then looked away as soon as she realized what she was doing, but he had seen her, and it made him grin at her. Her cheeks warmed as they often did around him, and she handed the bottle of wine to him.

“Here, I brought this for dinner. I hope it goes well with whatever we’re having. I guess I should have asked first, and then I could have gotten something that would work for the meal.” She felt a little flustered and was doing her best not to show it.

He gave his head a shake and winked at her. “This is perfect. Thank you, that was thoughtful of you.” He looked at her fully then, his eyes following her body from her head to her feet and then back up again. He took his time taking her in, and she felt her heart race under his gaze.

“You look beautiful, and I love that you wore your hair down. It’s gorgeous. You should wear it down more often.” He smiled at her and reached his hand up near her face, taking a thick strand of her hair in his fingertips and sliding them gently down the length of it. Her breath caught and she did her level best not to show it. He watched her face the entire time, as if he was reading a book that she hoped was closed. He let go of her hair and winked at her. “Well, are you ready to come help me in the kitchen?” he asked with a wink.

She nodded silently and hoped that she could slow her heart down and do something to catch her breath before he noticed all the effects he was having on her. She followed him into the kitchen, and as she walked through the doorway, she was delighted to find that she liked it even more when it was being used. There was a soft glow to it that felt welcoming and warm, with the lights on, candles lit, music playing softly in the background, and a variety of things cooking on the stove. It felt like a home, and it made her smile.

“What can I do to help you?” she asked, forcing herself to search for some kind of normalcy between them.

He set the bottle of wine on the counter and took her by the hand around the island, stopping before a cutting board that was laden with lettuce and around which had an array of vegetables. “You get to make the salad, if you don’t mind, please.” he answered with a smile.

She took a breath and let it out slowly, and some of the tension in her went with it. “Salad! I can do that.” She picked up the knife and began to slice and dice away when he looked at her as he opened the wine.

“You know, I don’t let many women have a big knife around me on the very first date.” He winked at her and her breath caught in her throat. She looked at him with wide eyes.

“Date?” she asked in a slight panic.

He poured the wine for them into wine glasses and walked over to her slowly, his eyes on hers the entire time. “Well… I’d like to think of this as a date. You can think of it as a date too, if you want to. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

She took the wine from him and shook her head. “I don’t date clients.” She replied quietly.

“Well then you’re fired. There. Matter settled, yes?” he grinned at her and her mouth fell open as she stared at him.

He laughed at her and gave his head a shake. “I’m just kidding. You can think of this as business if you want to.” He held his wine glass up to hers. “Cheers.”

She toasted him and they each drank a sip. “I’m going to think of it as a date, though.” He grinned wickedly at her and she rolled her eyes and looked away from him, setting her glass down and picking the knife back up.

“This is good wine. Thank you for bringing it.” He complimented her and she gave him a nod.

“It’s one of my favorites. It’s usually just right for any occasion; from formal to casual.” She said, focusing on the salad. She cut and chopped and steadied her breathing as he walked over to the oven to tend to the dishes there that he was cooking.

“So, I wanted to talk with you about the arraignment.” She said. He made some sound of acquiescence behind her and she launched into the details of it as she cut. Talking business with him that way gave her some semblance of normalcy and it helped to ease the tension in her. She found that she was able to breathe again and she felt her body slowly relax as she sipped wine, explained about the arraignment, and cut all the vegetables in front of her.

He listened to her talking and explaining everything, and at odd intervals he would interject with a question, but during most of what she needed to explain to him, he was quiet and he listened. By the time dinner was ready, she felt confident that he understood all of it, and that he would do alright with it, but there was one point that she wanted to be very clear with him on, and he just didn’t seem to be concerned about it.

“Lucas, I really want you to give some serious thought to your plea. I know you think you want to plead innocent, but there’s just so much evidence against you, and almost nothing that shows you aren’t guilty.” She looked directly at him as they sat across from one another at the table, trying to convey to him just how important it was that he understand the implications of the choice that he would be making.

“If you plead guilty, the prosecution will probably offer you a plea bargain of some kind, and you will get a sentence, and this will be on your record, but it will be less drastic than if you plead innocent at the arraignment and then this whole thing goes to trial and you’re found guilty. The sentence then will be much harsher, and I’ll be honest with you, there’s just not much that I’ve been able to come up with to defend you.

The prosecution has a towering case and tons of evidence against you, and what you would be fighting would be an uphill battle. I’m not entirely confident that we could win it. You have to understand that.” She looked at him imploringly, and he only gave his head a shake and smiled back at her.

“First, I’m not going to plead guilty, because I’m not guilty. I’m not going to say that I did something wrong when I didn’t do anything wrong. Second; I’m hoping that truth will out, and you will be able to convince the jury that I am innocent.

I have faith in you, Alexis, and I believe that you can do it. You’re a strong, intelligent, amazing woman, and I know that you’re going to do your best to make this a win for us.” He looked at her with utter confidence, and then raised his hand.

“That is as much business as I am willing to talk about with you tonight. We’ve just hit our stride for that subject. I want to know more about you now. Do you have any family around Los Angeles?” he asked, filling her wine glass up and giving her a sweet smile.

She sighed, hoping that they had discussed business enough that he really did know what he was doing. She was worried about him making the wrong decision, but she knew that the decision was his to make, and his alone. If he wanted to plead innocent, there was nothing she could do about it except try to protect him and prove his innocence. Even if she didn’t believe it for a minute.

“Well, I have a sister who lives here. She’s younger than me by two years. She is sweet; she’s my best friend. We’re really close, but we are very different. She’s actually a pretty big fan of yours and she was really excited when she found out I was representing you.” She laughed and shook her head.

He smiled at her. “What about your parents, are they here, too?” his curiosity about her seemed to grow the more she spoke.

She shook her head and couldn’t stop the flicker of sadness that moved over her face. “No, my mom passed when I was little. My dad raised us on his own and we were all three really close. He just passed away a couple of years ago.” Her voice grew soft and she smiled wistfully thinking of him. “He’s actually the reason I got into law to begin with.”

“Yeah? How did that happen?” Lucas watched her, fascinated.

She saw her father in her mind, and her heart swelled. “Oh, he was a judge. He was in law his whole life, and he did so many incredible things. I always wanted to be him when I grew up, and it took a long while, but I made it through law school and the day I graduated… he was there. He was so proud of me. It was one of the best moments of my life.

He was able to see me through all of my beginning years as an attorney, and he was around when I was hired at Nolan. He was always so proud of me. I loved seeing that. I miss him a lot. It’s still hard when I do something or I want to share a funny story with him, and I reach for the phone and he isn’t there anymore. I’m still not used to it.”

He nodded and listened closely to her. “That happens to all of us. My grandfather raised me; he was a war hero, and he was a little strict, but he was supportive of me getting into acting, and he liked that I did it. He was around to see my first two films, and then he passed.