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Cam relaxed in the dark, enjoying the feel of Dani’s light breathing against his chest. He’d had plenty good sex in his day and a fair bit of what he’d thought was great sex. But nothing— nothing —came even close to what he and Dani had just done together.

What was it about her that made sex with her so much more…

…More what? He couldn’t even think of a word to describe what making love with her had been like. Which was odd, considering he prided himself on his eloquence and ability always to find the right words when he was making an argument.

The sex itself had been fantastic. Although he wasn’t sure that was a superlative enough word for it. But the emotional connection he’d felt with her had blown his mind. He was pretty sure she’d felt it, too. Either that, or tears always ran down her face in the aftermath of a dozen or so orgasms in quick succession.

It had felt as if she’d given her whole being to him—body, heart, and soul. The generosity of her gift had been staggering.

It had felt as if he’d given every part of himself to her, as well. There was something about this woman that called to him at a deep, visceral level. She broke down his emotional walls and made him want to bare himself to her. He wanted her to know everything about him, every good, bad, and ugly thing about his life. And he wanted to know everything about hers.

Which was shocking, come to think of it.

He couldn’t remember the last time he hadn’t been impatient to get his latest sexual partner out of his bed and out of his house. He’d always preferred to sleep alone. But tonight, he couldn’t bear the thought of letting her go. He wanted to keep her right here in his arms and never let her go.

Thank God she seemed to feel the same way. He got the rather awful feeling that if she woke up and walked away from him tonight, after what they’d shared, he would lose a piece of his heart that he would never get back from her.

He frowned. He never gave anything but his body to his sexual partners. He did his best to give them pleasure, too, he supposed. But he didn’t share his private thoughts, let alone his feelings, and certainly not his heart, with anyone.

But somehow, Dani had gotten inside his head and inside his heart. He’d genuinely enjoyed their conversation and spirited debates over dinner. He’d been fascinated by how her brain worked. She approached legal problems unconventionally and suggested original, creative strategies he’d never heard of before.

He'd meant every word of it when he’d pronounced her an uncommonly gifted lawyer with a bright future ahead of her as a litigator.

And later, when they’d been making love, she’d drawn words from him he’d never spoken to any woman. He’d told more to her tonight about how she made him feel than he’d ever shared with any of his previous partners. A lot more.

He ought to be panicked. He should figure out how she’d slipped past his emotional defenses so he could shore up his fortress of emotional solitude.

But as he lay in the dark feeling her soft, sleek curves against his body and counted the gentle rise of her breathing in time with his, he couldn’t summon anything even remotely resembling panic. Instead, he was overcome with a profound sense of rightness. Of acceptance that things were different now that he’d found her. Or rather, that they’d found each other.

He enjoyed the peaceful, deep quiet inside as it continued to rain steadily outside. His body sated into boneless relaxation, he let his thoughts drift where they willed.

It was funny, in a dark sort of way, that he’d spent all those years chasing the most beautiful women he could find in his search for the perfect one. How ironic that, all along, he ought to have been chasing the ones who were smart and feisty and who made him laugh.

Although, Dani minus the boring, conservative wool suits, was so sexy he could hardly wrap his mind around it. Society had taught him he should admire tall, thin, angular women. He’d had no idea until Dani came along that his type was one-hundred-percent petite, curvy, and stacked.

The universe definitely didn’t owe him any karmic favors and he wasn’t sure how or why she’d come into his life, but he had no intention of questioning the miracle of finding her.

Gradually, his thoughts turned to the world beyond this room, this moment, this woman.

Either he or she would have to hand off the Koronov case to another attorney. He was loathe to lose the excuse to see Dani at work and continuing sparring with her, though. Talking with her, even arguing with her, was the highlight of his day, and he eagerly anticipated each of their encounters.

It would be easier for her to hand off her client to some other defense lawyer at WMP. The case could continue to move forward from where it was right now.

But if she wasn’t inclined to hand off her prickly client, he would ask his boss to reassign the prosecution to another ADA. It would suck for Dani to have to start over from scratch with the case, and it would mean weeks or months more in jail for Alex while he awaited a whole new investigation by the D.A.’s office.

Maybe the Koronov kid would get tired of screwing around with the legal system and take a plea deal, though…

Cam dozed off while mentally drafting the in-brief document he would have to write for the next attorney who took over Alex’s prosecution.

He woke sometime later as Dani carefully pushed off his chest and tried to roll off his chest to his side. He tightened his arm immediately, holding her right where she was as he came fully awake.

“Are you uncomfortable?” he murmured.

“Not at all. You make a great pillow. But I thought maybe you’d be more comfortable with me not sprawled all over you.”

He smiled in the darkness. “Don’t go. I like being your pillow.”

She subsided on his chest, relaxing on him once more. She felt like warm chocolate melting over his body, and he relished the sensation. He could get used to sleeping like this every night.

He could feel from her breathing that she was still awake, and he murmured, “Stay the night?”

Another first for him. He’d never invited a woman to stay over, and he always politely turned down offers to spend the night in women’s beds.

Huh. He actually wanted Dani to stick around. He wanted to fall asleep with their legs tangled together and her bright red hair spread across his chest. He wanted to wake up the exact same way in the morning. He didn’t just want to smell her on his pillows in the morning. He wanted to smell her.

She sighed contentedly against his chest. He would take as a yes.

“Can you move?” Personally, he had no bones left. She’d burned his skeleton to ash somewhere in the volcanic eruption of their lovemaking.

She made another sound against his chest. This time it sounded negative.

“Kay. Me, neither,” he sighed in relief.

They drifted toward sleep together this time, as simpatico in this as they had been in making love.

A distant electronic jangle jolted them both to full consciousness.

“Crap. My work phone,” Dani groaned.

He sat up in bed and glanced over at the clock on his bed stand. It was nearly two a.m. Who was calling her at this ungodly hour? A surge of jealousy ripped through him. It had better not be some guy. She was his.

Whoa. Since when had he gone all, Me, Tarzan. You, Jane. You my woman .

He groaned under his breath as she rolled off him and padded out of his room gloriously nude. Her pale skin practically glowed against the dark walls in here, and he silently thanked his decorator for choosing this color scheme for this bedroom.

Dani returned a minute later holding two cell phones and her shopping bag, which she deposited just inside the bedroom door. She handed his phone to him, saying, “Yours has a voicemail notification on it. I missed the call on my phone by the time I found my purse, but I have to return the call right away. It came from the county jail. Something’s up with Alex.”

“Like what?” he asked in concern as he took his phone from her. He snagged her free hand and tugged hard, toppling her over.

Laughing, she fell across him.

Her pert, juicy tush stuck up across his lap, and he stroked his hand across it suggestively. “Mmm. I like this arrangement.”

She shot him a flirtatious grin over her shoulder as she hit redial and stuck her phone to her ear. “Hi. This is Dani Wellford. I’m Alexei Koronov’s attorney. You called me?”

She listened for a moment and then lurched, rolling off Cam’s lap and sitting upright, frowning. She bit out, “Is he okay?”

Cam frowned, alarmed, and sat up as well.

Another pause while she listened. Then she asked, “Is he conscious? Can I talk with him? Yeah. I’ll come right over. Thanks.”

Cam’s trouble radar beeped an urgent red alert. “What’s up, Dani?”

“Alex is in the hospital. Rather, the infirmary at the jail. That was the jail’s doctor on the phone. He said Alex should be in a proper hospital but he’s refusing to be transported to one.”

Cam swung his feet to the floor to sit beside her. “That’s weird. Most prisoners would give their eye teeth to go to a nice civilian hospital with pretty nurses, good food, and no bars.”

“Yeah, well, everything’s weird about my client.”

“So I’ve noticed. What’s the deal with him, anyway?”

“I wish I knew,” she grumbled. Dani headed for the shopping bag and pulled out a rumpled wool suit. She gave it a shake and sighed but commenced dressing in it.

He strode across the huge room and into his walk-in closet, where he grabbed slacks and a casual shirt. As he dressed, he called out, “What happened?”

“The doctor didn’t give me any details. Just said he’s seriously injured and refusing hospitalization. Asked me to come talk some sense into my client.”

He yanked on socks and stepped into loafers, then rejoined her in the bedroom. She was just pulling a wool skirt over boring panty hose and tucking in a boring, high-necked blouse. As she shrugged on a suit coat, she transformed into a corporate attorney before his eyes.

Moving to her swiftly, he gathered her in his arms. “Do you have any idea how hot it is to see you in that suit and to know what a smoking hot woman is hidden beneath that boring gray pinstripe?”

“Next time I see you in gray pinstripe, I’ll let you know,” she retorted.

He grinned. “That can be arranged, counselor.”

She hurried downstairs and he followed behind her, enjoying the view of her posterior assets. She paused in the foyer, stabbing at her phone.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Calling a cab.”

“Cancel it. I’ll drive you down to the jail. I need to find out how Koronov is doing, too.”

“You can’t gather any evidence if you see him tonight. He’s injured and possibly medicated. I’ll get anything he says to you thrown out of court.”

“I’m a human being, Dani. Not a bloodsucking ambulance chaser. The guy’s been hurt. I want to make sure he’s okay, not depose him.”

She stared at him for a moment, then nodded. “Okay.” She turned off her phone and stuffed it into her purse. “Cab canceled.”

He nodded his thanks to her. No way was he letting her go to the rough neighborhood around the jail, in the dead of night, in bad weather, by herself.

As she followed him through his kitchen, she said, “Do you promise not to interrogate Alex or try to use anything he says tonight against him?”

“Of course,” he retorted, a bit offended.

She shrugged apologetically. “You know what they say about those prosecuting attorney types.”

He paused at the top of the stairs down to the garage, spun around and swept her sexy curves up against his body. “What do they say about us prosecutors?”

He kissed her before she could answer, though, and he’d completely forgotten what he’d asked her by the time they finally broke apart breathing hard and staring hungrily at each other.

“Work first,” she said breathlessly.

“Then sex. Lots and lots of sex,” he finished for her.

She smiled so brilliantly at him he thought he felt his heart crack a little in response.

If they didn’t go now, they weren’t leaving his house for at least an hour, and his kitchen counter was never going to be the same after he had carnal knowledge of her on it.

Mentally cursing, he forced himself down the steps into the garage He barely managed to keep his hands off her as he held her car door for her.

The hour was late and the weather lousy, which meant the city’s streets were unusually deserted. They made it across town fast, and he was able to find a parking spot right in front of the jail.

They ran inside together, sharing the only umbrella he owned. He made a mental note to buy a second one and stow it in the trunk of his car for her.

A guard led them to the jail’s infirmary. Cam held the door for Dani, who rushed past him to a bedside.

Alexei Koronov was in the nearest bed, an IV drip hooked to his arm. His chest was bare and the top of a bandage spanning his torso peeked out from under a plain blue blanket.

“What happened?” Dani was already asking as Cam joined her.

Koronov looked back and forth between his lawyer and Cam before answering, “I was stabbed in the right side just below my first rib by a narrow, improvised blade. It was poorly aimed and missed both the appendix and intestine, catching mostly muscle. However, as a precaution, intravenous antibiotics are being administered to prevent possible peritoneal cavity infection and/or sepsis.”

A man in green surgical scrubs came over. “I couldn’t have said it any better. And I’m Doctor Lane, by the way.”

“In other words, you were shanked?” Cam asked Alex.

Koronov shrugged while the prison doctor nodded.

“Was the weapon recovered?” Cam asked without any real hope. Shanks—improvised knives made from all kinds of objects ranging from spoons to toothbrushes—were the bane of prison authorities. They had a strange tendency to disappear after a stabbing incident, never to be found.

The doctor grunted sardonically. “Yeah. Koronov disarmed his attacker, used the shank to take out the three other guys who’d helped the first one jump him, then administered first aid to his surviving victims, staunched his own bleeding, and laid down to wait for guards to arrive. He still had the shank when I got there. I bagged it up for you.”

“ Surviving victims?” Cam asked sharply.

“Nothing’s admissible,” Dani snapped just as sharply.

The doctor shrugged. “Allegedly, the first guy to jump your client—” he made an air quote sign with his fingers, “—broke his neck in the process of letting go of his knife.”

Cam snorted, and even Dani rolled her eyes. In other words, Alex broke the dude’s neck and took the shank from his attacker.

The doctor added, “No one saw it happen. Or at least, no one’s talking.”

Dani glanced up at Cam warily. “I need to speak in private with my client.”

“Nothing’s admissible,” he threw back at her. “He’s medicated.”

“Fine. Then stay if you want.” She looked down at Koronov. “What can you tell me about the incident?”

Her client shrugged and then winced slightly. “Four guys jumped me. One stabbed me in the side. I took his knife rather violently, I’m afraid.”

“Did you break his neck?”

“Not intentionally. But I did react reflexively.” He added modestly, “As you know, I have a little martial arts training.”

The doctor snorted. “A little? I’ve got patients with a smashed elbow, a broken nose, two dislocated shoulders, and at least six broken ribs, along with various other cuts and contusions.”

Cam blinked. “Jeez. You did all that?”

“Dani said quickly. “None of them were stabbed, which points to self-defense—my unarmed client against armed attackers. And he rendered first aid after the fact.”

Cam saw where she was going. “I see no need to file new charges over this incident. Your client has no previous history of violent behavior, and I’m sure we’d have no trouble getting statements from witnesses that he was the victim of the attack. At least, initially.” He noticed Koronov paying close attention, his gaze intent.

Then Alex asked Dani low, “So, if I assault or kill someone in here, I can be charged for it as if I was on the outside?”

“That’s correct,” she answered.

An unholy gleam entered his eyes. “Excellent.”

“Alex,” she said in a warning voice. “Don’t pull any crazy stunts in here to get your sentence extended.”

“Extended?” Cam echoed.

“You didn’t hear that. And it’s not admissible in court,” she snapped.

“What the—” Cam started.

She cut him off. “Not here.”

Dani actually reached out to grab his hand and drag him toward the exit. “Go wait in the hallway. I’m invoking attorney-client privilege and talking to Alex alone. Now.”

“How about I just wait over here by the door where I can’t hear you two? Jails aren’t great places to just hang around in random hallways.”

“Fine. But no eavesdropping.”

“I won’t listen. Scout’s honor.”

She returned to Koronov’s bedside, and the pair engaged in an intense argument, that was, in fact, too quiet for him to hear. But the topic of debate was obvious. Alex seemed to think it was a great idea to attack or kill one of his fellow inmates, and Dani was doing her level best to talk him out of it.

The doctor wandered over to his side. “Is she gonna talk the kid into going to a hospital? If so, I need to order an ambulance.”

“Doubtful.”

The doctor frowned, clearly unhappy.

Cam muttered to him, “Is Koronov a psycho?”

“Oh, no. Just the opposite. He’s completely sane.” The man sighed. “He’s also brilliant. A gifted young physician.”

“How’s he holding up in jail—the current situation notwithstanding?”

The doctor replied, “Better than most. He deals well with regimentation and confinement. Follows rules. Gets along well with the other inmates.”

“What’s all this if he gets along so well with everyone, then?” Cam waved at the infirmary full of wounded inmates.

“A Slavic gang made a move on him. After this display, though, I doubt he’ll have any more trouble with the various gangs in here.”

“Either that, or they’ll kill him.”

The doctor leaned close. “Between you and me, I think this attack was supposed to kill him. Talk around the jail has been that the Russian mob has it in for the Koronov kid. If the Russians don’t get him, the Eastern European gangs will try to curry favor with the Russians and do it for them.”

“I’m prepared to sign off on protective isolation for Alex.”

The doctor snorted. “Who’s gonna go near this kid when he all but kills—casually, I might add—four of the toughest mob enforcers in the whole jail?”

“Why’s his lawyer having to argue him out of killing someone else, then?”

“You know, I did overhear him asking one of the guards yesterday how to get a parole board to turn down an inmate for early release. It’s almost as if he seems determined to stay in jail.”

Cam stared over at Dani and her client, frowning. Something weird was going on, here, and Dani was caught up in the middle of it.

Concern not only for her career but also for her safety surged through him. It was all he could do not to rush over to her, bundle her up in his arms and carry her out of here right this second.

Thankfully, she huffed loudly just then and looked up. Their gazes met, and a smile entered her eyes. He strode swiftly to her side. “All done for tonight?” he asked.

She nodded and he was relieved to get her safely out of the jail. Even in her rumpled gray suit, she looked smashing, and this was an all-male facility.

As a guard buzzed them outside the locked section of the building, Cam murmured to her, “Next time you come here, do me a favor and wear a burlap sack.”

He gaze snapped up to his. “Why?”

“Even the guards can’t keep their eyes off you. The prisoners would lose their minds.”

She snorted as if she didn’t believe a word he was saying. Did she really not know how attractive she was?

He couldn’t tell if she her silence on the ride back to his place was thoughtful or worried. Either way, he left her alone to think. He knew all too well the necessity of working through elaborate mental logic trees in their line of work.

Finally, as they pulled into his garage, she sighed.

“You okay?” he asked. He turned off the car and turned to face her in his seat.

“Between you and me, and completely off the record, I’m worried that I’m out of my depth with Alex. I would hand him off to a more experienced lawyer at WMP, but Alex barely trusts me. No way would he trust some slick shark.”

“Maybe you could ask for a co-counsel to be assigned at your firm?” Cam suggested.

She sighed again.

“What?” he prompted.

“Swear this goes no further than the two of us?” she asked.

“I swear.”

But she still hesitated. What in the world was up with Alex Koronov that had her so freaked out? Cam waited out Dani’s long silence.

All at once, she blurted in a rush, “Alex instructed me to do a lousy job of defending him or else he’ll fire me and find the worst public defender in the city to work his case.”

Cam stared, stunned.

Finally, he exclaimed, “I’ve never heard of anyone asking for a bad defense. What in the hell is he playing at?”

“I don’t think it’s a game,” she replied glumly. “I think he means exactly what he said. He wants me to do a terrible job of defending him. Mind you, he doesn’t want me to mess up and get the case dismissed or mis-tried, so it has to be tried again.”

“So he wants you to do your job, but badly, so he won’t be exonerated of the charges against him?”

“Correct.”

“Why?” Cam demanded.

“I wish I knew. My best guess is he wants to go to jail and pull hard time.”

“Have you asked him why?”

“More times than I count and in every way I can possibly phrase the question. He flatly refuses to answer.”

Cam shook his head. This made no sense. Nobody asked their lawyer to lose, and absolutely nobody wanted to go to jail. Aloud, he said, “The prison doc told me he finds Koronov sane and reasonable.”

“So do I. It’s the darnedest thing.”

They stared at each other in silence, he in confusion and she in frustration.

Finally, he broke the tension pervading the car, saying, “You know what you need?”

“Do tell.”

“Sex. Lots and lots of gnarly sex.”

“Yeah. About that,” she said soberly. “You know we can’t do this again, right? Tonight was a one-time good deal. It’s got to remain our secret, never to be revealed to anyone else in the whole world.”

He opened his mouth to argue hotly against her, but she cut him off regretfully with, “Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t it a conflict of interest for the defense and prosecution attorneys to sleep with each other in the middle of an active case?”

She might as well have punched him in the stomach. All the air whooshed out of his lungs and he struggled to draw his next breath.

She was right, of course.

And he knew it. He’d known it all along.

But he’d so lost himself in the enjoyment of sparring with her over dinner, so relished her wit and humor, been so mesmerized by how sexy she was that he couldn’t think straight.

He’d been so caught up in the chemistry between them, it hadn’t even crossed his mind once tonight that there was a problem with the two of them making passionate love together in the privacy of his home. A big problem.

It was a shocking lapse of judgment on his part. He’d never done anything like this before. Ever. But the idea of losing her felt like someone had reached into his chest and was ripping his heart out.

He squeezed his eyes shut for a pained second.

Took a deep breath.

Opened his eyes and said ruefully, “Your client did specifically tell you to make a mess of this case. Personally, I can’t think of a better way to have done so.”

“There is that,” she replied wryly.

“In fact, it may have been your obligation to sleep with me.”

She smiled, but the expression didn’t reach her eyes, which remained bleak and haunted.

“You’re right.” His composure was surprisingly rough around the edges as he continued, “Tonight can’t happen again. At least not until Alex’s case is finished.”

“Thank you,” she said sadly.

“Thank you for reminding me of our professional obligations. I confess, I was not thinking about them earlier.” He paused. “At all.”

“Me, neither.” She smiled at him wistfully. “Being with you was epic. But it was also a huge mistake. We can’t tell another living soul about it. If asked, we both have to deny it ever happened.”

He frowned. “Nobody’s going to ask us if we slept together.”

“We can’t know that for certain.”

“I don’t like to lie,” he said doubtfully.

“Neither do I. But barring someone putting me under oath, I will deny it. I’ve worked too long and too hard to get here. I’m not going to throw it all away because I just had the best sex of my life.”

“The best of your life, huh?”

“Really? That’s what you got out of what I just said?”

“You’re so easy to get a rise out of,” he responded mildly. “But I agree with you. I won’t lie if put under oath, but shy of that, I’m prepared to deny tonight ever happened.”

“Thank you,” she breathed in relief.

People often scoffed at him for standing his ground on seemingly trivial points of ethics. But it was a slippery slide. Make a short cut once, and the next time it was a little easier to do, and a little easier, until right and wrong meant nothing any more. She was right, of course. They couldn’t tell anyone about this stolen night between them.

“I’ll deny it under one condition,” he declared.

“What’s that?” she asked warily.

“When Alex’s case is over, you agree to go out to dinner with me again and see if the chemistry’s still there between us.”

She snorted. “As if it wouldn’t be.”

He smiled ruefully. “Do we have a deal?”

“We do. No more social or personal contact of any kind between us until the trial’s over. Then dinner…and whatever comes after that.”

“God, I hate this,” he muttered.

“Same,” she muttered back.

He said grimly, “I’ll drive you home.”