The Intern

6

I pulled my hair to one side as a layer of sweat moved across my skin. “I couldn’t run faster, I couldn’t throw farther, but I could take any of them down with my words.”

“You learned how to win.”

“Exactly.” My laughter faded to a smile as I recalled some of the specific times I’d left those boys in a cloud of verbal dust. “My youth prepared me for this job in every possible way, so there’s never been a question about what kind of law I want to practice.”

“Sounds like you not only enjoy winning, but you also crave it.” His voice turned gritty when he emphasized the second-to-last word.

Was that true?

Did I have that competitiveness inside me?

When I had been younger, I’d felt such satisfaction because that was one less thing they could tease me about.

But now?

I tried to envision representing one of my cousins’ clients in court—something none of them could do, as they weren’t litigators—and this vicious pulse began to pump through me.

“Yes,” I responded. “I suppose I do crave it.”

“I can see it.” He reached for our second round of drinks, handing me one and taking the other. “You’re in the right field, Hannah.”

As my fingers surrounded the glass, they briefly grazed his.

That was all it took to set my skin on fire. Just that small, subtle embrace, and every nerve ending was lit, throbbing, crying out in shock waves.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

He signed the credit card receipt and tucked his card away. “Tell me something else, Hannah …”

As he paused, I tried to remind myself that this was the time to ask him questions, to pick his brain, to find out the secrets of our trade—an opportunity that probably wouldn’t present itself again.

But I couldn’t.

I was completely locked up.

Speechless.

Drowning in a pool of Declan.

“When you walk into a courtroom, what’s going to be your secret weapon?” He watched as I licked my lips, and it felt as erotic as stripping off my clothes. “I’ve told you mine. I want to know yours.”

“My secret weapon,” I repeated.

“You know, not only can I read people, but I also use my reputation to my advantage. I don’t give any motherfucker a chance. I find what it’ll take to make them bleed out, and that’s where I cut them.”

I knew that.

I’d read the transcripts from his cases.

Declan gave zero f***s. He pushed limits. He tested everyone.

“A lot of girls in my class want to use their looks.”

“Is that you?”

His stare slowly dipped down my body, and I felt every inch, his eyes like fingers stroking my skin. Taking me in. Teasing me. I’d never felt anything like it, and he wasn’t even touching me.

“No.” I shook my head, trying to breathe. “It’s definitely not.”

His gaze lifted unhurriedly. Each spot he observed—my thighs, my navel, my breasts—caused a stronger sensation to build inside me.

He was more than a magician.

He had powers, and if this was just his stare, I couldn’t imagine what it would feel like to have his hands on me.

His lips.

His …

Oh God.

“I didn’t think it was.” He brushed his fingers over his cheek, the friction against his short whiskers made the most appealing sound. “Even though it could be.”

I took a large drink of my martini. “My plan is …” Do I have a plan? Do I even remember how to speak? “I guess I’m going to find a piece of evidence that my opponent is unable to locate and use that to make my case.”

He turned toward me. “How will you find it?”

“I’ll dig. Hunt. Whatever it takes.” But I knew I wouldn’t be alone. No litigator worked solo. They had a team of assistants, a paralegal, clerks who helped them prepare for court. “I know I’ll only be as strong as my team, so I also plan to have the best.”

A smile grew across his lips.

It couldn’t have been sexier.

“An important part, yes,” he agreed.

“Can I ask you something? Even if it’s slightly inappropriate?”

“Go on.”

I couldn’t believe I had blurted that out. That my thoughts were so unhinged that I no longer had control over my mouth.

“Do you make all your opposing counsel feel this way? If they’re women?”

His thumb traced around his lips. “What way is that, Hannah?”

My body hummed like he was breathing against it.

My hands squeezed the glass so hard that I was surprised it hadn’t shattered.

“Connected.” That wasn’t right. I needed to better describe this. “Like you’re on the verge of …”

“Devouring them.”

I nodded.

Because that was all I could do.

“As I’ve said, if they’re facing me in the courtroom, I want their blood. I don’t want their lips. I don’t want their body. I don’t want”—he gazed down again, stopping at my waist—“anything from them.”

“Then, what’s this?”

“This is the way I treat a woman when I find her so sexy that I can’t take my eyes off her.”

He knew I felt the same way.

Because he knew what I was thinking.

How I was feeling.

He’d told me so.

“In fact, if we had met under different circumstances, you would be coming home with me tonight.”

I couldn’t wrap my head around this news.

A night with Declan Shaw.

A man I’d studied since he’d begun making a name for himself in the industry.

A man I followed on social media.

A man I was so utterly, consumingly attracted to that I’d been wet since he had walked into our classroom.

But going home with any man wasn’t something I usually ever did.

I’d dated in the past, but my current schedule was far too packed and daunting to even consider it. I went from school to babysitting my cousin’s daughter to prepping for the bar. Even though my best friend and roommate, Oaklyn, was constantly pushing me to find a man, I wasn’t looking.

But I was definitely looking at Declan.

“And you think I’m the kind of girl who would climb right into your passenger seat and let that happen?”

He leaned into my ear, something he’d done before.

I remembered how incredible his breath had felt against my skin.

And it did again.