put on my phone’s flashlight again, and tiptoed to Will’s side of the bed to make sure his alarm was set.
But there were two phones on the nightstand.
Oh shit. Did Kelly forget his phone last night?
Except in the faint light from my phone, I could see an arm tucked under the pillow, and on the shoulder, a distinctive peacock tattoo peeked out from beneath the sheet.
Oh. Kelly hadn’t forgotten his phone. He just hadn’t left. And from the soft steady breathing, he and Will were both out cold.
I smiled. I hadn’t realized Kelly had stayed, but I was glad he had. They were cute like that, cuddled up together under the covers. I just envied them because they got to stay in bed while I—the genius who thought going to law school was the best idea—had to get my ass down to the courthouse.
I checked Will’s phone. He’d forgotten to set his alarm, so I set it for him, along with another one twenty minutes later. Though he was near-sighted, sometimes he was bleary-eyed enough in the morning to think he’d told it to snooze rather than shutting it off entirely. A backup alarm was never a bad idea.
Then I slipped out of the room and headed downstairs to get some coffee, my jacket, and my laptop.
And despite the early hour, I smiled all the way into town because Will and Kelly had been that adorable.
I leaned into Tom’s office. “Hey, I’m taking off.”
He frowned at the clock, but then nodded. “Right. Right. You said you were busting out a little early.” He grinned. “Have fun.”
I didn’t bother trying to pretend I wasn’t leaving early because I had plans with Will and Kelly. Tom knew me way too well, and my cheeks were probably giving me away.
My caseload was fairly light right now, so I didn’t feel guilty about taking advantage of a chance to work a shorter day. One of my law professors had even told us that—if there’s a lull, grab it, because the minute everything picks back up again, you’ll wish you’d taken the chance when you had it. Words to live by, I’d discovered in short order.
So I was getting the hell out of here, and not a moment too soon.
Kelly would be coming over again tonight, and though I couldn’t handle too much after everything we’d done last night, he’d texted me a few times to hint about what he had in mind.
Nothing that’ll hurt any place that already hurts. But probably some new places!
Hell yeah.
I was so looking forward to tonight. I needed tonight. Work hadn’t been overly stressful lately, but it was tiring. There was a lot of pressure. A lot of dense text and thick files that needed to be given the fine-toothed comb treatment. I liked what I did, and I was good at it, but it did wear me down sometimes, and nothing brought me back to life like another evening on my knees in front of Will. An evening on my knees in front of both of them? Oh, yes.
Despite my eagerness to be with Kelly and Will, I managed to keep from speeding on the way home. Most of the cops in this town knew who I was, and that was just… That was not a headache I needed to deal with. Like ever. They’d wind up fining me for everything from whatever had made them pull me over to not having the right kind of litter bag to having sunglasses that were too dark. All bullshit, of course, but they knew I’d rather just pay the stupid fine than show up in court in front of judges who also knew me. The stupid shit would get tossed out, but the speeding would stick, and I’d get another lecture from the judge about being held to a higher standard, setting an example, and perhaps not wasting this court’s time to argue over petty crap when I could be defending my clients instead.
So, yeah. Thirty-five it was. All the way home.
Okay, thirty-seven.
Maybe forty…two.
Back down to thirty-five when I caught a glimpse of a steel gray SUV that was not, in fact, a cop.
And finally, I was on our street.
As I slowed down to make the turn into our driveway, I noticed that the mailbox was open slightly. Our carrier never closed it all the way for some reason, so if it was still open now, that meant Will must not have made it to the mailbox today. Busy day