The World According to Vince - Jane Harvey-Berrick Page 0,74

wanted to make her life easier, better, not worse. It was a kick up the arse to realize that I was fooking up her life … again.

“Will it be a trial by jury?” Cady asked.

Grace nodded uncertainly. “Yes. Vince had the option to be judged by a jury or by a judge. I thought that his popularity and, um, charm, would work in our favor. When we have jury selection, I’ll be asking who has pets, and I’ll try to select women … for obvious reasons…”

I had to grin at the look on her face when she said that.

“And you’re worried because…?” Cady prompted.

“Because Randolph Barclay will be asking the same questions and crossing out anyone who might look favorably on the Canine Crusader’s capers.”

“That sounds like a TV show,” I said, wondering if I could pitch the idea to a network.

Grace speared me with one of her sexy-as-fook glares.

“And my concern is,” she said sharply, ignoring me and speaking directly to Cady, “is that we’ll end up with a jury of twelve straight men who were bitten by dogs as a child and hate animals.”

We all fell silent as I contemplated my future wearing a prison suit and wondering if the arrows would make my arse look fat.

“Okay,” I said, defeated and deflated, “what’s the plan? I’m sure you have one.”

Grace nodded jerkily. “We’re going to rehearse every possible question and every possible answer, and you’re going to learn them off by heart so there’s no ad libbing. I’m going to write it all down, and Rick and Cady will practice with you.”

“Sounds good. What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to think like a prosecutor—I’m going to find every precedent that could send you to jail … and I’m going to think about how to argue it out of court. That’s what I’m going to do.”

“Sounds like fighting talk to me,” I grinned.

Grace stood up and put her hands on her hips. “I’m only just getting started,” she said sternly. “No one messes with my boyfriend!”

“Boyfriend?” I repeated hopefully.

“When this case is over, you’re going to owe me breakfast, lunch and dinner fifty times over,” she said. “And I will collect. So as we’ll be doing all that, I think you’d better be my boyfriend, too, or people will talk,” she smirked.

I stood up to pull her into a hug and give her the kissing she so deserved, but she held up her hand like a traffic cop.

“No kissing until the case is over,” she insisted.

“But Gracie…”

“No!” she said firmly. “It’s too … distracting.”

I grinned at her. I really liked her being distracted by my kissing.

“But Gracie…”

“No!” she yelled, burning me with her laser stare, so that I sat down again. “No kissing, no touching, no canoodling of any kind.”

Cady snorted in the background and rapidly turned it into a hacking cough as Grace gave her a good glaring at.

“That goes for you two, as well,” she said, pointing a finger at Cady and Rick. “While you’re here, you work on the case. The focus is on keeping Vince out of the dog pound. No mistakes, no excuses, and absolutely no kissing.”

“We’re supposed to be on our honeymoon,” Rick muttered.

“And your point is?” Gracie said stonily as Rick recoiled.

I waved my arm in the air.

“Yes, Vincent?”

“What about holding hands?”

“No.”

“What about a foot rub after a long day?”

“Certainly not.”

“Well, can I think about kissing you while I’m in the shower?”

Grace rubbed her forehead. “I’m going to work at my apartment. Cady, I’ll email the list of questions and answers later. Vincent, I expect you to be word perfect by tomorrow morning.” The she glowered at all of us. “We’re running out of time.”

Zeus jumped into my lap and Tap nuzzled my ankle, looking as worried as the rest of my friends.

After Grace left, all the energy went out of the room.

Grace

I was nervous. Actually, I was terrified. I’d researched the hell out of Vince’s case and knew that there was a good chance of dismissing the larceny charge, but I also knew that wasn’t enough. This trial wasn’t going to be won on points of law, it wasn’t even about justice: it was about the DA needing positive publicity to be re-elected—and using Vince to get it, ironic as that seemed. He wanted to be the DA who was ‘tough on crime; tough on the causes of crime’ with zero tolerance for pretty much everything. You’d think that wouldn’t go down well in hip NYC but he was winning