Free Every Reasonable Doubt by Pamela Samuels-Young Page A

said. I stepped around him and headed for the kitchen. “The client still hasn’t been charged yet. So there may not even be a case.”
    I dropped my purse on the kitchen table, grabbed a bottle of Evian water from the refrigerator, and headed into the bedroom.
    “That’s bullshit,” he said, close on my heels. “You always tell me stuff you’re not supposed to tell me.”
    I unbuttoned my blouse, tossed it on the bed, and began looking through my closet for a pair of jeans. “This case is different. I’ve never handled a criminal case before. I didn’t tell anybody about it. Not even Special.”
    He gave me a patronizing look that called me a liar. He was right. I’d told him enough confidential stuff about some of my cases to get me disbarred.
    “I’m sorry.” I brushed his lips with a kiss and scurried past him into the bathroom. “I’ve just had a lot on my plate lately,” I said.
    Jefferson was unwilling to be appeased with a peck on the lips. He followed me into the bathroom and stood in the doorway, taking up the whole frame. “Your working on this case means I’ll be lucky to see you five minutes a week. You just got done with a trial. You’re not the only attorney at that damn firm.”
    I reached for a washcloth from the towel rack and began scrubbing my face with Oil of Olay soap. “Jefferson, I’m a lawyer. This is what I do. I swear I tried to get off the case, but O’Reilly wouldn’t let me.”
    “Did you tell him why you wanted off the case?”
    “What do you mean?” I said, even though I knew exactly what he meant.
    “Did you tell him you wanted off the case because we’re trying to have a baby?”
    You must be insane!
“Nope.”
    He tilted his head sideways and stared harder at me. “Why not?”
    “Because that’s not the way I want to do it.”
    I could see muscles bulging beneath his white T-shirt. Either he’d been hitting the gym a lot harder or he was so pissed every muscle in his body was flexed in frustration. “So how
do
you want to do it?”
    “I haven’t figured that out yet.”
    His chest heaved up, then slowly back down. “I’ll say it one more time. This whole thing would be much easier if you would just come clean. You’ve never been any good at lying anyway. Just be honest and tell me you don’t want to have kids.”
    “I do want to have kids,” I insisted. “Just not this instant.” I made a move to leave the bathroom, but he didn’t budge so I had to squeeze past him. I walked over to the dresser and pulled a sleeveless cotton shirt from the top drawer.
    “I guess with this new case you’ve got, it’ll be at least another year before we can even start thinking about having a baby.”
    “Jefferson, I might not even have a case. Tina Montgomery was just brought in for questioning. She hasn’t even been charged with anything.”
    He was sitting on the edge of the bed now, looking up at me. “Okay, I’m willing to compromise with you,” he said, his tone much more conciliatory. “If she isn’t charged and the case goes away, promise me we can start working on having a baby right away.”
    Whoooaaa.
With my luck, they would find another suspect tomorrow. I took way too long to respond.
    Jefferson started chewing on his lower lip. “I thought the reason you left Brandon & Bass was so you could have a life. We don’t see each other any more now than we did when you were working there.” Disappointment had replaced his anger. “You just finished one trial and now you’re about to be back working every second of the day on another one.”
    I didn’t want to deal with this right now. “Jefferson, I don’t need you jumping all over me about my job, okay? We had time for each other during the Hayes trial and if there’s another trial, I’ll have time for you again. Damn, sometimes you need more attention than a five-year-old.”
    Hurt blanketed his face and I wished I could have snatched my words back.
    Jefferson opened his mouth to speak,