Legal Beagle Read Free Page B

ignored me for hours. She didn’t look up when I locked the courtroom doors. She didn’t glance at me when I blacked out the cameras. She remains focused on the transcripts and notes of the case she will decide upon tomorrow.
    I’m a cop so I understand about duty and commitment, but the hour is late, and I’m extremely horny, the fuck-palooza last night only sharpening my desire for Sadie. I pull out the big guns, or in this case, the red rubber ball, passing it back and forth between my hands. The beagle in her can’t resist, and her head raises from the stack of papers.
    “I’m working,” she reminds me, like I’ve forgotten why my cock isn’t buried deep inside her.
    “So am I.” It isn’t an outright lie. Protecting her is my job, and I continue to do that. “What did Poe’s head vamp say to you?” Her face had blanched after that private discussion.
    “The usual.” She shrugs, her black robes fluttering. “If I convict Poe, he’ll turn me in the most brutal way possible, and use me until the end of time as his personal whipping girl.”
    That’s the usual? I clench my fists, squeezing the ball. “And you will convict him. He’s guilty.” The crime -- the murder of thirty-two hedgehog shifters -- had been particularly grisly.
    “I can’t convict him simply because I think he’s guilty.” She returns her attention to the transcripts, circling passages in red. “The evidence has to prove him guilty.” Deep lines are etched between her soulful brown eyes.
    “Which it does.” The whole damn thing was on camera. “Poe’s henchman isn’t lying, Sadie. If you find his boss guilty, he won’t take it well,” I warn her. Poe is a vindictive vamp, and a bit of a nutjob.
    “They never do, and that’s Judge Sadie.” She’s been holding me at arm’s length since we left the house, trying to separate her personal life and work in the same way she separates woman and beagle.
    I won’t allow her to do either. I approach, tossing the ball in the air, and I smile as her body tenses with each throw. “I’ll protect you, Sadie.” I deliberately drop the judge. “You’re my bitch now.”
    She stacks the papers in a neat pile, her fingers trembling. “If you’re not able to…” She reaches for her gavel. It is her touchstone, I’ve noticed, when the courtroom becomes too heated and emotional. “If you’re not able to protect me” -- she swallows, her gaze on the red ball in my hand --”it’s okay. I knew and accepted my fate when I took this role.”
    She became a judge, despite the dangers, as I became a cop, despite the dangers. We’re the same in this and many other ways. “I’ll protect you, Sadie,” I repeat, rounding the witness stand, her power and bravery exciting me. “It’s what I do.” I’ll die before allowing anything to happen to her. “Catch.” I break the heavy mood by lobbing her the ball.
    She jumps out of her seat, her beautiful face animated, her hands closing around the red sphere. “We can’t play here.”
    “We can, and we will.” I’m so close to her, I smell her excitement, the scent causing my cock to harden. “I’ve watched you all day, striking your gavel, controlling your courtroom. Now, I’m in control.”
    “No,” she whispers as she sits down, but the ball drops to the floor, bouncing, and she tilts her face up to me, her lips parting for a kiss.
    “Yes.” I brush my mouth over hers, the taste of cinnamon and Sadie sucking me in, until my tongue is inside her, twisting, tumbling. I pull the pins from her hair, smiling against her mouth as the locks tumble upon her shoulders, making her appear younger and more vulnerable. Only I see the tender side of Sadie. She’s the tough judge to the rest of the world.
    As I kiss her, I part her black robes to cup her firm breasts, the soft flesh filling my hands like we were meant for each other. She moans, squirming in her seat, her legs parting to straddle my knees, her palms flat on my shirt,