Derek Rossi is used to being one of the best young lawyers in San Francisco...until he loses a case to his legal rival, the sexy and irrepressible Sam Kimball. The passionate, two-month-long court battle has left Derek frustrated, angry, and ready to take it out on Sam. But when Sam surprises him with a kiss, Derek has absolutely no idea what to do. All he knows is his preoccupation with the other lawyer now includes more than wrangling in the courtroom with him.
The only problem is, Sam honors Derek’s request to leave him alone. Derek thought that was what he wanted.
But now, with memories of the kiss consuming him, Derek doesn’t know what he wants at all anymore...
EXCERPT
...Fury hardened every nerve in Derek’s body and he tossed aside the napkin to lean in and glare. “If you think for a second that information is going to give you any kind of advantage, think again. I will tear you apart and feed you to the lions before I let you try and air my private life, understand?”
His harsh response elicited the first genuinely shocked reaction from Sam. It stunned him into silence, his smile vanishing, as everything Derek said sank in.
“You’re not out of the closet? How is that possible?”
“This has nothing to do with closets. This is about my personal life.”
“Which includes fucking men.”
Derek growled at how bluntly he had put it. “I don’t go around advertising the fact.”
“You live and work in San Francisco. If you can’t be out here, where do you think you can?”
“This has nothing to do with—fuck it, never mind.” Pulling back, he slid out of the booth and towered over the table. “Just remember. I warned you.”
Storming out of Satori didn’t feel half as good as he’d hoped it would. His heart pounded away in his chest, and a thin layer of sweat shone along his brow. Contrary to what Sam claimed, Derek wasn’t in the closet. Everybody he cared about, or who cared about him, knew his orientation. But his sexuality didn’t define him, and he’d seen too many gay lawyers get swept up in campaigns simply because of who they chose to fuck. Toss in the fact that he loathed having everybody in his business, and was it any wonder he didn’t go around with rainbow-colored suits and an I Kiss Boys badge? He wouldn’t parade a woman around the office, either. And if Sam Kimball thought for a second he’d be able to twist this to some advantage, it was going to be Derek’s greatest pleasure to shoot him down.
“Rossi! Wait!”
He cringed at Sam’s shout, that damn accent slithering down his spine and settling somewhere at its base. He doubled his pace. He was done.
“Rossi!” A strong hand grabbed his arm and yanked him to a halt. Derek tore away, but Sam made it impossible to continue toward the office, forcing his back to the edge of the bank they stood in front of. “Look, that happened all wrong back there. I didn’t mean for this to be a big deal.”
Derek scowled. “Nice to see my private life trivialized so effectively. Thank you for that insightful argument, Mr. Kimball.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I think that’s exactly what you meant.”
“Which only goes to show just how little you know about me.”
“A state I was happy to perpetuate until you insisted on this little share and tell session.”
“Well, I wasn’t.” He stepped even closer and lowered his voice. “I knew you were gay by the time we had our second meeting. If you think I planned on using this somehow, don’t you think I would’ve done it while it might have made a difference in the case?”
The danger in listening to Sam Kimball was the logic in his speeches. “I’m sure you had your reasons.”
“Yeah, I did.” That look appeared in his eyes again, the one Derek had noted back in his office, only this time, it didn’t disappear. It grew more intense, bringing with it an awareness Derek didn’t want, one he definitely didn’t need. “I had this crazy idea that since we didn’t have a conflict of interest anymore, we might be able to pursue other areas of interest instead.”
“There are no—”
The rest was lost in the clamp of a hand at the back of his neck and the seal of Sam’s mouth over his when he yanked Derek down. The thrust of his slightly bitter tongue past Derek’s lips demanded an equal response. The only problem was, Derek had none. To say he was taken aback was an understatement. He never would have considered Sam Kimball interested in anything but pissing him off as much as he possibly could. He’d excelled at it, after all. And he’d certainly never entertained the notion of bending Sam over the conference table and fucking him senseless so the courtroom might be a more congenial environment.
At least, not seriously.
There was a huge difference between wanting to pummel someone and wanting to pound into them. The distinction of body parts was important. He believed that, whole-heartedly.
Now someone just needed to tell that to his dick.
As soon as he realized he was responding to the kiss, Derek grabbed Sam’s shoulders and shoved him away. His lips felt blistered, and he could still taste Sam even after he dragged the back of his hand across his mouth.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he snarled.
The thumb Sam drew across the corner of his lips, wiping away a slight line of spit, shook. Almost imperceptibly. Derek was too attuned to everything about the other man to miss it, though.
“Down in Texas, we call it cutting past the crap...”
