I woke to the sound of my ringtone coming from somewhere far away. I blinked a few times as I remembered where I was and grinned when I saw that Eloa was spread out with only a sheet to cover her shapely backside.
Pale morning light peeked in through the small window in the loft, and I glanced at the clock to see that it was almost eight a.m.. I closed my eyes for a moment as I thought about the last time I had looked at the clock, which I was pretty sure had been some time around four a.m., so I’d only gotten about four hours of sleep.
The ringing continued, so I slipped out of bed and scooped up my jeans. I glanced back at the Brazilian bombshell when she groaned and buried her head in her pillow before she fell back asleep.
My stomach did a flop as I stared down at the number on the phone to see the name Judge Travis Williams.
Chapter 19
I stared down at the phone as it rang. If I didn’t answer soon, then it would go to voicemail, and I could pretend none of this had happened. But I didn’t want to give the judge the advantage of having me call him, so I took a deep breath and hit the answer button.
I didn’t feel alert enough to deal with Williams, but if Osvaldo heard that I’d had the opportunity to talk to the judge and didn’t, then I would have to deal with his irritation. Since his son was still in Everson, I wanted to make sure that I didn’t give him any reasons to send Alvaro after me, and I was cognitive enough to at least answer the phone call.
“Hello,” I said while I stood up straight and tossed my pants back onto the floor.
“Hello,” the judge huffed. “It took you long enough to answer.”
“It’s late,” I replied as I walked toward the side table.
My vision was still blurry without my glasses, so I slipped them on and looked around the room. I glanced over at the beautiful woman who I’d spent the night with, and a grin spread across my face as I watched her sleep.
Eloa stirred like she could feel me watching her slumber, and then her honey brown eyes blinked open and looked around until she found me. She watched me curiously as she slowly sat up, but when she saw the glow from the phone, she shrugged, ran her fingers through her hair, and then started to braid it.
Exhaustion washed over me as a yawn parted my own mouth, and my tired eyes teared up while I fought against the wave of dizziness that washed over me. I would need a lot of coffee to get through the day, or I might have to go back to sleep if I could finish my business with the judge fast enough, though I couldn’t exactly have the conversation I needed to with a reporter in the same room.
“Are you still there?” the judge demanded. “You’re the one who called me first, I should point out.”
“I’m here,” I responded as I slipped into my boxers. “I was still asleep. You’re lucky that I was in the room with my phone. I wasn’t expecting you to call so early.”
The beautiful reporter had finished with her hair, which now draped over her round breasts, and the morning light made her golden skin glow while it brought out the red highlights in her hair. She was breathtaking, and all I wanted to do was crawl back into bed with her and forget about the corrupt magistrate.
“It’s not early if you work for a living,” the judge grumbled. “Some of us actually have offices that we have to get to.”
I grimaced at the tone in the man’s voice, but I took a deep breath and held in the flash of rage that pulsed through me.
“Right,” I muttered when I was calm enough not to sound angry.
“Who is that?” Eloa asked as she finally yawned and stretched.
“Listen, I’ll call you back in about fifteen minutes,” I told the judge as I shook my head at my beautiful companion.
“Excuse me?” the man asked in a low tone that warned me that he was about to lose his temper.
“I just woke up,” I explained. “Give me fifteen minutes, and I’ll be able to talk.”
“Fine,” the magistrate grumbled. “But one minute more, and I’m going to move onto my next task for the day. Don’t waste my time.”
“That’s reasonable enough,” I replied as I leaned down to pick up my pants. “I’ll call you in fifteen minutes.”
The judge hung up before I could, and I rolled my eyes at the man while I tossed my cell phone onto the bed. I needed to get dressed, use the bathroom, and then head back to my own apartment where I could shower and get ready for the day.
“Are you leaving?” Eloa asked with another yawn.
“I need to make a phone call,” I told her. “I’m going to go. But I’ll see you later?”
“You can stay here while you make your call,” she said as she crawled across the mattress toward me.
The sheet slipped away from her body, and heat pulsed through me as I watched each erotic movement. She was temptation personified, but I only had fifteen minutes to call the judge back and set the ball rolling on my client’s plan, and if I slipped back into the bed with her, I’d never make the deadline.
“I really should get home so I can get ready for the
