The Warmest Winter, Day 14

"Ah! I can't be seeing this! This is torture!"

"You think that's torture?" said Rick, "We can see her, but can't do anything about it!"

Mike laughed. The music changed to the next track, and Cassie grooved to the beat. Mike and Rick were both remorselessly hard and had to adjust their seat position. Cassie walked over to Rick.

"Thanks for the blouse. I like it a lot. Don't you?" Cassie asked, leaning in. To the rest of her ensemble, she's added a simple necklace featuring a small blue gem, dangling just above her bust. Reaching her hand up, she pulled ever-so-slightly on the edge of the front of the shirt. "You want to see what I've got under here? Do ya?" Rick nodded slowly, fully expecting her to pull out her bra strap. Instead, he got a close-up view of... his credit card. She kissed him on the forehead chastely as she handed it back to him, then turned around.

"You like the skirt? Took me forever to find it. Hugs the right parts, you know? What do you think?" Rick, for once in his life, was speechless.

"Hey!" Cassie said suddenly, "No touching!"

"No touching!" Nate echoed emphatically, taking a break from humming loudly to himself.

Cassie laughed brightly, and Rick took a sharp intake of breath.

The next thing poor Nate heard, Mike and Rick were having the time of their lives.

"Whoo, yeah, shake it!"

"Daddy likes, girl!"

"Damn, you fine!"

And so on, until finally, he felt Mike's hand on his shoulder.

"Dude, she went back about three minutes ago. We just wanted to see you squirm."

"Goddamn you, Mike!" Nate half-laughed, "You're worse than Jenny!"

"Someone call for me?" As if on cue, a new song cued up. It was low, deep, sultry, and Latin. Even Jenny felt it. Closing her eyes at times, she stepped to the beat and danced up to the guys, settling in front of Mike. Mike sat, eyes wide, rigid from his head to his head to his feet.

"You know," Jenny purred, "I've never owned a little black dress before. Thank your friend for me."

"I've been paid in full, trust me," said Rick. Jenny tossed a gaze his way, letting her hair drop down over her shoulder.

"Of course, I don't think it's fair for Rick to just see the one thing, aside from the shoes." She went to Rick and turned around, lifting her hair to expose her back.

"Unzip me, please," she requested, which when Rick was done, left even more of her back exposed. She gently laid her hair across a shoulder, to keep it off her back, then walked smoothly back over to Mike.

"Now he's seen. Would you be so kind, as to put me back together?" She turned and Mike took in the smooth skin all down her back. He'd appreciated it before of course, but it was so much hotter today for some reason. Across her back was the bra strap, and at the very bottom of the zipper he spied just a snippet of her panties. Was that... tiger print?

When he came to zip her up, it was torture, being so close and not being able to touch her. He wanted to be friends, true, and he wanted to focus on the trial, but he most certainly did miss her touch. And to be the one to close it off, left him wanting so much more.

As Jenny sauntered off, she called back. "Bye-bye for now, boys. Thanks again for the shopping trip! Oh, and in case you think we were picking favorites, Veronica drew the names out of a hat and told us the order. Be glad you didn't get Cassie, Nate!" Laughing, she went back upstairs.

A full three minutes later, the men moved again.

"Okay," said Nate slowly, "I get it now. My sister aside, you had to live with that for two weeks? I'm surprised you can walk. Man, I forgive you."

"And forget the circumstances- the fact you could say no to any of that at all takes more cojones than I've ever had," said Rick, "Dude, my respect for you grows and grows."

"Gee, thanks, I think," said Mike. "Shall we meet them upstairs? Long day tomorrow, as I understand it."

"Right," said Rick, instantly back into lawyer mode.

It took some time for the girls to come back downstairs, being quite careful with their new clothes as they put them away. Once they had, Rick made it clear they all needed to get back to business.

"I understand a lot of steam and pent-up energy needed to be expended at this time. And I did enjoy it, don't get me wrong. But right now, I need a good night's sleep, and so does Mike. I'd recommend it for the rest of you as well. Mike, you get your stuff back in order. We left it a bit of a mess in the dining room. Veronica, you help him. Cassie and Nate, I'll let you two have a family moment. Jenny, would you help me bring my stuff back out to the car? I do not feel like tripping in the dark."

Outside, Rick put his briefcase into the back seat of the car, and began adjusting the seat and mirrors for his tall frame, rather than for Nate's shorter one.

"I need to talk to you," he said conversationally. "About Mike."

"Yeah?"

"Maybe I shouldn't tell you this, but hell, it's our only shot. Our case is not as strong as I would like it to be. I have very few cards to play. The law is trump, and right now it's on the Harringtons' side. Whatever the way out is, it's in Mike's head. Problem is, that head? It's not in the game. Something's keeping him from doing what I know he wants to."

"Why-"

"Why am I telling you? Because you can get to him. I can, given time, and I've tried. But now we're out of time. You're the best shot."

"What makes you think I can?"

"Let's just say I listen to more than what's said. Do you care about Mike?"

Jenny was taken aback. "Uh, yeah. Of course I do."

"Then please, do what you can. He's not just my client; he's my friend, too. Get Veronica and Cassie out of the house tomorrow -- I don't care how. No distractions, just you and Mike. Let Nate know it's time to go."

When Jenny walked back into the house, she had a thoughtful look on her face, but everyone was feeling good enough nobody noticed.

Nate kissed his sister on the cheek and said his goodbye. The girls were starting to fill Mike in on the details of their shopping trip, as Mike cast one last "Help me" look to Nate. But Nate had to go. On his way out, he spotted the upturned hat with slips of paper in it. It must have been the one Veronica used. On a hunch, he checked. The slips were blank. Smiling, he walked out into the cold.