Chapter 15

As was her habit, Dara instinctively opened her eyes a few minutes before the alarm clock was due to ring at 07:30. The sound of a blaring alarm would shock her sensibilities in the morning and somehow her body would naturally awaken her before the alarm would ring. Awaking on her right side she stretched her arm to disable the alarm before the clock rang and then realized that Mac's firm grasp around her waist restricted her movement. Smiling to herself she gently
loosened his grip on her a bit so that she was able to turn off the alarm, and then she settled back into Mac's arms. Dara interlaced the fingers of one of her hands with Mac's. She gazed at his hand, looking at his skin color in contrast to hers, and smiled. His forearm and hand were covered with light brown hair. She bit her bottom lip as she caught sight of the indentation of where the wedding ring he no longer wore had been on his ring finger. A part, a very small part, of Dara wasn't happy that she'd made love to a married man. A very politically incorrect professor of hers once noted that Dara was the type of person who believed in calling a spade a spade. When it came to right and wrong, she believed that the right thing she should have done was to wait for Mac to divorce Felicia before becoming this intimate with him. But years ago her caution and reticence kept her from letting him know how she felt, and after yesterday Dara knew that she didn't want to wait one more minute not letting him know how much she cared for him. She knew that she wasn't responsible for the breakup of Mac's marriage, but she couldn't keep the thought out of her mind that her relationship with Mac might influence him not to reconcile with Felicia. Mind you, Dara did not think for one minute that Mac belonged with Felicia. However, she honestly didn't want to be a factor at all in the breakup of his marriage.
Chiding herself, Dara knew that these thoughts were less than useless because if she had to do it all over again, she would make the same decision again not to wait any longer to be with Mac.

Kissing the back of her neck, Mac murmured, "What are you thinking?" He had known the moment she had fully awakened and was pleased when she didn't immediately get out of bed. Mac basked in the afterglow of their first night together, hoping to put off the realities
of the upcoming workday a little bit longer. He shifted back in the bed and rolled Dara onto her back so that he could see her face when she responded to his question.

"I'm thinking that I'm glad we didn't wait any longer."

"We?" Mac teased her and kissed her cheek.

Dara laughed, "O.K., that 'I' didn't wait any longer."

Mac's teasing expression turned more serious as he said, "You know, last night was the right time for both of us. Of course I was attracted to you and we were friends. Before last night we would have had sex. It would have been great sex, but it would have been great sex between friends. Last night was much more than that. Do you know what I mean, Dara?"

"You mean that we belong to each other now," acknowledged Dara. "Yes, that's how I feel about you too."

Mac pulled Dara so that she was lying on top of him and held her head to his as he kissed her. Feeling herself respond to Mac's passionate kiss, Dara struggled to move off of Mac but to her shock and amazement her movements against his body only served to heighten the arousal in both of them.

"Mac," she groaned after breaking the kiss, "I have to be in court by 09:30 today. Believe me, I don't want to go now but..."

"O.K., I understand. But you don't have to convince me," Mac added with a lascivious grin. "After all, you're the one on top."

Dara gasped as she grabbed a pillow and tried to hit Mac with it as she jumped out of bed. She knew that she had a wicked tongue but Dara was surprised by Mac's sense of humor. This was definitely another side to him that she really liked; he could match her with teasing remarks. "I'll be out of the bathroom in twenty minutes and then it'll be all yours." she said taking a robe from her closet as she entered the bathroom.

Lying on his stomach watching Dara as she walked to the bathroom, Mac smiled thinking that he couldn't remember the last time he was this happy. Until last night Mac had forgotten how it felt to be with a woman who really, really wanted him. Until last night he didn't know the depth of Dara's feelings for him and even though she hadn't said the words "I love you", her actions and her reactions to him said nothing else. After thinking about his night with Dara for a few more minutes, Mac brought his mind back to the present and reached for his cellphone that he had
placed on the nightstand in the middle of the night. He powered on his cellphone and heard the indicator that he had voicemail waiting. Grimacing he heard three voice mail messages, all from Felicia, asking where he was and saying that they needed to discuss some important issues as soon as possible. She ended all the messages with a request to call her as soon as he heard the messages, but Mac had no intention of returning Felicia's call while he was with Dara. Since Felicia didn't mention that the urgent matter involved Maxie or Georgie, he decided to call Felicia once he returned to the office. He kept the phone powered on but put it in vibrate mode just in case an important call did come through.

When Dara emerged from the bathroom wearing the terry-cloth robe, Mac was still lying in bed with his eyes closed. Noting that it was 08:00 Dara leaned over him and whispered in his ear, "Come on commissioner, it's time to wake up."

Inhaling the mix of her natural scent and the bath oil she used, Mac quickly snaked his arms around her waist and with a single smooth motion, he quickly had Dara on her back in bed with himself lying on top of her. Dara offered increasingly feeble protests while returning Mac's kisses as he pulled open her robe, revealing her nude body.

"Mac, there..."

Mac's kiss on her lips paused her speech for a few seconds. She resumed speaking, in between several moans and gasps, as he trailed kisses down the front of her body. Dara realized that as Mac kissed one area of her body, his hand moved further down and caressed another area that would be the target of his next kiss. Thinking of his anticipated kisses made coherent
speech somewhat difficult for Dara. Her body trembled as she continued speaking.

"There is no way...no ...way... that I can be...that I can be ... late ...today." The back of Dara's mind was screaming, "Why couldn't this be a Saturday morning!"

"I agree counselor. You won't be late for court today." Mac broke the kiss on Dara's right breast
with a smile as she was obviously having trouble expressing her thoughts clearly this morning. Knowing that she was thinking about their lovemaking earlier and possibly about work later today, Mac was determined to have her think only of the moments she was there with him now. He moved further down her torso kissing her stomach and as he slightly lifted her thighs with both of his hands he said, "I promise this won't take long. Haven't you ever heard of a quickie?"

***

Mac parked his car directly in front of the courthouse - this is one of the perks of being police
commissioner - and he and Dara raced up the steps of the courthouse. It was 09:15 but Dara needed a few minutes to prepare before court opened at 09:30.

Upon entering the courtroom, they saw that the courtroom wasn't filled yet and even the defense team and Moreno had not arrived. After placing the witness list and some legal briefs on the table used by the prosecution, Dara went to ask the court reporter a few questions.

Mac remained near the prosecution's table and placed a call to his secretary to let Taggert,
Officer Richards, and Garcia know that their meeting would not start until 10:00 today. Ending his call, Mac glanced up to see Moreno, his lawyer, and Moreno's entourage enter the courtroom. Even though Mac didn't have the proof yet, he was certain that Moreno was behind the attack on Dara yesterday and it took every ounce of willpower he possessed to stop himself from saving the court's time and dealing with Moreno here and now.

The court reporter's chair was only a few yards in front of the defense's table. When Moreno
reached the table he finally made eye contact with ADA Jensen. Dara looked directly at Moreno and silently mouthed two words - "He missed."

Knowing that she was mocking him, a furious Moreno leaned forward on the table and started to say something when his lawyer immediately jerked Moreno around so that his back was to Dara and with an anxious whisper told Moreno in no uncertain terms to keep his mouth shut and not take the ADA's bait. Restraining himself, Moreno turned to face Dara again and smirked, "You and I have a date after I'm acquitted."

As she walked back to the prosecution's table Dara coolly replied, "I doubt it, but assuming you're right that date must be in the afterlife because I assure you that you won't be acquitted in this trial in this life."

Mac smiled in admiration as he watched Dara. She didn't flinch once when dealing with Moreno, even though she believed him to be responsible for her attack. Witnessing the exchange between her and Moreno assured him that she could handle Moreno and his defense team at the trial today. It was time for him to leave and take care of the Moreno issues that were under his domain. "I'm going to the office but I'll probably be tied up most of the day," Mac informed her. "Give me a call when you finish this evening."

Dara winked and squeezed Mac's hand as she replied, "You can count on it."