Chapter 25
Reese stops in front of me, and when he reaches for me, I step back. “No. I think I’m angry with you.”
His brow furrows. “You think?”
“Yes. I might be. I need to think. I’m confused right now, and when I’m angry, I prefer to have that anger fully vetted. And I know I can’t have an angry conversation with you right now, anyway. Not before you go back to trial. So I’m going to leave now, you can have your lucky hotdog, and I will see you after court adjourns.”
“Why are you angry?”
“I said I think I’m angry. I need some time to think about what I feel right now. I mean, why would you— No.” I hold up my hands. “No. No. This is not the time. Eat and go back to court and win your case.” I try to walk around him.
He catches my arms and pulls me around to face him, and apparently my body is not one bit angry with this man, considering I’m warm where he touches, and pretty much everywhere I want him to touch. Bottom line, I’m warm. All over. “Talk to me, Cat,” he orders softly, stepping into me.
Now, I’m really warm. “Not now,” I say, wishing he didn’t smell so good and feel so good.
“Now,” he says. “I want to know now.”
“You know what you did.”
He narrows his eyes on me. “Sweetheart, I’m getting to know you, but I’m not used to you walking around things.”
“You have court.”
“Cat,” he bites out.
“Why would you call my publisher?”
“Well, that was fast. I thought I’d have tonight to talk to you about this.”
“This involved me. You talk to me first, not after you do something, so yeah. I’ve clarified how I feel. I’m angry.”
“I wasn’t going to let Dan fuck with your career.”
“So you made my career about you?”
“Of course not. It’s about you. And if you think it’s about me, then that’s you being insecure and letting your past settle between us again.”
“The offer is because you’re involved.”
“They wanted you for Dan, Cat. You were already offered this deal. Only, Dan would have taken your money.”
He’s sort of right. “It’s feels different.”
“Because you’re making it different. It’s not.”
“You should have talked to me.”
“You’re right.”
My brow furrows. “I’m right?”
“Yes. You’re right. Come out of the walkway,” he says, lacing the fingers of one of his hands with mine, before leading me to the back side of the food truck and pulling me close again, hands on my waist. “I should have talked to you, but in my defense, and to be clear: You are my woman now, Cat. I will protect you and I won’t apologize for that, and I don’t know why you would want me to. But I’ll communicate better.”
I’m his woman.I try to get my head around why those possessive words don’t stir a pushback from me. I close my hand around his tie. “No one takes care of me but me.”
“Until you had me.”
“This is still new, Reese. We’re new.”
“And that means what? Because I can tell you, I know what is real. We are. And I know this because I haven’t wanted to take care of anyone but you. You’re different in every way, and I can’t not take care of you.”
A million emotions pound at me, and I decide to just be honest and say what comes to me. “I don’t know how to reconcile how much I like what you just said to me and how much I need you to let me be my own woman.”
“I love who you are, sweetheart, and I don’t want you to change, but you have to let your guard down. Let me in.”
“I am. I have, but we really are new.”
“You’re right. We are. I told you, though, when I want something, I know it, and I am in a one-hundred-percent charge forward.”
“Charge with me, not at me, Reese.”
“Point made. Point understood.” He strokes hair from my face. “Let’s sit down and talk.”
“You need to eat and go back to court, which is why I didn’t want to do this now. We’ll talk tonight.”
“I have time. We have a long break. Let’s grab some food together.”
“Yes. Okay.”
We grab our usual, my bag of nuts and his hotdog, and claim our regular bench. “You made your sister proud this morning,” I say. “You killed it in there.”
He finishes off a bite of his hotdog. “My team had a good morning,” he says. “But that doesn’t mean there isn’t that surprise you mentioned waiting on me.”
“There has to be a surprise,” I say, facing him. “The prosecution can’t be this unprepared.”
“It’s an election year,” Reese says. “A trial makes a big splash, and we both know the public is going to convict my client, and the jury if they acquit, no matter what the evidence says. That’s a win at the voting booths.” He takes a bite of his hotdog and I open his water for him. “Unless,” he says, accepting it, “we come up with that confession we need.” He guzzles his water.
“Anything from the Walker crew?”
He finishes off his hotdog and tosses the wrapper in a trashcan. “The secretary put them off.”
“Interesting. She must know something and can’t decide what to say.”
“Agreed. And I don’t know if I should be worried or impatient, or both.”
“You need to stick with believing in your client,” I say. “If you falter, the jury will know.”
He sets the water on the ground and changes the subject. “Take me out of the equation. If you didn’t know me, would you be excited about what your publisher had to say?”
“Yes, but I can’t take you out of the equation. I don’t just know you, I’m sharing your bed, you gave me a key to your apartment, and I don’t know how to separate that.”
“Take the deal or use it for leverage to move to a new publishing house and get the agent you want.”
“They offered me five hundred thousand dollars. If I do this, I’m splitting the deal with you.”
He inches back and arches a brow. “Half a million. Not bad.” His hand comes down on my leg and he pulls me to him, and I scoot closer. “I don’t want your money, Cat. I just want you.” He cups my face and his mouth slants over mine, his tongue stroking against mine in a slow, drugging kiss. “I can’t wait to get you home tonight.” He brushes his lips over mine. “I’ll see you soon.” He stands up and leaves me with so many thoughts that I have to weed through them. I focus on one word.
Home.
He called his apartment home, and, of course, it is. He just used it in a way that felt inclusive, like his place is my place.
But it’s not.
Could it be?
Do I want it to be?
Maybe.
Which leads me to the only thought that matters right now. I’m not just falling harder and harder for this man. I’m falling in love. I’m vulnerable. I could get hurt in a way Mitch could never have hurt me. But I trust Reese. He did everything right today. Said everything right. And he meant it.
He’s not going to hurt me.
Not on purpose.
I stand up and stuff my water and nuts into my briefcase before heading back to the courthouse. Rounding the corner to the front of the food trucks, I stop dead in my tracks, to find Reese in a confrontation with Kelli Ward, the wife of his client, and, of course, a possible killer. “How do we know what we say to you won’t end up in one of her columns?” Kelli demands, that question clearly about me. “How?” she demands. And without giving him a chance to reply, adds, “This is malpractice.” She turns and walks away.
It’s not malpractice, I think, that’s just silly, but I don’t want to cause Reese trouble.
He turns toward me and motions me forward, away from the people in line at the truck who had to have heard Kelli’s outburst. “That wasn’t good.”
“She’s afraid of you. Which tells me she’s afraid of a whole lot more.”
“Is this going to be a problem for you?”
“I told Nelson about us this morning. I wasn’t giving Dan a chance to shake my team up with some sort of bomb that isn’t even a bomb.”
“And he said what?”
“It was a non-issue. But do me a favor, sweetheart. Call the Walker team. Tell them Kelli is rattled. She’s set up for a misstep and I want her to go down, even if that means I have to take a few risks in the courtroom and draw this trial out.”
“I’ll call now.”
He kisses me. “A longer trial means we’re going to need to pick up more of your things and bring them to my place.” And with that, he leaves again, and I don’t let myself think about the fact that he’s pretty much moving me in with him. Right now, it’s about this trial. I retrieve my phone from my purse and check the time. I still have a full half-hour, and it’s a five-minute walk back. Deciding this call is private, I round the food trucks again and sit down on the bench. I don’t actually have Royce’s number, so I call Lauren.
“Hi, Cat. Wow. What a morning Reese had. He destroyed the prosecution.”
“Yes. He did. Kelli Ward confronted him about me and said it was malpractice.”
She laughs. “That’s ridiculous.”
“It is,” I say. “But Reese wanted to let Royce know that she is acting erratic, scared even. She might do something rash.”
“I’ll tell Royce right now.”
“Thanks. I’ll call you later.”
“Cat,” she says when I would hang up.
“Yes?”
“Be careful. If she is as crazy as she seems, I don’t want you becoming a target.”
“I’ll be careful,” I say. “Thanks, Lauren.”
The call ends with another one beeping. I glance at the screen to find Liz calling. Wanting this over with, I take the call. “I’m the agent on record for this deal,” she says.
“Yes. I know. I wouldn’t cheat you out of the money. I’m just not sure I want to stay with a publisher that pushed me into a deal with Dan. And frankly, I’d like an agent who is invested in me long term to co-agent and shop this project. You can split the deal.”
“I don’t want to split. I want to represent you.”
Of course she does. Now I’m worth money to her. “You told me I was dead in the water, Liz, because I was dating Reese.”
“Dan has a relative at your publishing house,” she says. “I didn’t want to tell you that because I didn’t want to tarnish your relationship with your editorial team. I went off on them, though. I told them they were playing games with my author over a personal connection.”
“They offered me half a million dollars.”
“I know. They told me. And considering how pissed one of the executives was about your meeting with Dan, I didn’t expect it. I wasn’t trying to undermine you. Just the opposite. I’m on your team, Cat. We’re good together.”
“You weren’t upfront with me.”
“I was protecting you.”
I feel like I just had this conversation. “You talk about my business with me before you make decisions.”
“Fair enough. We tell them you want seven hundred and fifty thousand or we go wide. But if they say yes, you have to forgive them their shittiness, and take the deal.”
“You just assumed I rehired you.”
“Did you?”
“Yes,” I say. “If I go wide, will I get more?”
“Maybe, maybe not. If you go wide and decline an option, you look hard to work with to the publishers.”
“Fine. Seven hundred and fifty thousand and take it. I’m going back to court.”
“I’ll be in touch,” she says, then disconnects.
I stare at my phone and consider texting Reese but this isn’t the time to distract him. I’m about to put my phone away when suddenly someone is standing above me. I look up and my lips part at the sight of a stunningly beautiful woman with hate in the depths of her green eyes. It’s Kelli Ward.
“If you slander us, if you lie about us,” she says, “if you repeat anything you shouldn’t repeat, we will sue you and your family for all you and they are worth.”
Kara appears beside me. “I think it would be a good idea if me and my gun walked you back to the courthouse.” She walks away.
My cellphone rings and I glance down to find an unknown number. I have too much going on to ignore it, and I hit accept.
“Cat, it’s Royce.”
“Lauren called you.”
“Yes, but I’m actually on the bench right across from you.”
I look up to find him sitting there. “You’re following Kelli,” I say.
“Yes. And I wanted you to know that if she gets close to you, we’re close to you. I sent you a warning text you ignored.”
I glance at my phone, and sure enough, there’s a message that reads: This is Royce. Kelli Ward is heading your way, but I’m here with you.
“If she approaches you again, Kara is going to immediately join you. We’re here.”
“She’s not going to touch me,” I say. “That would be stupid, and that woman isn’t stupid.”
“We’re here, Cat.” He hangs up.
He didn’t agree with me, but I’ve been around people like her. I’ve helped convict them. And I’m going to help convict her, too. I text Reese: Kelli got in my face. Royce was watching. But she’s your girl, Reese. Get her.
He calls me immediately. “Are you okay?”
“Of course. I worked for the DA’s office. This is not new to me. I just wanted you to know that her loose cannon is getting looser.”
“Text me when you get to the courthouse. I won’t answer, but I need to know you’re here. Be careful.”
We disconnect and I get up and start walking, the words “be careful” now burned into my mind.
I disconnect with Cat and glance around the conference table where my two co-counsels sit, along with Nelson Ward, who is directly in front of me. “Your wife not only had that confrontation with me today, she just confronted Cat and threatened her as well. Control her.”
Nelson’s lips thin. “I’ll handle her,” he says.
“Like you handled her when you got on that plane Saturday night?”
“We’ve covered that to the point that it’s a baseball bat hitting me over the head. It was a mistake.”
“If you don’t handle your woman better than you did then,” I say, “I’ll have her banned from the courtroom, and I’ll get a protective order for Cat. Actually, that works for us. We need suspicion cast elsewhere. If your wife is volatile, that does the trick.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” he demands, leaning forward.
“Are you protecting her?” I press.
“Why would I be protecting her? From what?”
“Did she kill that woman and her unborn child?” I ask.
“I’m not protecting her,” he says.
“That’s not an answer,” Elsa chimes in, sounding appalled. “Did she kill her?”
“No,” he says, cutting her a sharp look, and then eyeing me. “Kelli didn’t kill her.”
“What if she was jealous of Jennifer?” Elsa pushes, while I listen with interest.
“I met Jennifer at a coffee shop,” Nelson snaps back. “You know this story but since you’ve forgotten and you’re one of my attorneys, let’s repeat. She was crying. She wanted to leave her boyfriend. She said she needed a job. I saw her there several times. She was never without tears. I told my wife about Jennifer. Kelli generously decided to help Jennifer get a job. And the baby wasn’t mine. DNA confirms that fact.”
“But Kelli didn’t have DNA testing when she found out Jennifer was pregnant,” Elsa argues.
“There was nothing sexual between myself and Jennifer Wright,” Nelson breathes out. “It hurts my heart to know that she is dead. I still can’t believe someone pushed her down the stairs. It seems more of an accident than murder.”
“The evidence says it’s murder,” Richard says. “The good news is that the evidence against you being the one who committed that murder is circumstantial.”
“And yet I’m on trial,” Nelson states.
“Have you not once considered your wife as the killer?” Elsa says, apparently not ready to let this go.
“No I have not,” Nelson bites out, irritation in his voice. “She’s devastated by all of this.”
“And so she ran off to Vermont and left you to be devastated alone,” Elsa rebuttals. “Such love.”
“She was having a panic attack when she left for Vermont,” he claps back. “How could I not go after her?”
“Exactly,” Elsa says. “And she knew that. She knew that would get you arrested.”
“Kelli is going to take the stand, at the appropriate moment.” I interject. “I hope you’re certain that she will protect you as you’re protecting her. If not, we both lose this trial. Only I get to take the hit and move on. And you get to be thankful the death penalty no longer exists in New York.”
Nelson stands up. “I’m paying you to defend me, not destroy her.”
“You’re right,” I say, standing up as well, pressing my fingers to the conference table and leaning forward. “You’re paying me to defend you,” I say. “That means I find the killer or we put this decision in the hands of a jury that likely hates your guts.”
“I know the press hates me but that’s about selling papers. They have heard the evidence. I didn’t do this. They need to hear from me.”
Richard chimes in without standing up. “If you go on the stand, the prosecutor will highlight everything there is to hate about you. And in case you don’t see that clearly let me spell it out. You’re rich, good looking, and did I say rich? Oh, and your wife is hot and they think you still banged another chick, got her pregnant, and killed her.”
Nelson scowls at him. “The DNA links the baby to the boyfriend. What part of this do you people not understand?”
“I didn’t forget,” Richard says. “But as you’re being called a baby killer who fucked this woman, how likely is it that the jury forgets?”
“Then remind them,” he snaps, looking at me, a wild animal quality to his eyes. “Remind them.”
I arch a brow. “Anything you want to tell us?” I ask.
“Do your job.”
“Even if I get you off,” I say, “you still have to shut your eyes and sleep every night next to her.”
A guard pokes his head in the door. “Five-minute warning.”
“It’s time for court,” I say, heading for the door.
I exit the room and start walking down the hallway when Elsa joins me. “He’s covering for her.”
“I know,” I say.
“Why would anyone cover for someone who did such a hideous thing? What makes a man willing to do anything for a woman?”
I don’t answer, but I know firsthand, there’s no explaining what makes a woman a man’s everything. I’m living that experience. I just obviously chose my woman a hell of a lot better than Nelson Ward. Which means I’d better keep her. Which means I’d better get out my running shoes, because Cat isn’t done running.