He eyes me and then Mia. “Delaney feels comfortable with you, Mia. We should co-counsel, but I need to be upfront about a few things. I’d want to see the evidence and meet your client. Does she fully inherit?”
“Not fully,” Mia says, “but a hefty sum of money.”
Reese grimaces. “The family will try to take it if she’s convicted or even if she takes a deal.”
“They’ll try to take it if she gets off free and clear,” Cat murmurs.
“She and I have talked about this,” Mia replies. “I think she needs to go to trial. She has a daughter she doesn’t want to put through this. That in itself should tell you this isn’t about the money to her.”
“We need to change her mind,” Reese replies, “because the family might even go after her daughter’s money if she inherited. That said, though, frankly, with my present schedule, if she agrees to trial, we’ll need to move the trial based on my schedule. I’m booked six months out and bringing me in after what just happened to you will be an easy sell to the courts.”
“When can we do the meet and greet?” Mia asks. “I need to know what I’m doing when and so does Delaney.”
“I’m due back in court this afternoon. I should be able to do coffee at seven in the morning. Can you get her here? They have a coffee and breakfast service.”
Mia turns to search my face, and I don’t know what she’s looking for or what she finds, but she turns back to Reese and says, “Perfect. I believe she’ll be better off with you, Reese. She won’t need me once she meets you and Cat. I’m going to call my client now.” She snakes her phone from her purse and stands up, walking toward the bar.
Relief washes over me at a decision that takes her out of emotional and physical danger, but it’s immediately followed by guilt. She just gave up a career-making case, when her own success and identity has always been important to her. I get that. I understand that need. She just gave this case away for me, not for herself, and not for her client. That doesn’t work for her, me, Delaney, or us as a couple.
I stand up and pursue Mia, determined to catch her before she makes that call to Delaney, but I’m not the only one pursuing her. A tall man in a leather jacket charges in her direction.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Mia
A sudden fight-or-flight sensation has me whipping around to find a big man in a leather jacket, well over six feet and two hundred pounds of pure muscle, charging at me. My heart jumps up into my throat, and a small sound lodges right there with it. I back up and hit a stool as the man stops dead in his tracks in front of me. “Sorry.” He offers an apologetic smile, lines crinkling on his sunbaked fortyish skin. “I didn’t mean to startle you there.”
Grayson is suddenly beside me, pulling me close. “What the hell do you want?” he demands of the man.
The man grabs something from the bar and holds it up. “Left my wallet. Panicked a bit when I realized what I’d done.” He glances at me. “Again. Sorry about that, ma’am.” He turns and leaves.
I breathe out in utter relief and then laugh in disbelief, pressing my hand to my forehead. “I’m losing my mind,” I murmur, frustrated over my silly over-reaction.
Grayson turns me to face him, cupping my face to stare down at me. “I thought—”
“Me, too. We’re both clearly not as okay after Ri as we’re pretending we are. And this is exactly why Reese needs to take this case.”
“No.” He cups my face and tilts my gaze to his. “You believe in this woman. She needs that kind of passion defending her.”
“Reese—”
“Is damn good, but he’s a man. She needs a woman in her corner. And Reese isn’t a fool. He knows that. He needs you, just like Delaney needs you.”
“I’m clearly not myself, Grayson. I just almost screamed out in a public place over a man looking for his lost wallet. She deserves counsel that’s one hundred percent focused.”
“You’re less than a week out from an attack, Mia. And the trial won’t be for six months with Reese’s schedule.”
“But my role in the company—”
“Will only be proved stronger with a high-profile win under your belt.”
“Unless I lose.”
“You won’t,” he says firmly.
“I’m confused. I felt your relief when I stepped aside, Grayson.”
“I won’t lie and tell you that you’re wrong. I did feel relief. And then I felt selfish. I knew, I know, I was doing the same thing I did when I pulled you off that case before our break-up.”
“You didn’t talk to me first. That’s why that was so bad. But I got it. I understood all but that. There was danger attached to that case, a monster the feds were after, who liked to kill those close to him. Which is why I would have understood if you had talked to me.”
“I’m talking to you now. You deserve your own wins, Mia. And as much as we both want to believe you don’t still feel like you’re in my shadow, that doesn’t just go away in a year of working for someone else.”
“I love you. Your success is something I’m proud of.”
“And I loved my father and was proud of him, but it was hell being his son before I proved my worth. I perhaps haven’t been understanding enough about how that, despite a slight shift in context, might translate to you with me. Your success is good for us and I will cheer you on every step of the way. Call Delaney and tell her you want to bring in Reese as co-counsel.”
I press my hand to his handsome face, searching his gaze, looking for the pain and torment that had driven me to make this decision. “You’re sure?”
“Completely.”
I study him a moment more and I believe him, I do, but I also know he’s worried.
“I will not hold you back, Mia,” he adds as if he’s reading my mind. “That’s not love. That’s not a partnership. If you want to do this, we both need you to do this.”
His voice radiates with the passion of conviction. “All right then. This will please Delaney. And me. Thank you for supporting me.”
“No thanks ever needed, baby. Call her.” He kisses me and then walks away.
I turn and watch him with all his grace and male beauty saunter back to the table, a regal tiger that could pounce or purr at any moment, and my heart swells with love. He sits down facing in my direction and when his eyes meet mine, there is this punch of awareness between us, and I can almost feel our bond grow right here and now.
I smile.
He smiles.
God, I love his smile.
And I love him.
In this moment, I know that Ri won’t win or beat us. We will win. Together.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Mia
Delaney Wittmore answers on the first ring. “My God, Mia. Did you see me on the television? Again.” She sounds frazzled and hoarse, her tone a raspy, after-crying tone I know well. I had it often after Grayson and I broke up. A break-up that could have been avoided, while Delaney couldn’t have fixed her problems with her husband. He was an abuser who would have seen her dead before he let her leave him.