by Lexi Blake
Now this was the way to wake up. Lazy. Safe. Warm.
She didn’t want to get out of bed. Maybe never. It was way too comfy in here.
“I don’t want to get up.” David seemed to feel the same way. His hand found her hair, stroking her.
“What time is it?” There was some sunlight peeking through the windows that let her know it was morning. It also let her see the sculpted line of his jaw and the sexy scruff that had grown there overnight. She knew this was the time with her previous attempts that she would be trying to sneak out of bed and run away, but all she seemed to be able to do with this man was sigh and cuddle closer. She shifted, rubbing her cheek against his, his whiskers scratching her lightly.
“You’re like a pretty cat rubbing all over me, looking for affection,” he replied as he rolled on top of her. His eyes gleamed in the low light. “You’re going to get it, you know.”
Nope. No desire to run away from this one. She let her arms drift up around his shoulders. “I’m going to get affection?”
He smiled and his brows rose suggestively. “That’s not the only thing you’ll get.”
He moved his hips, his morning erection making itself known.
“You didn’t answer my question.” She let her hands find his hair and smooth it back. How was it so easy to be with him? Like they’d been together for years and this was simply how they spent their mornings, teasing and flirting and playing in bed.
He kissed her instead, lowering his head and letting his mouth play lazily against hers. “Time is meaningless in here. You were right. We’ll stay here. Lawless will get used to it.”
She groaned as he kissed her neck and she felt herself getting soft and ready for him.
The night before had been everything she could have imagined. She’d never been as intimate with a man in her life, and it hadn’t all been about sex. He’d been tender with her. After he’d pressed her to the shower wall and made her scream, he carefully washed her body, his strong hands not missing an inch. He’d washed her hair, kissing her the whole time like he couldn’t help himself.
Then she’d washed him and they got all dirty again.
When they’d gotten to bed, he held her and talked about his new practice and how they were finally making headway. He wanted to know about her work, and she’d fallen asleep talking about contracts and clients.
This was different. This was right. She could feel it in her bones.
And she suddenly didn’t care what the clock said. He was right. Time didn’t matter in here. All that mattered was the feel of his hands on her body, the way they moved together. Here she didn’t have to be a high-powered lawyer. She could simply be David’s and he would be hers.
It was a good thing to be.
There was a knock on the door.
David went still. “Be very quiet and whoever it is will go away.”
The words had been whispered against her lips. For a few seconds, she thought it might work.
“It doesn’t matter how quiet you are,” a familiar voice said. “I’m not going away. And I know how to get into this room even if the door’s locked. One time when Case and Mia were staying here, Case had handcuffed Mia to the bedframe and then he threw out his back doing something I don’t even understand, and guess who got the call to come down and save them? Me. I’ve seen more of my sister than I ever wanted to see. And my brother-in-law. Though I now know why Mia’s always happy. The point of the story is, you’ve got nothing I haven’t seen already. I will open this door and come in if you don’t start talking.”
David groaned and rolled off her. “You’re a pain in my ass, Lawless.”
“And you have horrible timing.” Isla felt the need to throw her two cents in. She glanced at the clock. It wasn’t even eight A.M. Of course, she was usually up by six on a Monday morning, but then she didn’t normally spend most of the night having spectacular sex either. She could have stayed in bed all morning dozing on and off.
David sat up, giving her a spectacular view of his back. The man really worked on his glutes. “What do you need, Noah?”
“I need you to turn on the TV,” Noah replied. “The remote’s on the nightstand. You know, the one you told me you wouldn’t need and you totally needed since you’re both in that room. You’re welcome, by the way.”
She couldn’t help but laugh. “Thank you, Noah. They came in handy.”
“Don’t encourage him,” David admonished, but he sent her a sexy wink as he stood up and reached for the remote.
He was totally unselfconsciously naked, walking around the room like he’d been raised in a nudist colony. Not that he had a single reason to worry. He was like a Michelangelo sculpture come to vivid life.
“You’re very welcome, Isla,” Noah said from behind the door. “I’ll go make some coffee. It appears we’re going to need it.”
David sighed and clicked on the large television on the opposite wall. “I don’t know why he can’t simply tell us what’s going on. But no, Noah has to be dramatic.”
Anxiety crept up her spine. She shouldn’t have thanked Noah. He was bringing the real world into her happy fantasy time and it sucked. If Noah thought they should see something, it was likely about the case, and she didn’t want to think about the case this early in the morning.
A commercial was playing and she looked up at David. “Do you think this is about us?”
“Us?”
“About what happened yesterday with the press? They took pictures of us. If this is going to be some roundtable about what a whore I am, I think I’ll skip it.”
“On national news? I doubt it.” He climbed back onto the bed, stretching his body out. “And Noah would have warned us if this was personal. I’m worried Osborne is going to do something stupid before we can try to get his ass kicked off this case.”
He was laid out like a sexy man buffet.
“You are seriously comfortable with that gorgeous bod of yours.” She felt better because he was right. The tabloids would run salacious details about how Trey Adams’s lawyers were involved with each other, but this was a huge cable news network. They would focus on the real story. Unfortunately, the real story was a minefield for her, too.
“You like looking at me,” he said with all the confidence of a man who knew he was right. He winked her way again, a sexy smirk on his face.
Two could play at that game. She threw the covers back. “You like looking at me, too.”
His smile widened to that joyous expression that kicked her in the gut every time. “I do. I also love it when your competitive nature takes over and I get what I want.”
She tossed a pillow his way. “Weirdo.”
He pounced on her, pinning her with his weight. “Call me anything you like, baby. As long as you don’t kick me out of bed.”
He lowered his head, his lips caressing her neck as the commercial faded to black and a well-dressed news anchor took its place on screen. He spoke in low, serious tones.
“New York City police have put out a ‘be on the lookout’ for former New York Guardians quarterback Trey Adams. Adams escaped early this morning from the hospital where he’s been on suicide watch since the murder of his wife, former model Portia Adams.”
David rolled off her, his whole body stiff as he got off the bed, hands on his hips as he watched the screen. “They lost him? He was in a freaking mental ward. How the hell did they lose him?”
She sat straight up in bed, her whole being focused on that newscast. Trey was out in the city by himself? Would the cops shoot him on sight? Had he gotten out of the city? Her heart was in her throat as she watched. “How did he get out?”
As if they’d been listening, the newscaster continued. “According to the police reports, Adams was in his bed for a midnight bed check, but the nurses reported him missing when they entered his room at three this morning to c
hange his IV bag.”
David grabbed his slacks from the night before. “What the hell was he thinking?”
She could guess what David was thinking. He was watching his whole case go straight out the window. The DA would surely go back to the judge now and argue that if Trey was able to escape, he couldn’t possibly be too mentally damaged. “They’ll put him in a prison hospital now.”
He opened the closet door and handed her a robe. “At the very least. I definitely won’t be able to keep him in a private hospital after this. Shit. We were meeting the judge this morning. The timing couldn’t possibly be worse. I turned my phone off last night. I bet it’s blown up.”
She winced. “I left mine on the bar in the kitchen. I can’t imagine what it looks like.”
She couldn’t take her eyes off the screen. The morning anchor had been joined by someone from the hospital who claimed the only way Trey could have gotten away was through careful planning and athletic strength. He had to have climbed out the third-story window and managed to hold on until he made it to the fire escape, two full rooms down from his.
He could have killed himself. He could have fallen and died. Her stomach clenched, and all the relaxed joy from the morning and the night before had fled and her anxiety was back. What was she doing lying around in bed?
Had she made a terrible mistake last night? A stupid girlish mistake? Had she put her libido before her clients?
“Stop.” David stepped between her and the television. “Isla, we’re allowed to have some happiness. There is very little difference between us knowing he escaped now and knowing it a few hours ago. Don’t second-guess yourself. It’s going to be okay.”
She shook her head in surprise. “How did you know what I was thinking?”
“Because I thought the same thing,” he replied. “And it’s ridiculous. Nothing we did last night put our case in danger.”
She wasn’t sure, but she wasn’t about to argue with him. “How could he have run?”
“You know the answer to that.”
She took a deep breath and tried to calm down. She needed to be logical. “He woke up and had no idea where he was. He was probably terrified and his first impulse was to escape. I thought they had him in restraints.”
He put a hand on her head, staring down at her with soft eyes. “I’ll have a report on the entire debacle before you’re dressed and ready to go. I promise. Do you have any idea where he might go?”
“Besides home?”
“If he’d gone home, they would have caught him by now,” he mused. “But I think he would have gone somewhere familiar. He would look for somewhere or someone who made him feel safe.”
There was one person he might remember well enough to run to. “If he went to Carey’s, there’s a chance Carey wouldn’t have turned him in until he got legal advice. I’ll call him. Though I would bet he’s already called me a few times.”
There was a knock on the door. David sighed and answered it. He said something, talking quietly with Noah, but Isla was watching the screen. Pictures of Portia and Trey in better days flashed over the monitor, and the hosts discussed what could have happened to such a previously happy couple.
Life had happened. Life and Trey’s disease had eroded what once seemed solid. Like a river slowly cutting through a seemingly impenetrable mountain. Portia was strong but recently she’d started vacationing without her husband. She went to Paris for two weeks last year. Isla had been invited along on the girls’ trip but had chosen to stay behind because of work obligations.
You have to live a little, cupcake. Life will try to bring you down. That’s when you go to Paris and tell life to fuck off for a while. It doesn’t mean you don’t love your life. It means you simply need to take a break from it.
Portia had been happy as she got on the private jet, as though the weight had already come off her slender shoulders. When she’d come back, she was quiet and contemplative.
Paris. Was that where she’d met Kristoff? She’d gone with a group of female friends, including her sister and daughter. Isla racked her brain trying to remember who had gone on that damn trip. Someone must have known, must have suspected it if Portia had started an affair there.
Was that what her Thursdays at the Algonquin were about? Escaping life for an afternoon?
Why hadn’t Portia told her? They’d been friends. Close friends. She wouldn’t have judged. Or maybe she would have. God, it was such a mess and now Trey was missing.
How was she going to handle it if he was killed or, worse, if he killed himself? How was she going to look his kids in the eyes?
“Hey, baby, here’s some coffee.” David stood in front of her, a mug in his hand. “And your cell. It looks like Carey called a few times. Well, a few hundred times.” He passed it to her and stood there for a moment, his expression serious. “It’s okay if you don’t tell him you were with me last night. This is new and I get it. He’s like a dad to you. You don’t want to disappoint him.”
There was no way she was going to allow David to think he was a disappointment. She might be worried about the case and her own place in it, but the one thing she knew was that he was an amazing man. “Yes, Carey’s definitely been a parental figure in my life. I’m going to tell him exactly what I would my own dad. I would tell my dad that I’m an adult and I pick who I spend time with. I hope he can get along with you. He is important to me, but you are, too. I’m not planning on hiding any of this. There are way too many secrets going around. I’m not adding to them.”
He leaned over and kissed her. “Okay. I have to go and talk to the investigators. I want them at the hospital figuring out what the hell happened. I don’t buy that Trey could get out of those restraints, shove his massive body out a tiny window, and manage to haul himself across the building like he’s some kind of rock climber. They’re not taking into account how damaged his body is.”
“You think the guy from the hospital is lying?”
“I think he’s a talking head for a large corporation and they like to cover their asses any way they can,” David replied with a frown. “Trey had help getting out and I want to know who that was. I want every bit of camera footage that hospital has.”
She nodded, happy one of them was thinking clearly. “That’s a good idea. I’ll call around to anywhere he might have gone. Do we have something to say to the press?”
“Margarita’s working on it. She’s going to have the official statement ready before we leave the apartment. She’s out in the kitchen working right now. She brought bagels and cream cheese,” he explained. “When you’re done with Carey, take a shower. I don’t dare get in there with you or we’ll never get out. Leave me some hot water, baby. We need to be ready to go in about an hour.”
She nodded and watched as he walked out.
She wasn’t alone. That might have been what scared her most that first night. The whole weight of a family had come down on her shoulders and she’d been all alone. But David was with her. David, who made smart decisions, who knew what he was doing, who would advise her but wouldn’t take over.
Her cell buzzed and she looked down, braced herself, and answered. “Hey, Carey. I’m sorry. I left my phone on the bar last night and I slept like a log.”
There wasn’t even a pause before the yelling started.
“Where the hell are you? You’re not at home and your apartment had goddamn police tape on the fucking door. I’ve been standing out here trying to get someone to tell me if you’re dead or alive.” He took a shaky breath. “Goddamn it, Isla. I thought someone murdered you, too.”
Oh, it was worse than simply not answering him. “I’m sorry. I had no idea you were still in the city. My apartment got broken into last night and everything was crazy for a few hours.”
“Broken into?”
“Yeah, I walked in while the man was there,” she explained. “He knock
ed me out, but luckily David came looking for me. I’m perfectly fine. Not even a bruise on me.”
“Why would someone break in? Do they think it’s because you worked for Portia? What do you have that the killer could want?” The questions came out like rapid-fire bullets.
“We don’t know, but the police don’t think it was a coincidence. They’re going to want to look into the work I did for Portia and Trey.” She bit back a groan. “Which means I’m going to need a lawyer because privilege comes into play. God, this case is going to be a boon for Manhattan lawyers. I need to figure out what I can and can’t say. They’ll try to use the fact that Portia is dead to break privilege, but I rep the rest of the family, too.”
A long sigh of obvious relief came over the line. “But you’re all right?”
“I’m fine. I’m sorry I made you worry. The police think he was looking for something, but I was lucky he didn’t kill me.”
“But if the police think this is connected, does that mean they’ve got another suspect?” Carey asked.
“I think they might have if Trey hadn’t disappeared. Has he made any attempt to contact you?”
“No. I came into the city when I heard he was missing. I wanted to make sure he hadn’t come to hide with you. I know how sympathetic you are, but if he shows up, you have to turn him in. He’s dangerous. He could have an episode and hurt you.”
So Carey still thought Trey could have killed Portia. “I have no plans on becoming an accessory after the fact.” She didn’t mention that the ADA already thought she was one. “But we have to find him before he hurts himself. I’m worried he’ll kill himself.”
“I’ll let Amber know to call me if he shows up at our place.” He was quiet for a moment. “Are you still with Cormack?”
She wasn’t going to lie to him. “Yes. I like him. I know what you think, but there are two sides to every story. I asked him about what happened with his wife and I’m satisfied with his explanation.”
