Mine to Protect

by Sarah J. Brooks

  “I don’t see how that really benefits me,” Rose said sarcastically.

  Although she very much knew how animal sex on the weekends benefited her. It was her vice, the way she released all her anxiety and stress from the week and moved on with each new week. She needed it and wanted her orgasms each weekend just like a drug addict wanted their drug. But she wasn’t about to admit that to Bronx.

  “We can just have fun. Play and enjoy each other. None of that lovey-dovey romance stuff. We can just fuck each other and get back to work.”

  Rose had to admit she was actually intrigued a little by Bronx’s suggestion. It would save her a ton of time and energy if she didn’t have to find a new guy to screw each weekend as her distraction from life. On the other hand, it was much more fun to experience different men than it was to be stuck with the same one all the time. She wasn’t really sold on Bronx’s plan just yet.

  “Would we be exclusive?” Rose questioned him.

  “No. If you wanted to date someone, then date them. Same goes for me—if I want to bring a hot blonde home for the night, I’ll do that.”

  “No emotions? No commitment?” Rose asked.

  “I know, you don’t think I can do that because I wanted to date you, but the truth is that I was just following the societal norm. I now know that you don’t live by societal norms, and I’m cool with that. I think this plan could work out very well for us. We could both work ourselves to death at the firm and then screw our brains out for stress relief. It’s the perfect solution.”

  “What if you fall in love with me?”

  Bronx laughed, but it was a realistic question. Rose wasn’t in a spot in her life that she could give emotions to anyone, she could hardly figure out her own emotions and deal with them for herself. She had to make sure that Bronx understood there would be absolutely no emotional involvement. That was her primary criteria.

  “I’m already in love with you,” he winked at her.

  Rose slapped him on the arm and pushed him down on the couch, but Bronx pulled her on top of him as he fell over. His arms stayed wrapped around her, and he held her on him and wouldn’t let her go.

  Bronx knew what Rose wanted, and if that was the only way he could have her, then he was going to have her that way. He wasn’t interested in having other women, Bronx had been mesmerized by Rose from the moment he laid eyes on her. She was unique, exciting, and different. The fact that she didn’t play by society rules just further intrigued him and drew him to her more.

  “You are not,” Rose said sternly. “Say you’re not in love with me.”

  “Maybe love is too strong a word. I like you, though. I think you’re smart and funny, and I like hanging around you. I really am cool with us just staying friends, though, and I think this plan is perfect. We don’t have to be the traditional relationship people. It can be on our terms.”

  Rose was still lying on top of Bronx as she contemplated his proposition. It did sound appealing to have someone in her bed every weekend that she knew. They could even have a quickie after work during the week if they were having a particularly stressful week.

  “No one in the office can know!” Rose said sternly. “Absolutely no one.”

  “You can still hate me with a passion at work, how about that?”

  Rose didn’t hate Bronx at all. She had just been mean to him in the office because she didn’t want the other guys to think she was soft. Her intention at Wolfe and Conley was to eventually make partner, and Rose knew she would never do that if people in the office liked her.

  Likable people didn’t climb the corporate ladder very fast. Admired people, they were the ones who got what they wanted. Rose was going to make sure everyone admired her winning streak in the courtroom, and that included Elaine Wolfe, Bronx’s aunt. It was Elaine who would hold the key to an eventual partner position, so it was Elaine who Rose was going to make happy. And the only thing that made Elaine happy was when associates brought in billable hours and won cases.

  “Yes,” Rose said.

  Bronx looked stunned as he registered what she had just said. Did he hear what he thought he’d heard?

  “Yes?”

  “Let’s try it. But at the first sign it’s not working out, we are stopping everything, and we won’t be jerks to each other. Promise?”

  “Scouts honor,” Bronx said as he held his Boy Scout fingers up in the air.

  Bronx reached his hand up and intertwined it in Rose’s hair, pulling her down to kiss him roughly. Rose loved it; the take charge attitude was just what she wanted that night. She was too tired to be the one in charge and was happy to let Bronx take the lead.

  They feverishly removed each other’s clothes as Bronx flipped Rose over onto the couch and spread her knees. His hips thrust hard into Rose and she moaned out with the delight of his body thrusting with hers. Their bodies moved together perfectly in sync, and soon Rose felt herself exploding as her body gave in to the delicious sensation that had flooded it so quickly. Bronx released himself quickly after, and they both lay on the couch in sweaty exhaustion.

  “You should probably leave some clothes here so you can go to work in the mornings if we have a night together,” Rose said as she got up to take her shower.

  Bronx smiled from ear to ear at her invitation. He couldn’t get her to invite him to spend the night when he wanted to date her, but when he just wanted to be her fuck buddy, Rose was alright with him, spending the night. She was a complex creature, but he was excited to have his foot in the door, so to speak.

  “Come shower before you go,” Rose said as she stood naked in the doorway and waited for Bronx to come to her.

  She still wasn’t sure this whole plan was a good idea, but she was going to give it a try and see how things went. It was entirely possible that Bronx was the solution to her problems, though. Having a fuck buddy at her beck and call would really make life easier as she tried to impress Elaine at the office and worked all hours of the day; while also avoiding all the emotions that were coming up now that she was around Noah constantly.

  Chapter 11

  “Do you have everything?” Rose asked Bronx as they were leaving her apartment that morning.

  She had planned on kicking him out after they showered, but after they had another round together in the shower, she was too tired to argue with him when he asked to stay over. The rules of their new arrangement were still in the works, but as long as no emotions were going to be involved, she was willing to allow an overnight every now and again.

  It was just six o’clock in the morning, and they were heading into work. The two of them were eager to get there early and start working on the projects they had been assigned. Of course, they wouldn’t both show up at the same time, but it was nice to have someone around to motivate her to get moving in the morning, and Rose thought the whole evening had gone pretty well.

  Bronx was a delicious looking guy and very well endowed. Their time between the sheets, so to say, was very pleasing to her. She probably wouldn’t have agreed to his plan if he had been bad in bed. That wouldn’t have been worth it at all. But so far she couldn’t really see the downside to their plan. Basically, she got her distracting orgasms whenever she wanted, and he got to fuck her; it did seem like a win-win situation all around. As long as Bronx could keep his emotions out of everything—because Rose knew she could keep her emotions out.

  “So how do you want to do this? Maybe you could go in first, and I’ll arrive a few minutes later?”

  “Sounds good, then next time I’ll let you go in first.”

  “Of course, and we won’t talk to each other at work unless it’s necessary.”

  “Deal,” Rose said.

  She made her way to work without another word to Bronx, and once he showed up at work, she made a point not to look at him at all when he arrived. Rose had no problem with ignoring Bronx at work, she could easily separate her bedroom life and courtroom life; she wasn’t worried about that one bit. In fact, she was lookin
g forward to being a little mean to Bronx at work, just to make sure no one suspected that they were having any bedroom fun with each other.

  “Hey, can I see you two in my office in ten?” Noah asked as he looked in their office for a moment.

  “Sure,” Rose answered.

  Since Rose and Bronx were the only ones in their office at that time, they were free to talk momentarily. Being called into the boss’ office was never a good thing, or possibly it was in this case. Rose wasn’t sure at all. She had no context to working with Noah so she couldn’t decide what to think.

  “What do you think it’s about?” Bronx asked.

  “No idea.”

  “Maybe he wants us to take a new case.”

  “Doubtful, why would he put two first years on a case together?”

  “I don’t know. It’s just wishful thinking,” Bronx said with a wink. “It would be fun to get a jury trial to work on together. The excitement of opening arguments, the tension of dealing with a jury, and the excitement of waiting for the verdict. Maybe we could get a quickie in before the judge called us back in, that would be awesome.”

  “For God’s sake you need to stop that. We aren’t flirting at work.”

  “I can’t totally stop, or people will know something is up. I’ve got to be my normal asshole self.”

  “Well, you certainly are good at that,” Rose said as they started their way up to Noah’s office.

  “I’m good at a lot of things.”

  Rose just rolled her eyes as she and Bronx stood in front of Noah’s office and waited for the person who was visiting with him to leave. But as they stood there, they looked at Noah who started to wave them in.

  “Come in, come in guys, this is Mrs. Stein. She is having a problem with her landlord, and she’s a friend of my mother’s. I told her I had two of my best attorneys who could help her out.”

  Rose instantly went over to Mrs. Stein and shook her hand before sitting down; Bronx just sat down in one of the chairs. Bronx looked annoyed that he had been called in to discuss such a low level case. He was not interested in helping little old ladies with their landlords—Bronx wanted to be involved in high drama cases that were exciting.

  “Mrs. Stein, can you tell us what’s going on with your landlord?” Rose asked.

  “He served me with this notice that I can’t have my dog Ralph in the apartment anymore. But I’ve had him for five years, and I can’t live without him. He helps calm me down when I have anxiety attacks, and I really can’t live without his help. I would be having panic attacks every day if he wasn’t with me.”

  “Okay, let me read the letter.”

  Rose took a moment to read through the letter and then handed it to Bronx to read. She looked at Noah, who just nodded for Rose to continue. She had no idea what she was doing as her mind quickly filed through everything she had learned in law school. A couple options came to her that might work, but one seemed to fit the best. Rose didn’t know if Noah was testing her or just trying to pawn off a boring case on her and Bronx, but she was ready for it.

  Rose didn’t care if the case was boring or small; she was determined to take every opportunity she could to show Noah and Elaine that she could win cases and bill hours. That was what Derek had always said was the most important aspect of becoming a partner, and she remembered that.

  “It says you have seven days to get rid of your dog or vacate the property. We will file a motion today to give us thirty days to dispute this request. Then I think we should contact your doctor and start the process of getting Ralph certified as an emotional support animal, then your landlord will be legally required to let him stay with you. What do you think Bronx?”

  “Sure, sounds good.”

  “Really? You can do that?” Mrs. Stein said as her hands started to shake with excitement.

  Rose reached over and held on to Mrs. Stein’s hands as she looked her in the eyes. The poor woman didn’t have anyone but her animal and obviously suffered from extreme anxiety. Rose was relatively confident they could get an emotional support license for the dog within the thirty days and a note from her doctor.

  “Yes, I think we can,” Rose said as she looked over at Noah, who was also nodding his head yes.

  Bronx wasn’t even looking at the letter that Rose had handed him; instead, he had pulled out his telephone and was texting someone. It was the most unprofessional thing Rose had seen someone do in a very long time. It was like Bronx didn’t care at all about trying to impress Noah, and that seemed like a huge mistake to make.

  “Mrs. Stein, Rose, and Bronx will get your motion filed and then send a courier over to your doctor. If you could leave the doctor’s contact information at the front desk with the secretary, we will get back in touch in a couple days with an update.”

  “So I don’t have to move?”

  “No, Mrs. Stein, I’m confident you will be able to stay in your home,” Rose said as she stood up and shook hands again with the elderly woman.

  “You’re one of the best lawyers I’ve ever met, thank you,” Mrs. Stein hugged Rose before leaving the office.

  “Bronx, you can head back downstairs, get that motion for delay started. I need Rose to work on this patent case with me this morning.” Noah didn’t seem annoyed with Bronx at all for not participating in the meeting.

  “Okay,” Bronx said as he left the room quickly.

  “What was that all about? He didn’t even talk to her or anything. You need to talk to him. He’s not even making an effort.”

  “Rose, he’s Elaine’s nephew. Does it really matter if he works on cases? She’s not going to let him go. But I think he wants to be a lawyer; he just wants to be a bigwig before he’s worked through the small stuff.”

  “Doesn’t that annoy you?”

  “Nope, it’s his life. Everyone’s got to learn their lessons at their own pace.”

  Rose suddenly became very aware of the fact that she was alone with Noah in his office again. She didn’t want Elaine to get the wrong idea, and instantly adjusted her body language so she wasn’t leaning toward Noah any longer. At least the shades to his office were still open so Elaine could see right in if she wanted to.

  “So what’s up with the patent case?” Rose asked.

  “How is your research going? Anything concerning that you are finding?”

  “No, seems like a smart, rich guy with too much time on his hands. Who’s fighting him over his patents?”

  “There’s a large hospital system suing him over his medical record system software patent. They’re saying they have an internal IT group that invented the base program and Drake’s company copied it.”

  “Is it true?” Rose asked.

  Noah burst into laughter as he sat down at his desk. Rose wasn’t really sure what was so funny, though. It seemed like a reasonable question to ask. She wanted to know if Drake Leblanc had actually invented the software or if his guys had stolen it.

  Rose liked to know the truth in everything she did. She had found it was much easier to deal with the truth than it was to deal with a lie. Even if the truth was bad, it was much better to know it and move forward than it was to ignore it altogether.

  “Well, the answer to that question doesn’t really matter to us. We’re being paid a million dollars to defend his patent. Drake owns the patent to the software, not the hospital, so for our purpose, we will assume that his company did invent it.”

  Rose didn’t like that answer at all. How could she accurately defend someone if she didn’t even know for sure he was the rightful owner of the patent. But then again, if he was the owner of the patent, that made him the rightful owner because only the first person who filed a patent could have it.

  If anyone from the hospital had invented the technology but didn’t file a patent, Rose wasn’t so sure they should be allowed to fight Mr. Leblanc about it when he had been smart enough to actually file a patent. But Rose still wanted to know the truth.

  “Don’t you think we should as
k him?”

  “Rose, this isn’t elementary school. We don’t ask. We are paid for a job, and that’s what we will do.”

  “It seems like we could defend him better if we just asked him.”

  “Don’t ask him, Rose.”

  Noah looked at her firmly as he answered, and Rose knew that she wouldn’t be asking the client about who really invented the technology. For most of the years that Rose had known Noah, he had always been very quiet and kept to himself. Even when he was angry, he never got so angry that it actually scared Rose. She just thought of Noah as a quiet, meek man who followed the rules of society and wasn’t in any big hurry with anything he did.

  “Okay, okay, what do we need to do today? Let’s get going so I can ask him about things later,” Rose teased.

  Chapter 12

  “We are going to file a motion today. I want to see the evidence that the other party has, and they have been delaying. I thought you might like to come with me.”

  Noah was right; Rose wanted to be as involved in the court cases as possible. The adrenaline of being right in with all the other lawyers and judges was what she craved, and she couldn’t wait to learn everything she needed to know so she could get her own cases.

  Part of why she went out on the weekends was because she craved that adrenaline and wanted the excitement. She also craved the release she got after she got her boy toy home to bed. It was a ritual now that she trusted, and she knew it would result in her being happy and avoiding any bad feelings that had been plaguing her.

  She hoped that someday she would get as much excitement and enjoyment out of her day in court as she did from her hunt for the weekend boy toys. But for the time being, she’d be happy to keep Bronx around while she showed Noah and Elaine just how hard she was willing to work in and out of the courtroom.

  “Of course, I’m super excited to come.”

  “Gather your things and come with me. While we are in there, I don’t need you to say anything, but I want you to hand me some papers when things start looking bad; it will throw them off.”