Mine to Protect

by Sarah J. Brooks

  With his hands still pressed against the door, Rose felt herself wishing for more from Noah. She wanted to pull his body to hers, to rip each other’s clothing off and feel him as he thrust his body on top of hers. But she knew that was just her primal need to feel an orgasm and relief; it wouldn’t be what Noah wanted. He wanted a woman to date, to hang out with, to talk about life with. Noah wanted a woman who would be honest with him, love him, and eventually marry him, and Rose knew she couldn’t be that person for Noah.

  “Stop,” she finally whispered.

  Noah didn’t hesitate and pulled his lips away from her neck as his blue eyes looked into hers. She knew he could see the longing she had for him. There was no hiding it; she didn’t dare to try at that moment. But Rose couldn’t go any further with Noah. She could barely manage her life as it was at that moment and knew she couldn’t handle the emotions of a relationship.

  That was why what was going on with her and Bronx worked so well. There weren’t emotions involved. It was just sex. She needed sex, but she didn’t need the commitment of a real relationship.

  “You don’t want me?” Noah asked gently.

  “I don’t want to ruin the relationship we have. You know me—I’m a disaster.”

  “You’re not a disaster.”

  “I’m not saying no forever. I’m saying it for right now. Give me a few months. Let me get my feet on the ground. Can you give me that?”

  Noah seemed relieved that Rose wasn’t saying no to him forever. She was the woman he wanted, that he had always wanted, and waiting a few months seemed easy compared to never having her at all.

  “A few months is possible,” Noah said as his hand moved up and traced the side of her cheek.

  “Damn, don’t do that,” she said, closing her eyes and enjoying his touch.

  “We could have tonight and then wait a few months,” Noah suggested as he held onto her chin and looked like he was going to kiss her.

  For a moment, she contemplated giving in to his request. Her body was primed and longed to feel the release that sex would give her. But there was too much at stake if she slept with Noah, and she knew she would have to deny him.

  “No.” She breathed in his scent and opened her eyes. “No, that’s a bad idea.”

  “I don’t think it’s a bad idea.” Noah smiled.

  “Give me six months; let’s just keep things the way they are for that long. I’ll concentrate on work. We can see where we are then.”

  Noah rolled his eyes at her proposition of six months. A few months wasn’t six months, at least, in his eyes. But he had Rose there in front of him, which was more than he had been able to do in the last few years; he wasn’t going to give that up.

  “Six months to the day,” he smiled.

  “Okay, deal.”

  “So I can’t kiss you?” he asked as his fingertip gently traced her lips.

  “We better not.”

  “You’re killing me you know. I’m going to think of this moment for months and wish I had kissed you.”

  Rose knew Noah well enough to know that he would do exactly as he had said, but she also knew that he wouldn’t lean in and take the kiss he wanted. Noah just wasn’t that kind of guy. He wasn’t at all like Bronx, who had just taken his kiss and played with Rose without any sort of permission. Noah was going to need permission before he moved forward with Rose.

  “I better get some sleep now,” Rose said as she pressed her arms against his chest to move Noah away.

  His body was stronger than she had thought, and Rose realized Noah was in pretty damn good shape too. She moved to the side of the door and opened it before leaning up and kissing Noah on the cheek. It was all she felt she could give him at the moment.

  “I’ll see you at work then.”

  “Yes, Noah; I’m so excited to be working with you. I can’t wait to see how the next six months turn out.”

  As Noah left her apartment, he turned around one last time and leaned toward her. His damn blue eyes looked into her, and she could have sworn he was going to kiss her.

  “I’m really glad you’re working with me too.”

  She smiled at the realization they both enjoyed working together. It was certainly a new stage in her life, and Rose looked forward to making everyone see just how good a lawyer she could be. Although she definitely didn’t have the confidence or the skill yet, she was dedicated to making every effort to be better than all the other first years. Hell, she wanted to be better than the second and third-year lawyers too.

  Chapter 16

  “We have court today at two,” Noah said as he leaned into Rose’s office. “Hey guys, how is everyone doing?”

  Bronx, Stewart, and Shamus all looked up to see Noah standing at the door. It was a little unusual to have one of the partners checking in on them so they all instantly stopped working and turned around. Noah had avoided stepping into their office too much as he didn’t want people to get the wrong idea about him and Rose. In fact, Noah had done a really good job of avoiding Rose the last few weeks except to work with her on the case they were handling.

  “Our case is going great,” Shamus said. “We are looking to settle this week.”

  Shamus and Stewart had been working on a small slip and fall case together with one of the other associate lawyers. They both seemed really well suited to injury law and probably would get themselves more cases in that area when this one was settled.

  “Going good here too,” Bronx said and then turned back to his desk.

  For the last few weeks, Bronx had seemed very uninterested in Noah and anything he had to say. Of course, since Noah was a partner, Bronx was appropriate with him, but he certainly wasn’t overly kind. Rose had noticed the tension Bronx had around Noah since that night they had both been at her place, but she figured it was all in her head since neither of them had known the other was there at all.

  “Okay, well keep up the good work guys. Rose, I’ll see you at lunch to prep the case.”

  “I’ll bring my lunch to the boardroom.”

  “See you then.”

  As Noah left the office, Rose couldn’t help saying something to Bronx. They had become friends over the last few weeks, and it was clear he was walking a very fine line with how he was treating Noah. Noah was a partner in the firm, and even though Bronx was the nephew of Elaine, it wasn’t appropriate for him to be putting Noah off like he had been doing.

  “You know he’s your boss; you should be a little nicer to him.”

  “I’m nice enough,” Bronx said without turning around.

  “Do you want to come over tonight?” Rose said quietly so the other two couldn’t hear her.

  “I’m not sure I can.”

  “Okay,” Rose replied.

  She certainly wasn’t going to get angry if Bronx had something else scheduled, especially after they had just built their confidence back up with each other. Bronx had been pretty agitated with Rose after she turned him away from her apartment a few weeks prior, but things were calming down now and almost back to normal between the two of them.

  Bronx stayed over two or three times a week, and they occasionally had a quickie during lunch at work. It wasn’t a relationship by any means, but Rose did enjoy Bronx and his company. It was nice to have the same man in her bed each week, and she certainly felt like she had much more energy to work with. Work was going great, and she was able to concentrate on all the cases she was working on. She hadn’t been out with her friends for a few weeks because of work, and she had Bronx in her bed, so life was actually very calm for her.

  Since starting at the firm, Rose had truly started to feel a little more like her old self. She even found herself smiling occasionally although many of the other associates still considered her a big bitch. She was happy with how life was going, as happy as she could be with what she had to work with.

  Rose didn’t put an effort out to be overtly nice to others; she just didn’t see the point. Her concentration had to be on winning cas
es and billing hours, those were the only things that would get her to where she wanted to be in the firm. She really didn’t care if people in the office liked her all that much.

  When noon came around, Rose grabbed her lunch and made her way to the conference room to meet with Noah. They had another day in court that day for the Leblanc patent hearing, and she was eager to show Noah she knew what was going on and could be useful to the case.

  When she opened the conference door, she had expected to see Noah, but instead there was a delicious looking man sitting at the table. He had wavy brown hair and a thick muscular build. His eyes lit up when Rose walked in, and he stood up to shake her hand. He was very attractive, and she couldn’t help glancing at the wedding band on his finger.

  “If I had known lawyers were as beautiful as you, I would have hired your firm a long time ago. Hi, I’m Drake Leblanc,” the man said as he extended his hand.

  “Hello, I’m Rose Tate, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  Rose hadn’t been attracted to many men older than her throughout her life, but Drake sparked her interest right away. The way he looked at her was filled with sexuality, and she instantly remembered the story she had read about him having seven women in his house for a week while he picked one of them. She had thought it was impossible when she first read the story, there weren’t women who would agree to such a thing. But after meeting Drake in person, she knew for a fact that those women existed because she would have likely agreed to participate too.

  Drake was a very powerful presence in the room, and she could only imagine what he would be like in the bedroom. If he hadn’t been married, she certainly would have made a go of having him.

  “Will you be handling me?” Drake flirted.

  “Well, I will be working with Mr. Conley on your case if that is what you mean? I don’t expect I’ll get to handle you, though, considering you’re married.”

  Just then, Noah walked in with a beautiful brunette woman. Her skin was sun-kissed and perfectly tan. She was thin and smiled as she sat next to Drake at the conference table. It was obviously his wife, and she looked like a beautiful woman. Rose couldn’t help wondering why Drake had been flirting with her if he had a woman like that in his bed each night.

  “This is my wife, Samantha,” Drake said as she looked at Rose and smiled. “She would wholly disapprove of how uncomfortable I made you already. But she knows I’m a hopeless flirt.”

  Drake’s boyish grin was absolutely adorable as he grabbed Samantha’s hand, brought it up to his lips and kissed it. Rose wanted what they had and couldn’t help staring at the two of them throughout the meeting.

  “Hopefully, he didn’t make you too uncomfortable,” Samantha said.

  “I think I’ll manage.”

  Drake was an obvious flirt and didn’t hide it, but he was so honest and loving with his wife. It was the balance that Rose hoped she would someday be able to find in a man if she ever decided she wanted a long-term man in her life again. She was different than she had been when she met Derek. Rose was much stronger now and needed a man who could compliment her strengths without trying to put her down. Rose had opinions now and a plan for her future; any man she dated would have to understand everything that came along with dating a strong woman like Rose.

  They talked about the upcoming case, and Rose wanted so badly to ask Drake if he and his team had indeed invented the technology. It killed her to keep quiet and not ask that one question which had been on her mind since the moment she and Noah had first started talking about the case. It was unlikely that a man like Drake Leblanc wouldn’t steal such technology and then file a patent, but she couldn’t be sure. Drake seemed like a very complex man, and Rose couldn’t pretend to know him well enough to decipher if he was a cheat or not.

  “It was a pleasure meeting you lovely Rose; you’ll have to come visit us in California sometime,” Drake said as he shook Rose’s hand and lingered a bit longer than normal.

  Rose felt uncomfortable as his wife Samantha was right there with him, but Samantha just smiled and shook hands with Noah. When she came over to Rose, she hugged her and whispered in her ear.

  “Come visit anytime,” Samantha said.

  Rose couldn’t help thinking that the woman was flirting with her too. She smiled as she pulled herself away and shook hands with each of them one last time.

  “We have plenty of room; I’m serious, you come visit anytime,” Drake said as he shook her hand for another lengthy period.

  “Drake, let the poor girl go. She doesn’t need an old man flirting with her when she’s trying to work.”

  “Hey, I’m not that old,” Drake protested.

  “I’m more of a cougar; I like the younger crowd.” Rose winked at Drake and Samantha. “It was a pleasure meeting you both. I will certainly try to come visit you in California sometime and bring along one of my play toys,” Rose said as she smiled at the two of them.

  “You shouldn’t be in court today; I think it will give them too much to worry about. I want them to let their guard down a bit. I’ll call you right after court is done,” Noah said to Drake as he tried to get the conversation back on track.

  “Thanks for your help.”

  When Drake and Samantha left the room, Noah looked at Rose, and she immediately felt that she had said something wrong. His head was cocked to the side, and he looked at her and waited for her to say something.

  “What? I’m sorry. I had to say something.” Rose laughed.

  “So you offered to go to his house with one of your play toys?”

  Noah wasn’t angry, but he did seem intrigued by Rose’s willingness to go to a man’s house that was known for having orgies and wild sex parties. Rose liked her young men every now and then, but Noah didn’t see her as the type of woman who let loose in the bedroom all that much.

  “Oh, I was just playing with him. He was a diehard flirt. I didn’t want his wife to get the wrong impression.”

  “Would you ever go to one of those parties?”

  “Sure,” she said with a wink. “Are you inviting me to one?”

  “I’ve never been to one, but I’d take you anywhere you’d like if you’d let me.”

  Rose felt guilty for letting the conversation get out of hand like it had. She had just been teasing with Noah and wasn’t ready to let things move further at all. It had only been a few weeks since they had agreed to wait six months, and she really needed to keep her flirting in check around Noah.

  “How about we go to court for now,” Rose said, gathering up her things.

  “Yes, sounds like a great idea. But you never answered my questions; have you ever been to one of those parties?”

  Rose smiled as she walked out of the conference room and started to walk toward the courthouse. Noah quickly caught up to her and watched her intently as they walked. He was waiting for her to give him some sort of answer.

  “Do you think I have?” Rose responded to his question with a question.

  “Well, twenty minutes ago, I would have said absolutely not, but now I’m not so sure.”

  “I’ll let your imagination go wild on this one,” Rose said as she continued to walk without answering his question.

  “Oh, you have then! Is that what you’re telling me?”

  Rose didn’t respond and just walked with her gaze straight ahead. She tried not to smile, but the excitement in Noah’s voice made it literally impossible to keep a straight face.

  “You tell me right now. Have you been to an orgy?” Noah demanded in a playful voice.

  Rose looked at Noah, and then the judge that had just walked past him heard everything they were saying. She busted out laughing as they walked into the courtroom. It was hilarious how the judge looked at Noah when he heard what they were talking about. Luckily, it wasn’t the judge in their case for that day, though.

  “You could have told me there was a judge right behind me,” he whispered when they sat down at the table.

  “Now, what fun w
ould that have been?”

  Court was much more uneventful than the last time Rose had gone with Noah. As it continued, Rose felt herself getting very distracted and not paying attention much at all. She kept thinking about Bronx and their plans to get together later that evening. She needed a good release and couldn’t wait to get done with work so she and Bronx could hang out. She really hoped Bronx was going to be able to get out of whatever he had going on that night.

  Having a good orgasm had become just as important to Rose as getting a good night’s sleep. She had come to rely on that release to control her anxiety throughout the week and was even enjoying Bronx’s company more and more throughout their time together.

  “Go ahead Rose,” Noah said as he sat down and looked at her.

  She froze as she glanced at Noah and then at the judge. She had forgotten they decided she would argue the last point in the hearing and suddenly really wished she had been paying attention while Noah was talking. She replayed their conversation in her mind as she tried to remember what it was she was supposed to present in front of the judge.

  “Yes, thank you, Mr. Conley,” Rose said as she stood up. “We would like the release of work records related to the engineers in question, and we would like access to those engineers for questioning.”

  Rose was pretty proud of herself as she stood in the middle of the courtroom and waited for the judge’s ruling. She had been caught off guard, but then she pulled herself together quickly and was ready to go. The judge looked at her strangely, though, and Rose turned to look back at Noah, who looked absolutely mortified as he stood up.

  “What? I already ruled on that,” the judge said as he looked at Rose and then over to Noah with a confused expression.

  “Yes, your honor, we appreciate your ruling; we would just like to confirm with opposing counsel that these individuals will be available to us after the hearing.”

  “Yes, we will call your office and schedule a meeting time for them to be deposed of,” the opposing counsel responded.