Safe in His Sight

by Regan Black

  Her expression brightened at the vague compliment. “He’s not a morning person?”

  “Not a bit,” Mitch said, laughing. “He wakes up early just so he can get in two cups of coffee before the rest of the world. That makes him human enough to carry on a brief conversation. He’s not the least bit friendly until he’s had at least an hour alone under the hood of a car.”

  “Tough roommate.”

  Mitch nodded. “I had years of experience staying out of his way before we moved in here.” He waited, hoping she’d share something of life with her brother before the Marines.

  “Thanks for breakfast,” she said, clearing the table. “I’ll take care of cleanup and then we can go to the office.”

  Mitch followed her to the counter and poured another cup of coffee. “I don’t want you bringing your phone here. We should make sure your laptop doesn’t have any kind of tracking on it, either.”

  She shut off the water and turned around, leaning back against the counter. Her green eyes were full of irritation, her mouth set in a hard line. “He knows who you are, right? I mean, you called him from your phone. He managed to divert messages I sent to you from Bethany’s phone.”

  True. “That doesn’t mean he knows where I live. This place isn’t in my name. My permanent address is still listed as my parents’ place.”

  That irritation shifted immediately to concern. “Mitch. This was a mistake. Having me here puts all of you at risk. It was a dumb move.”

  “Gee, thanks.” He watched his sarcasm cut through her distress. “You need help. You’re the target, not me or my family. Trust me, the Galways can hold our own.”

  “I hope you’re right. Let’s get to the office.” She flicked her hand, urging him out of her way, but he held his ground, blocking the only exit from the galley kitchen. “Move, Mitch.”

  “Why did you become a lawyer?”

  Her auburn eyebrows furrowed. “That’s irrelevant.”

  “Not to me.” He folded his arms over his chest. The longer they stayed in the safety of the house, the happier he was. He silently dared her to draw this out.

  She tilted her head. “Is this about the kiss last night?”

  “Absolutely,” he admitted, gauging her reactions. “Now give me an answer.”

  “I became a lawyer for the money. There. You kissed a shark.” Her sharp chin came up in defiance. “Happy now?”

  “Not even close.” He stepped in and stole a kiss. He lingered over it, until the hard edge of her temper drained away. As she relaxed, he eased back, keeping his hands on her waist. “Why did you really become a lawyer?”

  She raised her gaze to the ceiling as if an escape from his questions could be found up there. “Why does it matter?”

  He smiled at her exasperation and brought her hands to his lips. “Whatever your reasons, you’re well suited to it the way you answer so many questions with another question.”

  His observation brought out a self-deprecating smile that lit her face and seemed to brighten the room. “How about I tell you the story while you drive me to the office?”

  Resigned, he shifted to the side so she could scoot by. He hadn’t missed her lack of complaint about him kissing her again. When her stalker was out of the picture, he’d ask her out on a real date. It would be a crime to ignore the potential and promise under the mutual attraction.

  *

  Julia slid into the passenger seat, feeling a bit lost without the things she normally carried with her to and from the office. She owed Mitch a real answer about why she’d become a lawyer. He’d been so open with her, even about his flaws, that it pricked her sense of justice.

  He was either too nice or too polite to accept her raw reply at face value. Money had been a big motivator for her career choices and she was okay about that. Her entire childhood had been balanced on a precipice with disaster encroaching on all sides. Her mother had made life a misery with bad habits that exacerbated the drawbacks of her paycheck-to-paycheck lifestyle.

  “It was money,” she blurted out as Mitch turned at the end of his block. He needed to know who he was protecting—and kissing—so he could ditch any altruistic delusions he might have about her. “There wasn’t much when I was growing up and I refused to stay in that trap.”

  “Money is a good reason,” he said easily. “You mentioned a story,” he prompted.

  “You’ll notice I’m not in the public defender’s office,” she countered.

  “Money is a good reason,” he repeated. “Being a firefighter isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme. My brother and I restore cars for the money.”

  “You love it,” she said.

  “Do I?” A grin tugged at his lips.

  “Yes,” she said. The care he’d taken with this restoration was obvious. “I’d argue restoring cars is more than money for you.”

  “You’d argue most anything,” he said with a smile. “But you’re not wrong.” He smoothed a palm over the steering wheel while they waited for a traffic light to change. “I’ll tell you about it. Another time. Right now I want you to tell me the nonmoney reason you became a defense attorney at the biggest firm in town.”

  “I think you have me confused with a nice girl.”

  He laughed, raising his chin in the direction of the Marburg building. “Better start talking. I’m not letting you out of the car until I have an answer.”

  “Funny.”

  “If only I were joking.”

  She gave a put-upon sigh in a lousy attempt to stifle her own laughter at his strategy. “Marburg is the best at criminal defense, not only the best in the state, but the region. They’re consistently a top-five law firm in the country. Not all of their clients are innocent, but they’re not all guilty, either.”

  She swallowed. Would she ever be able to think about those last weeks at home without the dull ache of regret in her chest? “I needed to be part of the best. Needed to prove myself.” She’d never admitted that to anyone. There was no rational explanation for sharing such a personal detail. Wiping her suddenly damp palms on her slacks, she wished she’d held her ground and kept him out of her past. “You can drop me at the side door.”

  “I’ll find a spot and walk you in,” he said. “You’re not leaving my sight until I’m satisfied about what happened on your floor last night.”

  “You think I’m all lawyer-ego,” she said when they were parked a block down and around the corner from the building.

  Mitch’s mouth twitched into the sexy grin that made her knees weak. “You’re wrong. I think it takes serious drive and grit to get through college and law school, and land a job in that marble castle back there. I admire drive and grit. I admire you.”

  “You didn’t at first,” she accused. “I noticed you were less than thrilled when Grant told you to protect a Marburg attorney.”

  “A man’s entitled to a mistake or two. As long as he owns it. I don’t mind admitting I was wrong about you.”

  She didn’t know what to say to that. “We’d better go in.”

  “One more thing.” Mitch caught her hand. “Why such a drive to be with the best?”

  She caught herself before she proved his earlier statement by asking him a question. “Call it negative motivation.” At his frown, she explained. “My mother isn’t the best. Not the best mom, provider or anything else,” Julia said quietly. Although her mother was damned good at scamming people. “When I showed an interest in practicing law, she discouraged me. Laughed in my face.” The memory still left a bitter taste in her mouth. “After that, I refused to be an average lawyer. I needed to be at the top of the heap.”

  “Does your mother know where you landed?” he asked quietly.

  Julia smothered her disappointment. Mitch had integrity and ethics. Hot kisses would never overcome this much brutal honesty. “Yes. She appreciates my success enough to ask me for money periodically.” Most of the time, Julia successfully ignored where her life had started. Not today, not with Mitch staring at her with that b
affled expression on his face. “Let’s go in.” She opened her door and let the cool autumn breeze blow away the cobwebs of her past. Having broken free of the cycle of dysfunction, she had no intention of falling into the sticky trap disguised as family again.

  Everything seemed normal as they walked through Marburg’s front door. Quiet and calm, less bustle on a Saturday morning, there was no obvious sign of last night’s uproar. She chose the stairs rather than the elevator, grateful Mitch followed her without voicing any more tough questions.

  At her floor the shattered glass had been cleaned up. The only sign of damage were the workmen taking measurements to replace the oversize doors. She stutter-stepped at the sight of Mr. Marburg, founder of the firm, standing by in a royal blue golf sweater with the law firm’s crest on the chest pocket.

  “Do you need to say hello?” Mitch murmured at her shoulder.

  With a quick shake of her head, she aimed for the aisle behind her desk. She preferred to avoid any interaction with Marburg. Meeting him at the new-associate orientation had been intimidating enough. The man was a legend and, while she had plenty of confidence in her education and abilities, she knew Marburg had forgotten more about legal defense than she might ever know.

  Nearing her cubicle, she did a double take. Her doorway was blocked with yellow police tape and fingerprint dust marred most of the surfaces. Her desk had been torn apart, files and papers scattered, her personal belongings nowhere in sight. The bin where she locked her purse was open. The key remained in the lock and her purse was gone. She clapped a hand over her mouth, smothering the blast of fear and fury before it exploded out of her.

  “Not how you left it?”

  She shook her head, not trusting her voice.

  “May I?” He peered into the cubicle and reached past her, taking a few pictures with his cell phone camera. “Take a breath, Julia. It’ll be okay.”

  “How?” she demanded. She tried to breathe, just one slow and easy inhale, but the air rattled in and out of her lungs.

  Mitch turned in a circle, taking in the surrounding work spaces. “Whoever did this went straight for your desk,” he observed.

  “Hell of an effort to steal a laptop,” she muttered. She rubbed her hands over her arms, suddenly chilled to think that the stalker might be going through her belongings right now.

  “Who else is working the Falk case?”

  “About a dozen of us, I guess, plus the partners and Marburg.” Wasn’t it enough that the jerk had intruded on her life, threated people she cared about and jacked up her finances? Did the man really need to pull a stunt like this? He wouldn’t gain anything useful poking through her scarce personal contacts, social media, or the movies and games she used occasionally as a distraction.

  “We can replace your things.”

  She groaned. Replacements cost money, money the stalker had tied up. A headache pierced her temples when she thought of the inevitable maze of getting her driver’s license reissued. None of that mattered, not compared to the trouble in store here at the office. The sensitive case details she had backed up to the firm’s cloud storage, so her work wasn’t a complete loss. No, the worst would be reporting this new fiasco to Haywood. Whatever the police might have told him, a problem of this magnitude required more than an email from a new cell phone. A breach like this could get her kicked off the case. “So much for the stalker originating the bomb threat,” she whispered to Mitch.

  “Why change your theory now?”

  “I have to report the potential security breach to Haywood. There were case files on my personal laptop. That’s reason enough for Haywood to take me off the Falk case.”

  “Which means he’d have to find a new source of insider information.”

  “Exactly.”

  “He seems pretty invested in you,” Mitch said. “Specifically.”

  “I’m not taking that as a compliment.” The last thing any new associate wanted was to bring down negative attention on the firm.

  “Not meant that way,” he replied. “Give me a second to update Grant.” Mitch used his phone to report the problem, then he tucked the device back into his pocket. “Where to?”

  “Upstairs. If there’s any mercy in the world, Haywood’s working this morning and I can get this over with.”

  She didn’t consider asking him to wait for her while she took the stairs up to Haywood’s office. Last night had amped up her paranoia about being alone. If Mitch hadn’t shown up, who knows where she and Bethany would be right now. As they rounded the next landing, Julia reached for his hand, grateful for the gentle reassurance when he laced his fingers through hers.

  This floor didn’t show any signs of trouble, as quiet and serene as the lobby on a weekend morning. Julia should’ve been comforted. Instead, goose bumps raced over her arms, under the long sleeves of her sweater and up the nape of her neck. If the bomb threat was a ruse to steal the Falk files, Haywood’s office should’ve been targeted, as well. Having Mitch close kept her facade of courage in place.

  “You can wait here,” she said when they reached the deserted reception area in front of Haywood’s office. “It won’t be very interesting.”

  “I’ll stick around,” Mitch replied, giving her fingers a gentle squeeze, before releasing her hand.

  Her heels sank into the thick carpet of the hallway. She rapped on the open door of Haywood’s office and peered inside. The office was empty. Disappointed, she debated her next move.

  Her boss would know by now that she hadn’t returned when the building had been cleared, and if he’d tried to reach her directly last night, he’d be more than a little irritated that she wasn’t answering his calls.

  “No sense at all,” she muttered to herself, wondering again about the stalker’s motives and methods. As she prepared to leave Haywood a note, she heard voices near the conference room at the far end of the hallway.

  She stood tall, shoulders back, and remembered to apply her modest courtroom smile.

  Seeing her, Haywood immediately dismissed the men he’d been speaking with. “Nice of you to show up,” he said. “I’ve been calling you since last night.” His sharp gaze slid to Mitch. “Why is your boyfriend here?”

  Julia felt her smile slip. “Mitch Galway—my boss, Eddie Haywood.”

  “A pleasure,” Mitch said, stepping forward and giving Haywood a friendly greeting.

  Haywood scowled, focused once more on Julia. “My office.” When the door was closed, he went on the attack. “This isn’t the time for a personal life, Cooper. And that man is about the worst choice you could make. Do you even know who he is?”

  “Mitch is a friend. An innocent friend who will be vindicated soon, I’m sure.”

  “Why do I bother?” Haywood groused, dropping into his big desk chair. “You’re supposed to be on research. What the hell did you dig up that has our firm under attack?”

  She opened her mouth, but her boss barreled on.

  “We get a call that the building is about to be reduced to rubble, not the first time, of course. When the all clear sounds, the only obvious problem is at your desk. I’ve had security reviewing footage since last night. What haven’t you told me?”

  Julia did her best to match her boss’s cool and calm tone as she gave him her account of the evening. She’d called herself a shark, but Haywood had years of experience to perfect the persona and hone his instincts. If she showed the first sign of fear, he’d be on her in a heartbeat.

  “Why didn’t you answer my calls?”

  So much for hoping her belongings had been seized by police. “As I said, I was in the break room when the power went out. My phone, laptop and purse were left behind at my desk when I evacuated. They aren’t there anymore.”

  “What?” Haywood roared, rising from chair.

  The office door slammed open and Mitch filled the doorway. “You okay?” he asked her, his gaze riveted on her boss.

  “I’m fine.” It was almost true now that he was here.

&nb
sp; “Private conversation.” Haywood sneered at him. “Wait outside.”

  “No, thanks.” Mitch closed the door and planted himself in front of it, the move reminiscent of the night she’d sought help from Escape.

  Haywood glared at her. “They told me about the destroyed door on your floor and the preliminary report said your desk had been searched. Because we couldn’t reach you—” he aimed his chin at Mitch “—we didn’t know anything had been stolen. Tell me what kind of breach we’re dealing with.”

  Julia explained the precautions she employed with passwords and backing up her files. Her boss seemed mollified, though she harbored more doubts. Haywood picked up the phone and barked at the person on the other end. It took her a moment to follow his questions, but she realized he was verifying that the police hadn’t confiscated any employee belongings last night.

  “Well, at least we know your work on the Falk case isn’t half a step closer to the prosecutor’s office. Get yourself a new phone and laptop and charge it to the firm. HR will give you the authorizations. I need to be able to reach you. Day or night,” he added with a sneer for Mitch.

  Julia felt as if someone had lifted the weight of the world off her shoulders. “You’re not tossing me off the case?”

  Haywood drummed his fingers on the edge of his desk, his gaze going to Mitch once more. “I should.” He shook his head. “I damn well should,” he repeated. “But I read through your reports. The work you’ve done is exceptional.” He didn’t sound all that pleased about it.

  She debated telling him about the stalker and threats and managed to keep her mouth shut. Mitch and Grant were working that angle. While she’d been grossly inconvenienced and unnerved, she hadn’t been asked to give up anything confidential. Yet.

  “Thank you,” she said, making a hasty exit with Mitch.

  “He’s a pleasant guy,” Mitch said when they were in the elevator.

  “Most of the time he is,” she stated. “The Falk case has everyone more stressed than usual. At the last strategy meeting there was an argument about plea deals.”