Order of Protection

by Lexi Blake

  It was her go-to move when she wanted to elicit sympathy.

  Win’s hand went to her hip, her shoulders going back. “All right. I can deal with that. I didn’t intend to ask about your past at all, so it’s fine, Henry. Nothing those anchors said this morning makes me not want to spend time with you. They take some tiny piece of information and blow it up. I know how gossip works.”

  She knew nothing at all about his life. He was surrounded by children who thought they could swim in deep waters while still wearing water wings. “You know absolutely nothing and if you did I wouldn’t have spent time with you at all. If I’d thought for an instant that you had connections to that world, I wouldn’t have touched you. I wanted to get as far away from that world as possible. It’s why last night happened. You’re as far from my ex-wife as I can get.”

  “Am I?” She’d gone stiff, her natural grace leaving her.

  He didn’t want to hurt her, but it might be the best way to explain things. He’d acted out of character. He wasn’t the guy who fell for a woman over the course of a single night. Hell, he didn’t fall for anyone at all. He enjoyed women—their company, their ideas. But he wasn’t about to sell his soul to one. “Yes. And that’s why I did something I shouldn’t have done and took you to bed last night.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Is that how you’re going to play this? You were only attracted to me because I’m the opposite of your gorgeous Hollywood ex-wife?”

  Damn it. He couldn’t let her think that. He couldn’t hurt her like that. “That’s not what I meant. You know I think you’re beautiful. Trust me. I don’t find anything at all attractive about that woman. I have no intention of ever getting involved with anyone at all in that industry again. And I won’t involve you. It was a nice night and I’m grateful, but I need to get to work, and that means you need to go.”

  A single brow rose. “Ah, we’re switching it up, then.”

  This was not the sweet Win he’d met last night. Oh, he’d seen a little sass under her sugar, but this was different. This woman was assertive, and damn if that didn’t do something for him, too. “What are you talking about?”

  “We’ve gone from trying to push me away because the attraction wasn’t real. I think you realized how much that would hurt me and backed away,” she allowed. “You should be glad you did that. Now we’re moving on to the excuse that you’re merely protecting me from the horrors of your everyday life. I’m a big girl. I know I seem to have this innocent thing going that does something for you, but I’m not innocent. I’ve been through plenty of bad crap and I know when a man is embarrassed, when his pride is hurt.”

  He chuckled but there was no humor to the sound. “You think I have any pride left at all?”

  She held her hands up in obvious defeat. “Fine. I get it. You need some time, but I’m coming back tomorrow.”

  Where had this stubbornness come from? He’d kind of expected her to run the minute she had the chance. Now she was coming back? “That’s not a good idea. I won’t be here.”

  “Then I’ll have gotten in a nice workout. But I bet you will be here because, once you calm down, you’re going to realize that whatever is happening with your ex means nothing to me.”

  “That proves exactly how innocent you are.”

  She rolled her clear blue eyes. “I’m getting sick of that word, Garrison, and if you open the door tomorrow, I’ll show you how not innocent I can be. I’ve got a couple of weeks before I’ll be shutting down everything except my studies, and I intend to spend them in bed with you getting as much sex in as possible because I’m about to be in for a long dry spell. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have something I need to do before I leave and give you some space.”

  He shifted, trying not to let her see how her words had affected him.

  “Space isn’t going to solve this.” Why wasn’t she listening to him? “I won’t answer that door.”

  She simply turned and walked out. When she returned, she was dressed in the clothes she’d worn the day before, right down to her plain white-and-blue sneakers. The one change was what was in her hand.

  The Scotch bottle he’d found.

  “I’ll take this with me. If you want to ruin six months of sobriety, you’ll have to buy some yourself.” She walked toward him, going up on her toes, and before he could move, she’d brushed her lips against his. “Goodbye, Henry Garrison. Don’t miss me too much. I’ll be back.”

  Before he could move? He didn’t want to move. He wanted to turn the clock back so she wasn’t leaving at all. And, damn it, she was right. He was embarrassed. The feeling sat in his gut, poisoning his thoughts. But just because she was right about his motivations didn’t change the fact that he couldn’t bring her into his hell. If he didn’t find a way to shut this down, there would be reporters and photographers. They would figure out where he was and drag the whole damn island into it.

  He hated the thought of Win trying to deal with paparazzi who would drag up every detail of her life, shove it all under a microscope, and put the worst spin on it possible.

  It wouldn’t matter if she came back because he wouldn’t be here. He would go back to the city and face this all there. He wouldn’t bring a bunch of reporters to this quiet island his grandparents had loved. He would go back to his beautifully decorated, completely soulless apartment and try to forget about Win. She would find someone else to take care of her pre–grad school needs. It wouldn’t be hard. Any man with eyes and a working dick would happily hop into bed with her and spend every waking moment inside her before she had to leave.

  He kind of wanted to kill that man. And that wasn’t like him either. Win was doing this to him.

  Win. Damn it. She couldn’t walk home. Anything could happen to her.

  He strode out of the kitchen and down the hallway in time to see her striding out the door.

  He stepped out on the porch. “Wait, and I’ll drive you.”

  She turned briefly, though she didn’t stop putting space between them. “No need. I wouldn’t want to waste a good exit scene. And look at that. The beach is all free and clear. You know, sometimes storms come along and they seem fierce, but you wake up the next day and the sun is shining again. Would be silly to let a temporary storm keep you from enjoying something good. I’m going to jog home and have a nice breakfast. Take the muffins out in fifteen minutes.”

  He didn’t want her to go. The need to keep her was an actual ache in his chest. “I can’t see you again.”

  “That will be your misfortune, Garrison. You promised me a couple of weeks. I believe that was an oral contract, Counselor. I’ll hold you to it. You should think about that. You don’t want to meet me in court.” She turned and started down the beach.

  “She’s a pistol,” David said, a smile on his face as he watched her jogging down the trail. “I can see why you turned off your phone. I would have, too. Not your usual.”

  “My usual is a man-eating terror in Louboutins. I thought I would change it up and see if I could get out of a one-night stand fully intact.” He heard the words come out of his mouth, but it was all bluster. One-night stand? At least he could try to be honest with himself. He watched her until she disappeared down the trail that would take her back to Edgartown.

  He wouldn’t see her again. Couldn’t. Alicia had made sure of that.

  “Give me a couple of minutes and I’ll pack up. I’ll call a moving company when I get back home. They can finish up here.” He wouldn’t see this place again either. It was a remnant of a life he’d left behind a long time before. It had been a mistake to come back. Coming back here had made him soft when he needed to be hard. He should have handed it all over to a real estate agent and pocketed the cash without a single look back.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Noah and I talked about this on our way here.” David sat down on one of the two Adirondack chairs where his grandpare
nts used to sit and watch the waves roll in. “The minute you step onto the streets of Manhattan, reporters will be all over you.”

  Yes, that was the problem. But David wasn’t counting on how persistent those suckers could be. “Do you think they’ll stop looking for me? They won’t. They’ll figure out I’m here soon enough and then the island will become a chaotic mess, all thanks to me. The good news is, Manhattan is already a chaotic mess. I can’t make it worse.”

  “They won’t find you because, after I’m done, they won’t be looking for you.” Noah stepped out on the porch.

  He would give it to the kid. He was confident in his own abilities. “I told you. I don’t want you on this. If David won’t handle it for me, I’ll deal with it myself.”

  And he would find a meeting. The minute he got off the plane, he would head to the nearest sad-sack gathering of pathetics he could find and sit and remind himself why he couldn’t drink.

  Mostly right now he couldn’t drink because Win had taken the only liquor he’d had. She’d walked right into his grandfather’s study and stolen his damn Scotch.

  Because she wasn’t going to leave him with the monster. Because even though he’d been a dick to her, she hadn’t left him without a fighting chance.

  She wasn’t as delicate as he’d thought.

  “Unfortunately, I’m not going to be able to allow you to deal with this yourself.” Noah sat down as though he owned the place. Entitled brat. Though there was something powerful about the younger man, something that had to come from his self-confidence.

  “Allow me?” Self-confidence would only take a person so far. He wasn’t about to let himself get pushed around by what amounted to a third-year associate. “You think you run this firm? The last time I checked, I was the managing partner.”

  “Please,” David said. “Can we drop the testosterone level? I can’t stand you two beating your chests and roaring at each other. It’s too early in the morning.”

  “I’m not being some crazed alpha male,” Noah replied. “I’m telling the pure, unadulterated truth, and he needs to hear it. I’ve put a lot of money into this venture and I did it because I believe in Henry Garrison. I believe I can learn something valuable from him. He’s shaking my belief right now.”

  Awesome. Now even the associate doubted him. “Your brother put the money into this venture.”

  “No.” Noah was firm on his point. “I sold a good quarter of my 4L stock to fund this. I sold it to my family, but I sold it, and it’s my cash funding us right now. Drew merely bought us the office space. And before you say anything about how the stock was given to me, understand that 4L was based on my father’s ideas and philosophies. I am my father’s child. You think you know what a gold digger can do to a man? Meet my mother. Oh, I’m sorry. You can’t meet her. I was there when she died. She died because at the time she was attempting to kill me and my brother. You can’t win in a woman-done-me-wrong fight, Garrison. I have the mother of all stories, and yes, that was a terrible pun. Luckily, I also have an amazing sister and three wonderful sisters-in-law who taught me what it means to be a family. I want this firm to be a family. Maybe that makes me naive, but it’s true.”

  He looked to David, who sent him his sad-puppy-dog, please-give-me-this-one look. Damn it. He should never have gone into business with a friend. He should have figured out a way to practice all by himself, where no one talked about families and he owed no one. “All right, what’s your plan?”

  “It’s already in motion.” Noah glanced down at his phone. “Ah, there it is. Now I don’t even have to file any paperwork. Your ex-wife released a statement through her publicist explaining that she wasn’t talking about you when she gave that interview. She apologizes for any confusion, but the relationship she was referring to happened when she was a young woman. She is very sorry for any worry it caused her ex-husband, who is one of the kindest men she knows.”

  Henry felt his jaw drop. “What?”

  David was looking down at his phone as well. “Damn, Noah. You scared the piss out of her, didn’t you? She described your marriage as brief and passionate, but never once violent. Look at that line. ‘Henry Garrison is nothing short of an amazing man, and I hope the press will leave him alone to continue his important work serving the citizens of New York.’ Who wrote that for her?”

  “I did,” Noah said, his fingers texting. “Did you think I would leave anything at all to chance?”

  “What did you do?”

  Noah looked up and grinned, though this time it was a grin of pure joy, and he looked like the kid he was. “Never file a lawsuit when a simple phone call will fix things. Who said that, I wonder?”

  “I did.” He’d used that line of wisdom when he’d taught a few seminars for undergrads. “Work smart, not more, when dealing with a criminal case because the client’s life and their financial future are on the line. It adds up quickly, and even if the outcome is good, the client can end up ruined. The court doesn’t pay an accused man’s legal fees simply because he’s innocent.”

  Noah pointed at him. “That’s the Henry Garrison I believe in. You talk a good game, man, but you actually give a shit about the people you defend.”

  Sometimes. Sometimes it was all about the game and winning. “Are you going to make me guess?”

  “It’s all about who you know and how you use your resources,” Noah replied. “That was not you. That’s my brother. He taught me a lot, too, and one of the things he taught me was, if you need to hit someone, hit them where it will hurt the most and make sure they understand that if they get up and try it again, you’ll put them down for good. You get one chance with my brother. Well, in business. He’s not that way at all with his family and friends.”

  He was starting to get the picture. “You threatened her career? Does your brother own a production company?”

  “He has large investments in several,” Noah explained. “His wife is a journalist, but she recently started publishing some fiction as well. One of the stories she wrote a few years back about drug cartels was used as the source material for a movie that everyone knows is going to be up for best picture. It’s only natural that Drew would meet with some people, maybe put some money into the film’s Oscar campaign. But my brother is also kind. He knows that not everyone has as much influence as a woman like Alicia Kingman. He explained that he would be willing to fund any actress up against her. And maybe talk to the Academy about funding some of their good works, too.”

  Drew Lawless was one hard-core son of a bitch. “As long as Alicia doesn’t become one of them.”

  Noah shrugged. “There’s always a price when it comes to business. Sometimes it’s money. Sometimes it’s influence. Here’s another thing I learned from my brother. No one fucks with my family. Like it or not—like me or not—we’re going to be together for a while, and I won’t let anyone drag you down if I can help it.”

  What the hell? He couldn’t quite believe what Noah was saying, but he wasn’t a stupid man. Stubborn, yes, but he knew when to let go, too. He looked to David. “I’m sorry, man. He’s my lawyer now.”

  David’s head fell back and he laughed. “I’m glad you get that. I hired him, too. The great news is, he comes with a plane and he can fly it.”

  Henry held a hand Noah’s way. “Thank you. I’m sorry I was a complete ass. It was more about . . . well, Alicia knows how to get to me.”

  Noah shook his hand. “It’s okay. I know it’s an odd situation, but you’ll find I’m willing to work my ass off to make this firm everything it can be. And I would have been pissed, too, if I had to run off that hot chick.”

  The hot chick who swore she’d be back tomorrow. Would she? Or would she get home and remember what a dick he’d been and write him off?

  David stood up. “All right, then. Our job is done. Why don’t we get some breakfast, and then Noah and I will head to the city and you can g
et back to packing and all the other things you were doing.”

  “I didn’t get her phone number,” he admitted. Some player he was.

  “What’s her last name? I can find that for you. I can have her phone number, address, any arrest records, pretty much all the information you would need to know about her,” Noah offered.

  “Don’t you dare.” He wasn’t going to sic a former black hat hacker on her. “I know everything about her I need to know. She’s sweet. She can cook. She’s going to grad school in a few weeks in another part of the country. We were spending a little time together. Two old townies hanging out until we get back to the real world.”

  David sat back, looking out over the ocean. “You’re right. It doesn’t seem quite real here, does it?”

  Time slowed down on the island. The world seemed gentler here, gauzy and simple. “It does. It was a great place to grow up. Sometimes I wish I had never left this island.”

  Noah slipped his cell in his pocket. “You know what? I need to call the airport and make sure we’ve got the all clear. Someone is going to have to do a check on the plane. I think I’ll take the rental car and go into town for a while. David, I’ll pick you up around noon.”

  So Noah was kind, too. It would be nice to talk this whole thing out with David. He needed to talk in order to purge some of the poison, but he couldn’t do it around someone he didn’t know. Well, not someone who wasn’t in a meeting.

  He didn’t even need to talk about Alicia. He needed to talk about this place and what it meant to him.

  “Thank you, Noah.”

  The younger man nodded. “Not a problem. Hey, maybe I’ll find my own hot chick in town and it will all be worthwhile. Don’t forget those muffins.”

  Within ten minutes he was sitting on the porch with his best friend, a cup of coffee in one hand and some muffins on a plate between them.

  It wasn’t high-powered and impressive. It was normal and good, and he started to relax again.