Fight For Me (8 page)

S
he sighed, and the
movement of her chest drew his eye. Ready to see her without the
distracting blue uniform, he told her, “Ms. Everett is safe, and
there's nothing more we can do tonight. Let's call it a
night.”

S
he flashed him her
pageant-girl smile. “Yes, let's.”

H
e followed her out,
thoroughly enjoying the view from behind while his mind was working
double-time. Who was breaking into houses and blowing up cars, and
why? This didn't involve him, and he was not happy. Tiffany would
be a good distraction, and then he would figure out who was
screwing with his town.

~
*~

Three
days after the
break-in, Cassidy was cursing at herself in the bathroom, the
contents of her purse dumped on the counter. Of all the things she
hadn't packed, she didn't have her pills. “Shit!”

“
Everythin' okay in there,
Cassie?” Dylan's deep voice asked through the door.

N
o, things were not okay.
No wonder she jumped him, she was flipping ovulating. Dammit. She'd
missed three, no, four doses. “I'm good,” she answered.

“
You sure? I'm happy to
help, ya know.”

S
he could imagine the half
smile on his sexy face when he said that. He'd be happy to help
her, and that was the problem. She could just imagine him helping
her in the shower. He'd soap her back, cup her breasts, and slide
into her from behind. She stopped herself. Pregnant. She could very
possibly be pregnant, but it was too early to tell. She pinched the
bridge of her nose and took in a deep breath. She needed to calm
down. When she was sure her voice wouldn't shake she said, “We need
to go to the pharmacy today.”

“
I have Tylenol, Advil,
Excedrin, Pepto—”

“
No,” she cut him off. “I
need my pills.”

“
What kind of...” When he
trailed off, she could picture the look on his face, happy she was
still behind a door.
Wait for
it
.

“
Cassie, does that mean
we've been unprotected this whole time?”

S
ure did. How could she do
that? She was an educated woman, a lawyer, an Assistant
Commonwealth's Attorney. How could she forget something like her
birth control? She heaved a breath and opened the door. “Not the
first time, but this weekend, yes.”

T
he blood drained from his
face. “Dammit, Cassie, I have condoms.”

“
Good, we'll use those
next time.” If he'd even come near her with anything shorter than a
ten-foot pole. The man was hung, but not quite that
well.

“
Of course we will,” he
agreed with a nod. “We'll also get you your pills.”

S
he felt tears welling up,
refused to let them fall. “I'm sorry, Dylan. I swear it wasn't
purposeful.”

H
e gave her a “you've got
to be kidding” look. “You're the heiress, Cassie. Why would you
want to trap me?”

“
I'm the one who promised
something I didn't deliver. I'm the one who lied.”

“
Accidentally.” He took a
breath before pinning her with his hot golden stare. “Marry
me.”

W
hat?
Her mouth opened, but no words came out. She
tried again. “What?”

“
You have excellent
hearin'.”

S
he blinked at him. “We
had unprotected sex a few times and now you want to marry
me?”

“
Nine.”

She felt her face scrunch up with confusion.
“
Nine?”

“
Nine times. Nine times
you screamed my name, nine times you shattered in my arms, nine
times I came inside you.”

G
od, she wanted to make it
ten right now. “That makes you want to marry me?”
His gaze
was unwavering and she wished she could read his thoughts.

“
There are a lot of
reasons, Cassie.”

T
here were a lot of
reasons? She held up a hand.
“Back up,
here. This was supposed to be casual, this was supposed to be until
you healed and went home.”

“
I'm not completely
healed, but I am home, and you're with me.”

He wasn't kidding. He was an honorable man,
but marriage was for love. “
What if I'm not
pregnant?”

“
What if you are?” he
countered, eyes hard.

She'd figure it out, but she refused to trap
him, accidentally or not. “
You said yourself, I'm
an heiress.”

“
Who works fifty hours a
week.”

He had her there. She licked her lips as she
thought, finally just agreeing with him. “
True.”

“Y
ou'd need help. You'd
need me.”

“
I'd need you—” She cut
the sentence off, barely stopping herself from finishing it with
“anyway.” Damn the man. She shook her head. There was a good chance
she was driving herself crazy for no reason. “I'm probably not. The
chances are slim.”

H
e gave her a look she
couldn't place. “We'll see.”

S
he threw her hands up.
The man was an immovable force. “Just take me to the
pharmacy.”

“
You still have to drive,”
he told her with a shake of his head.

S
he was getting tired of
driving. “Give me the keys.”

~
*~

“
You're not goin' anywhere
alone,” Dylan commanded the following morning.

“
Do you plan on
handcuffing yourself to me?” she shot back, her tone
flippant.

“
If I have to.” He gave
her as hard a look as he could muster before going on. “You are in
danger, and I won't let you pretend like you're not
anymore.”

“
I have to go to
work.”

O
f course she did, and
that was fine. “I didn't say you couldn't go to work, I said you
weren't going alone.” He saw her roll her eyes. She wasn't taking
this seriously and that pissed him off. “A judge is dead, Cassie.
Dead. You were already targeted once with your car. Who's to say
what the next move is, who the next victim will be?”

“
What if it's J.D. or
Judge Winthrop? What then?”

H
e ground his teeth. “I
don't care if you think I'm bein' an overprotective asshole, you're
not goin' anywhere alone, and that's final.”

S
he scrunched up her nose.
“That's final? I might l...like you, but you don't control
me.”

H
e noticed her verbal
stumble, but now wasn't the time to push her on what she'd almost
said. “I don't want to control you, I want to protect you. I want
to keep you alive. Is that too much to ask?”

“
You were supposed to heal
at my house. I wasn't supposed to become a project, or an
assignment.”

“
You are not a project or
assignment.” After everything, how could she think that? “I want to
keep you safe because I care about you.” He wanted to keep her safe
and with him forever, but saying more would make her turn tail, so
he left it there.

“
You would do this for
anyone.”

He suppressed a groan. When did everyone
decide he was some sort of superhero? “
No. I
saved your brother, but only because I was there. If O'Dell had
been there instead, he'd be the one shot up, and you'd be havin'
this conversation with him.” He winced. He hoped she wouldn't be
having this exact conversation with Sean O'Dell.

“
I would not!” she yelled
at him, dark eyes flashing. “You know damn well I wouldn't have
spent a weekend fucking the hell out of Sean O'Dell.”

He held back a grimace at her
characterization of their lovemaking, but was happy she was feeling
something, even if it was outrage
. “Maybe not,
but he'd still be tellin' you you were in danger.”

She planted her hands on her hips.
“
There's no maybe about it. I wasn't attracted to
Sean.”

H
e crossed to her to wrap
his good arm around her waist, pulling her back to his front. “So
it was only me you wanted?” She stiffened, and he nipped at her
earlobe. “I want you. I always want you, Cassie,” he whispered as
she melted against him, “and I want you safe.”

S
he straightened, then
relaxed against him again. “Why am I fighting you? I might argue
for a living, but I'm not going to win.”

“
You might not win, but
you'll stay alive.” He felt more than heard her sigh. He'd won, and
she hated it, even if she might agree when she was thinking
rationally.

“
You'll have to stay in my
office.”

“
Nope.” She struggled
against his grip, but couldn't break free, and he fought to keep in
a chuckle.

“
What do you mean,
nope?”

“
I mean I'm not leavin'
your side.”

“
How am I supposed to get
anything done with you attached to me?” she asked and he let loose
the laugh he'd been holding.

“
Afraid I'll distract
you?”

S
he wrenched herself
around to face him. “Yes.”

He was worried about that himself, but
didn't trust anyone else. “
Me, too. We'll just
have to work around it. I'm not leavin' your safety to chance or
whoever happens to be around at the time. I need you to stay
safe.”

S
he rested her forehead
against his chest. “I don't want you to babysit me.”

B
aby. He'd been so worried
about keeping her safe, he'd nearly forgotten her news yesterday.
It was too early to know anything, so he'd shoved it aside to deal
with the threat at hand. A month ago his life had been
uncomplicated, and now she had him twisted in knots. He pulled in a
slow breath, enjoying the floral scent of her perfume, and tabled
the discussion he was sure would start another fight. Injecting as
much levity in his voice as possible, he told her, “It's not
babysittin', it's bodyguardin', and what a great body to
guard.”

H
e felt her shake her head
against him. Her voice was muffled when she agreed, “Fine then. Get
ready and let's go.”

~
*~

B
randon sat in the witness
stand, Cassidy Everett asking questions. He swallowed and answered
her, “Penelope Dalton was shaken when we found her, what little
clothing she was wearing ripped and bloody.” Penny Dalton was
sixteen and had been gang-raped by four juiced up Tyler High
football players. Her screaming made someone call the police and he
and Steve had been called in to rescue her.

“
Her attackers are here
now?” she asked. He knew she had to ask, but it was such a dumb
question. If they weren't here, why would he be sitting in this
stupid box?

“
Yes. Austin Markey,
Jonathan Towles, Gavin Webster, and Marcus Olivier were arrested at
the scene.”

T
he trial went better and
more quickly than expected, the jury convicting all four as adults
even though two were underage, and Brandon called it a good day. He
wasn't a bad guy, not really. Priscilla had asked him to do
something he wouldn't normally have done, and while his
ex-stepsister ended up in the loony bin, no one had died. Dylan
Black had been shot, but that just gave him a good opening into
Cassidy Everett's bed, so Brandon still counted that as a good
outcome. He smiled at the thought. He'd bet Mason Everett wouldn't
agree with him.

H
e might have his own
agenda, but he still saved people occasionally, and put away the
really bad ones, like the four today. He cracked his knuckles and
shot a glance down the hallway. He might not be evil, but he was an
opportunist.

“
Wait up, Counselor,” he
called as Cassidy made her way past him, her tall gimp of a
boyfriend trailing behind.

“Detective,” she greeted. Her attempt at
smiling turned out more like he expected her pretty face would look
if she'd swallowed a bug. He bit the inside of his cheek to keep
himself from laughing. Courtesy didn't look good on her.

He returned her smile, if one could call it
that. “I wanted to ask if you had a list of possible suspects for
the break-in. Officer Morgan is working the case with me, and while
she's good with research, anything you can give us is helpful.

He saw Cassidy try and fail to conceal a
slight eye roll. “If I knew who had done it, I wouldn't need you to
investigate, now would I?”

Bitch. “All I'm asking for is a start,
Counselor. We're looking at your cases, both tried and pending, and
we're taking special care with the those you have tried or were
slated to try in front of Judge Simmons, but it'd be much easier
for you to give us names than for us to cull through. You will know
what cases were major and what just had your name on them.” He
pinned her with a glare. “We know what we're doing; what we're
asking for is a little cooperation.” He paused then, allowing her a
moment to squirm beneath his scrutiny, then went on, “I'd think as
an officer of the court, you'd understand that.”

She sucked in a breath, her eyes downcast.
“You're right. I'm sorry. I have a lot on my mind right now.” She
slid a heated look at her boyfriend. “I haven't sat down to make a
list yet, but it's something Dylan and I will do later today.”

He nodded genially, every bit the consummate
professional. “You can email it to me if that's easier.”