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Cole paced and swore and paced. He pounded one fist into the other hand. This had nothing to do with helping anyone. It wasn't justified like it had been with Kie when he tried to help her or with Ariel when he did help her. Or even his contract with me – my submission in exchange for the rainforest cure.
This was fury because he was being messed with, because someone had picked up on something that wasn't even on the books, made himself into judge and jury and was coming to get Cole.
I agreed with him. Cole wasn't dangerous and if he was? There were plenty of stalkers out there everybody said they couldn't do anything about until they acted. How could this judge go after Cole when he had no proof Cole was doing anything untoward?
"Has anyone complained?" I asked into his unending tirade. As evidence of how far gone he was, he didn't snap at me to be quiet, not speak until spoken to, to call him Sir.
He saw where I was going. "No. He got wind of what we do here from somebody – damn, it could be Claude, you know that? – and he's going to keep poking around until he finds something in progress and can make an arrest on some kind of last century morals charge."
I considered that. "That's harassment."
Cole rolled his eyes. "Of course it is but his buddies are going to be as afraid of being thought dirty as he is." He barked a laugh at something in that statement but didn't explain it to me. "He's going to keep coming and coming and eventually he's going to find something. Or someone."
He looked at me then, naked, kneeling, and smiled, just a little. "Knees farther apart," he said. "And back straight. I want to see everything."
It was easier to do it than argue. My train of thought was still rolling.
"Let me go," I said, and it was a suggestion but he turned and said briskly, "We're not through negotiating. Let me –"
"No," I interrupted, and because I wasn't trying to start a fight, "Sir. That's not what I meant. I mean, let me go to him."
Cole blinked several times. His mouth opened and closed and he said, finally, "As what? They've seen you. If you were going to complain –"
"I'm not going to. I'm going to tell him I'm a criminal justice major –"
He actually hissed between his teeth. "You can't throw away –"
"I'm not." I was taking a bunch of chances interrupting him, but what the hell. "I'm talking about not filing charges but admitting I'm criminal justice at UNLV – hold on! Let me tell you! Because I don't have to be heading into law enforcement. I could be pre-law. That would explain my interest in what he's doing. I could totally, if not fan girl –" because even having been undercover as long as I had, there were limits to my acting ability – "then be interested from a How the Law Works angle. If I find out anything and he's a bad judge, we get him off the bench. If he's a good judge, he's angry and enthused with his own little morality play but hopefully by the time I graduate, I'm a memory."
"And so's he," Cole said thoughtfully.
"Yep," I said. "I can ask for an interview for a special project I'm doing for my grades." I rocked my head back and looked up coquettishly at Cole, one finger going to the side of my mouth. "I mean," I said, dragging out the word "I'm not the best student but if I had input for my paper –"
His eyebrows went up and he looked at me, mouth twitching, person to person for a minute, his choice. "How did you make that sound erotic?"
"What?" I asked in the same breathy voice and he blew out a huge breath of air, staring at me. I didn't often see him laugh. I liked the way his mouth twitched.
I said in my own voice, "Just seems anyone that determined to rain on everybody else's parade, especially when no one is getting hurt, that person might have something to hide. I found out about the raid. I want to do a presentation on the laws of BDSM in Nevada."
He looked impressed. "Not on the raid of Cole St. Martin of St. Martin Pharma?"
"Well, you're not supposed to say his name. You shouldn't call him Cole St. Martin. You should call him Sir. But otherwise?"
"Don't get cocky," he warned and I didn't say anything about that choice of words. I just waited while he ran over the idea more and more and more.
26
Cole
It wasn't a great solution. I'd have rather sent someone else. Problem was, for the moment, there wasn't anyone. When Chloe had left, she went in something of a huff. Since she has all of Claude's money and his house and is in the process of setting herself up to work with at-risk kids and those who need adopting and are older and therefore not adopted as often, I wasn't sure what she needed me for, but she seemed irritated as hell to see Annie.
I'd thought they would be friends. When I sent Annie to stay with Chloe and Claude, before all hell broke loose, I thought Annie would learn discipline I didn't seem to be able to instill in her but I also thought she and Chloe might deepen their friendship. When it turned out Chloe was being abused, not just in a lifestyle relationship, I thought she'd need Annie.
None of those things had come true.
And if Annie was back, whatever was eating Chloe was her problem. But it was my problem in that I couldn't send Chloe to Judge Conway. I couldn't send Ariel because she was already gone. Not that I thought that would be a great way for her to get back to real life. I couldn't send Marilyn because I couldn't imagine a scenario in which that would work.
I hadn't gotten where I'd gotten in life by threatening judges.
