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I am not easily rattled, but the words, attitude, and energy, along with that hug and her boobs, come together like a blow. “I can step into the office,” I offer.
“She stays,” Cole says. “Or I leave. Frankly, all I’m doing by being here is to taunt a hungry bear that wants my throat as well. I can recommend a replacement and fully update them on the situation.”
“Over this woman?” she asks in disbelief, looking me up and down, like I’m trailer trash. “You’d walk away from being my attorney for this woman?”
“This woman is the future of my firm, and someone I trust and believe in, while you, I do not yet trust and believe in at all. Just to be clear, I haven’t decided to represent you. I do, however, feel obligated to get you through the interview and ensure you aren’t being punished for being your father’s daughter.”
Her bodyguards walk back into the room. “All clear,” each proclaims separately.
“Now,” Cole says, “will Ms. Havens and I be helping you get through your police interview or not?”
Her expression tightens. “Yes. We will be sitting down. Where?”
“Follow the hallway to the dining room,” Cole replies.
She tilts her chin upward and marches in that direction, with one bodyguard following her and another by the door. “Guard the door from outside,” Cole orders them.
They stare at Cole and seem to want to argue, but they do as directed. The minute they’re outside the room and we’re semi-alone, Cole closes the small space between me and him. “Did you offer to walk away for personal or for professional reasons? Think and answer honestly.”
“Both.”
“No one tells you to leave a room you belong in, and do not walk into that room and act like you don’t belong or you won’t. Understand?”
“Completely,” I assure him, because I not only deserve the reprimand, I appreciate the fact that he has kept his word. He is not being easy on me because of our private relationship.
“Claim one of the seats opposite her. Ask your questions, as I approved them in advance, and if you think of others, don’t hold back.”
“Understood,” I say.
“One more thing.”
“Yes?”
“I do not want to fuck her. I do, however, always want to fuck you, including tonight, in my bed.” He motions me forward. “You first.”
I don’t move. “You didn’t have to say that.”
“No,” he says. “But if it were reversed, I’d damn sure want to hear it. I did want to hear it when it was Lance.”
He is honest. He is direct. He is going to make me fall in love with him.
Chapter thirty-nine
Lori
Iwalk ahead of Cole and down the hallway, aware of him at my back closely following me. Tara is sitting at the far side of the table, and I sit down one seat over and across from her. Cole joins us and claims the spot across from Tara. Tara looks at me. “Apologies, Ms. Haven. I deal with being tabloid fodder often and I woke to headlines about me being a drug dealer, and killer, on the very day I’m hosting a breast cancer charity event.”
“Apology accepted,” I respond.
“Let’s get started,” Cole says. “I’d like to move this upcoming interview here to the hotel, and I need to feel good about what we’re doing before I push for that.”
“I’m ready,” she says. “Where do we start?”
“Tell us how you got involved,” he says, leaving her room to hang herself, which he’d already told me he’d do, just as the police will as well.
“Apparently, because I fucked David Curry ten thousand years ago, I must have drugged him,” she blurts.
“Didn’t you just tell TMZ you didn’t sleep with him?” I ask.
