Page 60 of Contentious

“Yeah, kind of.”

“What do we know about him?”

“I was looking into him when you called.”

“Let me know what you find out—and get context from her. We need to know what we’re dealing with.”

“Will do.”

“Update me later.”

“You got it.”

“First sign of trouble, call the police.”

“Yep.”

“Later.”

The twisting turns of Laurel Canyon Drive, which led to Mulholland, were becoming familiar to him as he navigated his way back to Cresley. He’d opened up a massive can of worms with his family by encouraging her to leave the firm. Their group chat continued to buzz nonstop since Kaidan had flapped her mouth.

That was the thanks he got for handing her an A-list client.

Carson pulled into Cresley’s driveway, and the little charge of excitement he felt at knowing he’d see her in a minute was massively concerning to him. He was quickly losing control of this situation and needed to wrangle it into something he could handle before it was too late.

He texted her to tell her he was back.

Disarming the system, she replied in the second before she appeared at the front door, looking so beautiful in a floral dress with her hair down around her shoulders that it almost hurt to look at her.

“Carson?”

He had the car door open but had been caught staring at her as every emotion he’d ever experienced seemed to overtake him in a big wave that led to one conclusion. He was totally fucked where she was concerned.

Shaking off the unsettling thoughts, he got out of the car and walked toward her, powerfully drawn to her in a way he’d never been to anyone else. Trying to deny that was like expecting the tide to stop coming in as she turned his world upside down.

“Are you okay?” she asked, studying him with concern that caused her brow to furrow.

He shook his head.

“What’s wrong?”

“Everything.”

She stepped back to let him in. “You’re scaring me.”

“I’m scaring myself.”

“Will you please tell me what you’re talking about?”

Rather than tell her, he decided to show her, wrapping his arms around her and burying his face in the fragrant curve of her neck.

“Oh,” she said on a long exhale. “I see.”

“Do you? Do you see how you’re messing up my whole life and how you’ve got my sibling group text on fire with speculation as to why I’d encourage you to dump Julian and our firm because of my ethical concerns?”

“It’s on fire, is it?”

“It is, and so am I. For you. And that’s never happened in the history of my entire life, and I have no clue how I’m supposed to function when all I can think about is how long I have to wait to be back with you.”