Page 40 of The Billionaire's Special Relationship

“You would have done the same thing for me,” Tabby said. “In fact, you did.”

Stuart smiled. But his smile didn’t last. Tabby could tell this ordeal, and the fact that he now had her on his hands, was taking its toll on him.

Then JK ended his phone call. “If that video shows what I just proffered to the DA what it shows,” he said, “then she said all charges just very well might be dropped.”

“Might?” asked Tabby.

“That’s legalese. She’s not going to commit to anything with certainty until she reviews all evidence and make a determination. The charges will be dropped.”

Tabby was elated. “When can you meet with her?” she asked.

“You’re more excited than Stuart is,” JK said.

“Oh I’m excited,” Stuart said with a smile. “Just pissed that they put me through this nonsense.”

“Agreed,” said JK. “But I’m heading to her now. You stay put and I’ll keep you well-informed.”

“Once this is resolved,” Stuart asked, “I’ll able to see Alan. Correct?”

That name again, Tabby thought. Alan Jacobs. Who was he to Stuart?

“Don’t even think about trying to see him before it’s resolved. But once it’s over, then yes. But right now don’t try to call the hospital to check on him or any of that. Don’t call Nora or Clare either. They can claim you were trying to intimidate witnesses even though they didn’t witness a thing. But I don’t put anything past Nora.”

“Neither do I,” agreed Stuart.

“Just wait until we get this thing dismissed. Don’t call.Don’t inquire. Don’t do anything that would jeopardize your bail, Stuart. And even if the charges are dropped right away,” JK added, “don’t go to that hospital tonight. The press will probably still be out there. Which they’ll do everything in their power to make you look guilty as sin. So just wait until tomorrow. Since the charges will have been dropped by then, hopefully, it’ll be yesterday’s news. It’s too fresh tonight.”

Then JK looked at Tabby. “Good work, young lady. Your quick thinking might have saved the old man’s ass.”

“Old man?” Stuart said with a smile.

Tabby was so relieved that she could be of help to Stuart that she was all smiles now. “Thank you,” she said to JK.

After JK confirmed that his assistant had sent Tabby’s video to his phone, he and his team hurriedly left. “I’ll call you,” he said to Stuart as he hurried out.

“I’m heading out too,” Mel said as he stood up. “The wife is expecting me for dinner, and I’m going to keep my word for a change. Keep me in the loop.”

“Will do,” Stuart said, Mel said his goodnights to both of them, and then he left.

And then it was just the two of them.

Stuart placed his hands on Tabby’s small waist, which coaxed her to lean back against him. “I’m exhausted so I know you are,” he said to her. Then he wrapped his arms around her. “You’ll never know how much I appreciatewhat you did for me, Tabitha.”

The way he was holding her showed his appreciation, Tabby thought.

But there was something on Tabby’s mind. She had to make sure she wasn’t hugging a man already spoken for. “Can I ask you a question?”

Stuart had a feeling it was going to be a loaded question. Which he wouldn’t mind answering. But not here. “You can ask,” he said as he began standing up, which prompted her to stand up too. “But upstairs. I’ve been incarcerated. I need a bath.”

Tabby wasn’t about to argue with that. After driving for ten hours straight, and then waiting outside of this building for what felt like another full hour, she needed a bath too. So he placed his hand around her waist again and they made their way upstairs.

After they made it upstairs to his luxurious bedroom, it was odd to Tabby how she always felt insecure undressing around her previous boyfriends: at least those who made it that far. But around Stuart? It felt so natural that she didn’t give it a second thought.

She didn’t know why it felt so natural, but it seemed as if her heart was telling her that she could truly trust this man. And she felt safe with him unlike she’d ever had with anybody else she’d ever been with. But he was so beyond the kind of man she had ever been attracted to that it all seemed strange. And kind of weird. But in a great, beautiful way!

Stuart loved the way she didn’t play gameswith him. He undressed and she undressed as if they’d known each other for years. Because that was what she felt like to him. It felt as if his soul knew her. They had a powerful connection.

While the tub was filling up, and while Tabby was checking out his enormous closet that seemed to go on for days, like a maze, Stuart poured two glasses of wine from the full-sized bar in the parlor adjacent to his bedroom.