Page 58 of Contentious

“So you’re willing to cost the firm a high-profile client so you can babysit her and her son?”

“I’m providing security, not babysitting. The guy is escalating. I don’t feel comfortable leaving them unprotected.”

“And you’ve decided to handle this personally?”

“That’s what I said. Look, I know you think your career is far more important than mine, but the fact remains that I’m bound by ethical restraints the same way you were when you turned Isla’s case over to Jackson.”

“I did that because I had feelings for her, not because we’d become friends.”

Fuck. He’d walked right into that trap.

“Do you have feelings for her? Is there more to it than what you’re telling me, because that’d be rich after the way you’ve treated me since I got involved with Isla.”

“I’ve said all I’m going to say about it. I’ve got to go.”

“Carson—”

He pressed the button on the steering wheel to end the call. There’d be hell to pay for hanging up on his brother, but he was unprepared to explain something to Julian that made no sense to him. Every time he thought about having sex with Cresley, he went hard as stone, with the desire for more pulsing through him like an extra heartbeat.

Nothing like this had ever happened to him before, and he had no idea how to deal with it beyond severing her ties to the firm, which had to happen after they had sex.

Now he was regretting doing the ethical thing, because it had opened the door to Julian—and the others—asking him what the hell was really going on with Cresley.

He took a call from Kaidan. “Hey.”

“Got your text. Does Julian know that Cresley is jumping ship?”

“He just heard from her.”

“What’s this really about?”

“I’m helping her out as a friend since this shit with the ex is heating up. I thought it’d be the right thing to do to extricate the firm from that.”

“Huh. That’s a pretty big move to make for a friend. Wait till Dad catches wind of it. He won’t be happy to lose her as a client.”

That was true. Corbin loved having famous clients and wouldn’t take kindly to losing one as high-profile as Cresley was. Carson clearly hadn’t thought this all the way through.

“Are you able to take her on?”

“We never say no to the rich and famous around here.”

“She’s much more than that, Kay. She’s a great person and fantastic mom. They need to be rid of this guy once and for all.”

“And she’s just a friend, right?”

“That’s what I said. Can you follow up with the LAPD about the footprint their crime scene team took from her yard last night? The nanny recognized him, so it should be a slam-dunk RO violation, and you need to get your best security people positioned at her house and Ty’s school right away.”

“I’ll get on it as soon as I get the files from Julian, and our people are assigned to other cases. We’ll do what we can for you.”

“Thank you.”

“Sure, brother. Anything for you. I hope you’re looking out for yourself while you’re looking out for her and her son.”

“What does that mean?”

“Just what I said. You don’t usually get involved in situations like this. You go out of your way to avoid them, so it’s odd to me that you’ve decided to personally protect her and cost your firm a high-profile client in the process.”

“She’s a single mom with an adorable son, and she’s scared. The guy was in her yard while she was out last night. That’s terrifying. The firm will somehow manage to survive without this one client.”