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“Spare me the dramatics, Lake. They were doing their jobs.” Robert rolled his eyes, but there was a look of irritation in the gaze Dominic sent the older man that had me wondering ifeveryonewasn’t sick of his shit.
“Which is it, Senator?” she asked. “Were they incompetent or doing their jobs?” She’d backed him into a corner that he couldn’t debate his way out of now. I bit back the grin threatening to slip.
It was Dominic who held up a placating hand between the family dispute. “Robert is trying to express his worry even if he’s going about it the wrong way.” Everyone, including the silent guards in the background, shot a surprised look toward the gentle tone coming from the rat I’d been ready to punch in the hospital. “Perhaps we can talk privately and get this all worked out.”
“Good luck talking sense into her; she’s an immature woman with a need for dramatics,” Robert huffed, turning on his heel and exiting the office. The three men followed and then it was just Dominic, Lake and I.
Dominic Parker looked stressed for the first time, and it seemed to surprise Lake as she finally took him in. “Are you doing okay?” Her voice held a concern I didn’t think was manageable where this man was concerned. Kasey had told me how much she wanted nothing to do with her father’s assistant, but knowing her the way I did now, Lake would always care for others.
“I’m exhausted, actually,” he replied with a tired chuckle. “Half the time Robert is ranting and raving about this entire mess, the other half he’s pacing and worried about you. He’s trying to keep it together, but he’s losing it, Lake. He already fired Ellen Downing.” Lake’s gasp of horrified shock was more than she’d reacted to anything Robert had thrown at her before he’d stormed out.
“Yeah,” Dominic continued, eyes hollowed from the stress he’d just explained. “I told him to take it easy and think about how he wanted to handle the security threat in his office, but he had us on a chartered flight and none of the Remington guys were around. I didn’t even know he’d hired another company until I was sandwiched in between two ex-wrestlers.”
Lake tucked her lips between her teeth in an attempt not to smile, and Dominic gave her a small soft lip twitch of his own. The familiarity between the two was almost like siblings sharing the irritation of dealing with parents together.
“Please come back with us, Lake. We’ll get you set back up in the condo, you can order anything you need and maybe just relax a bit. I know your stay at the estate didn’t really allow for any downtime.”
“Dom, while I’m loving this new look on you, I’m not leaving. I know that being here, with this company, and with these guys… It’s the safest place I could be.”
My heart flipped in my chest and pride swelled within me. It hadn’t taken a single word to keep her here. She knew exactly where she needed to be to stay safe, and it was by my side. I’d thought I might have to convince her to stay. For the protection of course. But here she was, standing tall and proud, telling me she was on the same page. Thank fuck.
Dominic buried his face in his hands and rubbed up and down briefly before dropping them and tilting his gaze skyward. He gave a long suffering groan and shook his head. “I get it, I really do. You made a great argument. But now I have to fly back with him.” He gave her a teasing smile. “Got a plane I could borrow?”
Giving a sarcastic snap of her fingers, Lake shook her head. “You should have asked yesterday, I just lent it to Zach Efron.”
“You would,” he teased back before turning toward me and holding a hand out. The man in front of me looked slightly defeated and far more humble than the one I’d faced in the hospital only a week ago. I still didn’t like his smarmy ass, but if Lake could be civil and even playful with him, I could shake his hand. Gripping his hand, I gave it a single firm shake and he was gone.
“What Twilight Zone bullshit did I walk into?” Lake asked, plopping inelegantly into the chair again, a dazed look on her face.
“Apparently the one where I’ve been fired for the first time in my career,” I responded, not feeling nearly as upset by the news as I should have been.
“Um, would it save face if I told everyone you’d quit right before this meeting?”
“No, babe. It would be the same thing in the books. Job not completed.” I’d never really thought of how one failure could completely fuck up our reputation, but this couldn’t be that bad. Unless Harrington tried to spin his in-house press leak as something to blame on my men. I’d shove his words right back down his throat if given the chance.
“So,” she said brightly, clapping her hands together and snatching my attention back to her. “What do I need to hire Remington for myself? I’m totally good for the money. Might even use my father’s for it.” She was grinning to herself as she planned on rubbing it in Robert's face, but my next response stopped her in her plotting.
“No. We won’t be taking you on as a client.”
Her face morphed from shock to hurt to a cold indifference as she armored up against me. Fuck, time to explain before steam came out of her ears.
“Lake, I wanted to claim that sassy mouth the second you started giving me lip. I wanted to bend you over that desk in the library and fuck you until the world faded away. And I was in the process of stripping you down and tasting every inch of you when your father showed up to fire me.” The heat in her eyes cooled immediately at the mention of her father. “The entire reason I stayed away or tried and failed miserably was because it was a professional boundary I didn’t want to cross.” I shook my head. “And I came dangerously close to crossing it completely today.”
“My emotional state has now ping ponged from flattered to turned on to regretful and now confused.” She let out a long sigh and leaned forward. “What’s the bottom line here, Mullins.”
“You’re no longer my client,” I said, standing up and rounding the desk to pull her from the chair. My fingers combed through her hair starting from her temple to the nape of her neck where I gathered the strands in a tight hold and pulled slightly, forcing her eyes up to look at my face. “But you aremine. I haven’t been protecting you because of a job since the first text you received, Lake. It’s been personal this whole damn time. We aren’t going to complicate it with a contract. You’ll stay here, with me because you belong here.”
I watched a myriad of emotions cross her features, like a kaleidoscope. Shock, lust, indignation, affection, more lust. “Besides,” I mused, as playfully as possible, hoping to stop her roulette wheel of emotion on something lighter. “You’ve pretty much charmed the pants off all my men, so even if it weren’t me personally keeping you safe, any of them would have done it for free too.”
A startled laugh broke from her, and I released my hold on her hair, gently squeezing the back of her neck. She was just so fucking perfect when she was open like this. I couldn’t stop the need to taste her again, no longer held back by the need for propriety for business’ sake. Lake’s smile dropped as my head lowered and my lips met hers. A breathy moan from her had my need ratcheting up. In some areas, I would always react instantly to her.
Reaching around to grip her ass in my hands, I pulled her closer, mentally cataloging the items I could replace on my desk, should the need to bend her over it become necessary in a few hot moments. The throat clearing at the door had Lake jumping away from the kiss like a teen caught on prom night. I simply looked to the door in irritation, contemplating murder as Kasey stood there grinning like an asshole.
“So, I came down here expecting that I’d have to pull you off Harrington.” He threw a wink to a wide-eyed Lake and then turned his mocking stare back to me. “I didn’t think it would bethisway, but points for it still being a Harrington!” He dodged the pen that flew past my ear courtesy of Lake who was fighting back a smile.
“I take it we’re fired?” This question came from Cabot who pushed Kasey the rest of the way through the door and stopped in the center of the room, eating a protein bar like he had all the time in the world.
“Why would you think that?” I asked as indifferent as possible.
