Following Her (Unexpected Heroes #2.5)(5)
“I don’t really care, and I prefer to keep it formal,” she corrected him. “I’m not foolish. I don’t jump into the cars of strangers or seek out men online. I don’t go and get drunk in a bar and then stumble down the empty sidewalks at two in the morning. I’m careful, cautious, and determined to make it on my own. I have a protective family who seem to think it’s not okay for me to make a few mistakes. Yes, I’ve been in less-than-perfect circumstances before, but I always come out on the other side. This is just one more time. You can give me all the lectures you want, but it isn’t going to change who I am, so don’t try to pretend you know me, and don’t try to play the suave playboy thinking it’ll appeal to me. You can cut the crap and we can get down to business, or you can leave and I’ll deal with my cousin.”
If Axel were smart, he would’ve backed off, but more than one boss had told him his tongue would one day be the death of him, and hot damn if her temper wasn’t turning him on.
“Fine then, Ella, we’ll stick with business,” he said with just enough mirth to make her cheeks burn red, a very fetching color on her.
“Good. Tell me what you need from me, and we’ll be done.”
Standing up, Axel moved across the table and leaned down, enjoying the spark lighting up her eyes, and the subtle scent of whatever perfume she’d spritzed herself with. She was all woman underneath the fire, and he really wanted to unwrap the package she was presenting.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“I just want to make sure you hear me,” he said, leaning a few inches closer, giving her no room to escape.
“I can hear you just fine from across the table.”
Axel knew women inside and out. He knew when they wanted him, and he knew when they were trying to convince themselves they didn’t. He’d met uptight women before, and he normally steered clear. After all, there were a plethora of women willing to warm his bed, so why waste time on one he’d have to woo?
But that was before he’d met Ella Brooks.
“Why so jumpy, Ella?”
“Have you no personal boundaries?” she asked. Good. He liked that she was still feisty even when feeling threatened. That was a good sign.
“I don’t lie. It’s something you’ll discover quickly about me. I also don’t run from the truth. I like you, Ella, and I think the two of us could make this more than just a business arrangement. Why don’t I come back and pick you up for a nice dinner? Eight?”
She leaned away, though there was a slight tremble to her fingers before she clasped them together in her lap. “No, thank you.”
“You have a boyfriend?”
“That’s none of your business, Mr. Carlson.”
“That usually means no.”
“It means exactly what it was supposed to, that it’s none of your business. Now, step back,” she said with fire burning in her eyes.
“I think I’m going to make it my business, Ella. I like your feistiness, your independence, the way you look, the way you smell.”
Even though the tremble through her body was very minute, he was affecting her. It gave him unbelievable pleasure knowing it.
“I’m done with this conversation, Mr. Carlson.”
“For now,” he said before leaning back and letting her have space. “But I’ll be back tomorrow bright and early so we can get started on your”—he stopped and looked at her from head to toe, ending with direct eye contact—“safety.”
With that, he stood up and moved toward her front door, surprised by the pounding of his own heart. Yeah, he was playing games with the very sexy Ella Brooks, but he wasn’t a complete victor. She had moves of her own that could certainly upset the sure victory he was seeking.
Ella’s shoes clicked on the marble floor as she made her way through the quiet courthouse. It had been a long day and she was more than ready to go home. She’d wanted to be a lawyer since middle school, when she’d played the defense attorney in her class’s mock trial.
It had been fun and challenging and she’d taken it seriously, even insisting her parents sit in as witnesses at home so she could question them. Eventually that led to a prelaw major in college, then law school. The years of schooling, the late nights studying—they’d all paid off in the end, but now look where she was.
She’d been working for a shady lawyer at an even shadier law firm and the man was threatening her because she knew information she shouldn’t, but she wasn’t going to back down. No one was going to decide her destiny—not an unethical lawyer nor the judges he had in his pocket, and certainly not the thugs he’d hired to try to scare her.
Yes, it’d been a mistake to get involved with him, but in her defense, she’d spent so many years studying that she hadn’t taken the time to date—to live, even, and have fun in those formative years. And then before she knew it, she’d finished law school, had passed the bar, and was out in the real world.
When her boss had asked her out, he’d swept her off her feet, made her feel feminine, beautiful, and desired. But the honeymoon phase hadn’t lasted long, and soon it was apparent that he wasn’t the type of man she wanted in her personal or professional life.
She’d gotten out of the relationship and the job. But she’d left with too much knowledge, and now her ex-boss was coming after her. She was strong, though, and not afraid of him. She truly believed that no matter how many bribes you gave to people in positions of power, justice would prevail. If she ever stopped believing that, she might as well quit practicing law altogether.