Total pages in book: 183
Estimated words: 174715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 874(@200wpm)___ 699(@250wpm)___ 582(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 174715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 874(@200wpm)___ 699(@250wpm)___ 582(@300wpm)
“I want you to think about hugging them, loving them, smiling with them. I need you to just embrace how good that feels. Now, do it without allowing yourself to pause to think because you wouldn’t in a crisis. You walk in your front door and that person you love with all of your heart is on the floor bleeding with a knife in their chest. I’ve gone through this in my head and over and over and I know what I would do. I would run to that loved one and try to find a sign of life. I may or may not pull out the knife. In the moment, I think we can all say we’d do what felt right, what we believed would save our loved one’s life. I, for one, would call 911, just as my client called 911, and then I’d offer aid. Any chance I had, I’d hold my loved one. I’d hold them and hold them and hold them, praying that it wouldn’t be the last time. If my client is guilty for doing those things, then I say I too would be guilty because I would do those things. The prosecution has nothing else to convict him on. So, ask yourself, would the very same thing that I would do, which I suspect many of you would do in the same circumstances, convince you that Callum Moore killed his wife? The prosecution has to give you proof he killed her. All they want to do is punish him for loving her. I hope you will not.”
Recess is called after I leave the floor. I head to the back of the courthouse, out the private exit, and I do what I do at breaks. I make a path to the side door, step outside and plan to think through what comes next. The assistant DA, Carrie Monroe, a pretty blonde with an attitude, and legs that go on forever, is waiting on me. I know this specific detail of her legs because we’ve been friends with benefits on occasion. “You did good in there. We should celebrate tonight.”
A woman who knows how to just fuck and move on with no strings attached should be a definitive “yes,” a way to get Lori out of my head. I wait for the familiar stir of lust, and it doesn’t come.
“Not tonight.”
“When then?” she persists. “You’re moving.”
“I’m focused on this case with plans to be on a plane to New York City the day after it ends.”
She blanches. “Wait. Are you saying goodbye now?”
“I am.”
“Okay. Huh. Well I don’t know what to say.” She purses her lips. “Fine. You were still sexy as hell in there, Cole. I love watching you. I’ll just do it from afar.” She closes the space between us and kisses my cheek. “Good luck, but you won’t need it. You always win.” She leaves then, and holy hell. I’m not sorry. I wouldn’t have said no to Carrie before that night in New York with Lori. What kind of wicked spell am I under?
Chapter sixteen
Cole
Two weeks later…
Isit on a private jet waiting for take-off on my way to New York, my MacBook fired up with the headlines: Cole Brooks wins again with his client exonerated of the murder of his wife. Hotshot Brooks cornered the victim’s business partner on the stand, caught him in a lie, and hammered him into a dramatic confession.
That’s the way to leave Houston with a bang, I think, flipping to a new screen and pulling up the digital contract that officially merges my firm with a New York firm run by a close friend, and the best damn attorney I know, next to me, of course. I shut the lid to my MacBook and my cell phone rings. I glance down and find my new partner, and oldest friend’s number on the caller ID. “Reese Summer,” I say. “Or is it partner now?”
“Partner it is,” he says. “You got the executive contracts, I assume?”
“I did and I’m on the plane now waiting for take-off.”
“Is your apartment ready? I know your remodel got dicey.”
“The movers left days ago and my assistant, or rather ex-assistant considering, she is on a plane to Paris right now, assures me that the key is waiting for me and I’m ready to move in tonight.”
“It’s Wednesday. We’ll see you Friday night at the office for the client meet-and-greet?”
“You’ll see me tomorrow. I have work to do. I need to get my staff in order by Monday. I’ll check in when I land.” We disconnect and the plane’s engines roar to life.
The restraints my father placed on our growth are gone, and a chapter of my life ends and a new one begins. New York is where I belong now. Funny thing is I wasn’t sure I believed that until it welcomed me in an extra special way.