Cassie let out a soft laugh. “Not hardly. Anna is the only close family Jennifer has. That’s why she’s been so adamant about hanging onto the holidays until Anna is older and can decide where she wants to spend them. She doesn’t want to be alone.” Her brow furrowed as she glanced at his laptop. “Did he say something to indicate he might continue the fight?”
Brad opened his mouth, trying once more to confess everything. Instead, he heard himself answer, “I haven’t heard from him yet.” The minute the words slid off his tongue, he told himself the lie wouldn’t matter. By tomorrow morning he’d figure it all out, and Cassie would never know that he’d received the emails from Miles or Randall.
Chapter Twenty-one
Brad kept a chokehold on the steering wheel as he navigated onto the main thoroughfare. He tried to keep the tension out of his body, forced himself to smile at all the right times. But each passing mile pressed the steel walls in around him. Tightening the space behind his ribs one torturous degree by another. They were going to be discovered; Miles was going to press this in ways Brad couldn’t mitigate; there was no option but to leave.
He had to have some space, a few minutes of private to absorb the impact of what just happened. A few minutes to give in to the angry roar building inside his chest. He’d been banking on a few more days; he didn’t want to let Cassie go yet.
He hit the brakes at a stoplight, nearly screeching the Cherokee to a dead stop with the touch of his toe. “Cassie, I’m going to go ahead and drop you off first.”
“Okay.” Her brows dipped with confusion.
Guilt lanced through him. She deserved to know, had the right to the truth as Jennifer’s attorney. Hell, for the sake of her own career, she needed to know. But goddamn, the minute he told her Randall was sniffing around the case, she’d send him away—as she should.
Again, he soothed the agitation with the reminder he just needed some time with this. Then he could confess the truth of their predicament. He’d be prepared to kiss her goodbye and walk away forever.
Fuck you, Miles.
Focus on her. On what’s waiting for you with her.
He drew in a deep breath and let it out long and slow. Prying one hand off the wheel, he wrapped his fingertips gently around her thigh. Her hand covered his, and Brad’s pulse slowed by several counts. That light touch had an amazing way of making everything right. He breathed easier as he pulled into her driveway.
“Sweetheart, I want you to go into the bedroom, the one we’ve been sleeping in, and wait for me.”
A wry grin tugged at one corner of her mouth, but faint color touched her cheeks as she nodded.
Damn if the way her demure side didn’t light him up on the inside. She was so pretty when she blushed. He ran his hand lightly up her jeans-clad thigh. Squeezed when he reached the juncture of her hip. “Take off everything and get in the bed.”
“Anything else?” she asked suggestively.
Brad cupped her chin and tipped her face toward his. Leaning across the console, he kissed her softly, needing her kiss as much as he needed a few minutes to pull himself together. She surrendered her mouth with a quiet sigh that stroked over his skin as if she’d drawn a feather down his spine. A pleasant shudder gripped him.
As a different sort of tension crept into his tight muscles, his groin filled with heat. Behind his loose fly, his cock lifted to attention. Yeah, this was what he needed. Focus on Cassie, on releasing her from punishment and the sexy little mewls she let out when she yielded her body. Not the fact Miles had set the wrong wheels in motion.
Pulling away, he trailed his knuckles down the elegant length of her neck. His throat was dry, his words rough, when he spoke. “I won’t be long.”
“I’ll be waiting,” she murmured as she reached for the door and opened it.
He watched her go, his insides lacing together tightly with each step she took. When she shut the front door, disappearing inside, he rested his forehead on the steering wheel and gave into a gut-deep sigh. Pacifying opposing counsel. Conflict of interest. Disbarred. Over and over the words pummeled through his head. Mingling with them was the infuriating knowledge that Miles was pulling out buried skeletons for his own, self-absorbed cause. Anna would suffer because of her father’s ego. How the hell was he supposed to defend that stance to Cassie? She wouldn’t back down, and Brad wouldn’t put it past her to take on Jennifer, pro bono, just to uphold the morally right position.