Page 16 of Defensive Hero

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll find my way home,” Sandy says petulantly, and her words have my narrowing my eyes at her unusually sour attitude.

“I will take you home,” I say again, this time with more authority in my tone.

“Have you considered that maybe I don’t want my boss to know where I live?”

“All I need to do is make one phone call to Martha, and I will have your home address, Sandy. This is a small town.”

“Fine,” she grumbles, giving me her address as she gathers her things. She doesn’t live too far from the office. She follows me quietly to my car, and her silence unnerves me, like an itch under my skin.

The second I pull up outside her building, she’s reaching for her door, but I grab her arm before she can leave.

“We need to talk.”

“Can we talk at the office tomorrow,Sir?”

I squeeze her arm gently, ignoring the way she said sir like it’s an insult. “I want to talk now.”

“What, are you suddenly not wary of dealing with yet another lawsuit?” she snarks. “I am not going to let you compare me to your last girl.”

Last girl? Lawsuit?

My brows draw in confusion at her words, trying to make sense of what she means by when it dawns on me. The conversation we had this morning when I told her to keep our relationship a secret. I finally recall making a statement about not needing another lawsuit to deal with. Oh, she assumed I meant that I had been sued by another employee.

My mouth tugs into a grin as the reason for her attitude slowly dawns on me.

She is jealous. And hurt, which wasn’t my intention at all. I hadn’t meant to put a stop to things or compare her to some nonexistent ex, only that we need to be careful about our relationship.

I withdraw my hand from her arm and trace it up to her shoulder, pushing a stray hair behind her ear, watching in amusement as her eyes flash with heat. She stubbornly tries to fight it, but she needs to realize, like I have, that there is no fighting this.

No fightingus.

What happened last night will happen again. And again until I can find a way to make her completely mine without causing a dustup in the office. I have never felt this way about anyone in my life before, and I am not about to throw away that feeling for anything in the world.

After thinking about nothing else last night, I’d come to the realization that I don’t care what office policy says. My family owns the firm, for Christ’s sake. My mother has been harping on me for years to settle down, my father wouldn’t dare threaten to fire Sandy and risk upsetting me, and my extension, my mother. My father is a formidable man, but it’s my mother who strikes fear in the hearts of men.

Sandy Beck is mine. I just have to convince her of the fact.

“A sexual relationship between two staff members in our firm is forbidden because of the legal nightmare it can become,” I tell her, trying to explain carefully, so she doesn’t misunderstand me again. “You are my legal assistant; you know this.”

“Breach of contract, yes, I know.”

“I’m not talking about that, Sandy,” I trace the back of my hand over her soft cheeks. “A few years ago, one of our junior lawyers got involved with an intern, and when they were discovered, she claimed she was pressured into having sex with him.”

“I would never—”

“The man admitted to being in a relationship with her but couldn’t prove that he hadn’t pressured her into one. He was older and her superior. There was a clear power imbalance. He should never have touched her,” I say, not completely missing the irony of it all. “The office took sides, and the environment became hostile. It resulted in a sexual harassment suit.”

She bites into her lip, watching me from under her lashes. “So, the case wasn’t about you?”

“I have never entertained any sexual thoughts for any of the people who work at the firm,” I say. “Until you.”

Her cheeks flush, and she looks away, but I notice the coy smile that traces her lips. “So, what happened with the lawsuit?”

“They both agreed to resign and settle outside of court.”

She nods at my words. “I get why you wanted to keep it a secret. I mean, I wasn’t planning on telling anyone, but I get it now.”

“Is that why you have been giving me the cold shoulder all day?”

---