Page 65 of Defend Me

Charlotte purses her lips, her eyes drifting to Finn, his arms folded across his chest, frowning at the horseplay in the pool like it’s personally offending him.

“Fair point,” she says.

Isla comes over with Jake.

“Hi Von,” she says. “This is Jake Stein. Noah says you can help with that jerk who’s suing him?”

“Jake,” I say, standing and offering my hand. “I’ve been meaning to speak with you.”

Jake is a good-looking guy with glasses and thick dark hair. He shakes my hand apprehensively, almost like he’s afraid of me. I guess I’ve never thought much about how the people in this town see us—I stopped spending time here after Mom died. I don’t want to come across like Finn, though.

“It’s totally fine if you can’t,” he says. “I know you’re busy.”

“Here’s my contact info,” I say, airdropping it into his phone. “Let’s set up a time this week to talk. In the meantime, if you could email me the suit and tell me as much information about what happened as possible, I can get the ball rolling.”

I look over at the pool where Noah is smiling at me and giving me the thumbs up. Then Alistair cannonballs right next to him, dousing him beneath an enormous wave.

“Wow,” Jake says. “Wow, that…thank you. I mean, seriously, thanks.”

He gives me a little bow.

“Oh my god, Jake, she’s not the queen of England,” Charlotte teases.

Jake flushes.

I get some quick background on the incident, who this customer was and the details of the accident. It seems like a pretty straightforward case of a pompous jerk used to throwing his weight around and getting his way, with no actual legs to stand on. And with only Noah’s case on my desk, I’ve got the time to look into it. I bet I could scare this asshole into dropping the suit with one phone call.

“Char, come in!” Noah calls from the pool.

“With you animals? Not a chance,” she calls back.

“We’ll be good, we promise,” Noah says batting his eyelashes. Charlotte cackles and I feel something slippery flip in my stomach.

“So,” I say, as Isla and Jake wander off. It’s time to bite the bullet. “How long have you and Noah been together?”

Charlotte spits out her drink, spraying margarita all over the lounge chair. “Oh my god,” she chokes. “Noah and I aren’t together. Ew! I mean, he’s nice, he’s handsome, blah blah blah, but…ew!” she says again, shuddering this time. “He’s like my brother.”

Several things happen inside me all at once. A disorienting wave of dizziness is met with a rush of heat swirling through the trunk of my body. My toes go cold while my chest buzzes.

“Oh,” I say.

I hope I sound normal and not like my brain is struggling to comprehend this new, vital piece of information. I don’t think I realized how steadfastly I had clung to the idea of Noah and Charlotte being together.

Charlotte’s still chuckling. “Noah hasn’t had a girlfriend in years. He’s always at work. Serving and protecting and all that.”

“Right,” I say, my voice too breathy. I glance down at my watch and remember my date with Kent. I’ve only got a couple hours to get back to the city and get ready.

“Noah,” I call. “Time to go.”

Noah pulls himself out of the pool, his muscled forearms flexing, water pebbling over his stomach. Tension curls its way around my throat, my thighs gripping together.

He grabs a towel and comes to sit beside me, running it through his hair. I have a panicked moment of fear that Charlotte is going to tell him I thought they were together, but she gets up and heads over to join Isla and Jake. Noah shifts beside me, his bare skin altogether too close. He smells like chlorine and sunshine. He towels off his chest and I don’t know where to look, so I gulp down the rest of my drink.

“What’s the rush?” he asks. “Got a hot date?”

“Yes,” I say, the truth tumbling out.

He blinks and his face goes blank. “Seriously?”

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