Page 16 of Theirs to Take

A woman’s laughter filled her office and Nova rolled her eyes. “Um, I’d love to speak with Nova, please,” she said. “This is her best friend, Evie Jones.”

“Hold please,” he said, holding out her cell phone to her, “it’s for you, Nova.”

“Gee,” she said, “thanks. Hey, Evie,” she said. “I’m at work, can I call you back tonight?” she asked.

“You can, but I’m assuming that sexy-sounding man I just spoke with is your new boss, Alex McTavish, and you’ll bothwant to hear this,” Evie insisted. Her best friend always had a flair for the dramatic.

“All right, go ahead,” Nova said. “You know the rumor about certain lawyers in the firm paying off judges?” she asked. Nova had not only heard it, but she also knew it well. She believed that was how Simon won their case in court and got custody of Jack.

“Yes,” she and Alex said in unison, causing Evie to giggle again.

“That’s adorable, guys, really,” she said.

“Get on with it, Evie,” Nova grumbled.

“Fine, I think that I’ve found the evidence that we need to prove that Simon has been paying off judges. Not just the one in your case, Nova, but others too,” Evie boasted.

“Can you get the evidence out of there?” Alex asked.

“Yep,” Evie said. “I’ve just downloaded it onto my thumb drive. I’ll drop it by your office on my way out to lunch later. If I leave right now, it will look suspicious.”

“Agreed,” Alex said. “I look forward to meeting you, Evie, and thank you for helping us.” Nova’s heart did a little flutter at the way he referred to them as “Us”.

“Not a problem,” Evie said. “I’d do anything for my girl. Nova deserves the best,” she said.

“Subtle,” Nova mumbled. She didn’t miss her best friend’s warning to Alex, even if she hadn’t said it out loud. “See you when you get here, Evie,” she said, ending the call and tossing her phone back onto her desk.

“I like her,” Alex said.

“Yeah, well you should withhold judgment of my friend until you meet her in person, and she threatens to murder you if you hurt me,” Nova said. She wouldn’t put it past Evie to do just that, too.

“That will only make me like her even more, honey. You need good people in your corner and if your friend is willing to helpyou, at possibly the cost of her job, she’s good people. If your ex finds out what she’s doing, what will he do to her?” he asked.

“Nothing, I hope, but I can’t be sure. Simon is a hothead and he’s a bully. You saw him last night at that restaurant. If you weren’t there, I don’t know what he would have done to me. You heard the way that he threatened me, right?”

“I did,” Alex growled, “and if I have anything to say about it, he’ll never touch you again.”

“I appreciate that, but I hate that Evie is stuck at his firm, gathering evidence for me. I don’t want to put her in danger, but she insists on helping me get Jack back. God, if anything happens to her, I’ll die,” Nova said.

“I know, honey,” he said. “I have a few friends over in the firm. I can ask a couple of them to watch Evie’s back if it makes you feel any better.”

“That would, thank you, Alex,” she breathed.

He nodded, “Not a problem,” he said. “I’ll make the calls now, before my meeting. Do you need me for anything else?” he asked.

“You mean, besides answering my cell phone and pretending to be my assistant?” she asked.

“Hey—I’m a full-service boyfriend, honey,” he said.

She gasped and he turned back to give her his wolfish grin. “You heard me right,” he said, guessing at what had her staring him down as if he’d lost his mind.

“Boyfriend?” she squeaked.

“Yep,” he agreed. “You good with that?” All she could do was nod her head at him as if she had lost the ability to form sentences or even words.

“Good,” he said. “I’ve got calls to make and you have an HR handbook to finish studying. After you're done with that, burn it because I plan on breaking just about every damn rule in thatbook with you.” She watched as he walked back into his office and pushed his door shut.

“Boyfriend,” she whispered to herself. “How about that?”

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