Page 10 of Love and Order

“Fine, but just this once.”

“Deal, see you then.” He fought the urge to get out of the car to open her door. Instead, he stayed seated. He doubted she would appreciate the chivalry from a colleague, even if they had crossed several friendly lines in the last twelve hours. She stunned him when she accepted his challenge and let him feed her. No doubt a rare momentary lapse in judgment due to the long hours spent looking at their client’s documents.

She retrieved her keys and looked around the area before stepping out and gently closing the door. He waited until she let herself in what looked like a solid door up to her apartment. A moment later, a light in a few of the second-floor windows turned on, but he stayed put.

Who was Hailey, really? At work, she was this polished, fierce, quiet, brilliant lawyer who took the bus or her bike to and from work and lived in a modest apartment above a coffee shop.

Her figure appeared at the window, and she caught him still staring up at her. She didn’t wave, and it was tough to see her face in the shadows, but he imagined she was frowning at him so he pulled away.

His place wasn’t far from hers by car, but he lived in a modern condo building with a view of the Potomac River from his fifth-floor corner unit. It had high ceilings, wide wood plank floors, and minimal furniture—only the necessities—a big couch, a wall of shelves for his books and no evidence of his former life in the Navy. It wasn’t that he didn’t have fond memories of his time as a SEAL. It was more like he needed to find out who he was without the Navy or his SEAL trident.

When he left the Navy after six years and too many deployments, he had felt one hundred percent certain it was the right move. He never thought he would miss the familiarity or the discipline the Navy demanded, but after three years of law school on his GI bill and two years as a junior associate at Baxter and Stewart, it was safe to say he did miss the Navy. None of that mattered now. He just needed to get some rest before he was due to be back at work. He wasn’t going to let Hailey down or blow this opportunity. Baxter and Stewart likely planned to award Hailey the partnership, but he wasn’t going to mail it in and let her win without a challenge.

After setting his alarm, he crawled into bed, hoping the cool sheets and exhaustion would actually let him sleep unlike most nights when he suffered from nightmares of war. As he closed his eyes, the only thing on his mind was the secrets behind Hailey’s baby-blue eyes.

The next morning, Finn was surprised to discover he’d actually slept for a solid four hours. Making record time with a quick shower, he dressed in his favorite gray suit with a tie his mom said brought out his eyes. Once he arrived at Hailey’s place, he stood outside to wait for her on the sidewalk, and she appeared from the coffee shop with a smile. It felt like a warm ray of sunshine in the cool dimness of early morning.

“Why do I get the feeling you solved this case in the last five hours?” he asked as he held the passenger door of his car open for her.

She had two huge coffees and a large pink box with the coffee shop’s logo on it.

“Well, I think I solved a piece of the puzzle. They wanted us to find the incorporation papers because they think it proves from the onset that he was a partner in her now-flourishing business of adult toys.”

“I thought she said her business was hospitality focused,” he said once he was buckled back in the car and eased onto the empty road. At six thirty, there was virtually no one on the road yet, and he knew the drive to the office would take only fifteen minutes. He wanted to maximize that time with Hailey.

“I did some digging last night and learned Mrs. Tovar’s hospitality business is in fact a major player in the sex toy industry. She has contracts throughout the US and Europe, and one of her inventions has been the number-one-selling item for women for five years.”

“Wow. Why didn’t she tell us? She had to have known this was going to come out in court.”

“I don’t know, but we can ask her this morning before court. She’s meeting us at eight,” Hailey said and pursed her lips before letting out a breath.

“Did you sleep at all?” he asked.

“Sleep is overrated, but yes. I got about four hours.”

“So our working theory is Mrs. Tovar doesn’t need or want half of Mr. Tovar’s wealth, which per the prenup she isn’t entitled to, but Mr. Tovar wants to keep all his money and get half of hers?”

“Correction: I think he wants to take her business and leave her with nothing. Now we just have to prove it. I hope you don’t blush too easily, because I think it’s going to get a little saucy in court today,” Hailey said.

Glancing over, he caught a faint smirk on her face and reached for his coffee. He didn’t miss her hip pull away from his hand.

“Look, you don’t have to tell me, but if someone is still hurting you, I’d be happy to see that they never get near you again.”

It took effort to keep his tone even and he couldn’t see her face while he was driving.

“Old habits, that’s all.”

He took a long pull on the coffee, letting the hot brew stop him from cursing. His hunch had been right. Someone had done enough damage to Hailey that her natural instincts had been trained to avoid any physical contact and expect the worst from people.

“Are we going to flip for lead in court today?” She changed the subject.

“No chance. You won it fair and square, but I have a feeling Mr. Tovar and his lawyers are going to use intimidation and crass tactics to try to embarrass our client and us.”

She nodded. “I can handle them.”

He wasn’t so sure, but he was willing to stand behind her and let her try. Maybe facing bullies in court was her therapy for dealing with her own history.

An hour later, they mapped out the sequence of events for Baxter, as he and Mrs. Stewart were keeping tabs on them to ensure the case didn’t go off the rails.

---