What He Fights (What He Wants, Book Ten) (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) (2 page)

“I set up a breakfast meeting with Worthington.”

“For what?”

“To prepare for the evidentiary
hearing.”
 
He was watching me
closely, searching my face for any clue that I might have a reaction to
this.
 
He was expecting me now to
go with him to this breakfast meeting, this meeting where Professor Worthington
was going to be, where we’d have to go over my testimony.

“Does Professor Worthington know what
they’re going to ask me?
 
Has the
DA’s office sent over their questions?”

“No.
 
The DA’s office will want interview you in person before the
hearing.
 
I’m sure Colin will be
able to anticipate what they’re going to ask you.
 
I’m sure you can, too, Charlotte.
 
It’s Criminal Law 101.”

I glanced around for the folder of
evidence, but I didn’t see it anywhere.
 
Why had Noah taken it away?
 
He’d acted like as soon as I calmed down the two of us would go over it
together.
 
He’d acted like he
didn’t want there to be any secrets between us anymore, he’d handed the folder
to me and told me to look through it.

And now here he was, acting cold
again.
 

I was getting fed up with this
merry-go-round.

“I’ll be taken off the case,” I said.

“What?”

“I won’t be able to work on your case
anymore.
 
It will be a conflict of
interest.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that right now,
Charlotte.”

I blinked hard, feeling the sadness and
panic inside of me start to be replaced with anger.
  
“Why shouldn’t I worry about it, Noah?”

“Because right now you need to focus.”

“I need to focus?”

“Yes.
 
On your testimony.
 
You need to stay clear so we can figure out the best way for you to
handle this.”

“So you don’t look guilty?”

“No, so you come out of this with as
little damage to your reputation as possible.”
 

I bit the inside of my cheek.
 
I hated that he was back in business
mode, hated that our whole relationship was clouded with issues that would be
extremely difficult even for a couple who’d been married for years to
handle.
 
I couldn’t be sure if his
tendency to shut down was being exacerbated by the situation, or if this was
just how he was.
 
Would he have let
me in more if this wasn’t happening to him?
 
Or had he already been so damaged that it would be exactly
the same?’

And did it really matter?

He should have been holding me close,
should have been sitting me down on that bed and going through the evidence
with me, piece by piece.
 
Instead,
he’d hidden the folder away, like it was some kind of secret, and now we were
going to go over the things that may have made him a murderer in a meeting.

A meeting!

The whole thing was ludicrous.

And the worst part about it was that I couldn’t
say anything.
 
I couldn’t push him,
couldn’t demand anything from him.

He would say I didn’t trust him. And in
Noah’s world, that was a cardinal sin.

The other problem was I had no right to
that folder, had no right to demand to be told what was in it.
 
I wasn’t Noah’s lawyer.
 
I wasn’t even his girlfriend.

I’m falling in love with you.

That’s what he’d said.

Even just last night, he’d held me, made
promises to me.

And now… now he was just back to being
cold and aloof.

“When is the meeting?” I asked.

“In half an hour,” he said.
 
“We’re meeting at Norman’s.”

Norman’s was the restaurant in the Orange
Ivy Hotel.
 
I’d never been there,
but it was a famous New York staple, the kind of place where business deals
went down and people went to be seen.
 
The irony of the situation – that I would be taken to a fancy
restaurant to talk about my involvement with a murderer, and also to be shown
the evidence that was going to be presented in his murder trial – wasn’t
lost on me.

“Fine,” I said.

“Jared will bring the car around.”

“I think I’m going to walk.”

“No.”

“No?”

“No, Charlotte.
 
You’ll take the car with me.”

“I think a walk would be good for
me.
 
I need the fresh air, I need
to clear my head.”

“It’s not safe.
 
Until we figure out who’s been making those calls to you, I
can’t allow that.”

I balled my fists at my sides until my
nails were cutting into my palms.

I hated this.
 
Why was he acting this way?
 

The last thing I wanted was to get into a
car with him.
 
But I knew that if I
got upset, he would just make me feel like I was being emotional, that I needed
to get control of myself.
 
What was
it he’d said?
 
That I needed to
focus.

So I pasted a smile on my face.

“Okay,” I said.
 
“Let’s go.”

**

There was no conversation on the ride to
Midtown -- Noah rolled calls the whole time.
 
His practice was thriving and well from the sound of
it.
 
The fact that he’d been
arrested for murder hadn’t hit the newspapers yet, and I wondered what would
happen when it did.

For a while, I had my iPad out, scrolling
through my emails, responding to one about a Criminal Law class that was being
held next semester, checking online message boards for my classes to make sure
I hadn’t missed anything.
 
I had a
paper due that I was going to need to get working on.

The whole time, though, I was focused on
Noah.

I couldn’t help it.

I listened to him bark orders and make
deals, his voice strong and commanding.
 
I watched him out of the corner of my eye.
 
He’d changed into a beautifully cut black suit and crisp
grey shirt that set off his broad shoulders.
 
As he talked, he made a note in his phone, and his sleeve
slid up just a tiny bit, revealing a gorgeous black watch with a large
face.
 
His forearm was strong, his
skin smooth and flawless, and I felt my body fill with longing.
 

He caught me looking at him as he ended
his call.

“Is everything okay, Charlotte?” he
asked.

“Yes.
 
Fine.”

I turned to look out the window, watching
Manhattan slide by in a blur.
 
It
was raining outside, not the romantic kind of rain that made you want to stay
inside curled up under a blanket, but the kind of drizzle that hung heavy in
the air and made your hair frizz.
 

When we pulled up in front of the Orange
Ivy, Jared opened the car door for us.
 

Noah pulled out an umbrella, and put his
arm around my waist, holding me close under the umbrella as we walked into the
restaurant.
 
I felt small next to
him, his height and broadness making me feel safe, protected.

But as soon as we got inside, he pulled
his arm from around me.

The Orange Ivy was a beautiful hotel, all
high ceilings and elegant gold fixtures.
 
We walked through a shiny marble foyer that was lined with mirrors, then
through an open waiting area that was more like a lobby for the restaurant.

Noah strode purposely to the hostess
stand, and the hostess sat him right away at a table in a private back room,
not even asking for his name or whether or not he had a reservation.

As soon as we sat down, a waiter appeared
with two tall narrow glasses filled with smoothies.

“Thank you,” Noah said.
 
“Just coffee for now.
 
We’ll wait for our party to arrive
before ordering.”

The waiter slipped away and Noah regarded
me over the table.
 

“What?” I asked, feeling self-conscious
under his gaze.

“I just… “ he trailed off, seemingly at a
loss for words, which was very unlike him.
 
“You are so goddamn beautiful.”

My face flushed as the waiter returned
and set down a carafe of coffee on the table.
 
Noah picked it up and went to pour some into my cup, but I
stopped him.

“I don’t like coffee.”

He didn’t listen, instead filling my cup
to the brim and watching to make sure I took a sip.

The liquid was rich, and even though I
was drinking it black, it wasn’t bitter.
 
It went down hot and smooth.
 

“It’s good,” I admitted. I wasn’t sure if
my newfound taste for coffee was because the coffee here was just that good, or
because of the pleasure I got from pleasing Noah.
 

I noticed for the first time that the
table was set for four.

“Is Josh coming?” I asked.

“He’s not.”

“Then who’s the fourth place for?”

“An associate of Colin’s,” Noah
said.
 

“An associate?”
 
I frowned.

“Yes.”

“For what?”

“Now that the trial is staring, he
thought it would make sense to have more help.”

“Right.”
 
I set my napkin in my lap and twisted it hard to keep from
screaming in frustration.
 
I didn’t
want another associate on Noah’s case, didn’t want another pair of eyes looking
everything over.
 
I wanted to ask
Noah when it had been decided that another person would be working with us, if
it was before or after it had been found out that I was on the witness
list.
 
Had Professor Worthington
brought on another associate because he knew I was about to be thrown off the
case?
 

I told myself that didn’t make
sense.
 
You wouldn’t bring in
another lawyer to replace a law student.
 
And murder trials this big always had a team of people working on
them.
 
In fact, Professor
Worthington had probably had multiple people helping with the case
already.
 

And now that Noah had been arrested and
charged, it would make sense that those people would become more involved.

Noah reached into his briefcase and
pulled out the folder that had been delivered to him this morning.
 
He set it down on the table between us.

“Charlotte,” Noah said.

“Yes?”
 
My hands had gone cold, and I reached out and grabbed my
coffee cup, taking another sip before setting it back down on the table and
wrapping my hands around it, trying to get some warmth back in my fingers.

“Whatever is in this folder doesn’t
change the way I feel about you.”

Tears pricked at the back of my eyes, and
I was hit with a sudden surge of emotion for him, for this damaged man I was
falling in love with.
 

I wasn’t sure how to reply, wasn’t sure
what to say.
 
I wanted to choose my
words carefully, to make sure I let him know that I believed him, that I knew
he cared about me, that I knew he would never hurt me.

But before I could figure out exactly
what it was I wanted to say, Professor Worthington came bustling into the back
room of the restaurant.
 
He was
wearing a tan trench coat that was slick with rain, and a waiter rushed over to
whisk it away as soon as he took it off.

“Wow,” he said as he sat down next to
Noah.
 
“It’s really coming down out
there.”

“Nice to see you, Colin, as always,” Noah
said.

“Likewise.” Professor Worthington turned
to me and gave me a nod.
 
“Charlotte.”

As I nodded back at him, I could feel
someone’s presence next to me, standing at the periphery of my vision.
 
I turned to come face to face with a
woman’s torso.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Professor Worthington
said as the woman slid into the seat next to me.
 
She smelled like an expensive perfume, something fruity that
made me want to take a deep breath so I could inhale more of it.
 
“This is my associate, Clementine
Hayes.
 
Clementine, this is my
client, Noah Cutler, and my student, Charlotte Holloway.”