Both of the women looked really excited. They were smiling, and Rose was practically jumping up and down as she held an envelope in her hand.
“We got bonuses from Mr. Stern. Rose hasn’t opened hers yet,” Susan said.
“Well, open it already,” Noah demanded, just as eager to see it as Rose was.
She slowly ripped open the envelope and pulled the check out. Her eyes widened as she looked at it and tried to register what she was seeing. Rose had already seen one big check that day, and now she was holding another one in her hands.
“Is it the same as mine?” Susan asked. “I’d be fine with you getting more; you did all the work.” Susan leaned over and looked at the check. “Holy hell girl. That’s a lot of Manolo Blahniks.”
“I don’t know what those are, but how much is it?” Noah asked. “You deserve it. That was an amazing job you two did on that case.”
Rose couldn’t speak. She simply turned the check around and showed it to Noah. His jaw dropped open and then he couldn’t speak either. Theodore Stern had given Rose a check for $250,000. That was more than Rose earned in a year. It was more than she earned in three years as a second-year lawyer.
“Now who says that women don’t get paid as much as men?” Susan laughed.
“Yeah, she’s definitely breaking the class ceiling. How much was yours?”
“One hundred thousand. That’s amazing; I’m so grateful,” Susan said.
“I don’t even know what to do with this,” Rose said as she held the check gingerly. “Do I just sign the back and deposit it into my bank account? My bank is surely going to think it is strange, or fake.”
“Yep, make sure and save some out for taxes,” Noah added. “I received a bonus once from a client when we settled. If you think about it, you saved him millions of dollars, stress and time. That money is a reasonable gift for all that you saved him.”
“It’s so much money.”
“I know, but you deserve it,” Noah said.
He started to lean in toward Rose and almost forgot himself. He wanted to hug her and congratulate Rose, but he couldn’t do that while they were in the office. Noah had his hand on her elbow and then awkwardly pulled it away. He felt close to Rose, and it was going to be much harder than he’d expected to keep his hands off of her while they were at the office.
“How much was it?” Elaine said as she poked her head back in the office.
Rose hadn’t even seen her get off the elevator and hoped that Elaine hadn’t seen how close Noah had been to her.
“It was a quarter of a million,” Noah replied as he took a step back. “I think that sets the record for us. Didn’t you get one hundred thousand once?”
“Yep, that is a record,” Elaine said. “Congratulations. You deserve it.”
Noah said his good-byes and then caught up to Elaine as she went down the hall to the new associates. He didn’t want to be seen hanging around Rose too much, and he had to talk with Elaine about his issue with the president. Certainly, he didn’t want to tell her everything, but they were partners, and he needed some advice on what he should do.
“I need your advice,” Noah said. “I’ve got a big client who wants me to stop a search warrant. How legal is that?”
“Who’s the client?”
“Big.”
Noah didn’t feel ready to divulge who the client was. Not because he was worried about Elaine, but just because he wanted to try and settle the whole situation on his own. He didn’t like that Rose had thought he needed to talk things over with Elaine or get her approval. That certainly wasn’t what he needed, but Noah did want to talk to Elaine and see if she could help.
“Okay, well you can’t specifically stop it. But you can try and find out what they want it for. Maybe you can squash the need for it all together. Do you want my contact at the police?”
“Yeah, is he trustworthy?”
“Yep, he’ll find out what they are after for you.”
Noah felt a huge relief rush through him. He might not even have to approach the judge at all. If he could find out from the police what they needed, maybe he could convince the president to just give them what they wanted. Then again, Noah had no idea what the police wanted, and he was damn sure the president was trying to keep something away from them.
“Thank you, this is a slippery slope we walk.”
“Yes, it is. But always follow your gut. It will tell you what’s right.”
Noah’s gut was telling him to run away as fast as possible. He had just started to get to know Rose, and the last thing he needed was to be sent to prison for bribing a judge. Noah didn’t want anything to do with this plan, but it was the president, and he couldn’t exactly refuse the man. Matthew Storm scared the hell out of Noah. There had been enough talk about the things Matthew was capable of doing that Noah knew he didn’t want to cross the man in any way.
“Thanks Elaine.”
“No problem. Let me know if I can be of any help.”
As Noah walked back to his office, it struck him that Elaine was being awfully friendly that day. It was totally out of character for her to spend that much time socializing with staff or to offer to help. She used to do those things, but in recent years, Elaine had been all about the bottom line and not nearly as friendly as she used to be. Something about her behavior struck Noah as odd, but he couldn’t exactly decide what it was.
His gut squeezed in pain as he thought about Elaine and the situation going on with the president. But none of those stressors could subdue how excited he was that things had finally taken off with him and Rose. It was awkward to be at work with her and not be able to touch her, talk to her, or even smile without thinking someone would find out their secret. But he was determined to make things work. He finally had Rose for himself, and there wasn’t anything that was going to stop him from keeping her.
“Do you want to go on a date tonight?” Noah text Rose.
“Sure.”
“I’ll pick you up at eight.”
“I’m excited,” she replied.
Noah was excited too. Their night had been a surprise for him, but this date would be much better. He was going to take her to dinner, and then they could walk down by the monuments. It would be the perfect evening, and he would finally get to show Rose just how perfect the two of them were for each other.
He had known they were perfect for each other for years. Noah knew Rose better than she even knew herself; this was the moment he had waited for, and he wasn’t going to ruin it. One of the things he knew about Rose was how much she loved a romantic date. She hadn’t talked about it in the years since Derek had died. But when before his death, Rose used to fawn over her friends and their first dates. She would ask where they went and what the guy did. Noah knew it was important to her, and he wanted to make sure Rose had an amazing first date that she would be able to tell their kids and grandkids about.
Grandkids? Noah laughed. In the last twenty-four hours, he had gone from watching Rose from afar to planning out the next fifty years of his life. It wasn’t expected, but it was exciting that he was finally going to get his chance to amaze Rose. He was going to give her the best date ever, but first, he needed to find out what the police wanted with the president.
The whole situation with the president was odd. Noah knew that the president was a rough guy. On the outside, he looked like any normal preppy businessman, but underneath that smiling exterior, Noah was sure that the president wouldn’t hesitate at all to order a hit on someone if they crossed him.
Chapter 35
“Elaine sent me,” Noah said as he met up with his police informant.
Meeting with secret informants wasn’t really Noah’s thing. He was a lawyer after all and not a private investigator. The man that arrived to meet with Noah seemed more than comfortable and didn’t even look nervous as they sat and talked.
“What do you need?”
“There is an investigation going on with the president. I need to know w
hat they are looking for, and if I can get it to them, will they stop trying to get a search warrant.”
The man laughed as he nervously looked around, suddenly much more concerned with who might be listening to their conversation. It was obvious that he didn’t have any information at all about the president. In fact, he seemed to think Noah was joking with him until Noah continued to look straight-faced at the man and didn’t laugh with him.
“Serious?”
“Yes, I’m serious,” Noah responded, annoyed. “Can you help me?”
“Man I haven’t heard anything about the president, but I suppose they would keep that undercover. I can see what I can find.”
“I don’t have much time,” Noah said urgently.
The last thing Noah wanted was to have the search warrant issued before he was able to do anything to stop it. He at least needed to know what they were looking for so he could warn the president.
If they could figure out what the police were after, then the president could get that to the police. Or, more than likely, the president could make that evidence disappear so that it couldn’t incriminate him when they finally got their search warrant.
“Can you give me twenty-four hours?”
“Yes. Here’s my number. You can call me anytime.”
Noah didn’t want to wait twenty-four hours, but he didn’t see any alternative. If this officer couldn’t figure out what they were searching for, then Noah was likely going to turn on the morning news to the White House being searched by the Washington D.C. police department. And that wasn’t at all going to help Noah’s career if it got out that he had been the legal counsel to the president when a search warrant on the White House was issued.
“I’ll let you know. But maybe the president shouldn’t be doing illegal things; then he wouldn’t have to worry about search warrants.”
Noah didn’t respond to the man as he left. It wasn’t worth getting into an argument over. The officer was right; the president shouldn’t be doing illegal things. But Noah didn’t even know if he was doing anything illegal or not. All he knew was that the police thought the president was doing something, and the president was scared enough that he hired Noah and Rose. In fact, the president was so scared that he was willing to risk someone finding out his secret just so he could hire Noah and get the truth before anyone else.
The whole situation made Noah uneasy, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was in over his head. Matthew Storm wasn’t like normal men, he was the president and with that title, he could do almost anything he wanted. If Noah messed up this job, he was certain the president would make him pay for his mistake. Noah couldn’t screw things up. If Noah messed this situation up for the president, he would forever be looked at as the man who couldn’t keep the president out of jail; that was only if the president didn’t have him murdered.
On the drive over to Rose’s apartment, Noah started to feel butterflies in his stomach. This was his first date with Rose. Sure, they knew each other better than most people who went on first dates, but Noah wasn’t sure that helped at all. In fact, it made things seem even more awkward. Noah couldn’t ask all the lame first date questions like he normally would; he already knew all the answers.
The knock of his knuckles on the door vibrated through his body. He took in a deep breath as he waited for Rose to answer the door. This was going to be one hell of a night, and he was going to make sure Rose remembered it forever. Noah had planned out every single moment of the evening and even allowed a little extra time to ensure the perfection of the night. Absolutely nothing could get in their way now; Noah and Rose were about to start their relationship.
As Rose opened the door, Noah’s eyes took in the tiny black dress she had on. He couldn’t talk. He couldn’t move. Every bit of energy was consumed with remembering how she looked in that dress. His body reacted to her sexy curves, and suddenly he wished he hadn’t planned the whole night out. If he hadn’t planned it in such a detailed way, he would have felt better about canceling dinner and just carrying Rose off to her bed for another evening of naked fun.
“That’s a damn fine dress you have on,” Noah finally managed to say.
“Oh, this old thing?” Rose joked.
Noah held his arm out for Rose to grab onto as they made their way down the hallway. It felt good to have Rose on his arm. It felt like everything in the world was exactly as it was supposed to be. As much as he wanted to make love to her again, Noah was pretty damn excited to finally have her out on a date with him.
When the elevator door opened, Noah held it so Rose could get in first. But as she stepped over the crack, one of her heels got stuck. She pulled on her foot while Noah held the door open, but it just wouldn’t come out. Finally, Rose had to take her foot out of the shoe and let Noah try to get the shoe out of the crack between the elevator and the floor. It was more than stuck, the shoe became so wedged in the opening that Rose thought for sure it was going to be stuck there forever.
“I’ve got it,” Noah said as he leaned down and tried to pull the shoe.
His tugging finally paid off as the shoe came out of the opening and flung up into the air, landing smack dab on Rose’s face.
“Shit!” Rose said as her hand flew up to her face.
She screamed out as the heel of the shoe scratched her cheek. Luckily it wasn’t bleeding, but it certainly was going to leave a mark. The shoe had pounded right into her cheek, and Rose was holding onto it and looked as if she was holding back tears at the same time.
“Oh, God, I’m so sorry,” Noah said as he reached for her red cheek.
“It’s okay. I’m fine. Help me get that darn shoe back on.”
Noah did as he was told and leaned over to help Rose with her shoe, and as he bent down, there was a loud ripping noise that came from the back of his pants. He closed his eyes slowly as the sound registered in his brain. This couldn’t be happening. Noah couldn’t have split the seam of his brand new slacks. That didn’t happen to normal guys when they were out on dates, that kind of thing only happened in the movies.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Noah said under his breath.
Rose started to laugh as she leaned over and saw the seam of Noah’s pants totally exposing his underwear.
“Looks like you have a little air conditioning problem back there,” she said giggling. “I have some pants in my apartment. We can go back up, and you can change.”
“You have men’s pants?” he questioned as he raised one eyebrow.
Noah wasn’t about to ask whose pants they were, he didn’t want to know. But it was the only option he had if he wanted to actually make their reservation on time.
“I guess they will have to do.”
Noah reluctantly followed Rose back to her apartment and looked through several pairs of men’s pants that she handed him. It took everything he had inside of him not to ask who the pants belonged to, but he suspected they were Bronx’s.
He found a sensible pair of slacks, and they were back in the elevator in no time. Without incident, they were able to make it down to his car and even arrived a few minutes early for their reservation at Minton’s.
Minton’s was the newest hot spot in town. Noah had called in a few favors to get the reservation for that night. He wanted to impress Rose, and so far their date hadn’t gone well at all. He had hit her in the face with a shoe, split his pants open, and put on a pair of pants that belonged to one of her old boyfriends. Noah needed to change the trajectory of their date and fast.
“Follow me please,” the hostess said when they arrived.
Noah and Rose followed the young woman all the way to the back of the restaurant and to a small table just outside the bathrooms. It was easily the worst table in the place, but Noah noticed that there were no empty tables at all. His urge to argue with the woman was squashed by a bigger urge to make the best of things.
“Thank you,” Rose said to the woman as they were seated. “You must have pulled some serious
strings to get a table on such short notice.”
“I think I should have pulled those strings a little harder,” he joked.
“No, this is great. At least I won’t have to go far when I rush off to the bathroom to check how the bruise on my face is doing.”
Rose laughed, and Noah had to join in. Things certainly weren’t going their way that night.
“I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’m fine.”
“No, I wanted this to be the best date of your life. I wanted you to have an amazing story to tell all your friends.”
“I’m going to have a pretty good story so far.” She continued to laugh. “Oh, look who is over there,” Rose said as she pointed to a table across the room.
It was Elaine, and at first, Noah turned back around so he wasn’t noticed, but then he realized who she was with. He quickly turned around again and took in the group. Elaine was with two men and one woman; all of whom made up the most powerful political people in the judicial circuit. If Noah hadn’t known better, he would have thought Elaine was trying for a judgeship or something.
“Those are the people who get judges elected in this town,” Noah said as he turned back around.
“Does Elaine want to be a judge?”
“She’s never mentioned anything about it to me. But it would be a next logical step. The problem is she can’t own the law firm if she does; I’d have to buy her out, or take on a new partner.”
“That’s scary.”
“Yeah, it puts the whole firm in danger of a takeover. She really should have talked to me about this.”
The mood had suddenly turned serious. Noah wasn’t in any sort of position to buy Elaine out and wasn’t really sure he wanted to. Being the only named partner didn’t appeal to Noah at all. He didn’t want all that responsibility. Plus, it was a lot of money to risk without anyone else in the lifeboat with him.
“Did you tell her about the president?” Rose asked as she sipped on her water.
“Sort of,” he said with a sly grin.
Mine to Protect Page 64