The Law of Unexpected Attraction: An Enemies to Lovers Romantic Comedy (Book 1: Dani & Nick)

by E. M. Shea

  “Sure, I’d like to meet her,” Dani replied, mentally noting that it would be only the second Cedarsville resident she had helped at the center. Not surprising, given that the center helped women in need from well over a dozen communities in the greater Boston area.

  “Great. She’s actually waiting in the first meeting room whenever you’re ready.”

  Dani smiled wryly. “And what if I had said ‘no’?”

  “I’m not sure,” Kristen said with a knowing look. “It never crossed my mind that you would.”

  ◆◆◆

  “Hello, I’m Dani Scott,” Dani said ten minutes later as she introduced herself to the young, tense-looking woman seated on a thick-cushioned chair in the meeting room.

  “Hi, I’m Rose Hernandez,” she replied quietly, a pained smile hinting at a world of difficulties teetering on the slight shoulders of her petite frame. With dark, wavy hair that rolled past her shoulders and deep brown eyes, it was clear to see that she was a natural beauty. But the strain in her gaunt face, no doubt the result of cumulative stress, had added years to her appearance. That would all change once she got back on track, Dani thought. But as she took a seat across from Rose and read over her file, she knew it was not going to be a quick fix.

  “It looks like your ex-husband has really put you through the ringer.”

  “He has,” Rose sighed. “I just want it to end. Not only for me, but especially for my kids.”

  “Of course.” Dani nodded as she continued to scan the file, then paused and looked up. “Are you and the children staying here?”

  “We are, but I just got accepted at Washington Heights.”

  Dani was familiar with the subsidized housing units. “That’s great. Isn’t it?” she asked quizzically when she noticed Rose appeared less than enthused.

  “It would be if I could get a restraining order against my ex. Otherwise, I know he’ll somehow find out where I’m living, and I’m afraid of what he’ll do.”

  Dani shook her head, the gesture aimed at the frustrating and all-too-common circumstances. After all, for many of the women at the center, domestic abuse and violence played a significant role in their present situation.

  “Well, based on what I’m seeing here in your file, getting that restraining order shouldn’t be a problem.”

  “It was before. That’s why I had to leave my home in Cedarsville and ended up here.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Rose nodded towards the file resting on Dani’s lap. “It should be in there somewhere. After I filed for divorce, my ex moved out, but he didn’t stay away. At first, he tried to sweet talk me into getting back with him. And I almost fell for it.” Rose looked down at the ground in bewilderment, as if she couldn’t comprehend her near willingness to reconcile.

  “It’s okay, Rose. People don’t show their bad side when they’re trying to win someone back, especially in an unhealthy relationship. And from what I just read, he was both physically and verbally abusive.”

  She nodded. “But then, he didn’t even try to pretend that things would be any different. He would barge in and start screaming at me, get the kids all upset …”

  “Did you call the police?”

  “I did, but I got nowhere.”

  “Did they come to your house?”

  “Yes. Three times.”

  “And what happened?”

  “The officer questioned my ex-husband, and of course my ex said he had just come by to talk to me because he still loved me. He denied doing anything wrong. I told the officer how he threatened to kill me if he ever caught me with another man, but it was his word against mine.”

  Dani felt her cheeks burn with anger. Multiple calls and police visits to the home, but no arrests. Something was not adding up. And worse? Rose’s file only went back two years, which meant all of these incidents would have happened under Nick’s watch. He may not have been the responding officer, but as a sergeant, it would have been his responsibility to have at least some oversight into how other officers were performing on the job.

  “Was it different officers who came to the house?” she asked.

  “No. It was the same one. Although two of the times he came with other officers.”

  “You don’t by chance remember his name, do you?”

  “I did make a point of looking at his badge the last time he came. It was Saint something.” Rose looked up at the ceiling as though trying to retrieve the full name from the ethers. She shook her head and looked back at Dani. “It’s like on the tip of my tongue, but I just can’t remember. Although he was anything but a saint, I can tell you that.”

  “Sure sounds that way. Well, the good news is I can definitely help you get a restraining order. Normally, we would use previous police incident reports as supporting evidence that a restraining order is merited, but in this case, I’m not sure what’s actually on file based on what you just told me. But I will find out—that’s for sure.”

  Rose’s forehead creased with apprehension. “What if there’s nothing to back up my claims?”

  “It will be harder, I won’t lie to you. But I’ve dealt with many cases like this, and it’s just a matter of getting everything on record, even if it’s after the fact.”

  “I hope so.”

  Dani pushed back her ire at the situation in order to pull forth a smile. She knew the almost medicinal power of encouragement in situations like this, and she wanted to leave Rose with a hefty dose of it.

  A short time later, she was sitting at one of the desks in the communal office, staring at her cellphone as her thumb hovered over the send button. She could, of course, go the standard route and make an official inquiry with the Cedarsville Police Department on its handling of Rose’s calls and the subsequent actions—or more fittingly, non-actions—by the responding officers. Or, she could cut through all the red tape and contact Nick directly. Partly because it would move things along that much faster. And partly because she needed to know—straight from him—why his department had failed to protect a young mother and her children even after she had sought out their help. She continued to wrestle inwardly as to the best course of action, then finally pressed the send button. A decision had been reached, and damn the consequences. One ring. Two rings. Three rings. Four. Okay, deep breaths. Voicemail should be next …

  “Hello.” Nick’s voice was strong and non-emotive as though he didn’t know who was on the other end. And why should he, Dani thought. He probably had long deleted her from his contact list. “I wasn’t exactly expecting to hear from you again.”

  So much for that theory. Your turn. Talk. “Well, I’m actually calling in a professional capacity.”

  There was a considerable stretch of silence, followed by, “Oh?”

  Dani drew in a deep breath, then relayed Rose’s situation to Nick. “As you can imagine,” she finally concluded, “I’m at a loss to understand why nothing was done during the three times officers from your police department came to her home.”

  “Look, I don’t blame you for being upset. That never should have happened, and I’m not sure why it did.”

  “She said it was the same officer who responded to the calls, and two of the three times, he was with another officer. His was name was Saint something.”

  It was several moments before Nick responded. “That would be Mike St. Germaine.”

  “So you know him.”

  “Of course. It’s a relatively small police department. Everyone knows everyone.”

  “What can you tell me about him?”

  Nick let out a loud sigh. “Well, for starters, he’s no longer on the force.”

  “Why?”

  “Can this be off the record?”

  Dani wasn’t sure how to respond to the question. “I’m not a reporter,” she finally said.

  “I know that. What I mean is, what I’m about to tell you isn’t public knowledge. And I’m pretty sure the department wants me to keep it that way, at least for the time being.”
>
  Dani was reluctant to agree to anything that could potentially stand in the way of a restraining for order for Rose. But at the same time, Nick was willing to go out on a limb for her—and the information he had could be vital. “Okay,” she agreed. “It’s off the record.”

  “Mike had a substance abuse problem and was let go about four or five months ago. None of us knew.” He paused. “I take that back. Some of us—myself included—suspected something was going on, though we couldn’t put our finger on exactly what that was. At least not at first. But showing up late for his shifts, doing a half-ass job filling out reports—it was a gradual slide into a situation where it was clear that he could no longer be trusted to carry out his duties.”

  “Wow. That’s not exactly what I was expecting to hear. And I appreciate you being upfront with me about it. Where is he now?”

  “Last I heard he was at some treatment center, though I’m not sure how it all turned out. To be honest, I had been meaning to reach out to him to see if there was anything I could do. There was no way to contact him when he was at the treatment center.”

  “Well, I guess that explains his mishandling of the situation with Rose. But what about the other officers who were with him?”

  “Without actual names, I can’t be sure, but there’s a good chance they were rookies.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because Mike loved training new officers. That was his thing. And he was great at it—at least until everything started going downhill. So if I’m right and those were rookies with him, they probably didn’t think it was within their realm to question his actions.”

  “You might want to find out who they were and make sure they know that the situation was mishandled so they don’t repeat the same mistakes.”

  “Are you telling me how to do my job?”

  Dani normally would have bristled at such a question, except that she was almost certain she heard the slightest hint of teasing in Nick’s voice.

  “Just some friendly advice,” she clarified.

  “Better than unfriendly advice, I suppose.”

  Dani began to grin, then reminded herself that the purpose of the call was to help Rose, not to reignite a go-nowhere situation with Nick. As the warmth of Nick’s kiss, the tingle-inducing caress of his hand flashed in her mind, she winced hard to shut the sensory images out. Think of something else. Anything else. Oh yeah—what about those hard abs? The magnetic eyes? The … NO! Anything else that’s not Nick related, dummy …

  “Is there any way I can help with the case you’re working on?”

  Dani crashed back into the present, taking several moments to regain her bearings. “Actually, there is. Her ex-husband is still an issue, and she’s afraid he’ll come after her once she leaves the center and moves into subsidized housing. I need to get a restraining order, but the fact that there will be a record of police visits to her former home—but no arrests, no nothing—it’s obviously not going to play in her favor. If you could write up an official explanation—it will be for the judge’s eyes only—then everything should move forward that much faster.”

  “Consider it done.”

  Dani moved the phone away from her ear for a moment as she did a double-take. “Well, that was surprisingly easy,” she said once the mouthpiece was back in place.

  “That’s because—probably for the first and last time—we’re on the same side about a legal issue.”

  “And hell hasn’t frozen over. Imagine that.”

  Nick laughed. It was quick and low-key, but a laugh nonetheless. “So, now that I have you on the phone, how are you doing?”

  “Oh … same ole, same ole. And you?”

  “Can’t say things are much different on my end, either.”

  “Volunteer for any more charity auctions?”

  “Please. I’m still having nightmares about the first one.”

  Dani’s stomach sank like a lead brick. “Oh. Sorry to hear that.”

  “Wait, no,” Nick quickly added. “I wasn’t referring to anything about you. Just the whole idea of getting up on a stage in front of a bunch of people and more or less making an idiot out of myself.”

  Dani grinned. “Yeah, I guess it’s not the same as making an idiot of yourself when no one’s looking.”

  “Very funny. So what about you? That crazy friend of yours still paying strangers thousands of dollars to take you out for dinner?”

  “You kidding? I’m still reading her the riot act for doing that the first time.”

  It was only after a full five seconds of silence—which felt like five minutes—that Dani realized it was her turn to jump in and quell any misunderstandings. “I didn’t mean because it was you. Just that she totally caught me off-guard, and I hate being on parade in front of a crowd, too.”

  “Hold on a sec,” Nick said as a muffled radio voice spoke in the background. “Look, a call just came in and I have to go,” he said a few moments later. “I’ll write up that explanation for you later this afternoon. But if you can, text me Rose’s full name and the address when she lived in Cedarsville.”

  “I will. And thanks for your help on this, Nick.”

  “I’m waiting.”

  “For what?”

  “Well, isn’t this where you’re supposed to say that you owe me one?”

  Dani was glad that he couldn’t see her smile. “Hey—I just gave you a head’s-up about a situation at your department that could blow up if it went public. At least now you can do some damage control before that happens. And I have to say, Nick, there could still be some major fallout once the judge reads your report. He or she is bound to wonder if this St. Germaine guy mishandled other incidents as well.”

  “Yeah, I kind of figured. So I guess we’re even.”

  “Well, I’ll let you go.” Dani paused, wondering what could possibly be a fitting sign-off under such atypical circumstances. “Take care,” she finally added.

  “You, too.”

  ◆◆◆

  Nick stared at the phone for several moments. Sure enough, the screen said: Dani. Call ended. So he wasn’t hallucinating after all. They actually did just have a conversation that touched on some hot-button topics that normally would have sent things south in a nanosecond, yet it nevertheless remained civil. In fact, he couldn’t have put it better than Dani did herself: Hell hadn’t frozen over.

  Lights flashing on the Explorer, and an unexpected smile flashing on his face, he did a U-turn in traffic and headed for the outskirts of town where a fender bender awaited.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Are you sitting down?”

  Dani peered down at the chair that was comfortably cradling her butt. “Ah, yup. Did you actually think I was standing?”

  Margaret sighed as she plopped into a chair across from Dani’s desk. “Of course not. It’s just a nicer way of saying I have some crappy news to deliver.”

  “Great.”

  “Remember that sweet young boy you had to defend as a favor to Leland?”

  Dani wrinkled her nose. “Which one? It’s hard to keep track of Leland’s many favors.”

  “Hopefully, they’ve just been the legal kind.” Margaret leaned forward in her chair. “Or has he started to ask for favors that involve body parts?”

  “Knock it off,” Dani said with a partial grin. “And please tell me you’re not referring to Sean Colby.”

  “Bingo. Looks like the little darling got caught texting while driving again. And—surprise, surprise—daddy is willing to pay anything to make it all go away.”

  “Well, unless he plans to pay off a corrupt judge, I don’t see how Sean is going to weasel his way out of this one. Not with a history of driving offenses related to phone use.”

  “Ahh … but that’s where you come in. Leland just called me from his vacay in Aspen. Probably naked from a hot tub high in the mountains, but I didn’t ask. Anyways, he just wanted to bark some last-minute orders, including assigning you to Sean’s case. Apparently
, the father called him and specifically requested you.”

  “Well, I’m officially denying the request.”

  “You can’t!”

  “Watch me. N-O. No. I have to draw the line somewhere.”

  Margaret leaned back in her chair. “Well, it looks like you’re drawing it around your neck. With a noose.”

  Dani stood up and paced behind her desk, stopping to look out the window at the overcast sky. She almost always could draw resolve from diverting her attention to nature and the outdoors, but not today. If anything, her thoughts were growing darker than the gray horizon.

  “Look, I know he’s the head honcho here. I get it. But that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have a say in the cases I take on. And to be honest, I’m sick of him offloading his ‘personal favor’ cases on me.”

  “Take it as a roundabout compliment,” Margaret suggested. “It means he thinks you’re the best lawyer here.”

  Dani shook her head. “You know, I gave Sean a mini lecture after his case was dropped and told him I would not be bailing his ass out if he got caught texting while driving again.”

  “So, um, tell me again why you decided to become a lawyer?”

  Dani flashed dagger eyes. “Seriously? Even you are siding with Leland on this?”

  “I really hope you don’t think that. I’m basically the messenger in this situation. But—to the point that Leland has made many times before—this is what we do here as a law firm. We represent clients. Including the scumbags we personally can’t stand. Think of it as the legal version of working behind a restaurant counter.”

  Dani shook her head in confusion. “Say what?”

  “You know, someone orders a burger and fries, hold the mayo. You bring them the order, they say, ‘I asked for extra mayo.’ It’s not like you can argue with them, because the customer’s always right. So you get them a burger with extra mayo, and you also keep your job.”