Page 77 of Bad Situation

Fuck yeah, I’m selfish. Because, if I had the chance to go back to Chicago to do the right thing—the only thing I should be thinking about right now—there’s no way I’d go. It’s an ugly fact and I’m not proud of it.

Right now, I want Jensen Montgomery and nothing else.

I get off the elevator and head for her door, thinking I need to get a key even though she said she’d be home by now since she cancelled her workout with Jase, which only reminds me that I need to convince her to cancel all future sessions with him.

I rap twice on the door and it doesn’t take long for it to open. But instead of the woman that I took for the first time this morning, it’s her father.

I’ve read up on Kipp Montgomery. Everything I found was carefully and methodically published—intricately crafted by some corporate communications manager. Now that I know Jen, I know it’s how he operates. He’s private, even more so than his daughter.

Standing there with a death grip on the door handle as he glares at me, I know enough about him to infer that right now he’s probably imagining me bound and hanging from a tree.

I don’t give a shit. In my job, I’m used to people not liking me, so I offer him my hand. “I didn’t introduce myself last night. Eli Pettit.”

The man with graying hair, who looks nothing like a cowboy—even though, from what I’ve read he’s so much of one he’s probably got dirt on his bones—doesn’t take my hand. “I know who you are. I’m not sure I can trust you with my daughter or my CFO but she’s doing her damnedest to convince me otherwise.”

Before I have the chance to help convince him of anything, Jen puts a hand to her father’s bicep and forces him to step back. She looks tired and worn down, but no less beautiful. When she grabs my hand and pulls me through the doorway, the fact that I’m all kinds of an asshole might as well be written in the stars because there’s no way on earth Sarah can drag my ass out of the Lone Star State at this point.

Jen ignores her father and lifts up on her toes to press her lips to mine as her father grimaces. “Don’t worry, Eli. He doesn’t have a say on who I trust myself with.”

Kipp throws the door shut so hard that it would’ve rattled the windows off the house I grew up in, but here, in this building of steel, it doesn’t even squeak. “Fine, do what you want outside of work, but I’m not giving him access to my company. Not while he’s trying to hang a case on you.”

Jen lets my hand go and moves to her kitchen. She’s changed into a long sleeve cotton dress that hits the middle of her bare thighs and she’s barefoot—a complete contradiction to who she is when she puts on her CFO armor. I’m not sure which turns me on more.

She rubs her face and sounds tired as she continues with a conversation that must’ve been going on long before I got here. “Dad, you’re not thinking clearly. You’re normally even-keeled and logical, but even you have been affected by what’s happened. Losing Patrick and then Trig showing up today … I’m doing my best to be patient, but do not put me in the position you have and question my judgment.”

I dump my bags on her dining table and look through her kitchen where she’s stirring something at the stove that smells like garlic and onions. “Who’s Trig?”

Her father practically growls under his breath and Jen turns to me, arms folded. “It’s drama-central, but Trig is Easton Barrett, my new lead attorney. Trust me, you don’t want to know, but I’ll tell you later. We don’t need to dredge it all up in front of my dad, he might have a coronary.”

I raise a brow but don’t say anything.

Jen pushes off of the counter where she was leaning and goes to her fridge. “You want a beer, Dad?”

Kipp sits on the sofa and leans back, closing his eyes. “No. I gotta get home to your mama. She’s holding it together because we have Jordy and Cara this week, but she’s a mess about Patrick. I shouldn’t have left her today but I had no choice.”

She pulls a beer out of the fridge and grabs a glass of wine that was sitting on the counter, making her way straight to me. She hands me the beer and goes to a chair across from her father but looks to me. “Tell him about yourself.”

I frown. “What do you mean?”

She gives me her eyes before slicing them to her father. “He went to Harvard, Dad—on scholarship—and studied finance with a minor in criminal justice. He worked white-collar crimes before he went undercover and took down the MacLachlans, pretty much single-handedly. Do not sit there and pretend that’s not impressive because, if there’s anyone in this world who appreciates hard work, it’s you.”

Kipp leans back and stares at the high ceiling.

Jen looks to me and her face says it all—she’s exhausted and she’s had enough. “I need to ask you to do something that might not be ethical.”

I put down the beer I’ve yet to take a drink of and cross my arms. “What?”

Her dad frowns at her. “There are other ways.”

She never takes her pleading eyes off me and I wonder if I could ever say no to her. “I want to give you full access to Montgomery Industries. Security, networks, electronic files—everything. I want you to find what the PI uncovered and told Patrick. We couldn’t find anything on Patrick’s laptop or in his email. All the information he was given must’ve been done over the phone or in person. It’s only a matter of time before authorities will follow those leads but I want it done in-house.”

She’s right. It’s not ethical, especially when she hasn’t been dismissed yet, and it’s not officially my case.

But it falls into that gray area I have no problem treading. And I was right, I doubt there’s anything I’d ever deny her. “I’ll do it.”

Her face falls in relief. “Thank you.”

Kipp pulls himself to his feet and he looks as tired as his daughter. He walks over to her and lifts her chin to look up at him. “The only reason I’m letting this happen is because I run a tight ship and I know you’ve done nothing wrong.” He looks to me and adds, “And because you saved my daughter’s life. She just spent the last hour convincing me you’re not trying to take advantage of her. Make no mistake, Pettit. You do not want to see what it looks like to cross my family.”

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