Page 38 of Courting the Consequences

They were both breathless as he slowly lowered her to the shower floor. He rested his head on his forearm over her head and gasped for breath. She leaned back against the shower wall, not trusting her legs to support her weight, and panted.

“Johnny,” she murmured, sliding a hand down his chest.

“Yeah baby?”

“Thank you.” She didn’t elaborate, felt she didn’t need to. They had been so in tune while alone in the shower.

He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “This might be new still,” his voice was gravelly, “but I promise you, I will show you just how special you are to me.” He cupped the back of her neck and stared deep into her eyes as he spoke the words like a vow to her.

She bit her lower lip and nodded, watching him.

He brushed his thumb over her lower lip, pulling it from her teeth, before he pressed a kiss to her lips.

Thetwoweeksfollowingher night spent at the clubhouse were busy. The boys had started to make themselves at home at Kara’s house. Usually, one or all three of them spent the night any given night of the week.

Kara had to lay down some rules for weeknights, though. She had work to do, and it wouldn’t be seemly if she was covered in hickeys and a walking zombie in the office. There were still too many spies of her father’s loitering around.

The boys had agreed, and while they were still able to have their fun, they mostly left her alone once she passed out for the evening.

She had had to upgrade her bed too. The little queen mattress was not enough for the four of them to fit in comfortably. They had made a trip to the bedding store downtown and picked out one of those fancy Alaskan king mattresses. The boys had bitched about the price and said a king would do, but she just smiled and handed over her black card to the sales rep.

When the bed was delivered later that same day and they had thoroughly christenedit, her men relented and said it was worth the money.

While the four of them were learning each other’s routines and boundaries in the evenings and weekends, during the day, Kara had begun digging into Case Holdings, Mac Taylor’s shell company, which he allegedly was using to embezzle money from Granger Ltd., one of the firm’s clients.

As CEO and managing partner for Carmichael and Associates, Kara felt it was her responsibility to know what was happening when one of their biggest clients was pressing charges for racketeering, embezzlement, money laundering, and fraud.

It didn’t surprise her to find out that Ken Laraway was their attorney. He probably didn’t even tell them that he’d been fired from Carmichael and Associates. Or maybe he did and this was another bylaw broken by him. Poaching clients.

She found that the more she dug into Case Holdings and the Granger case, the more dead ends and brick walls she slammed against. She even went so far as to hire Stonewall Financials, the number one forensic accounting firm in the country, to dig into the Carmichael accounts. She wanted a full audit done and needed it done discreetly.

Thankfully her very good friend Stephanie Stonewall happened to own the company and would keep things as discreet as she possibly could, but it would take her some time.

Kara didn’t like it, but she didn’t have a choice. While she waited for Stephanie to do her thing, Kara reached out to Freddy Danvers, with Johnny’s blessing of course, and set up a meeting.

Freddy Danvers was legendary in the courtroom. He was roughly her father’s age, early sixties. He was fit and filled out his tailored Tom Ford suit to perfection. He was an attractive man, with gray eyes that seemed to pierce right through you. His black hair was just starting to gray at the temples, and he was clean-shaven with a hint of a five-o’clock shadow on his jaw.

“Miss Carmichael.” He greeted her with a sharklike smile when she walked in ten minutes early. He stood and shook her hand and was completely cordial. He sat across the table from her at Supérieur, a posh French restaurant downtown, looking for all the world like a king in his castle. She was immediately put off by his exuberantshow. But she sat down across from him and played nice.

She had called for this meeting after all.

They kept talk light until they ordered their meals, then he finally turned the conversation toward the matter at hand. “So why do you want to meet my client?” He cut right to the chase.

“I thought I could help you,” she started, not quite liking his gruff persona. She was used to his type, though. She met them andcrushedthem daily in the courtroom. It had rubbed her the wrong way when she had called him to arrange a meeting with Mac Taylor, offering her assistance, and he had invited her to thisluncheoninstead.

Interrogation was more like it.

“I didn’t realize you had been practicing criminal law as of late, Miss Carmichael,” Freddy Danvers drawled.

She narrowed her eyes at the man. “Not particularly, but all laws can become criminal with the right incentive.”

He tipped his head at her in acquiescence. “And what brings the great Kara Carmichael, CEO and managing partner of Carmichael and Associates, down to mingle with the lowly criminal underbelly?”

“I’ll be real with you, Freddy. I’m dating Johnny Taylor.” She left it at that, not elaborating further.

Danvers narrowed his gaze on her, letting it roam over her face, as if reassessing her again. “I did not see that one coming,” He nodded toward her. She could see his persona shift as the airs were dropped. “Alright then. What do you know?”

“Not enough,” she answered immediately, ignoring that he’d finally come around. Men like him were a dime a dozen. “I know that Mac is being accused of crimes he didn’t commit. I know that Case Holdingsshouldn’tbe an active company. But it sounds like Mac didn’t give you much to go on,” Kara said.

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