Blake frowned but tried to cover it up. “Of course.”

At my apartment building, he walked me to the door. “Are you free next Saturday afternoon, by any chance?”

“Umm...”

“We have a firm barbecue for the partners. To be honest, it’s usually torture. I could use the plus one. Most people bring their families or a date. Having you by my side would make the day more bearable.”

He read the hesitancy on my face.

“Plus, my partners would like to meet you.”

I was taken aback. “They know about me?”

“I had to mention I was seeing someone in order to get the approval from the other partners to allow me to add a pro bono case after we’d already gone over our allotment for the year. I might’ve bragged about what a do-gooder the woman I was seeing is.”

Damn it. How could I say no to being his plus one when he’d gone out of his way for me? I couldn’t, so I forced yet another smile. “Sure. A barbecue sounds fun.”

Since we’d gone to dinner at seven, it was only nine thirty when I plopped down on my couch wearing my favorite pair of sweats. It was too late to start binge-watching The Bachelor. Plus, I’d promised Skye I’d wait for us to watch it together. So instead I scrolled through social media on my phone.

But my mind was elsewhere. It had been ever since Blake and I spoke about Donovan—even before that, if I was honest with myself. I also wasn’t quite sure how to handle the information he’d shared with me at dinner about what Donovan needed to do in order to make partner. On one hand, it would be wrong to share a private conversation I’d had with the guy I was dating. On the other hand, Donovan had gone above and beyond for Storm and me when he’d helped me search for him—not to mention introducing him to Bud and trying to teach him some values. So it felt like I owed Donovan one, and passing along a little inside information as a payback might settle our score.

I sat there for ten minutes, staring at Donovan’s phone number in my contacts while I debated it over and over again. At one point, my phone buzzed in my hand, and when I realized who’d texted me, it was the sign I needed to make a decision.

Donovan: Bud needs to push Storm working for him tomorrow until late afternoon. He forgot he has an appointment.

I typed back.

Autumn: Oh, okay. Thanks for letting me know. What time do you think I should bring him over?

Donovan: 3 should be good.

Autumn: Thanks.

I tapped my pointer finger to my lips for a minute, debating one last time how to bring up what I’d learned. Eventually, I decided it would be a better live conversation.

Autumn: Are you busy? Can you talk for a moment?

My phone rang five seconds later. I picked it up with a smile. “Hello.”

“Haven’t you figured it out yet?” he said. “I’m never too busy for you.”

God, I felt that velvety, deep voice down in my belly. The sound of it and his flirting had my smile stretching so wide, I was surprised my face didn’t crack. “I bet you say that to all the girls.”

“Nope. Just one.”

I laughed. “Listen, this is kind of weird to bring up, but I spoke to Blake earlier, and he asked me how everything was going with Storm’s case. I said everything was going great, and then he mentioned you were up for partner.”

“Okay…”

“He said he was still undecided on his vote, but that there were two things that might sway it in your favor.”

“What’s that?”

“Doing well on Storm’s case and—I don’t actually know what case this refers to, but he said you had a client who did something stupid today, and if you could manage to not fire him, that would bode well for you.”

Donovan was quiet for so long, I wondered if he might’ve hung up.

“Are you still there?”

He let out a long groan. “Fuuuuck!”

“What’s the matter?”

“I fired him twenty minutes ago.”

“You fired the client? I didn’t even know that was a thing.”

From the sound of his voice, I pictured him dragging his hand through his hair. “It’s my thing.” He paused. “Damn it!”

“Sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. I just…fuck…fuck…fuck! I need to get in touch with Bentley.”

“Is that the client?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright. Well, I’ll let you go deal with that.”

“Jesus, seven years of working my ass off could’ve gone out the window if you hadn’t told me that.”

It felt good to have helped. “Well, now I’m glad I went tonight after all.”

“Went?”

“To dinner with Blake.”

The line fell silent. When Donovan finally spoke again, his voice was flat. “I gotta run. Thanks for the information.”

CHAPTER 12

* * *

Donovan

“What the hell?”

I stood at the curb of Bud’s house with a bag of garbage in hand, watching a car come down the street. The sound of something scraping along the asphalt grew louder as it approached, and sparks shot out of the driver’s side wheel well. When the car pulled up, I realized it was Autumn behind the wheel. Her side quarter panel was completely dented in, and something metal hung from it, which must’ve been the source of the friction and sparks. I could see she was frazzled, especially after she parked and attempted to get out, but the door wouldn’t seem to open.

“Stop,” I yelled and put my hand up. She still jammed her shoulder into the door one more time. I walked over next to the car. “Let me try to open it from this side.”

The first few tugs on the door opened it slightly, but not enough for her to get out. So I lifted a foot up on the side of the door for leverage and yanked the thing wide. Autumn climbed out grumbling, while Storm walked around from the passenger side of the car looking a little nervous. He hadn’t seemed that uneasy the night he was locked up at the police station.

“What happened to your car?” I asked.

“Someone hit me.”

“Are you okay?” I looked at Storm. “You good?”

“We’re fine,” Autumn assured me. “We weren’t in the car when it happened. I stopped a few blocks away to pick up a cake to bring Bud. When I came out, someone had smashed into my car.” She looked over at the dent, then nodded toward Storm. “Thankfully, this one doesn’t think I’m capable of walking into a store without a bodyguard, or he would’ve been in it.”

That made me smile. It’s not like she would’ve been mugged in broad daylight around here—well, at least the chances of it were low—but I wouldn’t have let her go in alone either.

I nodded at Storm. “Good looking out.”

Autumn rolled her eyes. “When I asked the other driver for his insurance card, he said he didn’t have any. Who drives without insurance?”

“Did you get a police report?” I asked.

“I did—even though the guy didn’t want me to call them.”

Well, that explained why they were an hour late. I’d been beginning to think she wasn’t going to show, that maybe she was pissed off because of the attitude I’d given her last night on the phone.