Brooke

M ace was still sitting next to her on the bed, squeezing the life out of her hand. “Mace,” she whispered.

“Yeah,” he growled. could tell that he wasn’t taking the news about his half-brother or his father, but he was trying to keep it together.

“You’re hurting my hand,” she breathed.

“Shit,” he said, releasing her hand, “I’m so sorry. I guess I was more pissed off than I thought that I was.”

“I got that,” she grumbled, rubbing her hand. “I’m sorry that you had to find out that he was your father that way. I promise you that I didn’t know that he is your dad, Mace.”

“He was a sperm donor,” Mace insisted, “and nothing more.”

“I understand why you are saying that, but he could help to find Reece’s real killer and you can get your life back,” said.

“What if I don’t want my past life back?” he asked.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“I don’t want to go back to having sex, in my office at the bar, with random women. What if I want more?” he asked. Mace slid closer to her so that their bodies were touching again. felt as though her heart might beat right out of her chest and all she could think about was Mace kissing her. He was looking at her mouth and just wanted to lean in a little bit and let him take it from there.

“More what?” she shyly asked.

“More of this,” he whispered. “I like you and for the first time in my life, I want to take things slowly.”

“What do you usually do with women?” she asked. She really didn’t want to know any details, but she needed to know exactly what she was getting into.

“I fuck them and leave them,” Mace admitted. “I never have sex with the same woman twice, so she won’t get attached to me.”

“Yeah, I’m sure that’s difficult for you, Mace,” she teased.

“Ever since I met you, I’ve thought about taking you on a date and actually getting to know you, ,” he admitted.

She nodded, “While that’s sweet, I can’t accept. I don’t date clients.”

“Did you take an oath or something? Like, I solemnly swear that I won’t fuck my clients.” giggled and Mace smiled—something that she assumed didn’t happen often.

“You are very handsome when you smile, Mace,” she said. “You should do that more often.”

“Thanks, but I haven’t had very much to smile about lately,” he grumbled.

“I get that, but I still can’t date you, Mace,” she insisted. “I wish things were different.” She actually did feel that way and if she was being honest with herself, she would admit to Mace that she liked him too.

“Okay, how about you get me off the hook for murdering my half-brother and then, I’ll take you out to dinner,” he said. He technically wouldn’t be her client anymore and it wouldn’t go against her rule of dating clients.

“I’d like that, Mace,” she agreed, “but, you have to understand that proving your innocence now might be tough. Reece being your half-brother gives you motive to kill him. A jury would consider his murder a crime of passion.”

“How so?” he asked. “You’ll be painted as a man who found out that Reece was your half-brother and then, you went crazy and killed him.”

“That’s complete bullshit,” he growled.

“Well, it’s what will happen if we don’t get a lead in this case,” she said.

“Have you been able to trace down, Julie?” Mace asked. She hated even thinking about Mace having sex with the waitress.

“I haven’t been able to find her. The guys at your bar said that she hasn’t been in to work since you were arrested. It’s like she fell off the face of the planet,” said. If they couldn’t find the waitress, Mace’s alibi would be void and she’d have no case whatsoever.

“We need her as my alibi,” Mace said, almost reading her mind.

“Yes,” Brook breathed, “I’m just trying to be completely transparent with you, Mace.”

“I appreciate that,” Mace said. “I have her number in my phone since she worked for me. How about I try to get in touch with her? Maybe she’ll talk to me.” The thought of Mace talking to his former flame made her feel sick. But he was right, he might be able to get through to Julie.

“Fine, but don’t tell her what we need her to do. Set up a meeting with her and tell Julie that you need to see her. I’m assuming that you two left things on good terms,” she said.

“Um, sure,” he said.

“Great, ask her to meet you here and we’ll go from there,” ordered.

“Got it,” he agreed. “Now, let's get back to the date that I’d like to take you on.” giggled and pushed at his chest, not moving him at all.

“Let’s clear your name first and then, we’ll discuss the date that you want to take me on,” said. Mace groaned and stood up from the bed, leaving to instantly miss his closeness. He pulled out his cell phone and looked up Julie’s number.

“Put it on speaker, and remember, just ask her to come here,” she said. He nodded, holding his finger over his mouth as if shushing her. rolled her eyes at him and said a little prayer that Mace would be able to track down Julie.

“Hello,” a woman’s voice filled the room, and a part of wondered what she looked like. Brook had always felt like a mousy, tall girl who the other kids made fun of. She still saw herself that way sometimes when she looked in the mirror.

“It’s Mace, Julie,” he said.

“Oh, hi,” she whispered into the other end of the call. “I thought that you took off after the cops questioned you.”

“I did, but I need your help,” he said. “The cops wanted to ask you a few questions the night of the murder, but we couldn’t find you. Where did you go?” worried that he was going to spook Julie. The silence on the other end of the line was deafening.

“I got scared when they stormed in and took off. I told one of the cops that I had to go to the bathroom, and I climbed out of the back window,” Julie explained. Something about her story wasn’t quite adding up. wondered why the cops didn’t consider her a suspect rather than Mace’s alibi or a possible witness. quickly found a pad of paper and pen on the nightstand and started scribbling Mace questions to ask Julie. She handed him the paper and he looked it over and smiled.

“Did you know Reece Childs?” he asked.

“What—who is that?” Julie asked. could tell that she was stalling, and she just hoped that Mace could keep her talking until she agreed to meet him.

“He was the dead guy in my parking lot,” Mace said. “I’m just trying to figure out why he was there, and it was just you and me in the bar. He had to have been there to see one of us.” was impressed with the way that Mace seemed to be able to think quickly on his feet.

“Well, he must have been there to see you because I have no idea who he is,” Julie insisted. could tell by the tone of her voice that Julie was lying. She was pretty good at knowing if someone was telling her the truth or not and Julie was definitely lying.

“I would really like to see you again, Julie,” Mace breathed. Hearing him say those words to another woman had feeling every jealous bone in her body. “You know, pick up where we left off that night.”

“Oh,” Julie gasped, “I’d like that too, Mace. Where are you? I can come to you.” The only thing keeping from grabbing the phone from Mace’s hand and telling Julie to go fuck herself was the fact that she might be the only person to clear his name.

Mace quickly rattled off the address to the motel and Julie promised to be there within the hour and ended the call. just hoped that she wasn’t planning on setting Mace up. “Do you think she’ll call the cops?” Mace asked as if reading ’s mind.

“I don’t know, but we’re going to stay one step ahead of her, just in case she does,” insisted.

“How do you plan to do that?” Mace asked.

“Grab your stuff,” said. “We can wait for her around the corner. My car is just outside.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Mace asked. He seemed hesitant to leave his room and wondered if he didn’t trust her.

“Do you trust me, Mace?” she asked.

“I do,” he whispered.

“Then, get your shit together, and let’s get out of here. If she shows up here alone, we’ll know it and will meet her back here. If she sends the cops, we’ll be able to get out of here before they even know that you’re not in the room. It’s a good plan,” defended.

“Give me five minutes,” Mace said. She sat back down on the bed and wondered if she was making a mistake. Taking Mace out into public was a dangerous game. If she got caught, she could lose her license to practice law—or worse, be arrested for aiding and abetting a fugitive. But her gut told her that this was the right move because the thought of letting Mace spend any time alone with Julie made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. For some reason, didn’t trust his former waitress and hopefully tonight, she’d be able to figure out why.