Professional Duty

The scalding water did nothing to wash the feeling from my skin.

I stood under the spray for thirty minutes, scrubbing at flesh that still tingled with electricity, trying to drown the memory of his voice saying my name like a prayer. But every time I closed my eyes, I saw him pressed against that wall like I was something dangerous.

Maybe I was. Maybe that was the problem.

My body was a traitor. Even now, with soap suds sliding down my curves and steam fogging the mirror, I could feel the phantom weight of his gaze on my mouth. The way his pupils had blown wide when I’d whispered “yes” to feeling whatever this impossible connection was between us.

I’d never reacted to a man like this. Sure, I’d had relationships—safe lawyers who understood my ambition, men who fit neatly into my ordered world without causing ripples. But none of them had ever made me feel like I was coming apart just by existing in the same room.

Kane Drax was everything I should run from. Criminal. Violent. Dangerous in ways that had nothing to do with his record and everything to do with how he made me forget every principle I’d built my life on.

So why did his rejection feel like losing a piece of my soul?

I turned off the water and caught sight of myself in the mirror—skin flushed pink, hair wild with curls I’d finally freed from their professional prison, eyes dark with want I couldn’t hide. For a moment, I looked like someone who belonged in Kane’s world of leather and sin.

The thought should have terrified me.

Instead, heat pooled low in my belly as I imagined those scarred hands mapping every curve, that whiskey voice whispering filthy promises against my throat while he—

My phone rang, shattering the fantasy before I could do something really pathetic like touch myself again.

Patricia’s name flashed on the screen. Calling after hours meant either very good news or very bad news, and given my luck lately, I wasn’t betting on good.

“Calla? Sorry to bother you at home, but there’s been a development with the Drax case.”

My pulse jumped so hard I nearly dropped the phone. “What kind of development?”

“He fired his previous attorney this afternoon. Specifically requested for you.” Patricia’s voice carried surprise that mirrored my own shock. “Apparently, he was quite insistent about it.”

I sank onto my bed, towel clutched around me like armor. “That doesn’t make sense. He told me to find him someone else. He said he didn’t want me.”

“Well, he changed his mind. Are you interested, or should I assign it to Marcel?”

The thought of Marcel handling Kane’s case sent an unexpected spike of possessiveness through my chest. Marcel kith was competent but predictable. He’d plea bargain Kane into a cell without bothering to dig into Victoria’s real motivations.

Kane deserved better.

The thought surprised me. Yesterday I would have written him off as another criminal gaming the system. Now, after seeing the desperation in his eyes when he’d warned me away, I couldn’t shake the feeling there was so much more to this story.

“I’ll take it,” I said before I could second-guess myself.

“Good. He wants to meet tomorrow morning. And Calla? Be careful with this one. My sources say Kane Drax is… complicated.”

If only she knew what he could do to me without saying a word.

I arrived at the courthouse forty minutes early, armed with coffee strong enough to wake the dead and a determination to keep things strictly professional. Whatever this thing was between Kane and me—this electric connection that made my skin burn and my pulse race—it had to take a backseat to his legal defense.

I could do this. I was a lawyer first, a woman second. No matter how Kane affected me, I wouldn’t let it compromise my ability to represent him.

The lie tasted bitter even as I thought it.

Kane was already waiting when the guard led me to the interview room, and the sight of him made every carefully constructed wall crumble to dust. He’d showered since yesterday, his black hair still damp and loose around his shoulders. The jumpsuit clung to his frame like it had been tailored, emphasizing every hard line and dangerous curve.

He stood when I entered—a courtesy that shouldn’t have affected me but did—and the space between us immediately crackled with tension.

“Ms. Reyes.” His voice was carefully neutral, but I caught the rough edge beneath the politeness. “Thank you for coming.”

“Mr. Drax.” I set my briefcase on the table, using the familiar ritual to center myself even as my hands shook. “I understand you’ve reconsidered your position regarding representation.”

“I have.” Kane settled back into his chair, but there was nothing relaxed about his posture. He looked like a predator trying to appear harmless. “Turns out you’re the best criminal defense attorney in the city under thirty.”

The compliment should have pleased me. Instead, it felt like armor—something to hide behind instead of acknowledging what had really passed between us yesterday.

“Flattery isn’t necessary, Mr. Drax. Just honesty.”

Something flickered in his eyes at that. “Honesty. Right.” His smile was sharp enough to cut. “How honest do you want me to be, Counselor?”

The way he said “counselor” made my thighs clench. There was something darkly intimate about it, like he was testing how the word tasted on his tongue.

“Honest enough to mount a proper defense.” I uncapped my pen with hands that trembled slightly. “Your record suggests you’re familiar with the legal system.”

“Guilty.” Kane’s gaze tracked the movement of my fingers, and I felt heat bloom under my skin. “Though most of those charges were dropped. Amazing what money can buy.”

“And this time?”

“This time I’m being framed by a princess who doesn’t like hearing ‘no.’” His voice hardened, and I caught a glimpse of the man who commanded respect through presence alone. “Victoria Ashford thinks daddy’s money can buy her anything. Including me.”

I scribbled notes, grateful for something to focus on besides the way Kane’s jumpsuit stretched across his chest when he leaned forward. “Tell me what happened Friday night. Everything.”

Kane was quiet so long I started to wonder if he’d heard me. When he finally spoke, his voice was carefully controlled.

“You were there.”

My pen slipped, leaving an ink blot across my legal pad. “Excuse me?”

“Eclipse. Friday night.” Kane’s eyes never left my face, and I felt pinned like a butterfly under glass. “Red dress, brunette sister, looked like you wanted to bolt the second you walked in.”

Heat flooded my cheeks. Of course he’d noticed me staring. I’d been practically drooling over his public display, my body responding to his dominance in ways that still horrified me.

“I was there briefly,” I managed.

“Long enough.” Kane leaned forward, and his scent hit me like a drug—leather and something wild that made my mouth water. “Tell me what you saw.”

This was insane. I was supposed to be interviewing him, not the other way around. But something in Kane’s voice compelled honesty.

“You were… entertaining someone. Victoria approached afterward, and you rejected her.” I kept my voice clinical despite the memory of how watching him had made me wet. “She didn’t handle it well.”

“Understatement of the century.” Kane’s laugh was harsh. “Victoria’s been circling me for months like a shark scenting blood. Friday night, she decided to make her move public.”

“And when you refused?”

“She threatened to destroy me.” Kane’s eyes glowed with remembered anger, and for a moment, they looked almost inhuman. “Said she’d make sure I rotted in prison if I didn’t give her what she wanted.”

I made notes, my legal mind already cataloging defense strategies even as my body responded to the dangerous energy radiating off him.

“There were witnesses—”

“Who won’t testify against Senator Ashford’s daughter.” Kane’s voice was flat with resignation. “The kind of people at Eclipse don’t risk their necks for bikers.”

He was probably right, but I hadn’t built my career on probably impossible cases by accepting defeat.

“Let me worry about that. Right now, I need details about Victoria’s allegations.”

Kane recited the accusations with clinical precision, but I could see the rage building beneath his controlled surface. Victoria claimed he’d cornered her in a private room, forced himself on her despite her protests, and threatened her when she tried to leave.

It was textbook he-said-she-said, and without physical evidence or cooperative witnesses, it would come down to credibility. A biker with a record versus a senator’s daughter with unlimited resources.

We were fucked, and we both knew it.

“There’s something else,” Kane said when I’d finished taking notes. “Something you need to understand.”

I looked up, and the intensity in his gaze made my breath catch. He looked like he was about to confess to murder or declare war or—

“What is it?”

Kane stared at me for a long moment, some internal battle playing out across his features. His hands were clenched into fists on the table, and I could see the tension thrumming through his body like a live wire.

“This case isn’t what it seems. There are people—powerful people—who want me gone. Victoria’s just their latest weapon.”

“What kind of people?”

“The kind who don’t hesitate to eliminate threats.” Kane’s voice dropped to something almost like a growl. “The kind who might hurt you just for being here.”

The words should have frightened me. Should have sent me running like any sane woman would. Instead, they sent liquid fire straight to my core.

“Is that a threat, Mr. Drax?”

“It’s a warning.” Kane’s gaze burned into mine. “Walk away, Calla. Drop this case and forget you ever met me.”

“Why?” The question slipped out before I could stop it. “Because I’m not good enough? Because I’m some cop’s daughter who doesn’t belong in your world?”

Kane’s face went absolutely still. “Because you’re too good for it.”

The words hung between us like a confession, and I felt something crack open in my chest. Not rejection. Protection. Kane wasn’t pushing me away because he didn’t want me.

He was trying to save me from something.

“Everyone deserves proper representation,” I said quietly. “Even you.”

Kane’s breath hitched like I’d hit him. For a moment, his careful control slipped, and I saw raw hunger flash across his features before he shuttered it again.

“Your funeral,” he said, but his voice was rough with something that sounded suspiciously like gratitude.

I gathered my papers and stood on unsteady legs, trying to ignore how Kane’s presence filled the small room like smoke. “I’ll be in touch when I have more information.”

“Calla.”

I paused at the door, my hand hovering over the handle. When I turned, Kane was watching me with an expression that made my knees weak—desperate, conflicted, like he was fighting a war with himself.

“Be careful,” he said quietly. 

The simple request shouldn’t have meant anything. But as I looked at this dangerous man who was trying to protect me even as he pushed me away, I felt something shift in my chest.

“I will.”

Kane’s eyes closed like I’d hurt him. “That’s what I was afraid of.”

I walked out of that courthouse carrying his words like a secret flame, warming the cold places his rejection had left behind the day before. Because now I understood.

Kane Drax didn’t want me to walk away because he didn’t want me.

He wanted me to run because he probably wanted me too much.

And that knowledge was the most dangerous thing of all.