Tanya and I skipped down the steps of the magistrate’s office. I had an injunction that prevented Edward K. Harnette from posting comments related to me on any social media sites. Also, a warrant for him to appear was going to be issued for coercion and extortion. The Sheriff’s department was going to attempt to serve the injunction and warrant, but if Ed decided to go missing, I knew a crack PI that was willing to track the asshole down and make sure justice was served.

I felt better now than I had in months. The shit with the rumors was finally behind me; I had Tanya in my life, and I wasn’t letting her go. Feeling our success last night, she and I had fucked—no, I mentally corrected—not fucked, made love, long into the night. I didn’t fuck her anymore, I made love to her, and there was a difference.

We’d started just after the video finished and didn’t finish until we left her house this morning to see the magistrate. For fifteen hours we’d done nothing but make love and sleep. If we weren’t sleeping, we were making love, and if we weren’t making love, we were sleeping, and it was wonderful. Whichever of us woke up first, woke the other by doing something wonderfully wicked, and then we’d start again. She’d be hard pressed to top me swimming up out of the darkness of sleep with my hard cock deep in her mouth, and I’d returned the favor this morning when I woke up first.

We’d gone hard and fast, and slow and easy, and sometimes both in the same session. She’d dragged me into the shower last night to fulfil one of her fantasies, and we’d made love long, hard, and loud as we competed with the neighbors to see who could make love the longest and loudest. I couldn’t tell if we were the loudest, but we certainly outlasted them, and by a lot.

We’d made love on her bed, in her shower, and once, for a change, against a wall. She’d bound my hands by wrapping the belt from her robe around her bed and ordering me to hold it, before I’d done the same to her, and we’d finished with our hands tangled together in the belt above our heads as she rode me, and herself, to orgasm.

After our tumble this morning, we were both sore, tired, and hungry. We’d missed both dinner and breakfast, but I didn’t care, and I don’t think she did either. We’d napped for an hour or so afterwards this morning before those fucking birds on her phone woke us up again. Even though I could think of nothing I’d rather do than lay in the bed and hold her all day, since I didn’t think I’d be able to do anything else to her for a couple of hours yet, I knew we had to get up and get moving.

We’d showered together, and though she’d tried out of pure mischievousness, I couldn’t keep a hard erection. That had never happened before, but I’d never made love to a woman five times in such quick succession before either.

And the hell of it was, even after I’d come gallons last night and thought I would be useless for days, after spending three hours with her as she walked me through the legal system, I wanted her again, and I’d have no trouble keeping my end up, so to speak.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m starving! I feel like I haven’t eaten anything in days.” I waited a heartbeat. “Not food anyway.”

She giggled, and the sound made my heart sing. “You know what I’m in the mood for?”

“Same thing I’m in the mood for?” I asked, pitching my voice so she’d know I wasn’t talking about food.

“Well, that, but how about an In-N-Out burger until we can do the other?”

The thought of it made my mouth water. “That sounds great! I haven’t had one of those in a year or more.”

“You poor thing!” she purred.

We found the nearest In-N-Out, where we laughed and talked as we ate our burgers and fries. I couldn’t believe how something as simple as ground beef between to pieces of bread could be so tasty. Sometimes I got so wrapped up in my life I’d forgotten life’s little pleasures. Simple things, like a well-prepared hamburger, or the laugh of the woman I was falling in love with.

The thought hit me like a ton of bricks, my mind supplying the sound of a phonograph needle skidding across a record. Did I just think that?

“Neil?” she asked. “Everything okay?”

“What?” I asked, trying to recover.

I was still reeling from the realization that I was falling in love with Tanya. In my mind, I was furiously rifling through my memories, trying to pick out when it had happened, when I’d started falling for her. It wasn’t last night. No, in hindsight I already had these feelings. I went back farther. The night I first took her to bed? No, they weren’t there then. I examined my feelings more closely. Or were they? Was that why our fucking was so intense? Had the tinder already been in place and the sex had struck the match to set it ablaze?

“Neil, you okay?”

“What?” I asked, shaking myself out of reverie. “Yeah, great. Sorry. I was just lost in thought there for a moment.”

“I’ll say. You were so gone, I’m not sure you were still on Earth.”

“Something just hit me, is all.”

“What?”

“I can’t tell you here, but remind me and I’ll tell you tonight.”

She frowned a bit and her eyes narrowed slightly. “Is it bad?”

I couldn’t help but smile. “I think it’s wonderful, but you might have a different opinion. I’ll tell you all about it over dinner tonight. My place. Deal?”

“Okay,” she said slowly.

I took her hand and kissed it gently. “Nothing to worry about, I promise.”

“Then why won’t you tell me now?”

“The time and the place aren’t right.” I could tell she didn’t like that answer. “I’ll make you this promise. If you guess it, I’ll confirm it, but what I have to say, I don’t want to say in a fast food joint, that’s all.” I tugged on her hand and pulled her close. I first kissed her on the lips, a quick public smooch, then I placed my lips close to her ear. “It’s a surprise. I hope you’ll like it.”

She leaned back. “You better tell me at dinner. You know how I am. I hate secrets.”

I snickered. “I’m dying to tell you now, but not here. Tonight at dinner, I promise.”

I felt giddy. I knew now that I’d been right. The month or so that we’d spoken on the phone had primed the flame, but taking her to bed had been the spark that had started the fire, the fire that was consuming me and I never wanted to stop. So this was what love felt like! I wanted to climb up on the table and scream my feelings out for the world to hear, but she deserved to know first, and I needed to know if she felt the same. If she felt anything at all for me.

Keeping my secret from her chilled our meal a bit, but I was resolute. She could wait six hours for me to make the biggest leap of faith in my life. I was, for the first time, going to tell a woman I was falling in love with her and wanted no other.

I sat back in my chair and munched on my burger. I felt like an idiot, but I couldn’t wipe the damned smile off my face to save my life. It was all because of this incredible woman sitting beside me, eyeing me with a mixture of equal parts amusement, suspicion, annoyance, and trepidation, and damned if I didn’t love her for it.

On the way to her place to get my clothes and a change of clothes for her, we played twenty questions. She seemed obsessed with her doing something wrong and upsetting me, and I kept telling her she’d done nothing wrong, but in fact, had done everything right. She wasn’t even close to guessing my secret, which made the thought of telling her even that much more exciting.

She finally gave up after we left her house. I could tell my refusal to tell her was bugging her, but after I told her, she’d understand. I was coming down off my high. What if she didn’t love me? The idea didn’t bother me much. I would wait on her. But what if she didn’t love me, and she didn’t think she ever would? That thought was a little scary.

I shook off my doubt. It didn’t matter. I’d promised her I’d tell her at dinner, and I would. I wouldn’t lie to her. If she didn’t love me, and never would, better to know that now before I got in any deeper. It would be hard, maybe the hardest thing I’d ever done, but if she felt nothing for me and only wanted me for sex and a little companionship, I could treat her as I treated Megan until she grew tired of me. I wouldn’t try to hold her. If she didn’t want me, I wanted her to find someone she did want.

“Neil?”

“Yeah?” I asked, looking at her.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, why?”

“A half hour ago you were practically bouncing off the walls and now you look like your dog just died. What’s going on?”

“Dinner. I swear, it’ll all make sense after dinner. Just…bear with me, okay?”

She looked at me a long time. “We’re having an early dinner even if I have to go out and buy takeout.”

Her teasing lifted my mood slightly. “An early dinner it is.”

Tanya and I were working in the kitchen. We weren’t practiced yet, so we sometimes got in each other’s way, but it still felt so natural and right. I’d been up and down all afternoon. Thinking about her and how I felt, I’d soar so close to the sun I thought I’d go blind, and in the next minute, I’d sink into the depths of despair at the thought that she might never feel the same way.

It was maddening. I’d almost told her several times, just so I’d know and could end the uncertainty, but I hadn’t. I was also a guy, so I kept it bottled up inside. She could tell something was going on with me, but she’d stopped prying, and when I would start sinking, she always seemed to sense it and would come to me. She’d take me in her arms, and I’d take her in mine, and within moments, the sun would come out again.

We were getting close to having dinner ready when someone knocked at my door. “Would you mind?” I asked as I flipped the chicken and vegetables in the pan.

“Neil?” she called from the door.

There was a Santa Ana police officer standing in my door. I couldn’t think of a single situation where that was a good thing. I set dinner aside so it wouldn’t burn and went to the door.

“Mr. Neil Gibson?” the young officer asked.

“Yes?”

“May I come in? I have a few questions I’d like to ask.”

“In regards to what?” Tanya asked.

“You are?”

“Tanya Jacobs, his girlfriend.”

“May I come in?” the officer asked again.

“If you’ll answer her question,” I said, following Tanya’s lead.

“Do you know a Vanesa Pierce?”

“Yes.”

“She was assaulted last night and badly beaten.”

Tanya and I looked at each other. I stepped back. “Come in.”

“Thank you. How do you know Ms. Pierce?”

“I don’t, not really. She accused me of sexually assaulting her, but it turned out to be a scam.”

“You’ve never met Ms. Pierce?”

“No, why?”

“Any idea why she would name you as her attacker?”

“What?” Tanya and I cried at the same time.

“She’s pretty busted up. Her jaw is wired shut, and she can’t talk, but muttered your name when we asked if she knew who’d attacked her.”

“It damn sure wasn’t me!”

“Can you account for your whereabouts last night between the hours of nine and midnight?”

“He was with me at my place,” Tanya said quickly.

The officer looked at her. “You’re certain it was between those hours?”

“Positive.”

“Can anyone corroborate that?”

“Absolutely. My neighbors. They heard us screwing out brains out in the shower. Their names are Rachel and Demetri.” She gave the officer her addresses. “They’re in apartment A.”

“And Mr. Gibson was with you the entire night? He didn’t leave and return at any point?”

“No. We were…busy…all night.”

“And you have no idea why she would name you as her attacker?”

I shook my head. “None.”

The officer glanced back and forth between us and nodded. “Thank you. Sorry to bother you.”

“Where is Ms. Pierce now?” Tanya asked as the officer turned to leave.

“Orange County Global.”

I closed the door behind the officer as he left. “What the hell?” I muttered.

Her face hardened. “I think we need to pay Ms. Vanesa Pierce a visit. Looks like dinner is going to have to wait.”

Tanya and I stopped for flowers on the way, and I added a small teddy bear. “It has to be Ed,” Tanya claimed as we waited for the elevator to take us to her room.

“So why would she say it was me?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.”

Vanesa was sharing the room with another patient, but at least she was on the window side. We stood close to her bed, and Tanya pulled the privacy curtain around. I grimaced. Vanesa was one big bruise, her face was swollen, and her left arm was in a cast.

“Vanesa?” Tanya said softly. She looked at us, her eyes bleary. She was probably on some heavy-duty pain meds. “You remember me? I spoke to you about Neil Gibson?”

Vanesa nodded slowly then looked at me. I handed her the foot-tall teddy bear. “I’m sorry we’re meeting like this.” She nodded slowly as she started crying, tears running out of her eyes, but she made no sound.

“Did you tell the police Neil assaulted you?” She slowly shook her head. “They said you did.” Another shake of her head. “Was it Ed Harnette?” She looked at us but gave no indication. “The man that hired you to setup Neil?” Tanya added.

Vanesa nodded slowly. “Couldn’t remember name,” she said softly as she winced. It obviously hurt her to speak.

“I’m going to kill that motherfucker,” I growled. Beating a woman nearly to death like this because of me? I couldn’t let that slide. I was going to gut him and put his head on a pike.

“You told them Neil because it was the only name you could remember?” Tanya asked. Vanesa shook her head. “You told them Neil because it was related to him?” Vanesa nodded.

“Can I record you answering some questions, so we can string Ed up by his balls for doing this to you?” Vanesa nodded. Tanya pulled out her phone. “Is your name Vanesa Pierce?” Tanya asked. Vanesa nodded slowly. “Did Neil Gibson assault you?” A slow shake of her head. “Was your attacker Edward K. Harnette, the man who hired you to implicate Neil Gibson in a false sexual harassment case?” A slow nod. “Would you like to press charges against Edward K. Harnette for assaulting you?” A slow nod. “Will you testify in court that he paid you to implicate Mr. Gibson?” Another slow nod.

Tanya ended the recording and pulled her phone down. “Thank you, Vanesa. You’re safe now. I’m truly sorry this happened to you. Is there someone I can call for you? Family?”

Vanesa shook her head again and began to cry. I felt so bad for her that I took her hand and squeezed it. No matter what she’d done, she didn’t deserve this.

“We’re going to get this bastard, and he’s going to pay for doing this to you, I promise you that.” I gave her hand another gentle squeeze. “When you get out of here, stop at one my fitness centers. We’ll help you get your strength back. On me.”

She stared at me, tears streaming out of her eyes, and nodded. “Thank you,” she murmured, her face crinkling in pain.

“I’ll check on you in a couple of days, okay?” Tanya said, and Vanesa nodded. Tanya looked at me. “We need to get this to the police, tonight,” she said, giving her phone a shake.

I looked at Vanesa one more time. “Get better,” I said, and she nodded before I turned and followed Tanya out.

“You’re too nice to her. She doesn’t deserve it. Have you forgotten what she tried to do to you?” Tanya asked as we walked to the elevators.

“No, but she didn’t deserve what happened to her, either.”

“No, she didn’t, but you need to stay away from her, Neil. That can go sideways in so many ways.”

I nodded and sighed. “Yeah, I know.”

She softened. “You’re a good guy, and I know you want to help, but I’m telling you, in my professional opinion, do not be anywhere alone with that woman. This is why I told you to stay as far away from her as you possibly can. The last thing you want at this point is to have your name dragged into this. Think about how it looks. She accused you of the next thing to rape, then she ends up in a hospital beaten half to death. And no more ‘I’m going to kill that motherfucker’ either. You need to stay squeaky clean on this.”

“You’re right. I shouldn’t have called him a motherfucker.” She glared at me and I smiled. “I know what you mean. Okay, I won’t say things like that again, but just between you and me, Ed needs a good ass kicking.”

She nodded as we stepped out of the elevator. “The cops are going to give him one, and you can keep your hands clean. What I recorded in there is enough to get them to stop looking at you, which is main reason I wanted to record her. There’s no way that recording will stand up in court on its own since she looks like she’s drugged out of her mind, but it’s enough to get the ball rolling and get the cops pointed in the right direction. They can come back later and get a sworn statement from her that will put Ed’s ass in jail.”

It took an hour at the police station, but by the time we were done, Ed was going to be in a world of hurt. Now he was wanted on felony battery and attempted murder. If the police caught him, he was going to be taken off the streets and would probably pull a few years in the pokey. Good riddance to him was all I could think.

That was twice Tanya had pulled my ass out of the fire. Dinner was ruined, but I still owed her a meal…and some news.