Chapter 40

The doorbell rang earlier than Noah could comprehend. It was still dark outside, and as his eyes opened, he remembered that Rose had told him Matthew Storm would be coming over to the house that morning. It was enough of a memory that Noah jumped up and ran to the door to let him in.

Noah still had no idea what was going on. He hadn’t been able to get Judge Marking to agree with what the president needed, and Noah was pretty sure the president wasn’t going to want to work with him ever again.

He wasn’t used to failing when it came to his clients, and he hoped the president wouldn’t hold it against him. The last thing Noah needed was to have one of his most famous clients moving on to another firm over what had happened over the last few days. Noah was good at what he did, and he knew he had done his best, but he wasn’t sure that his best was going to be good enough in their current circumstances.

“Hey Noah,” the president, Matthew Storm said when the door opened. “I’ll be alright,” Matthew said to the security guys who were with him. “You don’t have to protect me in here.”

The secret serviceman literally stood right in front of the door as Matthew closed it. There was no possible way anyone was getting through that door and to the president; not if they could help it.

Noah let Matthew into the apartment, and the two of them sat down at the kitchen counter. Matthew had a large black bag in his hands, which he set by the front door. It was a curious thing to see a president carrying around a duffle bag, and not something that Noah would normally have noticed. But the president had people for pretty much everything, even carrying his bags for him. So the fact that he was carrying it himself seemed a little out of place.

“So what’s up?”

“That bag is for Rose, I just wanted to deliver it in person. Your girl pulled it out in the final minutes, Noah. I think we are in the clear. She’s pretty amazing; you’re lucky to have her at your firm.”

“I have no idea what’s going on here. You do know that right?” Noah replied.

He was more confused than ever. Rose hadn’t been able to tell him any information the night before, and Matthew certainly wasn’t filling in the blanks. As far as Noah could figure they weren’t going to have the police showing up at the White House that morning, but other than that, he really didn’t know what was going on.

“Rose didn’t fill you in?”

“No, she was pretty wasted by the time she got home. I have no idea what’s up.”

Matthew smiled a brilliant and mischievous grin as he sat there without saying another word. Noah wasn’t sure what was going on, but it certainly didn’t seem like bad news. Matthew’s whole demeanor was light and happy; nothing like it had been only a day earlier.

The president seemed like two different men. When he wasn’t getting his way, he was agitated and scary as hell. But now that he had gotten what he wanted, Matthew was smiling and charismatic. Noah could see why the public fell in love with the man. If you only saw his charismatic side, Matthew seemed more like a movie star than a politician.

“So …” Noah urged Matthew to say something.

“So, Rose is amazing. She convinced Judge Marking to retire. With a little assistance from some anonymous donor who would be paying for his children’s college and a new state of the art motorhome.”

Everything Matthew was saying sounded illegal as hell. Or illegal if the president was the one who had paid for all those things. And it didn’t sound all that exciting that Rose had gotten mixed up in the middle of it all. The law was a twisted and difficult thing to decipher sometimes, and Noah started to think about all the loopholes that they could use to explain away the donations if the time ever came that they had to do that.

“Rose helped broker the deal?”

“Let’s just say that without Rose, I would likely be standing in the middle of the White House with dozens of police rummaging through every last corner of the building.”

“Okay. So won’t the new judge just issue the warrant?”

Noah really did want to get excited for Matthew, but there still seemed like so many loose ends to wrap up. Certainly, there would be another judge who would get the case and rule based on the information that was presented to him. Matthew couldn’t keep the police from going to court, he obviously didn’t have enough contacts in the police department to save him that headache.

“No, he won’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because he’s already working for me. I had expected he was going to get the case, but then it went to Judge Marking. But now all is good again.”

Noah didn’t know what to think. He was certain there would be some sort of aftermath from all that had happened, but he was just happy that it was over. He didn’t have to bribe a judge. He didn’t have to worry about the president getting arrested while he was the man’s lawyer. But Noah very clearly had to worry about what Rose had gotten into.

He decided it would be best to talk to her when she woke up. Noah suspected that Matthew Storm was only telling him part of the story, and he would need to talk with Rose to get the rest of it. Noah had worked with enough political clients to understand that he might never get the absolute truth out of him. It wasn’t worth it to argue with the man, he was the president, and that was enough for Noah to back off and let things go.

“Well, let’s have some coffee to celebrate,” Noah offered.

There wasn’t much a man could offer the president when he was sitting in his kitchen, but Noah managed to get some coffee, sugar, and cream as the two men continued their conversation.

Matthew seemed surprisingly like a regular guy as he sat at the kitchen counter and they started to talk. It was odd to Noah that the more he got to know someone, the more they always seemed like normal people. Even the president of the free world seemed totally normal as he sat and drank his coffee.

“What’s next for you, Noah? Anything I can help you with?”

The offer sounded more ominous than helpful. Noah wasn’t sure he wanted to get involved with Matthew Storm any more than he already was. In fact, distancing himself from the man was more on his mind than ever before. He certainly wasn’t about to ask for some sort of favor from the man. Asking for favors was how people got indebted to a man like Matthew, and that was the last thing Noah needed in his life.

Noah was a good guy. He followed the rules, did what he was told, and his clients expected that from him. Noah couldn’t risk getting caught up in the underworld that the president played in. It wasn’t for Noah at all. He preferred to live his life in the bright sunlight above the ground.

Over the years, Noah had certainly done things that he wasn’t proud of. He had taken cases where he had to defend people who were guilty. He had helped broker settlements for clients who likely didn’t deserve them. But as a lawyer, Noah stayed within the letter of the law. As a man, sometimes Noah wasn’t all that proud of himself.

With Rose in his life, though, Noah wanted more for himself. He wanted to be the kind of man that Rose admired, and he knew that was going to take continued work. The thing about Rose that Noah loved so much was her constant hard work. Rose wasn’t going to settle for a mediocre existence, and in a way, Noah felt like that was what his life had been filled with for the last several years.

He had spent so much of his time worrying about Rose that he hadn’t really been worrying about his own life. But things were different now. Noah had the girl. He needed to get the rest of his life in order so he could keep the girl.

Getting his life in order was going to be difficult with the news about Elaine leaving. It was going to be much harder if he wasn’t able to find someone to take over the partnership. But taking on a new partner was going to be daunting. He didn’t know anyone who had the kind of money they needed to take over the partnership. So that left Noah to interview new investors and try to make a decision based on information that he got from the applicants, private investigators, etc. All that was going to take a lot of time and money; both of which Noah wasn’t going to have now that Elaine was gone.

Noah would first look within the firm to see if anyone wanted to try for a loan and become a partner. They had several really good attorneys who had been with Wolfe and Conley for several years. But taking on a partnership position was a lot of additional work, and both of the most senior lawyers had young families at home, and Noah didn’t think they were going to want the added work.

“You look like someone shot your dog,” Matthew said as he pulled Noah out of his daydream.

“Close. I found out that my partner is quitting.” Even saying it out loud didn’t seem like it was real. Noah wasn’t at all ready to deal with what it was going to mean after losing Elaine from his firm.

“I know.”

Noah looked surprised at first but then realized that Matthew Storm probably had his hands in just about everything that went on around Washington D.C. Whatever part Matthew had taken in getting Elaine to leave the firm was irrelevant, though. The fact still remained that Noah was left without a partner and a firm that could possibly be only months away from ruin.

“Well, you do control the city. We all knew that,” Noah replied.

He was unwilling to hear more about what Matthew’s involvement had been. Quite frankly, Noah was afraid of Matthew, and the sooner the president decided to back away from Noah’s life, the better it would be for Noah. As his lawyer, Noah would do his job, but that was it. He no longer wanted to get involved in the president’s little side missions. It was all just too stressful for Noah.

“I’m sure you’ll end up on your feet. Sorry if it put you in a bad spot, but I think she’ll be very useful as a judge.”

Useful. That was an interesting word. Noah hadn’t known Elaine to be willing to take bribes or underhanded deals, so he wasn’t all that sure she would be useful to Matthew. But money did strange things to people, and it was possible that money had been a driving force in Elaine leaving the firm so quickly.

“So will the case just be dismissed today? Are we worried at all that they might get the search warrant?”

“Noah, does this face look like the face of a worried man?” Matthew said as he plastered a cheesy smile on his lips.

“It looks like the face of a horrible man who let me drink way too much Scotch last night,” Rose said as she walked toward the two men.

She was dressed in sweatpants and a T-shirt. Noah noticed her nipples were hard, and he was pretty sure Matthew noticed as well. Both men quietly watched her as she walked into the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee. Their eyes undeniably fixated on those two tiny areas of her body that were erect with excitement; making them similarly excited.

“You two don’t have to stop talking for me,” she said with a laugh.

“Oh, we were just talking boring stuff. I wanted to drop by and let you both know I wish you all the best and thank you for everything you did for me over the last few months. You are top notch lawyers, and I’ll make sure everyone knows it,” Matthew said.

He stood up and shook hands with Noah before walking around the room and giving Rose a quick hug. Noah watched as Matthew seemed to hold onto Rose for just a couple seconds longer than normal. It infuriated him, but then again Matthew Storm was the president, and there wasn’t much Noah could do about it.

“Thanks for everything. I’m glad it all worked out,” Rose said in total oblivion of the free feel she had just given the man.

“It was nice talking with you, Noah. I’ll catch up with you soon. You take care of him, Rose, he’s a good man. You don’t want to lose that one.”

“Oh, I’m keeping him for sure.” She laughed.

As Matthew opened the door, both his secret service officials were there waiting for him. They certainly hadn’t been inconspicuous. If any of Rose’s neighbors were up that early, they would have been curious to know why the secret service was standing outside her apartment.

“How are you feeling?” Noah asked as he grabbed Rose and pulled her onto his lap.

“Like I’m way too old to be drinking like that.”

They had so much to talk about, and Noah didn’t want to sound like an old broken record or like he was interrogating Rose. He trusted her and knew she wouldn’t do something stupid. Rose probably had a better sense for difficult situations than even Noah did. But he had to let her know that he cared.

“Do you know how worried I was last night? Seriously, I thought you had been kidnapped or something. I know it’s crazy. But I was so happy when you came home safely.”

“I’m sorry,” Rose said as she started to nibble on Noah’s ear. “Can I make it up to you?”

“Mmmm, I don’t know. I’m sure I could think of something.”

She grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the bedroom. As they walked past the front door, Rose noticed the bag that was sitting by the door. He wanted answers. Noah wanted to ask her so many questions, but he also wanted to make love to her.

“Matthew said it was for you,” Noah said as they passed the bag.

“Oh, it’s probably some horrible gift or something.” She laughed and continued to pull him to the room. “I’ve got so much to tell you.”

“Like you bribed a judge into quitting, and that the president is forever indebted to you?”

“Okay, well we don’t need to talk then,” she said laughing. “You know it all. But seriously I didn’t bribe him. There was nothing illegal. Well, nothing that I know of.”

“You know you could get into a lot of trouble,” Noah started to say as he watched Rose taking her clothes off in front of the bed.

“You only live once, and I made the best decision I could. But maybe I’m a naughty, naughty girl, and you should come punish me,” she teased.

His mind was no longer in charge as Noah felt his body lusting and throbbing for Rose. One thing he knew for sure, if Rose said she made the best decision in the moment, he trusted her. Rose was a smart woman, and he had seen her deal with a lot, Noah was certain she was indeed telling the truth and had made the best decision.

“I’m going to spank you like the naughty girl you are,” Noah grumbled as he reached out and pulled Rose onto him on the bed.

“Yes, I think you should. You know what else?” Rose asked.

“What?”

“I think I might spank you as well.” She laughed.