Rosie dropped her head and landed a soft kiss between my pecs. “I appreciate the effort, honey, but you won’t always be uncomfortable letting it all hang out with me. You’ll see over time that you can trust me, and it’ll get easier.”
“I know. Imogen’s brought this to a head. I don’t want to be closed off with her because it’ll only teach her to do the same.”
She smiled. “Look at you being an awesome dad.”
“Thanks,” I murmured, just as Rosie’s cell phone began to ring.
I maneuvered her back onto the bed, jackknifed up to a sitting position, and leaned across the mattress to grab her purse from the floor.
She took it from me and rummaged for her phone. “It’s Kennedy,” she informed me, checking the caller ID before clicking the answer button and putting the phone on speaker, saying, “Hey, Ned. Are the kids okay?”
“All good, babe,” Kennedy replied. “They were all asleep when I came to work. They were probably awake for half the night watching movies. This isn’t a social call. I got to work twenty minutes ago and was greeted by a slew of emails from Evan’s lawyer.”
Rosie’s eyes slid to me. “Let me guess. He’s playing hardball.”
“I’m sorry; I was hoping that when we presented our evidence, he’d back off. Instead, it looks like he’s doubled down,” Kennedy said quietly. “There’s more to it, though. Can you come down to the office and bring Donovan with you?”
Rosie’s face paled, and in that moment, if I could’ve fucked Rosie’s ex up, I would have, just for making her face devoid of color. It was obvious she was worried, and I didn’t like that for my woman one bit.
“I’ll be there in an hour,” she promised before ending the call and dropping her cell phone on the bed. “It looks like the asshole’s declared war.”
I pulled her into my arms and tilted her chin up with my finger. “Baby, there’s nothing he can do to us. We’re clean; he’s not. Don’t worry.”
Rosie’s shoulders slumped defeatedly. “I know, but I also know Evan. Like I said, he plays dirty.”
“Let him play dirty,” I told her, my tone full of bravado that I didn’t necessarily feel. “While he’s playing dirty, we’ll be playing it smart. We’ll outmaneuver the fucker, no sweat.”
Rosie closed her eyes, nodding, but I could see the weight of the situation was pressing down on her, and I hated it.
“We should get going,” she declared, rolling from the bed and strutting buck-ass naked toward her closet. “Right, so what does a girl wear to a legal meeting where we plan how to castrate her ex-husband?”
I grinned, my eyes traveling down her gorgeous body, taking in the curve of her delectable ass. “You’ve got balls of steel, babe. Fierce, remember?”
Her head popped back around the wall. “Oh, honey. You have no idea. You’ve only seen nice Rosie up to now. I’ve been placating my inner bitch for too long. Now, my ex-husband has pushed me over the edge by fucking with my kids’ happiness, and that’snota wise move. If Evan wants a fight, then that’s exactly what he’s gonna get.”
—————
Kennedy staredat us across her desk with her fingers clasped together, wearing a pissed expression.
The second we walked inside the office, I could sense the shimmer in the air, and it wasn’t a positive one. Something had obviously enraged Kennedy, and I could tell by the tight, pinched look on her face that she was struggling to keep it together.
Ned nodded toward a stack of papers on her desk. “Evan’s going for full custody of the kids. There’s shit in there that’sgoing to upset you both. The reason I know this is because it’s upset me.”
“Is there stuff in there that will help him succeed?” Rosie demanded.
“In my opinion, no,” Kennedy assured her. “But if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, is that you should never say never. Are you ready for this?”
Rosie expelled a resigned breath. “I’ve dealt with this shit for a long time. There’s nothing that asshole can do to shock me anymore. Just hit me with it.”
Kennedy picked up the papers and skimmed a few off the top of the pile before handing them to Rosie.
My woman looked at them, her forehead furrowing in concentration. “Evan’s PIhasbeen busy,” she said coolly, holding them out for me to take.
I took the papers that I could see were actually glossy photographs. As I gazed down at them, a sick feeling hit me when I realized that I was the main feature. They were images of me with other women in what seemed like compromising situations, all taken in and around the Shamrock. My heart sank as I flicked through them because to anyone else, it would appear that I was fucking around on Rosie.
Kennedy’s voice penetrated the whooshing sensation in my ears. “They’re all date and time-stamped, the most recent ones being from last weekend. But he’s been having you watched since our first communication.”
I checked the date on the one I was currently staring at and saw it had been taken the Saturday before. The girl I was laughing with was slouched over the bar and leaning toward me with her hand in mine.
