you don’t. I don’t trust him either. But he’s harmless. Really, he is.”
His eyes darkened. “Any harmless gnat can turn into a monster when granted access to power he doesn’t need or deserve.”
“And you’re going to make sure he doesn’t gain any more than he already has.” Caroline pressed her fingers to his lips. “Don’t worry about it, Monty. Murdock is all hat, no cattle. Bluster without the backup. I’ve got it all under control.”
Jack kissed her fingers and pushed her hand away. “I know you do, accomplished woman that you are. But I can’t help but worry about you.”
Worrying about her was in his nature, and he did it too damn much. “I know. And I appreciate it. But I had my big girl pants on today and I’ll continue to hitch them up every time I have a conflict. All right?”
“I have no worries about your ability to polish the floor with him, rhetorically speaking. I just wish you weren’t put in that position on a regular basis.”
“It’s not that bad. And it won’t be that much longer. A few more months, if that.”
“I still don’t like it. He’s a fucking prick.”
“Please say that during one of your debates. Please.”
“I’ll try to work it in somehow.”
He was still upset and she tried to make her voice as soothing as possible. “You’re going to win, Jack. We won’t have to deal with him ever again.”
He stood up and crossed his arms. “Are you wearing your contacts now?”
What an odd change of conversational course. “Nope,” Caroline said. “Can’t really see a damn thing save for the line at the bottom of the pool telling me where to go.”
“For all you know, I could be naked.”
Oh. Maybe the change of course wasn’t all that odd, after all. “I can see enough to know that you’re wearing a gray suit and red tie. It’s just blurry. And I can see your face pretty well.”
Jack knelt down to kiss her again, and did it for long enough that she strongly considered yanking on his tie and pulling him into the water with her. Which may have happened before.
“Don’t even think about it,” he murmured against her lips.
Caroline pulled away from him and sighed dramatically. “Honestly, you drag a fully clothed man into a pool with you once and he never lets you forget it.”
“You wrecked a five thousand dollar suit.”
“Your five thousand dollar suits are a dime a dozen.”
“That sounds a lot like math. I thought lawyers didn’t do math.”
She laughed. “I do. Only when necessary, though.”
He crouched down to kiss her again. “This suit is probably destroyed anyway but I have no desire to be a sopping wet mess, if you catch my drift.”
She made a pouty face. “You’re no fun.”
Instead of laughing at her expression as he usually did, Jack gave her an intense look. “You know, this pool is awfully deserted. Might not be the safest place for a vulnerable woman to be alone. Any perverted old man is liable to come in here and have his way with you.”
Caroline tipped her head back into the water and smoothed her hair out. He wanted to play. She could play. They hadn’t seen each other in several days. Nothing like getting back on the horse. “I should be so lucky.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Oh, really?”
“Of course.”
“Be careful what you wish for.”
“I’ll take my chances,” she said, lazily gliding back into the water. She floated toward the middle of the pool, enjoying the silence, grinning when she heard a small splash. It only took a moment before the water churned and Jack’s arm was around her waist. She lifted herself up and he pulled her toward him.
“Well, well,” he said. “Look what we have here.”
“May I help you?”
“Just here to swim some laps.”
Caroline felt him press against her hip. “In the nude?”
“Does that bother you?”
“Most people wear a suit to swim.”
“Not me. And I lied. I’m not here to swim.”
Her heart skipped a beat. “Why are you here?”
“For you,” Jack said quietly. “I’ve been watching you.”
“You have?”
He ran his thumb along her jawline. “A woman like you really shouldn’t be left unattended. You’ve been in this pool all alone for hours.”
“It hasn’t been that long.”
“It seems that long.”
Jack gave a very convincing performance. If she didn’t know any better, she’d think a stalker had just waltzed into the pool. Caroline tried to keep her voice from shaking. “How did you get in here?”
He smiled, enjoying the game. “I sneaked in through the