Everlasting (Unrestrained 6)

We sat in the booth, with me between Drake and Lara.

"Bad day in court?" Drake asked, opening his menu.

"The worst. Some people just cannot understand what's in their own best interest."

She proceeded to tell us about a case where she was defending a man charged with involuntary manslaughter.

"I always tell people to keep it succinct. Less is more. Don't get into any long, convoluted explanations of your behavior. Keep it simple. My client started explaining too much and screwed up his case. I needed a drink or three. Maybe four." She held up her martini glass and winked at me.

"Speaking of cases, I have it on good authority that you were very good on the stand, Drake. One of my assistants sat in while you were giving your testimony. He said you were cool as a cucumber and that your voice broke at just the right place."

"And that was?" I asked, curious about Drake breaking down.

"When he described the phone call he got about you being struck by a car. My assistant said Drake was calm and clear up until that part and his emotion showed through when he described seeing you when you were wheeled into the ER trauma room and they had to force him out. It was classic and it sounded totally genuine so I was very happy to hear Drake did so well."

I turned to Drake and he bent down and kissed me.

"It's still hard for me to remember that day or talk about it."

"I have no memory of it so it's like a story that's been told about me," I said softly. "Nothing more."

"It's like a bad dream – a nightmare that you want to wake up from but can't," Drake said. "It was the worst day of my life, thinking I might lose you and Sophie."

We kissed again and then both of us turned back to Lara, who was smiling.

"I knew she was perfect for you, Drake, when she walked into our meeting that first time. Perfect."

We ordered and had a lovely dinner. The food was great, the wine flowed freely and the talk ranged from the trial to my studio back in San Francisco and the problems Drake had with the nursing supervisor at UCSF.

"You did the right thing," Lara said, taking a sip of wine and eyeing Drake over the rim. "It would have been uncomfortable for you knowing that people were warned about you. Honestly, I wish I could have been there to put that woman in her place."

"I appreciate your support," Drake said, studying his own glass of wine, swirling the liquid in his glass. "I made a few mistakes and they've followed me ever since. I should never have tried to stop Maureen from leaving that day. I should never have allowed Sunita to videotape our session or take photos."

"I should have never matched you with her," Lara said morosely. "It's my fault. You trusted me to vet your partners. Sorry, Kate," she said and turned to me. "I'm sure you don’t like to listen to us talk about all this."

"No, that's all right. I'm familiar with his past and his partners, especially after the investigation. But I already knew it all. Maybe not all the specifics, but I knew how many partners and what he'd done. It was a selling point," I said and turned to Drake. "It made me feel safe."

"Unfortunately, it was my trusting Derek Richardson's taste in submissives that made you unsafe. You can’t realize how bad I feel about that."

"It wasn't your fault that she's a sociopath."

"Yes, Drake," Lara said and leaned forward. "We all run the risk of running into the path of a sociopath and being harmed by them. We're just lucky that you hired a security detail for Kate and he probably saved her life."

I nodded and reached out to take Drake's hand, squeezing it. "That's right. So you saved my life, probably, because you were worried enough about Lisa to hire security for me."

Drake exhaled and squeezed my hand back. "I'm glad my paranoia was higher than normal or you and Sophie might not be with me today."

He leaned over and kissed me tenderly. When the kiss ended, I glanced over at Lara and saw that she was smiling like a proud matchmaker.

"You two will have to invite me over to your place before you go so I can see that beautiful little girl of yours. Drake showed me some pictures he has of her. She's really grown and she looks like you, Kate. Same soft brown hair. But she has Drake's eyes and fair skin."

Lara glanced between Drake and me, smiling like she was our parent.

"I know you don't really care much for Brit Invasion music but Mersey is getting back together for old time's sake for a few gigs," Drake said. "We're playing at O'Riley's on Tuesday night in case you want to come and have a drink."

"Will you be there, Kate?" Lara asked, turning to me.

"I will," I said and smiled. "We have our sitter all lined up already."