She jerked from his grasp. “You’re a pushy pain in my ass.”

“I’m not taking a chance that Fergus will leave you alone. He can’t touch you anymore, but that doesn’t mean he won’t order other Shifters to make trouble for you. Some of Fergus’s lackeys are…Let’s just say they’re fanatically devoted to him.”

“You all are crazy, you know that?”

Liam shrugged. “Hey, you’re the Shifter lover, which means you’re crazier than we are. Come on.”

Liam opened the heavy glass door and, Shifter-fashion, entered the building first. Once he determined that the polished granite and marble foyer was harmless, he nodded for Kim to come inside.

Kim knew of nothing that could make him leave, short of having him arrested, and even then the police would have to break out the tranquilizer guns. She also knew that, deep down inside, she didn’t want him to leave. Kim didn’t trust Fergus either, and Liam’s presence made her feel safe. Embarrassed, awkward, and confused, but safe.

As they moved through the plush halls, lawyers looked up through open doors or stepped into the hall in astonishment. Liam nodded at the head of the firm who’d stopped short in his doorway. “Top o’ the morning to you.”

Kim scuttled into her office suite where the secretary, Jeanne, who worked for Kim and two other lawyers, typed on a computer keyboard. Jeanne looked up, gawked, and lost her place. “Who the hell…?”

Liam smiled. “Top o’ the mornin’ to you.”

“It’s all right,” Kim said in a hard voice. “He’s helping me on the Shifter case.”

Jeanne looked as though she’d melt through her chair. “Can I get you coffee?” she offered Liam in an eager tone.

“Coffee would be grand,” he said.

Kim grabbed Liam’s arm, shoved him into her cluttered office, and slammed the door behind them. She pointed at the leather couch wedged between two bookcases.

“If you’re staying—sit.”

Liam grinned, removed his sunglasses, stretched out full length on the couch, and folded his arms behind his head. He looked good enough to eat.

Kim slapped her briefcase to her desk and popped it open. “What is this ‘top o’ the morning’ crap?”

“It’s how people expect the Irish to talk. That and ‘faith and begorra!’ I’ll throw those in later.”

“You are so full of shit.”

Liam chuckled and closed his eyes. He looked prepared to lounge there the rest of the day, reminding her every second of their thorough sexing in her bathroom. She’d dreamed about it all night, the main reason she’d been late. When he’d rolled her over and driven into her, his warm weight on top of her, she’d never felt more connected or intimate with a man in her life. She’d felt…complete.

Forget the goopy, romantic stuff. The sex had been damn fantastic.

Kim had to stop thinking about it. She had to be professional and do her job. She had other cases to prepare for, a load of witness statements and evidence reports to go through. Brian’s defense to figure out, the private investigator’s weekend reports to read.

Once she won Brian’s case, she’d be finished with Shifters. Fergus’s wishes would be a moot point, Liam wouldn’t need to guard her anymore, and he’d go back to Shiftertown and leave her alone. For good.

Why did the world suddenly go colorless at that thought?

Kim dumped files back into her briefcase. “I need to talk to Brian. I assume you want to come with me? We’ll take my car—I’m not riding to the county jail on the back of your motorcycle.”

Liam didn’t move. “You’re not going to see Brian.”

“I need to. I want to ask him about Michelle again, whether he planned to mate with her, whether he already did. If Brian thought of her as his mate, he’d never have hurt her, right? He’d come over all protective, defend her rather than attack her.”

“You might be right about that, but you’re still not going to see him.”

Kim clicked the briefcase shut. “Why not? He’s in jail. He’s not going anywhere.”

Liam finally came off the couch. “You’re not going because Fergus told you to drop the case.”

He was a tall, solid wall, blocking her way to the door. “We’ve discussed this. I say screw Fergus.”

“I wouldn’t. I hear it’s not good.”

Kim didn’t laugh. “So you agree with him?”

“I didn’t say that.” Liam rested his hands on her shoulders. She’d never get by him, and she knew it. At the same time, she knew he wouldn’t hurt her. He’d prevent her from leaving, but not by hurting.

“Then what are you saying?” she asked.

“That Fergus won’t trust me to keep you off the case. I was the one who talked him into letting you come to Shiftertown in the first place. So he’ll have sent his own men to watch you, to stop you. I’m here to keep them from tangling with you. If you go to the jail, there will be tangling.”

Kim made a noise of exasperation. “Explain how I’m supposed to defend a man I’m not allowed to talk to. I need to ask him questions, important questions.”

“Ask him some other way.”

Kim tried to dart around him. Liam put one arm out and hauled her back against him.

“Liam.”

He closed both arms around her and pulled her close. “Do this my way, love. Don’t mess with Fergus more than you have to. He’ll make you regret it.”