Gina jumped. “Oh, you scared me.” She shuffled a few papers and quickly shut a file as she swiveled her chair around to face her boss. “I guess I’m wrapped a little tightly today.”
Julie smiled. “Sorry about that. I don’t blame you for being jumpy. It’s not every day a woman walks into our offices and then dies days later.”
Gina shoved her hair out of her eyes. “I must admit it’s a bit creepy. If I were one of the family members, I’d be asking questions about her death.”
“Did you know she had a twin sister?” Julie asked, leaning a hip on the desk, and wondering just what Elizabeth might have chatted about in the lobby the day of her visit.
“Really? I had no idea.”
“Neither did I until she walked up to me at the the funeral,” Julie said. “Talk about making someone jump. It was like seeing a ghost.”
The buzzer on Gina’s desk went off, ringing from the main reception area on the floor above theirs that handled ten attorneys. “There is a man here to see Julie, a Luke Walker. I sent him to your floor a few minutes ago. Sorry. Would have called sooner but I got busy.”
The elevator dinged just beyond the lobby and Julie stood up and smoothed a hand over her dress, willing the butterflies in her stomach that no man had ever given her before, to calm down.
Gina arched a brow. “Someone good, I hope?”
Luke ambled into the room, tall and lean in a pair of black jeans, a black t-shirt and a leather jacket, looking as predatory as a panther on the prowl. The instant his eyes touched Julie, sweeping her from head to toe, it was clear she was that prey.
“Yes,” Gina whispered. “Someone good for sure.”
Yes indeed, Julie thought. She never got over the impact he made on her when he entered a room. “I hope this is a good news visit.” Like Elizabeth wasn’t murdered and all her paranoia wasn’t merited.
“It is if you’re hungry,” he said, giving Gina a polite nod and then fixing Julie with a hot stare from which it was impossible to misread the personal nature of their relationship. “I was hoping to steal you away for lunch.”
Oh how she wanted to have lunch with Luke, or better yet, have Luke for lunch, but she wasn’t going to forget Gina. Not this time. Not again.
“Actually,” she said, hating how hoarse her voice sounded, how easily he affected her, and how good he smelled, ”My assistant, Gina, and I planned to have lunch today.”
“I need to cancel anyway,” Gina said quickly, but she didn’t look at Julie. “I forgot I have to run an errand at lunch.”
“Luke could join us for lunch and then you could run your errand on the way back,” she offered.
Gina gave Julie a smile that didn’t quite meet her eyes. “This is going to take a while,” she said. “It just came up and it’s pretty important. Would you mind if I was a little late returning?”
“No, of course not, there isn’t anything pressing going on today. Maybe tomorrow we could try again. You know, for lunch?”
“Sure,” Gina said and turned back to her desk.
Julie frowned, feeling oddly uneasy with what had just transpired for no identifiable reason other than a shade of guilt because she really wanted to be alone with Luke.
Luke settled his hand on her back. “Can you leave now?”
Julie looked up into his warm brown eyes and almost sighed. Looking into his eyes was like flipping some switch inside her to the on position.
“Yes. Be right back.” She turned, a niggling feeling of unease in her gut she couldn’t put aside, even for the hot man in the lobby. She returned quickly with her coat on and her purse over her shoulder but paused at the door when she found Luke leaning against the wall by Gina’s desk, making small talk. Julie could just see Gina, and she wasn’t making direct eye contact with Luke any more than she had Julie. She seemed nervous, even uncomfortable, under his inspection.
“I’m ready,” Julie said, stepping to his side and then telling Gina, “Just forward the phones upstairs and lock up.” She’d eagerly volunteered to move to a separate floor, leaving some of the firm’s politics behind when space had become an issue for the firm.
The instant Julie and Luke stepped onto the otherwise empty elevator he pulled her close and kissed her, but any thrill she got from it, which was plenty, faded as he warned, “Be careful what you say around her.”
“Why?”
“She hates you and I don’t trust her.”
Julie drew back in shock. “What?”
“It’s in her eyes when she looks at you, and she wouldn’t look me in the eye. I never like that.”
Julie hugged herself, feeling his words like a blade. The elevator dinged and people got in. She stepped away from Luke, to remain professional, and to get some much needed space. She didn’t look at him but she could feel him watching her, willing her to.
“How about the Mexican joint on the corner?” he asked when they stepped into the main lobby.
“Yes, sure,” she said, tying her coat closed.
The wind gusted around them as they headed down the steps, chilly but not freezing, though she was feeling pretty darn cold.
“I upset you,” Luke said as they turned right on the sidewalk.
She cast him a sideways look. “You were just being honest and I prefer honesty, even when it’s hard to swallow.”
They passed a vacant shop, and Luke pulled her into the nook, out of sight, and wrapped her in his powerful arms, the heat of his body seeping into hers.
“I’m sorry,” he said, brushing hair from her face. “I shouldn’t have said that about Gina so abruptly. I’m feeling protective. The Walker men seem to be genetically programmed to get that way with our women.”
“Your women?” she asked, surprised by the comment.
“Yeah,” he said, lowering his mouth, his lips all but brushing hers. “My woman.” He slanted his mouth over hers and claimed it with a hot kiss that stole her breath, before asking, “You got something to say about that?”
“Maybe,” she said.
“Maybe?”
She leaned back, hands on his chest. “This thing with Gina is bothering me, Luke. It’s...I honestly stay so detached at work that I focused on how good she is at her job, not personal likes or dislikes, which suddenly feels very shallow of me.” Just like so many of her clients.
He studied her a long moment. “If anyone understands what it’s like to lock your emotions away so that you get the job done, I do.”
But he’d been a soldier, in war. This wasn’t what a person’s job was supposed to make them. She didn’t recognize herself. She didn’t understand what was happening to her, and she wasn't sure she could with Luke in her life, not when he took it over as he did. Maybe he was even the reason she was such a mess.
“I’m not hungry. I need to get some work done.” She pushed away from him and to her surprise, he let her. Julie walked away from him, feeling alone. Alone was familiar, and she tried to embrace it. Alone meant standing on her own two feet, that she would take actions to protect herself, never getting caught off guard. Alone meant she never had to walk away and be so ridiculously conflicted that she wanted someone – Luke – to pull her back, only to be disappointed when it didn’t happen.
***
Gina ordered a sandwich at the nearby deli and waited patiently at the take out counter. It didn’t surprise her that Julie had backed out of lunch. People like Julie always thought they were above people like her. She didn’t know much about Julie’s past, since Julie didn’t talk to her about anything, but she imagined her boss must have been born with a silver spoon in her mouth. After all, she was extremely young to have achieved such success.
Gina hated her.
If things had been different it would have been her who had such success. The fake niceness Julie had handed out today sickened her. Damn good thing lunch had been cancelled. She wouldn’t want to be sick at the table, and eating with Julie might just have done that to her.
When her food
was ready, she accepted her take-out bag. Thoughts of Julie’s demise made her strides towards the door a bit more energetic. Shoving it open, she stepped outside and quickly turned the corner. She came to an abrupt halt as she ran smack into a very hard something.
Her balance faltered and strong hands steadied her. “Easy now, bébé.”
Something about the French accent insinuated itself into her senses like a soft breeze, caressing her nerve endings into awareness. She looked up into sky blue eyes that were alive with interest.
“Sorry about that,” she said.
The man was tall, with brownish blond hair that was a little too long. His body was Adonis-like, his smile sexy as hell. “Perhaps is fate, no?”
She tilted her head. This guy made her heart go pitter patter with a whole new tune. And that accent… “Perhaps, yes.”
He reached his arm overhead flattening his palm on the wall to support his weight. His eyes grazed her lips and lingered before settling back on her eyes. “I am Marco.”
She wet her lips and then offered him her free hand. “I’m Gina.”
He brought her knuckles to his lips and kissed them. ”A pleasure, cherie. I think we should take advantage of this chance meeting. When can I see you again?”
Gina wanted this man. He absolutely made her burn. The gods above seemed to have presented her with her own special sex toy. “Dinner. Tonight. My place.”
He smiled, his eyes reflecting his approval. Her gaze traveled down his body, to his belt, and below. He was hard. She stared a moment, not afraid of the boldness it represented. Then she looked up at him, and smiled her favorite wicked smile. “Tonight indeed. Got a pen? I wouldn’t want you getting lost or anything.”
There was a glint of something she didn’t quite understand in his eyes as he reached forward and ran a finger down her cheek. “I never get lost, so, ma cherie, plan on being found. ” He keyed her address in his cell phone and she sighed as he sauntered away. Once he was out of sight, she headed to her apartment to take her long lunch and break out some sexy lingerie.
***
A half hour after Julie had left Luke on the corner, she sat at her desk, her stomach growling, thumbing through a case file and the silence was deafening to the point of creepy. The creek of the wooden floor in the lobby actually made her jump.
“Hello?”
Julie walked to the lobby to find one of the guys from the mail department who ran errands holding a bag of food. “Ms. Harrison?”
“Ah yes.”
“Got food for you and a note that I put inside the bag.” He set it down on the desk and Julie could see it came from the Mexican restaurant she and Luke had been headed for when she’d left. “Paid in advance including the tip.” He waved and backed away. “Gotta run. More stops.” He took off for the hallways.
Julie’s stomach and her nose applauded the wonderful smells coming from the bag and she quickly went to find the note.
I planned to eat this with you, but Blake called and has something he wants me to see regarding that situation we discussed. I’m not calling because I’m going to pick you up from work and if I call you can tell me not to.
Luke
PS Lock the lobby door.
Julie leaned on the desk. Luke hadn’t let her walk away.
Chapter Thirteen
Leaving Julie when there was so much tension between them was killing Luke, but keeping her safe had to come first. Twenty minutes after sending her the lunch order and note, Luke sat behind his desk on his computer at Walker Security, waiting for Blake to arrive and trying to figure out how Elizabeth Moore’s sister had gotten his phone number. And there it was. A proposal Royce had submitted for several charity events involving Elizabeth Moore that included Luke’s phone number. That was how the sister had gotten his number. She must have Elizabeth’s computer or charity documents. Nothing overtly sinister and he hoped like hell that was the case all together. After reading the journal, he wasn’t so sure.
Blake walked through the front door from the street, with two men on his heels, both stiff, in slacks and button downs, with faces made from stone. Cops or some type of law enforcement, Luke decided instantly. He didn’t get up. It wasn’t that he didn’t respect those who protected the innocent. He’d simply been around the track enough times to know everyone who was supposed to be a good guy wasn’t, and many who were still pulled the power play every chance they could find.
“This is Brian Murphy,” Blake said, indicating the stocky black man who stood at his right shoulder. “He’s ATF and he saved my ass a time or two.”
Murphy won Luke’s immediate attention and his respect. Luke dropped his feet to the floor and stood.
Murphy, who looked at least ten years older than Blake, laughed low and hearty as he extended his hand to Luke across the desk. “Yeah, the kid was wild, but he kept things interesting. We miss him.”
Luke rounded the desk, accepting Murphy’s hand. “He’s still wild, trust me. He doesn’t seem to understand that red sports cars, motorcycles, and women by the bucket come with some downsides, like danger.”
Murphy chuckled and ran his fingers over his chin. “I think that might be exactly what he likes about those things.” He indicated the tall man standing next to him with sandy brown hair and closely set untrusting eyes. “This guy here is Tom Hendrix.”
“DEA,” Blake said, “and I haven’t worked with him but he’s on a task force with Brian that you’ll find interesting.”
Luke gave the man a quick once over and a nod, crossing his arms without an offer of his hand. Hendrix wasn’t eager to offer his hand either. Luke didn’t like him, but that didn’t mean the man wasn’t good at his job.
“Ex-SEAL, I hear?” Hendrix asked.
“That’s right,” Luke said, and then motioned to a few chairs. “Why don’t we sit and you can fill me in on this task force.”
“Don’t mind if I do,” Blake said, claiming a chair. Murphy sat down next to him. Hendrix leaned on the desk across from Luke. Luke stayed as he was, arms still crossed, legs in a V.
Blake pressed the conversation onward. ”I used some connections to check out the names in the journal you were given. Dragonfly pulled up nothing, but Paul Arel gave me a hard agency hit.”
Luke arched a brow. “I’m listening.”
“He’s a French-Canadian Citizen who owns a jewelry store he uses as his excuse for travel,” Murphy said. “He’s also the leader of a cartel that is a little too good at the money laundering used to hide their drug and weapons operations. We haven’t been able to nail them.”
“We need to have enough hard evidence to take him down and keep him down,” Hendrix said. “And it sounds like this Ms. Harrison has a way in through the doors we need open.”
Luke didn’t like the sound of this. “How exactly is that? She’s got a journal with names. Nothing more.”
“Arel is a big art fanatic,” Hendrix said. “Not only is he suspected of having some highly-sought after stolen pieces in his personal collection, but he buys expensive, even rare art, with illegal money, and then transports it across international lines.”
“Then resells it here on this side of the border for the cash,” Blake added. “The illegal money becomes perfectly legal.”
“And the connection Julie has is Judge Moore,” Luke said, thinking there was no way he was letting Julie snoop around for these guys.
“That’s right,” Hendrix said. “And as of this morning, Ms. Harrison agreed to take over a charity event that Judge Moore’s wife was supposed to host tomorrow night.”
Luke didn’t let his surprise show, but damn it, he’d told her to stay away from Moore. “And you know this how?”
“We have the judge well monitored,” Hendrix said.
As in wire taps, Luke assumed. “She’s not playing bait or even snitch, so don’t ask.”
“Look, Luke,” Murphy said. “I know this woman matters to you. But if she is on Arel’s radar, which I suspect she is, then she
isn’t safe until he goes down.”
“If she’s on his radar,” Luke said. “She won’t be an easy source of information. And surely you have agents inserted close to her.”
“We do. Well, we did.” Tom ran his hand across his jaw. “We have an agent missing.”
Silence filled the room. After a long moment, Luke said, “How close are you to getting someone new inside?”
“They aren’t,” Blake said. “That’s why they want Julie to help.”
“And a new agent will need time to build trust,” Murphy added, “that we don’t have.”
“There’s more at stake here than you know,” Blake said, “or I wouldn’t even have brought them here. They’ve linked tainted drugs to these guys. The stories in the news about the rising cases of teen overdoses the past few months? They aren’t overdoses. The drugs they’re taking are tainted. Arel has to go down.”
Luke walked to the window and stared out at the street without really seeing it. He didn’t want Julie in this and he only knew one way around that. He turned back to the men. “I’ll get inside the operation.”
“How the hell are you going to do that?” Blake asked.
“I’ll attend the art show and convince the judge that I have a secret hobby to support a few expensive habits.”
“And that would be what?” Hendrix asked.
“I acquire art that no one else can get their hands on...for a price.”
A slow smile slid onto his brother’s lips and Blake leaned back and slid his hands behind his head. “Pretty smart, for a SEAL.”
He’d convinced his brother he had a good plan. Now, he just had to convince Julie that not only was this a good plan, but that he was a good plan for her. Every second he was with her, he was more certain. The problem was, the more certain he became about her, the less she seemed to be about him. It would bother him if he let himself think about it, and even mess with his head. He’d never put himself on the line like this with a woman as he was with Julie. But he couldn’t let it mess with his head, any more than he could let her push him away, because she needed him, even if she didn’t know it. She was deep into something dirty and dangerous that could easily turn deadly.