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.
***
It was nearly nine at night by the time Julie stepped onto the elevator after a partner meeting to head back to her floor. She texted Luke as she’d promised and let him know she was almost ready to leave, despite a long list of things to do. The worst thing on that list was the absolute need to take off the next afternoon to handle the charity event. She loved doing charity work, especially for kids, but the timing and the complete lack of preparation the judge’s email had indicated made this one a small crisis at a bad time.
She exited the elevator and walked past Gina’s long-abandoned desk, drawing up short at the sight of Luke waiting on her in her office.
“You trying to starve me or what?” he asked, shutting his laptop he had open on top of her conference table.
She would never get used to how her skin heated just from seeing this man. “How long have you been waiting?”
He indicated the wrappers on the desk. “Long enough to eat two Snickers and a bag of crackers and be hungry all over again.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I thought you were going to wait until I texted you. I’ll grab my purse and we can eat. I’m starving, too.” When she would have walked to her desk, he pulled her into his arms.
“I’m starving, too,” he said. “For you. Did you miss me?”
His voice was low, his breath a warm, teasing trickle against her lips and from anyone else, at any other time in her life, that question would have led her to a fun, flirtatious retort. With Luke, it was filled with implication, and still she found herself saying, “Yes. Yes, I did.”
The air in the room thickened instantly and crackled with a spark that could easily turn to outright fire. “Good,” he said, his thumb stroking her cheek. “Because after you left me out there on the sidewalk I wasn’t so sure.”
“You’re very good at making me do crazy things I shouldn’t do.”
He smiled. “So it was my fault?”
“Of course,” she teased. “Everything is the man’s fault, unless he’s my client or you feed me. Seriously. I’m starving.” She kissed him and pushed out of his arms. “I’m getting my purse.”
Twenty minutes later, they’d walked a few blocks down the road to one of New York’s many wonderful hole-in-the-wall pizza joints, many of which Julie frequented probably too often.
“We have the place to ourselves,” she said, settling at one of the tiny white tables with her giant slice of cheese pizza.
Luke joined her with two equally giant slices of pepperoni. “So,” he said, watching her fold her pizza like a sandwich and take a big bite. “Tell me about the charity event tomorrow night.”
She almost choked, and grabbed her drink to swallow. “How could you possibly know that?” she asked, when she finally recovered.
He leaned in closer. “The judge’s phones were tapped even before we planned the same.”
“So the police suspect he killed her?”
“It’s even bigger than that,” he said, and she listened as he recounted what he’d learned that day.
Cartel. She was involved with a cartel. Julie sat back. “I’m suddenly not hungry. I don’t know how I got in the middle of this. I’ve always tried to stay out of the way of trouble.”
“More importantly is how we get you out of it,” he said. “And the best way to do that is to get me inside this thing and back you out.”
“How?”
“I’ll go as your date,” he said. “You introduce me and I’ll pull him aside, make it clear you don’t know what he has going on or what I have going on. Then, I’ll make sure he, and his connections, know I can get those elusive pieces of art their hearts desire, for a price.”
She felt outright sick now. “You’re going to put yourself in the center of a cartel to get me out of it.” She’d been around the Walker brothers enough to know how they operated. They were protectors. So much so that she wondered if that wasn’t what was really drawing Luke to her now. Maybe this was sex, and some manly duty. He’d already given her the ‘we’ll stay friends no matter what’ lecture. And with any other man, she would have said, ‘perfect’. A sexy affair and no strings, no emotional bonds. And no chance of getting hurt.She swallowed hard.
“Julie,” Luke said, drawing her gaze from where it had settled on her slice of pizza.
She nodded. “Yes?”
“I’m getting you out of this, yes, and I won’t pretend that isn’t a huge motivator to me. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“I know,” she said, her throat threatening to close. God, who was she? Nothing used to rattle her. Nothing but...Luke.
His eyes narrowed. “What does that mean?”
“It means I’m glad you’re involved,” she said, and she meant that. He might break her heart in the end, but she’d be alive to feel the pain. That beat dead any day of the week. “You said cartel. Are we talking drugs? Weapons?”
“Yes to both, but the part of this equation that makes this bigger than usual is that not only are they selling illegal drugs, and targeting teens, those drugs are tainted.”
“I’ve seen a few news pieces on teens dying,” she said. “This cartel is responsible?”
“The drugs are tainted.”
Julie drew in a breath that rasped through her lungs like acid. Kids were her soft spot. They always had been. Kids who wanted to believe in the adults around them, and often did so with trust that wasn’t deserved. “Then consider me in for the count. Whatever I have to do, I’ll do it without hesitation.”
“You just have to get me to the judge and play the role of my unsuspecting, trusting love.” He glanced at her pizza. “And eat.” The strong line of his always sexy mouth curved, “You’ll need your strength to practice that role later.”
At that moment, getting lost in Luke sounded pretty darn good, and maybe she’d even let herself play the role of the blind, smitten lover. Playing the role, whatever it might be, had gotten her through a lot in life. In fact, maybe she simply needed to stop thinking so much with Luke.
“A few games with you might be just what I need,” she said, leaning forward and picking up her pizza, and glancing at his. “But I suggest you eat, too. I’m not going to be easy on you.”
They finished up their pizza, and stepped into the chilly night air, walking back toward her building where Luke had parted, and a chill slid down Julie’s spine that had nothing to do with the temperature. Suddenly, she was more than a little aware of how that area of town, while highly populated during the day, was almost empty at night. So much for not thinking too much.
Luke seemed to sense her unease, pulling her under his strong arm, his big body warming her. “Nice to walk these streets when you aren’t getting pushed and shoved, now isn’t it?”
She slid her arm under his leather jacket, craving the feel of his hard body, his strength, next to hers. “Tonight, I think a crowd and some pushing and shoving might feel good.”
“Crowds give a false sense of security,” he said. “You never know what’s hiding in a crowd.”
“If you were a doctor you’d have a horrible bedside manner.”
He smiled down at her. “I did pretty good with your cut,” he reminded her, and boy did he. She barely remembered it an hour later. “How’s it doing?”
She lifted her band-aid. “Other than the really lousy style statement, better.”
br /> “Maybe we should stick to takeout,” he said. “No cleanup.” He motioned to a side street by her building. “The garage was full. I had to snag a meter.”
“There are a lot of medical offices in the building and it gets busy on Mondays,” she said. ”I should have told you to park in my spot that I never use.” The hair on the nape of her neck stood up, and she could feel the slight, barely there stiffening of Luke’s spine beneath her palm.
“I never mind a walk,” he said, but his tone had changed, tightened. He lifted a hand to indicate the truck. “There we are.” He clicked the locks open as they approached, and she was aware of the full paid-parking area they were passing, that sense of something being under the bed, or in this case, the cars, making her want to run. And her imagination was exactly why she didn’t watch scary movies.
Luke opened the door for her and helped her inside, his voice low as he handed her his phone. “Blake’s on speed dial. Tell him we have an unwelcome visitor and keep him on the line.” He started to hand her the keys. “Don’t turn anything on. In fact, don’t touch anything. Just call Blake after you lock the doors.” He shut the door.
Chapter Fourteen
Luke wanted to get Julie the hell out of here, but he had to deal with the very real possibility his vehicle could have been tampered with. They had company, and it wasn’t the kind that came around on holidays, irritated you, and left. Luke sauntered away from her door, his posture deceptively relaxed, a whistle on his lips. The paid parking lot to Luke’s right, filled with at least thirty vehicles, was like that crowd he’d said was dangerous. There were lots of places to hide, but the guy under the Jeep several feet back wasn’t as good as he thought he was.
Luke walked around the back of the truck, out of Julie’s sight, his skin twitching, his nerve endings were so on edge. He pretended to walk toward the driver’s door, shrugging out of his coat as if he meant to throw it on the seat, when he actually wanted the ease of movement getting rid of it gave him.
He dropped down to the ground, removed the gun under his pant leg, and let the coat lie on the ground, already moving forward. Luke was in the parking lot, using the vehicles for cover before the man could have processed what was happening.
He found cover by a sweet little ride, a Mustang Shelby, using the wheel to hide his feet and squatting under the vehicle to look for the would-be attacker, now turned into Luke’s prey.
He listened and watched. There was a scrape and then a shadow. Luke lunged forward as the guy darted between vehicles, grabbed the man by the shirt, fully intending to slam him against a car and find out who’d sent him and who his target was tonight. Was it him or Julie or both?
“Release him,” came a low, accented order.
Luke rose to his feet and pulled his capture to his chest, and pressing the gun to the man’s temple. The other man shot Luke’s human shield right between his eyes. The shooter took off running.
Shit shit shit. Luke’s heart lodged in his throat at the fear he’d done exactly what had been planned, and left Julie alone in the truck. He tossed aside the dead guy, and with his finger on the trigger, guarding his back, he ran for the truck, scared like he’d never been scared in his life.
The instant he rounded the cars and saw Julie looking desperately through the window, he exhaled the air lodged in his throat with his heart.
She opened the door and he blocked her exit. “Oh God, what-?”
He held up a silencing finger and her eyes went to his gun and then widened. She nodded. He took the phone, knowing his brother would be one the line. “One down and another armed and missing and I’m not risking the truck being hot, not to mention we’re also sitting ducks. I’m headed south and into the subway.” He hung up, knowing his brother would get the right people here, his hand sliding to Julie’s hair. “Stay close and do exactly what I say.”
“We could run for the building.”
He shook his head. “That’s where they expect us to run. The subway is two blocks. We’re safer there. Take off your shoes and carry them. They’ll slow you down and make noise.” She nodded and stuffed them in her purse before sliding it over her shoulder cross-ways. She gave him a nod of readiness, brave when most would not have been.
He lifted her out of the truck and squatted, hoping they looked like they were just blocked by the door. “We’ll be fine.” He didn’t wait for her reply. He tugged her around the door, and took off running with her pulled close to his side. The next three minutes were eternal. When they finally hit the subway stairs, he stuffed his gun in his pants and Julie slipped on her shoes. They kept running and he lifted her over the entrance machines, not about to take time to buy a ticket. They ignored the screams of other riders and kept going.
Luke herded them onto a train a second before the doors shut, uncaring of where it was going. With Julie’s hand in his he walked to the far end of the car, away from the other ten or so riders, and grabbed a pole to hold on to.
Julie wrapped her arms around him, and staring down at her, all he could think was how easily she could have died tonight. He lowered his mouth and kissed her, needing her right then as he had never needed her in his life.
When he finally got her back to his place, he’d already talked to Blake, and knew he and the task force, were already at the truck and dealing with fallout and investigation.
Luke led Julie to the couch and sat her down, going down on one knee. “You okay?”
“Now, that we’re here, yes. Luke, what was that back there?”
“I don’t know yet,” he said. Something about the entire thing was off. Why shoot your own man? That just didn’t add up. “Right now, why don’t you put my massive tub to use? It hasn’t even been properly broken in. I’m sure Lauren has about anything you might need and I can promise you we’re locked down like Fort Knox here. You’re safe. Go try and relax and I’ll try and get us answers.
She hesitated. “My feet are disgusting,” she said. “I’ll have to shower before I can even take a bath.”
He smiled. ”Your feet? After all you just went through that’s what’s on your mind?” That’s what’s upsetting you?”
“Now that I’m here and alive, yes. Do have any idea how disgusting those streets are?”
She was tough, tougher than she gave herself credit for. And he was afraid she might need to be a whole lot tougher before this was over.
***
Luke sat on a barstool at Blake’s island kitchen bar, watching his brother pace as he talked on the phone. He ended the call and set his phone on the counter.
“No body found,” he said. “No blood. No signs of struggle.”
Luke gave a slow nod. “So whoever didn’t want the guy to talk didn’t want him identified either.”
“Yeah,” Blake said. “No doubt the dude’s going to end up at the bottom of a river somewhere with concrete blocks on his feet. I imagine that was what would have happened to the two of you. You’d have gone missing. Forever.”
“No body, no murder,” Luke said. “Am I the only one that thinks Moore wouldn’t risk the connection of his soon-to-be ex’s death, and that of his divorce attorney?”
“I’m right there with you, thinking the same thing,” Blake said, sauntering to the fridge to pull out a jug of chocolate milk. He downed a gulp before bringing it with him to sit across from Luke. “So either you were the target, which still is awfully closely linked to Julie, or-”
“Judge Moore wasn’t behind this.”
“Arel might try to kill off Julie if he thinks she knows something she shouldn’t,” Blake suggested. “It makes sense he’d kill off Elizabeth and Julie.”
“Would he want Judge Moore under investigation if Moore is instrumental in the art used for the money laundering? And I keep going back to shooting your own guy and then getting rid of the body. That’s big.”
“Where are you going with this?”
“I don’t know but we have a judge involved. We could have law enforcement involved
. Someone doesn’t like me and/or Julie in this thing. And who knows just how involved we are?”
“I asked Murphy and Hendrix to keep things on the down low, so maybe five people on the task force make that list, and then Elizabeth’s sister, and anyone else she or Julie told that Julie has the journal.”
“Julie’s too smart to run her mouth,” Luke said. “We should get Diana into a safe house somewhere in case someone decides she has it or she knows too much.”
“We don’t know she’s innocent herself,” Blake said.
“But this way we have her under our watch anyway.”
“Good point. I’ll put someone on it, and I’ll have them pick her brain for anything we can use to protect you and Julie. And you need to consider locking Julie down, too, man. She’s too close to this. Don’t fuck up like I did with Rebecca and lose her.”
Right. Lock Julie down. Piece of cake. Luke had a feeling he was about to see a war unlike any he’d ever known.
***
Gina stood in front of her full-length mirror and smiled. Dressed in a white lace bra and panty set with matching garter and hose, she looked like the perfect angel she wanted her stranger to believe her to be . At least, when she opened her door.
Soft waves of silky auburn brown hair fell over her shoulders, pink lipstick defined a seductive pout, and she was already getting wet just thinking about showing her sexy French man how bad a good girl could be.
She didn’t make dinner. They could order out when they came up for air. A wicked smile played on her lips.
If they came up for air.
The jangle of the telephone forced her to put her thoughts on hold. With an irritated huff she picked up the receiver from her nightstand.
“Hello,” she said abruptly.
“Such hostility, Gina, dear, and to think I once thought you were sweet.”
Gina frowned and sat on the edge of the bed. “Who is this?”