Ten floors later, he pulled the Glock from his ankle holster and eased the door open. Nothing. No one in sight and there was complete silence. His cell phone vibrated and he looked at the caller ID and answered. “Tell me you found her, Blake.”
“No, get in and get her out. This guy has proven he knows explosive devices. Don’t fuck around, Royce.”
Royce hung up and shouted, “Lauren!” To hell with caution. Blake was right. If there really was a bomb, time was everything. He was halfway to her office when he paused, hearing a muffled pounding noise.
“Lauren!”
More pounding. He ran towards the noise, and then, thank God, he was at the bathroom door and heard the sweet sound of her voice. “Royce! I’m in here! Help. Please, help me.”
“I’m here, baby. I’m here.”
“Oh God, thank you. The door is stuck and my phone won’t work and”
“But you’re okay?” he asked, his gaze catching on the wooden doorstop jammed in the door.
“Yes. Yes. Now that you’re here.”
He yanked out the wedge and tossed it, pulling open the door. Lauren fell into his arms and clung to him as if he was her lifeline. Wrapping his arms around her, he hugged her, saying a silent thank you and kissing her. “Let’s get out of here.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her with him, his gun still at his side.
“What’s happening?” she asked from behind him. “What’s going on?”
“Bomb threat,” he said, pulling open the door again and inspecting the path before pushing her in ahead of him. “In other words, run, don’t walk down.” He followed her, ready for a strike from behind.
***
Luke was standing inside the yellow line, talking to an official when he saw Julie shoving through the crowd, desperately trying to get to him. “Luke! Luke!”
“I’ll be back,” he said to the cop, heading to the tape to meet her, the pale pink of her fall jacket flaring behind her.
“Tell me she’s okay,” she pleaded, grabbing his arm. The touch sent that familiar punch to his gut that he’d always felt when she touched him, magnified by about ten because he knew Lauren was all she had, because he knew how scared she was.
“Royce went in after her,” he said. “She’ll be okay.”
“Oh, God. So she really is still inside? They said there might be a bomb. Please tell me she isn’t in there with a bomb.”
“They just located it on the roof,” he said. “A team’s already tearing it down.”
“But it’s still live and she’s still in there?” Her hand tightened on his arm. “Please tell me they already disarmed it.”
“She’ll be fine,” he said, praying that was true, on edge himself about Royce getting the hell out himself. “He’ll get her out, if she’s even in there. If you want to help, search the crowd.”
“I have,” she said, swiping at a long lock of blond hair covering her face, her hand shaking. “I tried. I’ve looked. No one has seen her.” She inhaled and let it out. “I don’t... I can’t lose her.”
The vulnerability in her gave him another kick to the gut. He knew better than anyone, besides maybe Lauren, that Julie hid everything behind sex, sin, and a façade of cool, all of which were gone now.
“Hey,” he said, bending under the tape to stand closer to her. “You won’t.” He reached up and slid the wayward hair in her eyes behind her ear. “You won’t lose her.”
They stared at each other, the past between them, the passion, the connection, and yes, even the bad goodbye, sizzling into awareness.
Her perfect pink lips parted, then, “Luke, I... we...”
A loud commotion erupted and they both turned to the building to find Royce and Lauren running towards them. Julie took a step towards the tape, but then stopped and blinked up at Luke. Then, to his surprise, she pushed to her toes, and pressed her lips to his. “Thank you,” she whispered and then ducked under the tape to run towards Lauren.
Luke watched her embrace Lauren, savoring her taste on his lips, her scent on his skin while he did. And he knew right then that the wall he’d just seen come down had to fall again, and this time for good... and for him.
***
Hours later, when the bomb was disabled and she’d answered a million and one questions from law enforcement, Lauren walked into Royce’s apartment, exhausted as the rush of adrenaline slid away. Royce tossed his keys on a small table by the door and Lauren kicked off her heels, heading for the couch where she collapsed, thankful that her offices were closed the next day. Thankful that the trial would finally be ramping up for jury selection soon, and she could get this behind her.
Royce shoved the coffee table away and went down on his knees in front of her. “We have to talk, Lauren.”
“Not the talk thing again,” she said, sitting up to rest her hands on his chest. “It’s never good and I can’t deal with any more bad right now.”
“Plead the case.”
“What?” she asked, trying to scoot away from him. “No. You said you supported what I do and why I do it.” She tried to scoot away from him.
He closed his hands on her hips and held her. “I do, but there is a time when everyone in law enforcement makes a decision, for the safety of everyone involved. This is one of those times.”
“This is going to go public,” she said. “Too many people know what is going on after today. That means the public will know a plea is caving to intimidation. What message does that send about our system? And it invites copycats. I’ll be a target and make other people targets.”
“You already are a target and other people are targets as well. Plea, Lauren. Put her away for life and make the concessions to do it. Then let’s go away for a vacation. Rome, England, anywhere you want to go, and let Luke and Blake catch this guy.”
“I can’t believe you’re asking me to do this. I thought”
He kissed her, his fingers resting on her cheek. “I love you, Lauren. I’m just trying to protect you and everyone around you.”
She softened instantly at the sincerity, the torment, in his voice and pressed her lips to his. “I love you, too.”
He pulled back to search her face. “Then do this for me. I support you, baby. I believe in what you do, I do. But this is about safety.”
“What if it isn’t even about this case? We have clippings from other cases and the links to Sheridan.”
“Then it’s not this case and we’ve ruled it out. We have nothing at this point but a gamble, but we have to take it, Lauren.”
“I need to think, Royce. I need to”
He kissed her. “Think. That’s better than ‘no’.” He slid his fingers under her hair to her neck. “Tell me you love me again.”
She softened, smiled. “I love you.”
He covered her mouth with his, as if he was trying to absorb the words, as if he cherished them. Lauren relaxed into the kiss, lost in him, letting herself forget everything but him undressing her, touching her, kissing her. When she finally straddled him, when he was buried deep inside her, and their eyes connected, she realized that her big, grizzly alpha had a soft side he saved just for her. And somehow, for just this little bleep of time, it made everything okay, and no man had ever done that for her before now, before Royce.
***
The next morning, Lauren woke in Royce’s arms, to her cell phone ringing on the bedside table. He grabbed it and handed it to her.
She frowned at Caller ID. “It’s the DA. This can’t be good.” She answered, to hear her boss, Milton Waters demand, “Where are you? I’m at your apartment and you aren’t here.”
“You're at my... why?”
“I received a delivery for you this morning,” he said. “Where are you?”
Royce rolled out of bed when she gave him the address. “Any clue what’s going on?”
She headed to the closet. “He’s going to tell me to plea.”
“Did he say that?”
She yanked a pink t-shirt from a hanger in his
closet, that was beginning to feel like hers, clinging to that little piece of goodness in the midst of a whole lot of hell.
By the time Lauren had dressed in jeans and pulled on boots, Royce was leading Milton to his living room. The District Attorney, forty-something, good looking, and dressed in his standard black suit and red tie, was crackling with anger. “I’m having the trial date postponed a week. Plead the case.”
She crossed her arms in front of her. “Milton…”
“The Mayor wants the case done. I want this case done. I only let you ride this out because the victim’s family took it to the news.”
“Not because the woman murdered her husband,” Lauren said. “Of course not.”
“The public, and the jury, will be sympathetic to her,” he said. “They won’t be when we get a building full of people killed and I did nothing to stop it.”
Lauren took that like a punch in the gut. “If we plead it out now, you’ll look weak and we’ll invite other attacks. You’ll risk your office falling apart, and on an election year to boot.”
He considered her a long moment. “You tell the opposing council to give us something to work with, a piece of this puzzle that justifies the deal we swore wasn’t happening. Then you plead the damn thing and do it by Monday.” He headed for the door and stopped and turned. “And I’m going to let the media know that there is new evidence, and plead talks are in the works. So you damn sure better come up with a good follow up story to justify this. I’m in this because of you.”
Lauren stood there, staring after him, unmoving even when the door slammed shut. Royce pulled her into his arms. “Baby”
She pushed away from him. “No. Don’t. You want this too. Everyone wants this. I don’t know why I fight like this. I don’t know why I think that what is right matters when no one else does. I need to go call Mark.”
He looked like he might argue, but then nodded, stepping back. “Just remember his reasons aren’t mine.”
She scraped her teeth over her lip, chest tight. “I know. I do. I don’t mean to lash out at you. I’m just upset and confused and I just don’t know what I’m doing anymore. But I know I can’t keep this up. I can’t leave Julie in a hotel. I can’t put other people at risk. It just feels like this was all for nothing.”
“I’m here when you need me.”
Her lashes lowered and lifted. “I know and it matters.” She headed to the kitchen, taking her phone and some paperwork with her, before sitting down at the table.
A few minutes later, she was deep in conversation with Mark. “I’ll get you what you need,” he said, pausing a moment. “Look. I’m happy to get my deal, but let’s put that aside. You’ll never get to fight for what you believe in in the public sector. Lindsey and I have been talking about you. We want you to come work for us. Or go out on your own, Lauren, or with Julie. Just get the hell out from under that asshole Milton.”
She sank back into the chair. “Until this week, I think I would have said ‘no.’ I would have thought I was caving to the pressure and giving up on my beliefs.”
“Is that a ‘yes’?”
“It’s an ‘I’ll think about it.’ Seriously. I’ll think about it seriously.”
“I’ll take that,” he said. “Are you going to the annual Children’s Charity event at the museum? Lindsey and I will be there and we can talk.”
Oh, God. Julie coordinated the event every year and not without pain, and this time, while stuck in a hotel. “Yes. Probably.” If she could go without putting everyone at risk.
“Great. I’ll look for you. And how about I get you this plea information today, and we just get it behind us?”
“Email it,” she said. “And yes. Now that I’ve decided to do this, let’s be done with it.” She ended the call and noted the missed call from her father.
Lauren sighed and called him back, listening to half an hour of him telling her all the reasons she should quit her job. He almost talked her into keeping her job, when he said, “You can be my legal counsel for the Presidential campaign.”
“I’m sure Brad and Roger have that handled,” she said.
“We need you too, Lauren,” he said. “Running for the nomination is going to be a family affair. We might as well stand united.”
She could almost hear her stepmother in his words. “I support you, Father, but in the background.”
When they finally hung up, she sat there, staring into space, replaying the conversation, and telling herself not to let it impact her decision.
“You okay?”
Her gaze went to the doorway, to where Royce sauntered towards her, too graceful for such a large man, his long hair loose around his shoulders.
She pushed to her feet and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Mark wants to hire me and my father wants me to quit my job and join his campaign. Oh, and Julie has a huge charity event at the museum Saturday night that I am now afraid to go to for fear I will turn it into ‘Nightmare in the Museum.’”
“Let’s see how the next few days go, and decide about the event. As for the jobs,” his strong arm circled her waist, “what do you want?”
She didn’t know anymore. “You,” she said. “I want you to help me forget all of this.”
He scooped her up and headed for the bedroom, where she planned to stay as long as she could possibly keep him there.
Chapter Twenty
Her dress was sexy as sin, a long, cream colored number that Julie had brought her, that hugged every sleek line of her body. Just another reason Royce wanted to turn away from the museum before he pulled the truck into the valet parking. He didn’t care that Saturday night had come with no more threats, that the plea had seemed to end the hell. The bastard was still out there, still a ghost they couldn’t find, and he wasn’t going to rest until they found him. This had ended too easily, and too easy, he’d learned, was never easy at all. It was the calm before an explosion, but he wasn’t going to put Lauren on edge again. He damn sure didn’t tell her that he was so antsy about this event that he had Blake and Luke in a surveillance van a block away. When tonight was over, he was going to present her tickets to Rome, and they were getting the heck out of Dodge until he knew this was really over.
“You sure you don’t want to just skip this?” he asked her for the third time since he’d shackled himself into a monkey suit, otherwise known as a tuxedo.
“No, Royce,” she said. “You know I have to be there for Julie. I put her through living in a hotel for days. I have to show my support. She’s family. And she bought me this dress.”
He sighed and turned into the drive. “I do owe her for that one. I like it.”
She laughed. “So you keep telling me. I’m sure Sharon will call it inappropriate, when her own dress will be far more so.” She shrugged out of her coat and the valet opened her door.
Royce quickly exited and handed off the keys before stepping to her side, wrapping his arm around her as she shivered. “I’m going to have to give up this tux jacket. You’re going to be cold inside.”
“You just want an excuse to give it up,” she said. “And you have to wear it.”
They waited by the door, as several other people entered before them. Suddenly, cameras started to flash around them and a reporter stepped close to them. “Is it true your father is running for the Republican nomination, Ms. Reynolds?”
“That’s a question for him,” she said quickly.
“Is that why you caved to a plea deal for the husband killer?”
She stopped walking, the color draining out of her face.
Royce pulled her to the other side of him and forward, inside the building. The minute they were inside and signed the register, he pulled her aside. “Blow that off, baby. It means nothing. If that’s the worst thing that happens tonight, we’re good.” His hand brushed her bare shoulder. “The best thing, at least for me, is going to be peeling this dress off of you.” He motioned to the room. “Let's go mingle so I can get to do it sooner rather t
han later.”
She laughed, a soft, sexy sound that he’d never get tired of hearing, and wrapped her arm around him. They entered an oval room with doorways leading to art displays, towering ceilings and several winding stairwells that lead to the balcony areas above. Displays of food and drink framed tables and chairs with white tablecloths
Julie rushed towards them, dressed in a long light blue silk dress that accented her voluptuous curves that he was pretty sure Luke would approve of, even if his brother wouldn’t admit it.
“Hey, sweetie,” Julie said, hugging Lauren. “How are you?” She looked at Lauren’s arm where the burn mark was covered by a bandage. “Stylish and sexy. Does it hurt?”
“No, not anymore,” Lauren said, and then added, “And it’s not like I could hide it in this particular dress.”
“Which I should thank you for buying,” Royce quickly added.
Julie winked. “My pleasure and yours too, I hope.” Then to Lauren, “I have to mingle. Mark and Lindsey are looking for you. They are at a center table. Mommy Dearest is shopping the art, and your father is on his way. Brother Brad is also present.” She glanced up. “Judge Moore and his wife are here. Talk about awkward.” She lowered her voice, “I’m serving her divorce papers Monday.”
Lauren gaped. “And he’s with her tonight?”
“Yeah. He’s a cold-hearted bastard, that one.” She plastered on a fake smile. “Off to act friendly.”
Someone cleared their throat from behind them and Royce turned with Lauren’s hand tucked under his elbow. Her stepbrother, whom Royce had met on several occasions, stood there, and Royce felt Lauren tense and melt closer to his side.
“Lauren,” Brad said tightly, his gaze hitting Royce with a hostile blow. “I see you haven’t disposed of your bodyguard.”
A muscle in Royce’s jaw jumped, but he kept his tone cool. “Seems there are all kinds of unsavory characters around her I need to protect her from.”
Brad’s eyes narrowed, sliding from Royce to Lauren and back. “She’s making some statement to her father. Once she’s done making it, you’ll be done.”