Going All Out

by Jeanie London

  The wharves were already up and running with shipping and deliveries as the sky faded to dawn. Even so, Bree found plenty of space on the street in front of their warehouse.

  She didn’t think that anyone from the krewe would be in to open up quite this early, and sure enough, the doors were all shut. She parked close to the entrance as a precaution and let herself inside.

  Beelining straight for the security panel, she disabled the system, tapped on a few lights and headed back toward the workroom and the storage closets.

  She knew exactly what she wanted—a tiara, the plaster jewels the krewe queen had worn last year and some of the glittery gold throws from the captain’s talking Yo Ho Ho float. She could trim her lace with the filigreed beads—save herself more time—then return everything after the ball.

  Striding around Gator Bait’s tail, she felt excited and eager, when she should by all rights be passing out from exhaustion. It wasn’t until she could see the silhouette of the dark doorway across the dimly lit expanse of the warehouse that she heard a sound behind her.

  The sound brought her up short. Excitement dissolved like a bayou mist beneath the summer sun. Suddenly she could feel the darkness, a tangible thing that wound through all the shadowy places inside the warehouse and reminded her how alone she was.

  Bree hadn’t forgotten Jude was in town, not exactly, but when she heard the sound echo through the warehouse, a chill skated down her spine. Adrenaline turned ice into scalding heat.

  There might be wharves filled with dockworkers all around, but none would hear her from inside this warehouse, no matter how loud she screamed.

  Suddenly the massive shapes of the floats, pieces that were already being lined up for the parade, looked ominous and shadowy. Hiding places lurked in every nook and crevice, and she warned herself not to freak. The noise was probably nothing more than a big rat that had gotten inside. Or some jousts or beams settling somewhere overhead.

  Bree might have bought it, too…but her instincts were on fire. She couldn’t miss the scent of trouble, overpowering. Hurrying toward the workroom and the next light switch, she wove her way around another float, her feet leaden and clumsy in her near panic.

  She imagined the sound of breathing in the shadows behind her, cursed her stupidity in coming to the warehouse before anyone else had shown up.

  Stepping inside the workroom, she smacked at the light switch, but before her fingers connected, strong arms caught her, dragging her back against a rock-hard chest.

  A scream slipped from her lips only to be cut short when those arms squeezed tight, the sort of strength that always stressed the differences between male and female.

  “You look scared, chère.” That bayou-sunset voice sounded against her ear, a tone that rippled through her, familiar, lethal. “You were never afraid to be alone in the dark with me.”

  Fear shot down her spine in violent reply, dispelling the sensation as every muscle in her body paralyzed with surprise.

  Alone in the dark with Jude.

  No place she had ever wanted to be again.

  Bree forced herself not to struggle. To show this man her fear would be to give him the upper hand and the opportunity to run roughshod all over her.

  Never again. Never.

  “What do you want, Jude?” She forced steel into her voice and was surprised to sound calm and in control. Her heartbeat drummed so hard in her ears she thought she might be sick.

  “I was back in town, so I thought I’d say hello to my favorite girl.”

  My favorite girl.

  Once upon a time, she’d melted at those words. Now they only sounded sleazy and manipulative.

  “Let me go.”

  To her surprise, the arms bracing her close slackened and he took a step back.

  Her breath had solidified in her lungs, but she forced herself to inhale a hard breath, to turn around, to face the man who’d once had so much control over her.

  The years hadn’t changed him. He had some new creases around his eyes, some deeper laugh lines around his mouth, but on Jude Robicheaux’s face they only added character, made him even more startlingly beautiful, the kind of beautiful that made women stare like deer caught in the headlights.

  He was dressed all in black, a color he’d always favored—the extremes, black and white, two sides of a coin, the outside and the inside, the good and the bad. Even in the shadows she could see the way the tailored shirt and slacks hung perfectly on his body, a physique as beautiful as the rest of him.

  On the outside, anyway.

  His translucent gaze traveled over her, taking her measure, his eyes caressing every inch of her in the way he’d once caressed her body, hot and possessive. If she hadn’t known what a poker face this man had, she might have imagined something there, some fondness, some pleasure to see her again.

  Jude had a poker face unlike any she’d ever seen.

  “If you’d only wanted to say hello, you could have dropped by the house like a normal person,” she said. “Not stalked me.”

  He gave a low whistle. “That’s harsh, gorgeous.”

  “What do you call it then?”

  “Casing the situation. I didn’t want to knock on your door until I’d given you fair warning. You might have a husband and kids by now. I didn’t want to drop by and screw things up if you didn’t tell your husband about me.”

  A lie. He would know whether or not she was married. But the lie did what it was meant to—plant a seed. Of doubt, of control. She wasn’t sure which. But she was convinced that he knew she hadn’t told anyone he was back in town.

  “I wanted to feel you out, gorgeous. After all, we parted under…unusual circumstances.”

  Unusual?

  The word would have made her laugh had the situation not been so unfunny. After trying to alienate her from everyone and getting angry when she wouldn’t leave her family to run off with him, he’d left her holding the bag for his misdeeds.

  Unusual?

  She’d wound up making statements against him to clear herself of any complicity, and she wanted to toss those facts in his face. But Bree knew better than to provoke him while they were alone in the dark.

  She honestly didn’t believe he would hurt her, not physically, but she reached out to grip the doorjamb to steady herself, to get her hand within proximity of the light switch. A measure of control. Not that light would protect her, and the darkness would probably work better if she decided to run.

  The home-team advantage was hers in this warehouse.

  But Bree wasn’t going to run. She’d already set her plan with this man, wouldn’t let him know he rattled her.

  She wasn’t the same girl he’d been involved with before, and now was as good a time as any to let him know it. “If you just wanted to say hello, Jude, then hello. Glad to see life’s treating you well. I’m great, too. Take care. Goodbye.”

  She delivered that all on one breath—so much for not letting him know he’d rattled her.

  He inclined his head in a gesture she knew so well, contemplative, keeping the balance of power on his side, and then he smiled, a dazzling smile that flashed through the darkness, a smile that had the power to blind.

  “Have a nice life.” She propelled herself away from the doorjamb. If he wouldn’t leave, then she would.

  But he lashed out and caught her face. His hand tightened around her jaw, his fingers digging into her cheeks, not quite hard enough to hurt but enough to stop her in her tracks.

  In one fast move he crowded her against the wall, his body close, everything about him so intensely familiar and so utterly and completely wrong.

  Bree recognized his scent, the faintly stubbled texture of his jaw, the angelic curve of his lips as he smiled down at her.

  “Breanne,” he drawled her name in that lazy bayou voice. “You’re even more beautiful than I remembered.”

  “What do you want from me?” The question rushed out, almost a plea in the dark.

  His gaze cut
through her, and he opened his mouth—

  “Yo, Bree, you in here?” another voice called out, startling the moment, making her jump.

  Jude shot a gaze in the direction of the voice. Some part of her brain that could vaguely function past her spiked heart rate and throbbing pulse beat registered John’s voice.

  Jude’s grip tightened, dragged her face to his. In that split second every muscle in her body galvanized as his mouth came down on hers hard, fast.

  “I want you.” He ground the words against her lips. Then he let her go and stepped into the shadows, disappearing as suddenly as he’d arrived.

  “There you are.” John suddenly appeared around Gator Bait’s tail, his lanky silhouette backlit by the office lights.

  “Found her, Lucas,” he called out, then stopped and eyed her in surprise. “Hey, are you all right? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  That might have been funny if she hadn’t been shell-shocked. But she was. She was barely registering the fact that Lucas was here.

  For a moment Bree could only stare, trying to shake off her daze. Should she tell John that Jude was on the loose?

  Where was Lucas?

  Turning, she found him emerging from the shadows by the Yo Ho Ho float.

  He was frowning. “Bree, what happened?”

  Striding toward her, he flipped on the light, and she blinked against the sudden glare to find herself staring into his emerald-hard eyes, a look she’d never seen before.

  “Bree?” he prompted, peering around as though he was looking for a threat.

  She opened her mouth to reply, but pride stopped her. Jude was long gone. If he’d wanted a confrontation, he’d never have taken off. He would have left her to introduce him to Lucas and John, to figure out some way to explain their relationship. Or he could have attacked both men with the element of surprise on his side.

  But that wasn’t Jude’s game.

  Without a doubt he was slinking out the same hole he’d arrived through, and she hated the thought of Lucas knowing she’d been involved with such a lowlife, was still involved with such a lowlife, although not by choice any longer.

  She didn’t want him thinking she couldn’t stand up to Jude, that she didn’t have the situation under control.

  But did she really?

  Suddenly Bree wasn’t so sure. The only thing she knew for certain was that she didn’t want to admit her past had returned to bite her in the ass. She didn’t want to explain the gory details of Jude Robicheaux’s involvement in her life.

  Even Lana and Toujacques finding out suddenly didn’t feel as important as Lucas spending their last few days together protecting her.

  And that’s exactly what he would do.

  “No, everything’s fine.” It took every ounce of energy to force the words out. “I got it under control.”

  Lucas’s gaze narrowed, searched her expression with eyes that tried to see inside.

  “Are you sure, Bree?” John asked doubtfully. “We thought—”

  “We thought you might need our help,” Lucas cut him off. “But if you’re okay…”

  “Everything’s under control. Trust me. I just dropped by to pick up some paste from the storeroom for the ball. I was hoping to work on my costume this morning.”

  So much for that surprise.

  She’d had enough surprises for one day, thank you.

  LUCAS WATCHED BREE closely, unsure if she was lying to him or to herself. From where he was standing it didn’t look as if she had anything under control. He’d seen the car parked beside hers outside. John hadn’t recognized the car as one belonging to a krewe member, so Lucas had glanced at the tag. A rental.

  The light revealed the faint red marks on her cheeks—marks made by someone’s fingers. Yet she smiled up at Lucas with that beguiling smile and told them nothing was wrong.

  John seemed willing to accept whatever she told him.

  Lucas wasn’t.

  He stared into her face, the intimacies of the past few days shielded behind an expression that masked everything she was thinking inside that beautiful head, the truth about those marks on her face hidden behind a smile.

  But he could see past the mask. Two days with this woman, and he recognized the wild light in her eyes, the way she shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

  She was agitated, big-time.

  Lucas felt in tune with Bree in a way he’d never been with anyone else, and when she launched herself into motion as if she couldn’t stand still another second, he knew everything was wrong and she wanted to hide it.

  “I’ll be back,” he said.

  “Don’t go,” she said quickly. “I need help getting some things from the storeroom. That’s why I’m here.”

  “I’m just going to take a look around.”

  “Lucas—”

  “John will give you a hand. I’ll be right there.”

  Lucas didn’t give her a chance to reply but took off. He walked the perimeter of the warehouse, between the floats, searching for anyone who might be crouching in the shadows, someone who might have left those finger marks on Bree’s cheeks.

  After reaching the offices, he peered through the vertical blinds to see that, as expected, the rental sedan was gone. He spotted a caddy with paper and pens on the desk, helped himself and jotted down the tag number before he forgot.

  Then, satisfied they were alone inside the den, he headed back to the storeroom. He found Bree buried inside, with John standing sentinel outside the door, chatting about her plans to attend the coronation ball.

  “Tally told us that you’d changed your mind and were coming,” John was saying. “I’m glad. You worked so hard on the float and the costumes. You’d be missed if you weren’t there.”

  John wore his heart on his sleeve, and Lucas squelched an unfamiliar irritation that had him scrutinizing the overeager look on the kid’s face, how he blocked the doorway so Bree couldn’t get out without passing mighty close.

  When Bree caught sight of him, she asked, “You okay?”

  He only nodded, feeling anything but. He wanted answers, but Bree was keeping them to herself.

  And he didn’t have the right to demand any.

  “So what brings you two by so early this morning?” she asked, obviously having had enough time to regain her balance.

  “John and I wanted to discuss a volunteer venture for the krewe before we got started on the electrical system.”

  “Really? Is this top secret or can you tell me?”

  John laughed. “It’s not top secret, but we haven’t told anyone yet. Kind of need to take it to the board first.”

  “Got it.” Bree made a cross over her heart, then pressed a finger to her lips. “What if I promise I won’t breathe a word?”

  “Not even to Tally?”

  “Scout’s honor.”

  John darted a glance Lucas’s way. “I wrote a program for a video game about the captain. Lucas thought we could sell them and give the proceeds to the krewe. Great idea, huh?”

  “Just a guess, but Lucas’s company would manufacture the game?”

  Lucas nodded.

  “Well, then, I think it’s a great idea. Josie is always looking for new ways to raise money.”

  John beamed and Lucas watched as Bree gathered an armful of beads and jewels and maneuvered herself around to stand. Lucas brushed John aside and grabbed her arm to give her leverage. She peered up at him beneath her lashes and smiled.

  The finger marks had faded completely.

  Backing out of the storeroom, he felt his pulse accelerate when Bree rose up on tiptoes to kiss him. “Good morning.”

  “So what are you wearing to the ball, Lucas?” John asked.

  “What are you wearing to the ball?” Bree repeated. “I know you won’t find a costume anywhere in this town.”

  “I’ve got stuff in Josie’s attic.”

  “Your mom the pack rat, hmm?”

  He nodded and helped Bree grab a box off a near
by shelf. “What about you? Didn’t give you a problem, did I?”

  “That’s why I’m here. I’m working on something.” She transferred all the bright jewels and a tiara into the box and said, “Well, that’s it for me, gentlemen. I’m beat. I’ll be back again at noon, if anyone asks.”

  “I’ll walk you out.” Lucas took the box from her.

  “See you later, John,” she said.

  “’Bye, Bree,” the kid called back, and this time Lucas definitely heard a sigh.

  Bree looked contemplative but completely recovered as they wove through the warehouse, and if he hadn’t seen the marks on her cheeks or the car in the parking lot, Lucas might have second-guessed himself. But someone had been inside the den with her this morning, and he intended to find out who.

  “Have a good night?” he asked.

  “Same old, same old. How about you? Get some sleep?” Her smile flashed, and he felt that same punch-to-the-gut awareness that he always did, that same rush of need that made him want to pull her into his arms.

  But now there was something else, a sense of possessiveness that felt both raw and defensive, as he watched her unlock her car door, take the box from him and deposit it on the seat.

  He wanted a straight answer but could come up with no way to get her to be honest. He could confront her about the car he’d seen in the parking lot but wondered if he’d only force her to lie. He might have made love to Bree, but he was only a temporary part of her life. This whole situation had driven home that point loud and clear.

  Unsure how to handle the situation, Lucas only knew he didn’t want her to go home alone and felt powerless to stop her. He’d seen Christien’s and Tally’s cars parked on the street when he’d left the court not twenty minutes ago. That meant Tally would be sleeping off her night at the Blue Note, Christien was off duty and Mark was back from his girlfriend’s. Bree wouldn’t be alone in Number One. It would have to do.

  But it wasn’t enough, he realized. Not nearly enough.

  “Are you heading straight home?” he asked.

  “Uh-huh. There’s a bed with my name on it.” Slipping her arms around his neck, she pressed close. “Wish you were going with me.”