Footsteps forced him to open his eyes. Keegan stood in front of him, a half smile on his face. "Boy, that brother of mine can talk."
"Yup," Logan replied, letting his eyes close again.
"So, young cousin, are you going to tell me how you ended up involved with a mob hit man?"
Logan shrugged. "What's there to tell? And I am only two months younger than you so knock off the 'older, wiser' bit."
Keegan chuckled. "In your case, two months seems to have meant a world of maturity."
"Whatever," Logan responded, voice laced with annoyance.
"So, how did you meet the girl?"
"Aunt Clara told you. I was undercover."
"Was she your assignment?"
"No."
"Are you sure?"
Logan sat up straight, shooting his cousin a warning look. "I'm sure. Meeting Angelina was pure coincidence. I parked in her spot by accident."
"Ahhh...the plot thickens..." Keegan teased.
"Look, since I know you won't let it go...I was driving home from work—the undercover gig—when I came on her. Some idiot ran Angelina off the road and left her for dead."
"And that idiot turns out to be an assassin hired by the mob?"
"Yup."
"Did it occur to you to call the police?"
"I am the police."
"Come on, Logan, you know what I mean."
"My lieutenant knows what's going on. Well,
sort of anyway. I didn't have a chance to tell him about this mess yet." Logan sighed. He really didn't have to tell him, he supposed. They weren't anywhere near his jurisdiction but he did have to check in at some point. He could fill the L.T. in then.
"That was one mean mother out there in the woods today, Logan. We need to get ready, he will be back."
"I know."
"Logan?"
"What?"
"Is she worth it?"
Logan stared at his cousin for a moment, very aware of what he was asking. Finally he nodded, slowly. "Yes. She is."
"All right then. That's all I needed to know. Let's take care of business."
Keegan walked back to the kitchen calling out to his twin. "Time to get the things out of the truck!"
"Two steps ahead of you, little brother. The box is in the corner by the door."
Logan listened as his cousins bantered back and forth, wondering for the millionth time what it was like to have a brother. Despite the fact that he had spent half his childhood with his aunt and her family, he never knew the closeness that the twins shared. A closeness that he suspected was derived as much from being brothers as from sharing their DNA.
It would have been nice to grow up in a regular family, with siblings and parents who cared. Like Angelina. He would bet his last dollar she had left behind a big Italian family with Sunday dinners and holiday festivities like they did on television. He could
only imagine how hard it must have been on her being
away from them all this time.
The urge to check on Angelina was strong enough to get his adrenaline-exhausted body up off the couch. Ignoring his cousin's stares and whispered jibes, he made his way down the hallway toward the room Aunt Clara had assigned to Angelina.
Contemplating how reuniting Angelina with her family and her old life would affect his budding, although still mostly denied, feelings for her, Logan stopped short of the guest room door.
Without bothering to knock, Logan gripped the doorknob and turned, grateful to find it unlocked. Angelina leaned against the center of the headboard, her arms wrapped around her knees. Her head was resting against her bent legs. Logan's heart broke at the sight of her.
Crossing the room in a few long strides, Logan dropped onto the bed and pulled Angelina into his arms expecting her to resist. She didn't. They sat like that for a long time, Logan occasionally patting her back or smoothing her hair. He couldn't think of anything to say that would come close to consoling her, so he said nothing.
Finally, when the front of his shirt was damp and Lucy's eyes were red and swollen, she lifted her head and looked at him. "I'm sorry."
"For what, exactly?"
"For dragging you into my own personal hell. For putting your life and your family in danger." Angelina jumped up off the bed and began to pace the room. Logan, figuring she needed to burn off pent up frustration, remained on the edge of the bed, watching the many emotions that clouded her pretty features.
"You didn't drag me anywhere. I thought we
talked about this already. This is what we James's do," Logan said softly.
"I have to call witsec. Turn myself into them. They can protect me and by default, all of you."
Logan jumped up off the bed, planting his feet firmly in Angelina's path. Taking her by the shoulders, he forced her to stop her frantic pacing. "Like they protected you before?"
Angelina's shoulders slumped. "What other choice do I have? I don't want any of you getting hurt on my account."
"You are that certain that my cousins and I can't hold our own against a couple of thugs? I told you, we are all in this together."
She shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, this is my problem. Not yours. None of you should have to hold your own to begin with."
Logan took her by the hand and led her over to the bed and settled her on the edge of it. He knelt down in front of her and took both her hands in his. "You've been alone and in hiding for a long time. You're used to looking out for yourself, I understand that. But you don't have to handle this alone. Let us help you. We want to help you."
A single tear left the corner of her right eye and traveled slowly down her cheek. Logan reached up and brushed it away with his thumb.
"I'm so tired of being afraid," she whispered. "I have spent every day since that night at the pier looking over my shoulder and expecting Salvatore to be standing there. My worst nightmare is coming true. And the worst of it is, my family already thinks I'm dead so when I turn up that way again...do you know what that will do to my mother?"
"Nothing. Because we won't let them kill you."
"More will come. Mark my words, Salvatore won't give up."
"Well, then we will just have to outsmart him. Once we peg your agent with the tracking device, witness protection can relocate you."
Just saying the words hurt. He had only known Angelina for a couple of days but the thought of her disappearing without a trace upset him.
She shook her head, more tears rolling down her cheeks. "I'm tired of running." She swiped at the tears. "I hate what I have become. I'm not supposed to be a victim."
Logan took her face in both his hands to force her to look at him. "You are not a victim, Angelina. You were doing your job—a very difficult, scary job—and things went bad. But you saved a lot of women, shutting down a human trafficking ring. There is no shame in survival. It's human instinct. That's what witness protection is supposed to be there for."
"Unless the agent assigned to your case gets on the payroll of the scum who is out to get you."
"Lucky for you, you have three talented lawmen willing to serve up justice in spades."
"What about Mulholland? How do we prove he is at the heart of all this?"
"I'm going to check in with my lieutenant and tell him what's going on. We will figure out a way to bust him. Don't you worry."
Angelina nodded and Logan stood up. He was almost to the door when Angelina called out to him. "Logan?"
He stopped and turned around. Angelina was right there behind him, looking up at him through
damp eyelashes. "Yes?"
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"For everything."
Logan didn't plan to kiss Angelina right then. Yet, somehow that was exactly what he did. He felt Angelina shudder slightly as he wrapped his arms around her. An echo of his own response to the electricity sparked between them whenever they touched.
There was a sense of urgency in her movements as she trailed her fingers up and down his bac
k, pressing closer as his tongue gently probed her lips for entrance. Angelina responded with such passion that he was instantly on fire. Kicking the bedroom door shut and scooping her up in his arms in one single movement, Logan carried her back to the bed and lay her down against the pile of soft pillows. Angelina's soft moan did things to him that he was at a loss to describe even if he wanted to. Positioning himself on the bed beside her, he explored every inch of her mouth with his tongue while his hands, desperate for contact with silky skin worked their way up under the borrowed top she wore.
His jeans tightened uncomfortably when one calloused fingertip made contact with the underside of a breast. He hadn't realized, until that moment, Angelina wasn't wearing a bra. If he were lucky, she had skipped panties as well.
"Logan...." She moaned against his lips. "We should go...help your cousins..."
"Shhh...it's okay. The twins are more than capable of setting a few booby traps and wiring a couple of explosives."
"But..."
He silenced her with a kiss that brought their passion to new heights. His skin burned with need, the need to feel every inch of Angelina up against his body without a single barrier of fabric. In desperation, his hands worked to get her sweater off. She must have felt the same way; her hands tore at his shirt, popping a couple of buttons as she yanked it open and ran her fingers over his chest. Logan thought he might just spontaneously combust as her fingers burned a trail of heat across his flesh.
Just as he decided to check the panty status under Angelina's jeans, a loud bang on the bedroom door sounded. They froze.
"What?" Logan growled.
"You might want to get out here," Kaiden called through the door. "Keegan spotted some movement coming up the mountain. At least three, maybe more."
Angelina looked up at him with worried eyes. "It's not even dusk yet," she whispered.
"Be right there!" Logan called back to his cousin.
"We're in the kitchen!" Kaiden yelled back even as his footsteps were retreating down the stone hallway.
"This is it, isn't it?" A slight tremble in her voice betrayed Angelina's fear.
"Looks like it." Heavy with regret, Logan rose from the bed, buttoned up what buttons he could and tucked his shirt back into his jeans. "I have to go call my lieutenant, let him know what's going on."
Angelina nodded but didn't say anything.
"You should stay here." His voice was gruff even as his eyes were tender. Bending over, he placed a
kiss on her lips lingering for just a moment as his body begged for more. It took everything he had to break the contact and step away from her.
With one last hungry glance, Logan turned and strode from the room. He wasn't at all sure where this thing with Angelina was going, if it ever got to go anywhere at all. One thing he was sure of however, when he walked into the kitchen and saw the serious, all business expressions of his cousins, was that he wasn't going to get the chance to find out anytime soon.
Kaiden looked up when he entered the room, a grin on his face. "Sorry to interrupt you in there, cousin, but I thought you might want in on this."
"Absolutely. I just have to make a call. Can I borrow your cell?"
Kaiden put down the shotgun he was loading and tossed his phone to him. Logan stepped into the living room and put in a call to his boss.
The phone rang only once when Lieutenant George picked up. "That you, James? Where the hell are you?"
"Thanks for your concern, L.T. I'm just fine, thanks for asking."
"You've been off the grid since last night! Why don't you answer your cell phone?"
"I'm not using it anymore. Someone found us at my safe house early this morning.”
“Us?” George questioned, and Logan realized he hadn't said much about his circumstances in his previous call.
“I have a woman with me, her name is Angelina Ferrara and I met her at the school. She's not part of the drug case. Turns out she is in witness protection and the agent assigned to her seems to have given her
up to the wrong people. There is a hit out on her and I found her on my way home last night after someone ran her off the road. We discovered a tracking device in her necklace and someone has been trying to kill her since I last spoke to you."
When he paused, George let out a low whistle. "No way. Where are you now?"
Logan couldn't take any more time to explain his Aunt Clara's survival bunker so he kept it simple. "At my aunt's place in the mountains."
"That's way out of our jurisdiction, James."
"I know."
"Did the killer track you there?"
"Yes, but my cousins showed up and scared him off."
"The twins?"
"Yeah. It was close but they drove him away. For the time being anyway."
"I bet he doesn't come back alone."
"We'll be ready for them."
"Why don't you just bring the girl here instead? You are like a couple of sitting ducks up there. We will get to the bottom of this together."
"It's not safe. They could be anywhere on the mountain."
"Have those two feds you're related to call in the big guns."
"This isn't official business. They're both off the clock. My aunt called them in for back up. I had no idea until they saved my backside from a hit man."
"Okay, here's what I'm gonna do. First, I'm going over to the witness protection office and read someone the riot act. What's that agent's name?"
"Mulholland. Jack Mulholland. But we don't
know for sure it was him."
"Only one way to find out. It seems a good place to start getting some answers anyway. They were responsible for her safety. If someone in that organization gave her up...well, that's just wrong. I'm in the mood for a little blood!" The sound of the man's fist hitting something echoed over the line.
It was all Logan could do not to laugh. His lieutenant was a passionate man and a moral man. It boiled his blood when people supposed to enforce the law broke it, especially for personal gain. When a couple of street officers had gone on the take with a local drug ring the year before, George had made it his personal mission to have them prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
"Like I said, I don't have any proof, but I've got a feeling the leak starts with him."
"Me too, and I don't even know the dude. Or your new lady friend..."
"George, she's not my 'lady friend'. I told you, I hooked up with her by accident. I couldn't just hang her out to dry, let a killer get to her."
"Awfully defensive, my friend." George chuckled into the phone. "I know you as well as my own son and I think the great bachelor, Logan James, may be ready to hang up his hat and think about settling down."
"For crying out loud, L.T.! We hardly know each other! Our entire two day relationship has consisted of people shooting at us."
"Simmer down there, James. I'm gonna get off the phone here now and put in a call to the locals by your aunt's place—get you a little back up. When this is over, bring that girl back to town and let's go after the
scum who hung her out to dry."
"Thanks, L.T., you're the best."
"Hmmm, we will see if you think so when I send you back to that girl's school on Monday!"
Logan groaned. "Isn't my cover sort of blown there, L.T.?"
"Nope! Turns out the school had an outbreak of E.Coli. As far as your students and colleagues know, you ate the chicken pot pie in the cafeteria!"
Lieutenant George dissolved in laughter while Logan spit out a couple of curses. From the kitchen, he heard his cousins calling for him so he gave his boss the address of Clara's place and bid him goodbye.
Jogging back to the kitchen, he tossed his cousin the phone. Picking up one of Aunt Clara's end of the world rifles, he snapped the bolt and grinned at the twins. "Come on, boys, it's show time! Let's show these dudes what the James men are made of!"
Chapter Fourteen
Angelina watched as Logan left the room then dropped back a
gainst the pile of pillows. Her entire body hummed in a way she had never experienced before. There was a time when she had fancied herself in love with Salvatore. But never once did Salvatore's touch have her wanting to rip her clothes off and work up a sweat the way Logan's did.
If they were not caught up in a battle to save her life she would have followed him out the door, dragged him back, and had her way with him right then.
A battle to save her life. The thought cooled her heated blood instantaneously.
How had she gotten here?
How had Angelina Ferrara, New York City police officer and beloved daughter of one of the city's oldest Italian families, ended up hiding out in the underground bunker of a woman who thought the apocalypse was just over the horizon?
Because she lost her head and let herself get too close to Salvatore. Despite the lies and cover stories, the feelings she had started to develop for him were real
and that had been her undoing for certain. Some undercover officer she had turned out to be. Now she
was just some bleached blonde school teacher named Lucy Taylor, defenseless and apparently easy. She didn't remember seeing loose morals or sexually promiscuous in the jacket of her new identity, but it seemed like Lucy Taylor was much more adapted to making out with men she hardly knew and ran around acting as a target for trained killers.
Yay for witness protection and a fresh start.
Loud voices echoed down the hall. The sun had to be dropping below the horizon, the clock on the nightstand read half past six in the evening. If something was going to happen, it was going to happen soon. Screw witness protection and screw Salvatore. Angelina Ferrara was ready to kick some ass and get her life back. She wasn't going to sit back like some delicate flower and wallow in self-pity. If the James family was going to fight for her, then she was going to fight with them.
Witness Protection (Defenders of Love Book 1) Page 13
