“Is that what you really want?”
“It’s what’s smart.”
“Says who?” he challenged.
“Probably the cab driver.”
“There’s a glass and we’re G-rated compared to what he sees on an average night in Manhattan. I want to know what you want.”
“This isn’t like the last time,” she said.
“No,” he agreed. “I’m here to stay.”
“And you’re about to be Lauren’s brother-in-law.”
“Which means what?”
“We’re complicated.”
“What in life isn’t?”
Her brows dipped. “You have an answer for everything, don’t you?”
“Except how to get you to admit you want me to kiss you again.”
“I didn’t say I didn’t want to. I said it wasn’t smart.”
He kissed her again. “Seems pretty smart to me.” He pulled her close. “Feels pretty smart to me, too.”
Her hand settled on his chest, his name a whisper on her lips. “Luke.”
He smiled and kissed her again. “I know. The cab driver.” He released her and gently stroked hair from her eyes. “Seems like we have a lot to talk about later.”
She sank back into her seat and didn’t reply. She had never been so confused in her life. One minute she thought hopping back into the bed was the right answer. The next, she thought it was the completely wrong answer. The truth was, she didn’t know what to do about Luke, but she had to do something.
***
A few minutes later, they were at her apartment door. Julie pushed it open, and they stepped inside. Luke tugged both of their bags in the door and leaned them against the wall. Cici, her white oriental shorthair cat, was instantly up the three steps to the foyer at Luke’s feet, purring and rubbing all over him. “I think she missed me,” he said, bending down to pet the cat.
“Apparently, she didn’t miss me,” Julie said, squatting down beside him to stroke Cici. “Little wench has always had the hots for you.”
“At least I’ve won over one woman in the house.”
He’d won her over, too, but she wasn’t going to say that. “Because you play with that bird toy she loves with her.” She pushed to her feet and he followed. “Am I safe to move around the cabin, Captain? Cici is going to want to be fed.”
“Give me a chance to have a quick look around,” he said before he headed down the stairs.
Julie leaned against the door, wondering how she’d gone from avoiding him to having him in her house. She wondered why she couldn’t just make this about sex and enjoy the hot man currently searching her bedroom. What made Luke different? He sauntered toward her with a sexy, loose-legged swagger, and a confidence about him that brought the one-word answer to her question to her mind. Everything. The answer was everything about this man made him different.
Before she knew his intent, he was in front of her, his hands sliding into her hair. “You were wrong in the cab when you said this time is different.”
Those words punched her in the chest. This was more to her than him. “I was?”
“Yeah, you were,” he said. “We were just as good then as we are now.” He brushed his lips over hers. “See you tonight.” He grabbed his bag and was out the door before she could think what to say or do. The door shut, and she sank against the wall. Cici appeared again and began rubbing her leg.
Julie sank down to the ground and ran her hand over Cici’s head. “What are we going to do about him, kitty?”
Cici purred and meowed, and Julie imagined her saying ‘Can we keep him?’ “You’re no help,” Julie said with a grimace. “You’re kitty putty in his hands.” Julie sighed. And she wasn’t much better herself.
She grabbed her purse to punch in Lauren’s number.
“You’re home! I was worried sick,” Lauren exclaimed.
“I’m home, so don’t worry,” she said. “I’m taking care of everything for tomorrow night.” She hesitated. “I was thinking though it would be fun to have a girl’s night two nights in a row, instead of just the night before the wedding. I could stay with you tonight or you with me and we could do up the gift bags together.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Lauren said. “It’s silly because we never fight, but I have this fear Royce and I will fight and decide to call off the wedding. Or maybe we’ll have really bad sex and that will make the wedding night really awkward.”
Julie laughed. “Fighting and really bad sex don’t fit the Lauren and Royce I know, but it’s a date. My place or yours?”
“Yours,” she said. “But, can you swing by after work and help me get everything to a cab and over there?”
“Of course,” Julie said. “I’ll see you there say, about four? I’m taking off work early.”
“Perfect.”
Julie ended the call and inhaled deeply. She was being a big chicken, but she didn’t care. She really did want to spend time with Lauren. In fact, she wanted to very badly. The problem was, she could easily say the same thing about Luke.
***
Later that afternoon, Luke still had Julie on his mind, more than a little eager to see her again. He sauntered down the hallway of the apartment building he and his brothers had bought and renovated several years ago to both work and live in, carrying a tuxedo for Royce. He stopped at the door at the far end of the hall, two doors down from his, and knocked. Used to be he’d just walk into Royce’s place, but since Lauren had moved in, he was sensitive to their privacy.
The door opened and to his surprise there stood the woman of his recent, and not so recent, dreams. His lips curved in a knowing smile. “Decided to stay the night?”
“Actually,” she said. “Lauren’s staying with me.”
“Not when Royce finds out what’s going on,” he said. “He, like me, will be concerned about safety.”
She stepped into the hall and shut the door, her blue eyes lit with urgency. “Luke, she wants to stay at my place to build up the anticipation before the wedding. I don’t want to tell her no. Please don’t involve Royce in this mess I’m in and get both of them all worked up about this. Lauren will worry herself sick about me and now is not a time for her to worry.”
“You stay here at their place,” he said. “Tell her you want her to be comfortable. Royce can stay with me. He’ll stay away if that keeps Lauren happy.”
“But–”
“Now is also not a time for anyone to get hurt as you pointed out at the airport,” he said. “Be safe, not sorry.”
She sighed and nodded. “Okay. You’re right. To be honest, I’ve been thinking about it ever since she and I decided this and I thought about calling you.”
He arched a brow. “And?”
“I was still thinking about it when you showed up at the door.”
“Is that right?”
“Yes. I would have called.” She crossed her arms in front of her. “Probably.”
“Not,” he supplied. “Did you talk to the judge?”
She shook her head. “He won’t return my calls. Did you find out anything?”
“Nothing worth telling yet.” He lifted the tuxedo. “I’ll take this back to my place. Is Royce here?”
She shook her head. “He’s at the limo service fixing some mix up.”
“I’ll call him and work things out,” he said, and smiled, lowering his voice. “There’s an easier way to deal with me than avoiding me.”
“What? I wasn’t...” her voice trailed off, and she shoved a lock of that silky blonde hair behind her delicate earlobe. “And that would be what?”
He gave her a wicked smile. “Don’t.” He turned and headed back down the hallway, feeling her watching him, and wishing he could just drag her to his place and make love to her. But as his SEAL commander used to drill into their heads, ‘patience is a virtue’ and Luke had learned to make it work for him. Every instinct he’d honed over the years said this was one of those times when slow was better than fast.
Chapter Six
Once Luke knew Julie was safely at Lauren’s place, he headed to the offices of Walker Security on the ground floor of their building to meet with Blake. Royce was taking a shower and then the three of them planned to head out for beer and pizza at their favorite joint up the road.
“Anything?” Luke asked, shoving open the door and finding Blake behind one of the four desks facing each other in pairs.
Blake leaned back, his hands behind his head where his long hair was tied at the nape. “The judge has his records sealed fairly tightly,” he said. “But not tight enough for me not to get past them. I just need more time that we don’t have right now.” Luke perched on the edge of the desk across from Blake as his brother continued, “As it stands, since our guy Jesse was NYPD for years, I put him on the judge,” Blake continued, “Kyle is the tech guy so he’s following up on the electronic trails. We don’t have the manpower to dig into her family right now. We’re too stretched, but I’ll do it when the wedding is behind us. I already tapped his phones at home and work. One thing that stands out so far is that he’s got an offshore account – that is never a good sign.”
“He could have been hiding money from his wife,” Luke said, thinking his brother might be messed up in the head, but he was damn good at his job. “They were, after all, getting divorced.”
“She was broke and struggling,” Blake confirmed, “so no doubt, but I’m guessing we’ll find out it’s more than that.”
Luke ran his hand over the knot of tension at the back of his neck. “Yeah, me too. Otherwise the wife wouldn’t be dead. And I can tell you right now that Julie isn’t going to let this go. She feels responsible for Elizabeth Moore’s death.”
“Speaking of Elizabeth Moore,” Blake said, sitting up and tapping a pen on the desk. “She was cremated, as you said, and the public is only being allowed at a short cemetery service. This happened way too quickly. The body was examined and prepared in a window that is nearly impossible. Someone pulled strings to make that happen.”
“Someone powerful like the judge,” Luke supplied. “That was exactly my thought, too.”
“Just to be safe, you need to keep Julie close,” Blake warned. “I don’t know what it is us about us Walker men, but the women in our lives tend to end up in trouble or dead.”
“I plan to,” he said, thinking there might be some truth to his words. Luke knew he was talking about more than his dead fiancee. Lauren had been in some trouble months back that had almost gotten her killed. “Can you keep Royce busy during the funeral? The last thing I need is getting him all worked up over this.”
“I hear ya on that one,” Blake said. “I’ll work something out with him over dinner.”
Luke looked up the details on the funeral and dialed Julie, knowing she wouldn’t back down about attending. She answered on the first ring.
“Hello.” She sounded surprised. “Something wrong?”
A lot, but he didn’t say that. “Just calling to confirm the time for the funeral. It’s at two tomorrow. We’re only allowed to attend the outdoor ceremony.”
“That’s odd,” she said. “Or is it? I don’t really know what is normal for a funeral.”
“It’s odd,” he confirmed. “Another reason I’m coming with you.”
“Won’t Royce be suspicious if we disappeared together dressed in black?”
“I’m handling Royce if you have Lauren taken care of.”
“She’s going to the spa,” she said and hesitated. “You don’t have to–”
“I’m going,” he said, “so don’t sneak away without me. I’ll show up anyway.”
He could almost hear her frown. “You’re being very pushy.”
“I am,” he agreed, giving Blake his back and lowering his voice. “But this is about your safety so I’m not going to apologize.”
She hesitated. “All right. I’ll see you at 1:30.”
Luke ended the call with a goodbye just as Royce stalked into the room, bigger and burlier than his brothers, with his hair long and tied at the nape like Blake’s. ”I’d rather drink beer and eat pizza at home. Actually, I’d rather be at home with Lauren.”
Blake pushed to his feet. “Yeah yeah, you grumpy ass, we know. But you can’t throw Lauren over your shoulder and run to your cave until after the wedding. We’re going to have fun whether you like it or not.”
And Luke was going to keep Julie safe, whether she liked it or not. It was the one thing in their relationship he considered non-negotiable.
***
It was 1:25 p.m. the next day and Julie had managed to send Lauren on her way to the spa without her, giving an excuse about taking care of last minute dinner details. At the sound of the bell, Julie rushed to open the door, feeling her knees go weak at the sight of Luke. His silky black hair fell over his forehead and dipped down to his strong brow. The man did for a dark suit and long coat what an engagement ring did for a bride’s finger. He made it look like perfection that couldn’t be undone.
“I’m ready,” she said, slipping her purse over her shoulder. “Or as ready as I will ever be for a funeral. Everything is set for the rehearsal dinner. We’ll just have to change before we show up, so we don’t look like we’ve been to a funeral. Some people think black is bad luck for weddings.”
“You don’t?”
“When it comes to marriage, I say don’t trust luck or fate to be in our favor. We should change.”
“I’m all about getting more comfortable,” he said, “but right now, you’re going to need a coat.” He gave her simple black dress a once over that was so hot that she might argue his point, until he added, “It might not be snowing like in Chicago, but the wind is vicious and cold today.”
And they were only invited to the outdoor cemetery service which she found odd, but then, she didn’t know much about normal when it came to funerals.
“Right, thanks. I’m a wreck trying to organize tonight on top of this.” She reached behind the door to the coat rack and grabbed her long wool jacket. He reached forward to help her put it on and they ended up with his hands on her lapels. She stared into brown eyes that had her melting like chocolate.
“You don’t have to do this today,” he said softly.
“I do,” she insisted. “I have to.”
He considered her a moment.“Have you talked to the judge?”
She shook her head. “He never returned my call, but I figure that part is probably expected.”
“I wish you’d reconsider this,” he said. “I don’t want you any closer to this situation than you have to be when we don’t know what’s really going on.”
“You keep rephrasing that and saying it over and over.”
“And I’ll probably say it at least one more time before we get to the cemetery.”
“It feels important to me.”
He brushed the hair from her brow, his expression and his voice turning gentle. “Then it’s important to me.”
Her throat went dry and her breath caught in her throat. Men had told her she was beautiful, told her she was sexy. Told her they wanted to pleasure her. Things all women knew that men said when they wanted to get a woman into bed and keep her there. No man had ever made something as grim as a funeral, or for that matter anything she cared about, important just because it was important to her.
He seemed to sense her loss of words and stepped back to give her room. “Let’s get this over and move on to the wedding bliss, shall we?”
“Yes, please,” she said, pulling the door shut behind her and then locking it. “Where is Royce?”
“Blake took him to the shooting range for me, so he wouldn’t ask questions, and because he was climbing the walls with pre-wedding jitters.”
They started the walk to the stairs and she wondered what it would be like to have siblings that came through for you like Luke did. “I owe Blake a few thank yous it seems.”
He snorted. “Blake likes holding a gun almost as much as he does a
different woman every night.”
“I’ve gathered from being around him that he’s a real player.”
“Fast women, fast cars, and danger,” he said. “He’s an adrenaline junkie since Sara died, trying to feel something aside from pain.”
She cast him a sideways look as he held open a door to the private parking area to their building, which was a rare find in Manhattan. ”You’re really worried about him, aren’t you?”
“Blake is like jogging with a bomb in your hand,” he said. “He’s going to explode, it’s just a matter of when and how badly, which is exactly what he thinks about the Elizabeth Moore situation.” He clicked the lock on his Black Dodge Ram. “Let me help you up. The step is high.” He opened the door.
“Does that mean that you’ve uncovered something concerning?”
“Elizabeth Moore ending up dead after she threatened her husband is plenty in my book,” he said, “and we have a couple of our best men digging around. We’ll know more after the wedding.”
Julie sensed he wasn’t telling her everything. “If Blake is a bomb certain to explode on a scale of 1-10, where does he rank?”
“Seven on a good day. Nine on the other 364.”
“And this situation?”
His expression remained unchanged, emotionless, but the several seconds of hesitation was almost as telling as his answer. “Eleven.”
***
They pulled up to the cemetery only twenty minutes later, and that was because of bad traffic, the wind gusting, and the sky gray and threatening. Julie had never been to a cemetery before. She hadn’t even been to a funeral. She had no real family, so it was one dark spot in life she’d really never faced. Dread clawed in her stomach at the sight of the tombstones.
Luke pulled the truck to a stop behind a line of parked cars and Julie could see the tent across the terrain. Guilt twisted in her gut. Why hadn’t she called the police? Because you had nothing to offer them, she reminded herself.
“You aren’t responsible,” he said, accurately reading her thoughts. “There was no way you could have foreseen such a thing.”
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