Текст книги "Tall, Dark and Deadly"
Автор книги: Lisa Renee Jones
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Текущая страница: 27 (всего у книги 40 страниц)
Chapter Two
An hour and a half after she’d left Luke behind in the airport, Julie was off the plane and inside a hotel, rolling her bag toward the registration desk. She wondered about Luke and where his flight and the night had taken him. She worried about both of them getting home for the wedding. The temptation to call him would have been extreme if she actually had his number, especially since she just might be needing that charter flight to get out of here quickly. But she didn’t have his number and she wasn’t going to call Lauren and Royce and freak them out about being snowed in when she might well be on an early morning flight. If not, well, she’d find her own charter if she had to, and ignore her own warning issued to Luke to be careful. She’d walk home before she’d miss Lauren’s rehearsal dinner.
Julie stopped at the roped-off area to wait in line for registration, noting that there were a good ten people in front of her, most of whom were from her flight. Thankfully, she’d caught the first shuttle to the hotel or the line would probably be longer already.
With a sigh, she leaned on her suitcase, feeling the ache of the long day, and as time ticked by without any movement, she let her lashes lower. Her mind went back to the last time she’d said goodbye to Luke. To that day in the airport when she’d dropped him off. The end of their affair had come far too soon. She told him the world needed more men like him. “What do you need?” he’d asked in response. It had been all she could do not to say, “You, Luke. I need you.”
A sudden shiver of foreboding swept down Julie’s spine with such intensity that she straightened and cast a furtive glance around the lobby. Her attention was drawn instantly to three men standing with their backs to her near the door to what looked like a restaurant or a bar. They weren’t even looking her way and yet...there was something about them.
Elizabeth Moore’s words played in her head. “He won’t kill me. He won’t kill you. But there are others who’ll kill us all if they find out what he’s hiding.” Julie rubbed her arms, inwardly shaking herself for letting her imagination get the best of her.
The line progressed, and she gladly refocused on getting to a room and out of this lobby. Several more customer service reps took their places behind the counter and in a matter of a few minutes, she was being called forward. Still, she found herself casting a glance towards the three men, only to find them gone. So why didn’t she feel relieved? In fact, she felt more uneasy.
She didn’t have time to contemplate. The customer service rep was quick and Julie was on her way to her room in a snap. She propped her purse on her bag and with key in hand, rolled her way to the elevator, thankfully finding an empty car. She punched her floor and leaned against the mirror, ready for peace and quiet and sleep. Oh yes. Blessed sleep.
A second before the doors would have shut, someone stuck their hand inside the panels and they jerked open with a loud jangle of a bell. That same foreboding chill she’d felt in the lobby travelled her spine.
A man entered the car, his dark stare meeting hers and turning her chill to ice. They were cold, calculating eyes. She cut her gaze and willed her heart to stop trying to jump out of her chest, telling herself to look at him, to get a better description than a tall man, with dark, wavy hair, and a tan jacket, because for some reason she felt she needed it.
He punched a button three floors above hers and she tried to find comfort in that fact. With a destination, a room, and a right to be here, he was likely just another traveller. Still, even with that logic, she counted floors, willing the car to move faster. The doors opened, but not at her stop, and Julie fought the urge to dart forward and just get out of the car.
A young couple rushed forward and joined them. Julie reached for the handle of her bag. She should get off. Get away from the strange man who now held the door for her. But what if he got off, too? There was safety in numbers and she had company now.
The doors started to shut and she let them. One more level up and the couple got out, leaving Julie alone with the stranger, and as uneasy as ever. She stared at the doors, ticking off the seconds until they stopped two levels up. The instant she was able, she rushed forward, eager for escape.
Once Julie was in the hallway, she found her destination a few rooms to her left. Thank you. She was nearly to sanctuary and safety.
Letting her bag settle upright on the ground, she glanced over her shoulder, eyeing the elevator. The doors were just now closing with the stranger still inside, she assumed. Still, had the man held the door open long enough to see which room was hers?
Gnawing her bottom lip, she worried despite assuring herself the rooms were safe, and near impossible to break into. Key in hand, she swiped the plastic through the electronic panel, and frowned when the little light stayed red. “Damn,” she mumbled as she slid it again.
Still red.
No. No. No. Please say this wasn’t happening. She dropped her head to the surface of the door, her hair falling forward, glad it covered her face. Crying wasn’t her style, but tears prickled in her eyes. Seeing Luke had rattled her. Add in her fear of missing the wedding and she was a mess. Then there was Elizabeth Moore’s visit, which clearly had shaken her to the core. Good gosh, she was tired. She was worried. She was not herself. A return trip to the lobby felt overwhelming.
“Problem?”
The deep, sensual baritone danced along her skin and sparked a familiar, warm feeling. Lifting her head, Julie swivelled around and blinked, thinking her eyes were playing tricks on her.
“Luke?” He was leaning against the door frame of the room next to hers, his light blue t-shirt hugging rippling muscles she’d had the joy of exploring. And it had been a joy. Her mouth went dry, her fatigue doing nothing to dull the impact of his presence. Heat pooled low in her stomach, and her pulse kicked up a beat. The man was even more sexy than she remembered. For the second time in one night, she found herself questioning the crazy coincidence. “How are you here, right next door to me?”
He gave her a half-smile, his left dimple showing, and his chocolaty eyes just a little sharper. “My luck continues despite a flight cancellation.” He inclined his chin to indicate her bag. “Need help?”
She exhaled a breath that had somehow lodged in her throat. Luke was dangerous, yes. Dangerous to her heart, to her decision-making. But he made her feel safe on a night when she felt far from it. She didn’t know why, just that it was better now that he was here. “My key isn’t working. It’s been a bad night, but I’m sure you guessed that.”
He gave her a thoughtful look as he pushed off the door frame. “Sitting on a runway is no fun. I do believe I got the better end of the deal. I was sitting here, waiting on you to arrive. I reserved your room in advance.” He stopped in front of her. Close again. So close.
“You reserved my room, next to yours?”
His eyes darkened, the air crackled. “That’s right,” he said, closing his hand around her key, his fingers brushing hers and sending heat up her arm. “I thought we might need to plan a way home together and I didn’t want to risk upsetting Royce or Lauren by letting them know we were stranded.”
“That’s what I thought, too,” she said. “I thought about calling you for that charter flight but I didn’t have your number.”
“The dangerous one you warned me not to take?” he asked stepping to her door to swipe her card.
“Yes,” she laughed, surprised she had the energy. “The dangerous one. I hear there’s a brave Navy SEAL who’ll be on it to keep me safe.” Oh God, she was flirting. She needed to stop that. Sex was a resource, a tool to keep things recreational for men. Nothing personal. Only it hadn’t worked that way with Luke. It hadn’t worked that way since Luke. She watched him swipe the key three times. “I tried the door, you know?” She didn’t care that he tried again. She’d just been trying to divert attention from her careless comment.
He shrugged. “It never hurts to try again, though in this case it did no good. The key is a dud. At least it’s not a grenade. Well, unless the grenade lands at your feet.”
“That happened to you?” she asked, delving into the very personal territory she’d sworn not to with this man over andover, but did it anyway.
“Oh yeah,” he said. “Fun times, let me tell you. And I checked on a charter. It all depends on how bad the storm is tomorrow. If the weather allows it and the airlines are backed up, it’s an option.” He grabbed the handle of her bag. “Why don’t you call downstairs from my room, and have someone bring you up another key?” He didn’t wait for her reply, rolling her bag, with her purse still on top, towards his room.
Julie stood frozen, her eyes fixed on his powerful shoulders and back. If she followed him she was not coming out of that room without touching him.
Desire flared and pressed her to act, countered only by the worries that fluttered through her mind. His brother was marrying her best friend. There was no fling to this. They were headed to a place she’d never let herself go with a man. A place she’d sworn never to go. This was relationship territory.
He stopped at his door, and eyed her over one of those truly magnificent shoulders, a challenge in his watchful gaze. “You gonna stay in the hall or what?”
She wanted him. Part of her even felt as if she needed him. She shouldn’t do this, but…. She shut her eyes a moment. Who was she kidding? Walking away from Luke wasn’t possible. That meant she had to find a way to deal with him. Maybe she simply hadn’t had time for the sex in their past to get old. Maybe they were only drawn to each other because he’d left before they worked each other out of their systems, and she’d turned this thing with him into more than it had to be. Right. She could take control again. She’d get this back where it belonged. In the bedroom and out of her head and heart. Heart. Damn. Where did that come from? Head. She’d meant head.
Her lashes lifted and she met his gaze. “Or what?” And she followed him into his hotel room.
Chapter Three
Luke was aware of Julie on every possible level, in every inch of his body, all too conscious of just how much willpower this night was going to require. He wanted her. He wanted her like he’d never wanted another woman, and that was exactly why he couldn’t touch her. Not now. Not yet. But soon, and he knew it was going to feel like forever in the meantime.
The door slammed behind him and he settled her bag in a corner by the closet, easing into the doorway to watch her sit on his king-sized bed, her long blond hair caressing her shoulders. Shoulders he knew were creamy white, skin he knew was soft and silky, and addictive. She reached for the phone. He leaned on the wall, his blood boiling just thinking about how easily they could end up under the sheets, or on top of them, or anywhere in this room, gloriously naked. The mattress separated them, yet he could smell the faint scent of jasmine and vanilla, a perfume so uniquely Julie.
Oh yeah, he was staying on this side of the mattress, and on the opposite side of the room from Julie. He’d given this thing between the two of them one heck of a lot of consideration and was certain that sex was her barrier, the only thing she gave of herself, the wall that hid her from truly connecting. Only he’d gotten past that wall, he’d seen it in her eyes in the past. He saw it there now: the fear, and the knowledge that he was the man who’d seen the real her.
“Yes,” she said into the phone and even her voice radiated along his nerve endings and threatened to unravel his control. “My key won’t work. Can someone bring a new one up to me by chance? I’m in my neighbor’s room. Room-” She glanced at the phone. “813.” She paused and listened, and then sounding disappointed, asked, “That long? Really? Okay. Hmm. Yes. Fine. I’ll be down.” She hung up the phone and stood up, turning to face him. “They’re too busy to come up anytime soon so I have to go down.”
“They said that about room service when I tried to order,” he commented. “I should have assumed the same for this.”
“I guess that means I have to go downstairs now.” She ran her hands down her hips and looked nervous rather than her normal sexy confident self. Nervous was good. Nervous meant she was feeling something unfamiliar. It meant she was aware of what was on the line, and it had nothing to do with pleasure. Well, maybe a little to do with pleasure.
Neither of them moved or spoke, the air thick, the bed the size of a Texas summer sun, threatening to burn them right into high noon. He needed out of this tiny room with her and now.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m starving,” he said, pushing off the wall. “Why don’t we head down and get something to eat while the front desk calms down a bit.”
She studied him a long moment, as if his invitation to leave the room surprised her far more than the one to join him here.
“I seem to remember you having a big appetite,” he pressed softly, reminding her of their time together, of just how well they’d gotten to know each other. Of late night pizzas and walks to the corner deli, and a diner near her house that they’d had many a breakfast at. She wasn’t hiding from any of that. She wasn’t hiding from him.
Her lashes lowered, and her hair fell forward, shadowing her face. “Yes,” she said, drawing out the response before casting him a surprisingly shy look. “I probably like to eat a little too much.”
“Says who?” he asked. “Not me. I prefer a woman who actually eats.” He motioned to the door. “Shall we?”
She smiled and admitted. “I am hungry.”
And so was he. For her.
***
Julie stepped into the elevator with Luke, aware of how big he was, how good he smelled, unsure of what had just happened in that hotel room. She’d thought it would be sex and sin, and forgetting everything but sex and sin. It hadn’t happened. She hadn’t even tried to make it happen even though she wanted it. His cologne tickled her nostrils, alluring and familiar, intimate simply because she knew it so well. Lord help her, she still loved everything about the man. Discreetly, she took a deep breath and inhaled that scent, unable to stop herself. Neither of them spoke, but it wasn’t awkward. Nothing with Luke was awkward aside from how much she wanted him. How differently she wanted him from anyone before him.
When the ding of the elevator signaled they were at ground level, he held the doors and let her step out of the car, reminding her he had always been a perfect gentleman. Something she’d always loved about him. Standing just outside the car she waited for him to follow her.
Luke stepped to Julie’s side just as a busty redhead approached. “Hold the elevator, cowboy.”
Cowboy? Julie thought with a frown. Luke wasn’t a cowboy at all. The woman sashayed past Julie as if she didn’t exist, focusing solely on Luke. Her short skirt left little to the imagination, as did her actions. She offered Luke a flirtatious smile and a wink.
He held the elevator door for her and she paused in front of him. “Need someone to keep you warm, honey? I know just how to handle a wicked winter night.”
Julie sucked in a soft breath, feeling the bite of the woman’s words, unable to stop her reaction. It wasn’t like she didn’t know how women responded to Luke. He was the proverbial tall, dark, and handsome with a rock-hard body and gorgeous eyes. To make matters worse, the woman was actually quite attractive with legs that could reach to China and a slender, lean body, so very unlike Julie’s. Suddenly, Julie felt short and stubby, and lost.
Then, to her utter and complete shock, Luke’s arm folded over her shoulder. “This one here is in charge of my wicked winter nights, but thanks anyway.”
Feeling his body against hers, the sensitivity of his actions, rather than the implication, warmth rushed over her. He let the door go, but not before she saw disappointment flash on the woman’s face. Luke glanced down at her. He dropped his arm and they started to walk. “You could have put your arm around me, too, you know?” he asked, cutting her a sideways look. “I don’t bite, and,” he grinned, “a guy needs to stay warm.”
Without giving herself time to think about her actions, she wrapped her arm through his and gave him her own mischievous smile. “Sometimes you bite.”
He laughed. “Maybe I do.”
They walked together like that, like a couple, and she remembered doing just this in the past, strolling down a Manhattan sidewalk, chatting on their way to dinner. She remembered how good it had felt, how she’d felt like a part of a couple for the first time in her life. How for a few weeks she let it feel good, too, knowing he’d be gone, knowing there was no risk. Only there had been an aftermath, a change in her she still didn’t understand.
The restaurant consisted of empty tables that formed a half circle around a bar. “I guess it’s a good thing everyone is at the front desk,” Luke said. “We have plenty of seating choices.”
“Your choice,” confirmed the hostess, who looked maybe eighteen at most, but was probably twenty-one considering the bar, confirmed.
Luke motioned toward the first booth and glanced at Julie. “Work for you?”
“As long as it’s close to the kitchen.”
The hostess laughed. “Best seat in the place.”
“Then it’s a winner,” Julie confirmed and made her way to the seat facing the exit.
Luke slid in across from her and grabbed a menu, about the same time as a young male waiter appeared. “Drinks?”
Luke quirked a brow at Julie. “Tequila Sunrise?”
He remembered her drink and it pleased her way too much. “Yes,” she said without looking at the waiter. “Still a ‘Shiner Beer’ guy?”
“You bet I am,” he said, leaning back and stretching his arms over the seat. “Shiner for me.”
“Check,” the waiter said, shoving a pencil behind his ear. “Tequila Sunrise for the lady and Shiner for the dude, coming up.” He headed out, one of the many pins with funny sayings clipped to the front of his yellow and black striped apron falling to the ground in his wake. Julie bend down and scooped it up.
She checked the weather on her cell phone. “It says the snow is supposed to stop around two in the morning. I sure hope they’re right.”
“Me too,” he said. “We are both cutting it short.”
“Why are you here so close to the wedding?” she asked.
“I had ticked off a client that I didn’t want Royce to find out about before the wedding. I’m guessing you had a divorce emergency?”
“Divorce of the rich and famous,” she said. “It’s not a pretty business, but it’s what I do.”
“You might not have planned to be a divorce attorney,” he said, already knowing her story, “but it sure seems to be treating you right. I hear you’ve become a regular Hollywood star.”
“Not Hollywood,” she said. “Mostly athletes. I handled one player and they all flocked to me. Same stories I’m used to, but more money and nastiness in the breakups. That’s just how divorce goes down.”
“More demands from the clients on you too, I assume?”
“Oh yes. In this case, not only was the wife threatening a tell-all book my client didn’t want to see light, the threat was all over the tabloids. I didn’t want to risk this escalating anymore than it had to, smack in the middle of the wedding.” Of course, now she faced another problem with Judge Moore that might hit her in the face at the wrong time.
The waiter set their drinks in front of them. “Ready to order?”
Julie hadn’t even opened her menu but she knew what she wanted. “How about a cheeseburger well-done and fries?”
“Ditto for me,” Luke agreed and exchanged a few casual words with the waiter before they were alone again, and his attention returned to her. “So, back to your reason for being here. I’m guessing from the tabloids you’re here for New York’s star pitcher David Rodriguez’s divorce?”
She gave a nod. “Yes. His ex is from Chicago.”
“So is he,” Luke said, and then spat off some random David Rodriguez stats and Julie arched a brow that had him adding, “Did I mention I’m a David Rodriguez fan? Big, big fan.”
“I’m not.” The man hit on everything with a skirt including her. “And if you knew the man personally, you wouldn’t be either. And if you repeat that, I’ll deny it. There were plenty of reasons that man didn’t want a tell-all book to be published. Things he, fortunately, had enough sense to not want his ten year old daughter to ever find out, or have to deal with, publicly.”
Luke tipped back his beer and studied her a long moment. “You came here because you were worried about the daughter, not because David demanded you come.”
His ability to read her so easily flustered her. He saw too much, and she told herself to ignore his comment, but for reasons she didn’t understand, she found herself saying, “Yes. Because I was worried about the daughter.”
“Because you know what divorce does to a kid.”
She sipped her drink. “I have a little experience in that area, yes. Parents involved in divorce are often so wrapped up in their own pain they forget their actions have long term effects on the kids.” A swell of discomfort formed in her chest. She didn’t want to talk about this. “You’re lucky. Your parents stayed together.”
“Forty years,” he said. “My mother is dating again.” He shook his head. “I can hardly get my head around it.”
“But it’s also been three years since your father passed,” she said and their eyes met, and she knew he was remembering two years before, and the night he’d told her about his father, his hero, dying of a heart attack. They’d been at a Japanese restaurant drinking sake and laughing when things had turned serious. It had been the night that she’d known she was in unfamiliar waters with this man, that she felt so much more for him than just attraction.
“Yes,” he finally agreed. “Three years ago last month.” His lips curved. “I guess that means she’s allowed to date. And he’s a nice guy. A retired school teacher who lives down the road from her in Jersey. A real scholarly type who is night and day from my career military father.”
“Maybe she needed night and day to move on,” Julie suggested thoughtfully.
“Maybe,” he conceded. “I suppose that’s true.” He took a drink of his beer. “Blake doesn’t like the guy.”
“You said he was nice.”
He laughed. “That’s why Blake doesn’t like him. He says no one is that nice.”
“Cynical, isn’t he?”
“Aren’t you?”
She didn’t even try to deny the truth. “Yes. I am.”
He arched a brow. “That was an easy confession.”
“I’m a divorce attorney.”
“And maid of honor at your best friend’s wedding. That can’t be an easy match.”
“My job is incentive for the groom to be sure he keeps the bride happy. And he’d better or I’ll personally kick his ass. Screw divorce court.”
He chuckled. “I don’t think you have to worry about that. Lauren turns my big grumpy brother into a teddy bear. But if Royce screws this up, I’ll help you kick his ass. She’s good for him. He needs her.”
“In contradiction to my cynicism, I believe she needs him, too.”
The waiter showed up with the food and they both dug in. “I’m curious,” Julie said, after a small silence to enjoy a bite of her surprisingly good burger. “Why did you leave the SEALs? You were so adamant about being career Navy.”
He poured ketchup on his plate and then motioned to hers, and she nodded, letting him put some on her plate too. “The official story,” he said, “is that I had an injury to my leg.”
“The unofficial story?”
“It healed, but Blake is a loose cannon, damaged and in a big way.”
“His fiancée was killed on an ATF mission,” she said. “I heard.”
“And he’s a time bomb waiting on his chance to explode. He wants vengeance to the point of absolute obsession. It’s why he left the ATF. He wants it at all costs; he’ll even ignore the law.”
“And you intend to do what?”
“Keep him alive.”
“Royce couldn’t have done that?”
“My brothers would die for each other, but most of the time, they also want to kill each other.”
She inhaled and let it out. “I see. That’s...intense. And honorable, Luke. I know how much the SEALs meant to you. You–” That same shiver of foreboding slid down her spine and her gaze lifted to find the man from the elevator at the hostess stand. His eyes met hers and then suddenly he stalked toward their table. Julie did something she never did under pressure. She froze.
