Текст книги "Tall, Dark and Deadly"
Автор книги: Lisa Renee Jones
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Текущая страница: 29 (всего у книги 40 страниц)
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 financee. 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.”
“I appreciate you saying that more than you know,” she said, running her suddenly clammy hands down the fabric of her dress.
“We can–”
“I’m staying,” she finished before he could.
He sighed. “I’ll come around and help you out.”
She waited on him gladly, feeling out of sorts. Uneasy and wobbly. Luke being here helped, and while on a personal level that might scare her, it also made her stronger.
Luke opened the door, and she turned to let him help her down, and blurted, before she could lose her nerve. “Thank you. I’m glad you came.”
He stared at her for a long, moment, his face unreadable, before he gave her one of those sexy smiles that made even the dread in her stomach fade for a moment. With the ease of lifting a grocery bag, he lifted her and set her on her feet, running his hand down her hair. He did that a lot and she liked it way too much.
“Let’s go get this over with so we can happily marry off Royce and Lauren.”
“Yes,” she said. “Please. I want to go back to Lauren’s fairytale land. It’s nicer there.”
He slid his hand down her arm and surprised her by twining his fingers with hers. Silently, they fell into step and for the second time in her life, she had a sense of being part of something good, something right, something that was at odds with what she believed was in her future and even the grim, bitter cold of a day at the cemetery.
Droplets began to fall and Luke quickly pulled them into the back of the surprisingly large tent, a good fifty-plus people in seats. Sobs filled the air, and the rain picked up, the wind splattering it against the tent fabric. The judge sat in the front row, but she didn’t recognize those close to him. What got to Julie the most was the absence of a casket. There was a much smaller finely etched wooden box that she assumed held what was left of the beautiful, too young to die, Elizabeth Moore.
It wasn’t long before a man in a robe stepped forward to a podium and began to speak. Wind seemed to howl at the same moment, as if Elizabeth herself was protesting her demise. The darkness of the event, the sadness surrounding her, tightened Julie’s throat, and she felt the prickle of tears.
Luke pulled her under his arm, and she happily took the shelter he offered. The next fifteen minutes was a blur that felt endless.
When the final prayer ended, the crowd scattered. People went to the flowers in a center display for Elizabeth, while Julie clung to Luke’s arm, just staring at them.
“You okay?” he whispered in her ear.
She swallowed and nodded, turning to him, tears burning in the back of her eyes. “I’m fine. I’ve never gone to a funeral before.”
He covered her hand where it had landed on his chest. “It’s not a good experience. Ready to go?”
“More than ready.” They started to turn and Julie paused. “Should I say something to Judge Moore?”
Luke stared down at her, his eyes heavy with concern. “If you want to, we will.”
We. She liked that ‘we’ right now. She shouldn’t. It was dangerous but she just couldn’t get herself to care. Her gaze lifted to where the judge still sat in his seat, unmoving like stone. Giving her condolences seemed appropriate, but she suddenly realized she wasn’t here for Judge Moore. She was here for his dead wife and she wasn’t sure she wouldn’t go off the deep end and confront him. That would be bad. Very bad.
Decision made, Julie shook her head. “I want to go.”
Approval lit his eyes and he took her hand to lead her out of the tent. Julie collided with someone. She pulled back, started by the impact, only to find herself sucking in a breath at the sight of Elizabeth Moore.
Chapter Seven
The woman who was Elizabeth Moore, but wasn’t Elizabeth Moore, slid her hand into Julie’s. “Thank you for coming to pay respect to my sister,” she said, and then she was gone. Stunned, Julie realized the woman had pressed a piece of paper in her hand.
Discreetly, Julie turned to face Luke. She reached down and put her hand in her coat pocket. “Let’s go now, please.”
“It’s raining hard,” he warned.
Her gaze swept the terrain outside the tent and indeed, it was pouring rain. “I don’t care.”
He gave her a keen look and took her hand. “I’m in for cold and wet if you are.”
They darted into the rain and he helped her into the truck. When he finally climbed in, her teeth were chattering.
“My heater is a furnace,” he said, cranking the engine. “It’ll be warm in a minute.” He glanced at her. “I didn’t know Elizabeth had a twin.”
Julie shoved her wet hair from her face. “Me either. It was a shock. They’re identical.”
Suddenly, he pulled her close and kissed her and all that ice and dread inside her thawed. She needed that warmth, his warmth, more than she needed to breathe right now. And while she was melting from the wicked heat of his tongue, he reached into her pocket and pulled out the note.
He leaned back and held it up.
Feeling defensive, she quirked, “I would have told you if you’d have given me the chance.”
His lips thinned in obvious doubt as he read the note. “We have to talk.” He glanced up at her. “That’s it and a phone number.” He shoved it in his pocket. “I’ll take care of this. After the wedding.”
“You’re being obnoxiously domineering,” she said. “I don’t like it.”
“And I like you better alive,” he said. “So if you want to be mad at me, I’ll take the anger.”
“What if someone else is in danger, Luke? What if–”
He kissed her again, and damn it, she managed to resist a whole two seconds before she all but moaned from the feel of his mouth on hers. The man was making her crazy, taking control of her life. “Don’t do this to yourself,” he ordered softly. “I’ll have someone find out more about her sister right away. I promise. You just focus on the wedding.”
“You promise?” she confirmed. “Because if anyone else ends up dead, I’ll never live with myself.”
“I promise and I never break a promise.”
She swallowed against the sudden dryness in her throat, because not only did she trust him, she realized she trusted Luke as she never had any other man. “We should go.”
Julie scooted out of his arms to face forward, confusion filling her. He acted like a big brother with kissing privileges, and avoided every chance he’d had to get her naked and in bed. She didn’t understand. Did he want her or not? And why did it matter to the point that it hurt thinking that he might not? What else explained his quick hotel departure, or leaving her apartment where they’d been alone with barely a kiss? Or suggesting he sleep on her couch not in her bed with her?
***
Several hours later Julie had donned a pale blue dress the color of the wedding theme. She’d headed to the church, where she’d spent the entire rehearsal avoiding eye contact with Luke, feeling every touch of Luke’s hand as they practiced walking down the aisle. She didn’t know what she was feeling or how to deal with it. She just didn’t know.
Avoiding eye contact at the dinner afterward proved more difficult. The group of twenty sat in a private back room of Eden, a favorite Walker restaurant. It lived up to its name with vines, flowers, and spectacular plants covering the ceilings and the walls.
Julie sat on one side of the long triangular table, to the left of the bride, while the groom was to her right. Luke had chosen a seat directly across from Julie, and beside him was Blake. Every time Julie looked at Luke she was struck by how delectable he looked in a royal blue button-down. Which was why, among other reasons, she kept her attention on Lauren. But she could feel Luke watching her, feel the tingle of awareness that touched every place his gaze landed.
Julie leaned in close to Lauren and discreetly indicated to her recently divorced father, a retired senator, chatting away with her soon to be husband’s mom. “Someone should warn him she’s seeing someone.”
“Oh good grief,” Lauren said. “Royce and my father are only just now starting to get along.” She slid out of her seat and headed over to her father, squatting down beside him.
Luke’s sexy rumble of laughter caught her attention and Julie’s eyes darted on their own accord toward him. A young brunette waitress with deep cleavage was blatantly flirting with him, and he seemed to be enjoying the attention.
Instantly, Julie felt the unfamiliar and very unwelcome flare of jealousy, the same feeling she’d felt in the hotel.
“Julie?”
Her eyes darted to Lauren, and she didn’t even realize Lauren had returned. “Sweetie,” Lauren said, “what’s going on with you and Luke? I know you don’t like me to bring up your past with him, but it is obvious something’s going on with you two.”
“We’re friends,” she said quickly, not wanting to talk about herself. Tonight was about Lauren. “Nothing more, and all is well.”
Lauren took a sip of her wine and studied Julie closely. “Maybe later tonight, when we’re alone, you might want to talk.”
Julie forced a smile. “About you and your soon-to-be hot new husband. You’re marrying the man you love tomorrow. I know you went to the spa today, but you never get your feet done, so I bought pedicure stuff, lotion, and candles.”
Lauren smiled brightly and gave Julie a big hug. “I love you, you know?”
Julie smiled into her hair, fighting emotion. “I love you, too.”
Feeling ever weepy, Julie let a busboy take her salad plate and reached for her wine, only to realize that her hand was shaking. She set the drink back down and somehow her gaze collided with Luke’s right when the waitress settled her hand on his shoulder.
Breaking eye contact, she diverted her gaze to the plate that had just been set in front of her. Suddenly the crowd was suffocating her. She needed space. Tossing down her napkin, she scooted her chair away from the table and excused herself. Making a beeline to the bathroom, her steps were hurried, her heart racing ridiculously fast for no explainable reason.
Thankful for a bathroom that held only one, Julie yanked the door open to step inside. The last thing she needed was an audience of women. Suddenly, she felt hands on her waist as she was lifted forward and sat back down in the bathroom. The door slammed, and she whirled around to see Luke locking the door.
***
Luke turned to find Julie gaping at him. “Are you crazy, Luke?” she demanded.
“Depends who you ask and on what day of the week, but not now, no. Now, I’m real darn clear on what I’m doing and why. I’ve known that waitress for years. She’s a friend, and nothing more.”
She hugged herself, turning away from him. “I have no clue what you're talking about, Luke.”
He took a step forward, slid a finger under her chin and forced her gaze to his. “You were upset when you left the table.”
“No, I...it’s been a confusing scary few days. I’m not myself.”
Her hand went to his wrist and heat darted up his arm, but it was the vulnerable, insecure look on her face that undid him. She didn’t think he wanted her. Despite his attention, despite the kisses that would, and should have, set off a five-alarm blaze, she didn’t know.
He slid his hand to her neck. “I only want one woman and that’s you.”
“Then act like it, Luke,” she said, ”because you’re confusing me and I don’t know what you want. I–”
He covered her mouth with his and for the first time since his return, he let her taste his desire, let her feel the hunger inside him that no one had sated since her. His hand slid over the sexy curve of her hip to the dip of her tiny waist.
Her arms wrapped around his neck, and she molded herself to his body. She was no longer vulnerable or timid. She was the seductress she could be, the seductress he knew had just lured him to the very place he’d sworn he wouldn’t go. To the land of lust and forgetfulness where she ruled, where sex was a weapon, and a wall of separation grew despite the absence of clothing.
She covered his hand with hers, and led it to her breast, molding it to her body. His cock thickened, his zipper stretched. He’d wanted this woman for ages, and the days of turning away from her, from wanting her and not having her, had left him on edge and hungry.
He tore his mouth from hers, his chest rising and falling, his breathing heavy. Her eyes were dark, heavy-lidded, her gorgeous perfect mouth swollen from his kisses. “I swore I wouldn’t let you do this to me.”
“What is it I’m doing?” she asked, her hand sliding down his zipper to stroke his erection. “This?”
“Yes,” he said, giving her the same treatment she had him, pressing her hand down on his crotch. “This. What am I doing to you, I wonder?” He shoved her skirt up, his finger trailing thigh highs that told him her stellar ass would be all but naked. “Are you wet, Julie?”
She leaned in, her lips a breath from his. “Only one way to find out.”
His cock thickened, his zipper strained even further. He slanted his mouth over hers, devouring her, tasting her, when he really wanted to gobble her up. His hands slid around her backside, pulling her close to him, molding her against him, her soft curves against his burning hot and hard body. He lifted her and set her on the counter, her skirt hiked to her waist. Luke pulled back to study her glazed, sexy stare, watching her as his palms caressed a path up her thighs, until his thumbs brushed the tiny piece of silk some might call panties. He called them a tease.
She worried her bottom lip and he felt that scrape of her teeth in every inch of his body. He soothed it with his tongue, his fingers pressing beneath the silk to find the slick heat of her arousal. “Hot and wet,” he murmured next to her ear, the scent of her perfume mixed with aroused female working a number on his already revved up hormones.
A knock sounded on the door, and Luke ignored it, kissing her, sliding a finger inside her. Whoever it was would go away.
“Julie, sweetie, are you in there?”
Luke froze at the sound of Lauren’s voice permeating the wooden divide between them and her. Julie stiffened and pressed her hands to his shoulders. They drew apart slightly, their eyes colliding, hers filled with panic. Luke reluctantly slid his hand from her body.
A knock came again. “Julie?”
Luke lifted her and set her on the ground, watching her fret over pulling her skirt down. “Yes, I’m here.”
His gaze slid over her, and he had to say he was thankful her dress seemed to be wrinkle-resistant or they’d have a much harder time leaving this bathroom.
A long moment of silence. “You okay?”
“Yes,” she said quickly. “I’m fine. I’ll be right out.”
Silence.
Julie’s brows dipped. Luke started to say something, but she stopped him, placing two fingers to his lips and holding up a finger from her other hand.
Then came Lauren’s voice again. “Um, Julie?”
“Yeah?” she said, meeting Luke’s curious gaze.
“Luke wouldn’t happen to be in there with you, would he? Royce is, um, well, worried about him.”
That was when the full implication of what he’d done, how he’d lost control, hit him like a concrete block. Luke squeezed his eyes shut, angry at himself. He was in a public bathroom about to get naked with the very woman he swore he wouldn’t touch until she admitted he meant more than sex to her. And he was doing it during his brother’s rehearsal dinner.
Julie tugged on his hand and made a silent plea for help. He shook his head, not knowing the best response.
Lauren seemed to make her own assumptions. “Okay then. As long as we know you’re both okay.”
Luke dropped his head onto his hand. Fuck!
“Oh, God,” Julie whispered, “I can’t believe I let this happen.”
The torment in her voice drew his sharp probe, and he watched her turn to the mirror to fix her face and hair. He stopped behind her, framed her body with his. Their eyes met in the mirror. “It happened,” he said. “We can’t change that. It’s been a rough day and we were both feeling it.”
Her gaze dropped to the sink and he read the instant withdrawal in her, the return of the vulnerability that had set him off in the first place. He turned her to face him. “I didn’t say I didn’t want that to happen, Julie, but now, and like this, no.” He kissed her and when he pulled back she ran her fingers over his mouth.
“You have all the lipstick I no longer have on me on you.”
“I’m not complaining.”
“I am,” she said, and pressed her mouth to his. ”I need it back.”
He smiled and motioned. “Let’s go back.”
“We’re going to be obvious if we go back together.”
“I have a plan.” He reached for the door and she grabbed his hand. “You still have my lipstick.” She reached up and wiped his face. “I doubt that fits your plan.”
“No,” he said softly. “But you do.” And before she had time to react, he opened the door and checked for a quick exit. The coast was clear, and he motioned her forward. She rushed into the hall and all but ran for the exit, as if she didn’t want to be found in damning territory.
As they cleared the hallway and made their way back to the table, Luke made an announcement. “Cake crisis averted.”
Lauren looked alarmed as Julie sat down next to her, and Luke quickly supplied the answer. “The bakery wasn’t going to get the cakes to the reception in time, so Julie was ordering me to pick them up tonight.”
“Oh no,” Lauren said. “Are you sure it’s okay now?”
“Absolutely,” Julie assured her, grabbing her hand. “They had us mixed up with a different wedding.” She laughed. “That’s why Luke and I ran off.” She cast him a warning look that had a hint of ‘thank you’ hidden within. “You weren’t supposed to know.” She turned a softer expression on Lauren. “It’s handled. Everything is handled. You just have to walk down the aisle and marry the man you love.”
She made it sound easy, as easy as it would have been for him to take her right there in that bathroom. He thought of the intensity of her vulnerability, of how quickly she’d shifted from that softer Julie to seductress, and he knew what wasn’t easy at all: figuring out how to crack the mystery that was Julie’s heart. And he was ready to admit that not only did he want to, he intended to.
