Dangerous Secrets (5 page)

“No,” he corrected. “I was going to say you could be linked to something really nasty that you don’t want to be. There’s no reason to get as worked up as you are, though, when you know nothing right now about what is really going on. But it doesn’t hurt to be cautious either. I’m going to get Blake on this tonight and look into it more myself when we get home.”
 

She swiped hair behind her ear. “Thank you, Luke. I’m really glad things worked out like they did and I ended up telling you about this. I didn’t want to bring it up to Lauren and Royce right now. Not with the wedding coming up.” And Lauren was her family, the only real person she counted on. The one person she would say anything to, admit anything to.
 

“I’m a friend, Julie,” he said. “I hope you’ll remember that. You can come to me. I’ll help you.”

Friend. That word changed everything between them. You didn’t have a fling with a friend. You had a relationship. She smiled through the tight ball of emotion coiling in her gut at that claim. “Be careful what you wish for,” she teased. “I might take you up on that and ask you to, oh I don’t know, do some manly thing like put brakes on my car.”

“You don’t have a car.”
 

“I might get one.”
 

“You don’t want to pay $600 a month to park it, anymore than you can stand to sit in traffic rather than take the subway.”

“You don’t forget anything do you?”

“Nothing,” he said softly. “Especially where you’re concerned.”
 

The confession took her off guard and left her tongue tied. Where had the sexy seductress persona she’d created to deal with men gone to? And why did his confession make that ball of emotion in her chest turn into a boulder? “Maybe you should,” she said, knowing they were on dangerous territory, desperate to find safe ground, justifying that desperation with the fact that Lauren was marrying his brother.
 

“I tried to forget,” he said. “It didn’t work.”
 

He’d tried and it didn’t work? What did that mean? She didn’t get the chance to ask. He tossed cash on the table, including the dollar she’d given him. “How about we get out of here?”

She shook herself inside and told herself it didn’t matter what he meant. She pushed to her feet. “Yeah. Let’s get out of here.” This didn’t have to be about emotions. They were in each other’s heads. The best way to fix that was to stop talking. Talking complicated things. Talking led to emotion, to heartache, to places she didn’t want to go. It was way past time to get back to the hotel room. They’d work each other out of their systems and move on. Maybe then, when this burn they created in each other was through, they really could be friends.
 

***

The crowd at the front desk had thinned and it didn’t take Julie long to get what she needed. In a matter of minutes, she and Luke were at her room. She swiped the new key and received a green light.
 

“It works,” she said, smiling. “Excellent.”
 

“I’ll grab your things,” Luke said, disappearing and reappearing quickly. She held her door open as he rolled her bag inside. Once she’d joined him and let the door shut behind them, nerves tightened her throat and sent flutters through her stomach, belying the idea that sex with Luke somehow gave her control. She didn’t feel in control at all.
 

He settled the suitcase in the corner by the desk and turned to face her. “We’ll want to be at the airport early to be sure we’re on the first flight out. I say we should leave no later than eight.”

“Should we go earlier?”

“I called and talked to a contact at the airport,” he said. “Nothing is leaving before ten.”

“Okay then, yes. That sounds good.”
 

He motioned to a separate door that connected their rooms. “Knock if you need me.”

He intended to leave, she realized with surprise. This wasn’t how she thought this night would end. Maybe he wanted her to show she wanted him. Maybe he thought they were a complication he didn’t want, regardless of the connection. She’d certainly thought that as well. That should come with relief, but it didn’t. Not at all. “I’ll be fine. Thanks. Thanks for everything.”
 

“Just the same,” he said. “You know I’m close.” He grabbed his cell from his belt. “We should also exchange numbers.”

“Right. Yes.” Julie dropped her purse to the bed and pulled her phone from inside. “I’m ready.”
 

Once they’d traded cell phone numbers, he stepped closer, less than an arm’s reach away. She could smell him, could all but taste him. “I should let you rest,” he said.

“Okay,” she said, not sure what else to say.
 

“Make sure you lock your door.”

She nodded. “Right. Yes.” She mentally cringed at the words she’d said just minutes before. Apparently, her witty attorney mind had already gone to bed for the night.
 

He stared down at her with dark, unreadable eyes. His gaze drifted to her lips, then lifted. He was thinking about kissing her. She wanted him to kiss her. Heat radiated off of him, calling to her. She told herself to act, to move. Why wasn’t she moving? Getting this back where it belonged.
 

“Good night, Julie,” he finally said, brushing his fingers down her cheek, sending a whole different kind of shiver down her spine. And then, just like that, he was gone, already at the door, and ordering, “Come lock up,” a moment before she heard it slam behind him.
 

Julie did as he said, fighting the urge to call his name and drag him onto the bed. It was too late. He was gone. She flipped the lock and let her back settle against the door.
 

This was good. No complications. It’s what she wanted, the way she lived. It was what was right. Only, it didn’t feel right at all.
 

***

Luke had stood in Julie’s room, hot, hard, and all about stripping her down and hearing her moan his name, but he’d somehow walked away. He’d left her behind. He’d succeeded in sticking to his plan to see where this thing between them would lead, besides the bedroom. He’d also ensured sleep was impossible.

By dawn, he was out of bed. Thirty minutes later he was showered, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, and packed to leave. He spent the next hour and a half researching Judge Moore, and his connections, and passing along leads by email to Blake.
 

By seven, determined to keep Julie from running off without him, fairly confident that’s what she would do, he was at her door with two cups of steaming coffee in hand. He’d seen the confusion on her face, and he knew she wasn’t sure how to deal with him outside the bedroom. She’d figure it out. He’d help her. They’d figure it out together. He’d show her they weren’t the sum of their passion, but rather their passion was a sum of much more that she wasn’t ready to put a name to. He wasn’t sure he was either, but they had to do something because avoiding each other wasn’t an option. Their lives were too intermingled.
 

He knocked on her door with his foot, the idea of seeing her again shooting fire through his veins. He stood there a minute and kicked at the door again. No answer. He cursed, knowing he’d been right about her leaving him behind, and she’d still outsmarted him. She was gone, probably while he’d been sitting at his computer.
 

Luke set the coffee by her door so he didn’t spill it all over himself and headed back to his room. He dialed the front desk and sure enough, she’d checked out. Well, she wasn’t going anywhere without him. He’d already pulled strings and made sure they were on the same flight going home, seated next to each other.
 

***

Forty-five minutes later, Luke was inside the airport, past security, and searching for Julie. He spotted her at counter of one of the gates, the dark blue jeans she wore accenting her curves, her long blond hair loose around her slender shoulders, and the short-sleeved red silk blouse showing off her pearly white skin. She was gorgeous. She also seemed to be flustered, as was the customer service rep, and since he was pretty sure he was the cause, he hurried toward them.
 

“I don’t understand how you put all those other people on a flight out but you say my name isn’t on that ledger. I recognize most of them from my flight.” Julie was asking the lady as Luke appeared beside her, and settled his hand on Julie’s back. Her head swung around in surprise. “Luke?”

He grinned at her. “Not expecting me, I guess?” She looked guilty. Luke looked at the service rep, whom he’d met several times. “Sue, how are you?”

The twenty-something woman smiled and flipped her dark hair over her shoulders. “Hey Luke, I’m good,” she said with a flirty little grin.

“I’m glad to hear it,” he said with a smile. “I believe you should have a reservation for myself and Ms. Harrison on the next flight, under a special security clearance.”
 

“What?” Julie asked, turning to him. “What reservation?”

“I would have told you if I had the chance,” he said. “I pulled some strings to get us on the first flight out.”

“No,” Julie insisted. “They just called those names and I wasn’t one of them.”
 

“Actually,” Sue said. “You are on the first flight out. It’s a reserved flight for priority travelers. I missed the reservation because of the way it was flagged by Luke’s name.”

Luke arched a brow at Julie. “Now would be the time to have your seat moved away from mine if you want to.”

Her expression softened. “I don’t want that.”

“You sure about that?”

Pink flooded her cheeks. “Yes. I’m sure.”

“Here you go,” Sue said. “Two tickets. You’re all set.”
 

Luke held Julie’s stare a moment and then accepted the tickets. “Thanks, Sue.”
 

“We should begin boarding in about fifteen minutes,” she informed them.
 

“Excellent,” he said, and he and Julie stepped away from the counter, where he teasingly asked, “How about some coffee? I’m guessing you haven’t had your standard two cups of coffee this morning, since you took off from your room so early.”

“Luke, I-”

“Don’t know what to do about me,” he finished for her. “Ditto me about you, but I’m betting we don’t have a chance of figuring it out without some caffeine.”

She sighed. “I’ll buy. It’s the least I can do considering you got us on this flight and I, well, you know.”

“I know,” he said, not about to let her off the hook for running off and leaving him at the hotel. “And since I brought you coffee when I showed up at your door this morning, I’ll let you provide this round.”

“You brought me coffee?”

“That’s right.”

She glanced at a clock. “You showed up early.”

“You left earlier.”

“You knew what I was going to do.”

“Just not how early.” He lowered his voice. “I know you better than you think.”

Surprise flashed on her face before she quickly joked, “Then you know I’m dangerous without coffee.” She started walking.
 

Luke smiled and followed. She was still running, but he had a good feeling he was catching up.
 

A few minutes later, they sat down in the waiting area, cups in hand. She sipped her white mocha. “I still don’t know how you drink your coffee straight-up black.”

“It’s the only way I got it the past few years,” he said.
 

“I remember you saying that,” she commented, settling fully into her seat and crossing her legs. “You’re a civilian now though. We need to convert you to a real coffee drinker.”

“What can I say?” He leaned back to bring his gaze level with hers. “I know what I like.” And he liked her.

Awareness thickened between them. “I remember that about you, too,” she said softly.
 

“What else do you remember?”
 

She traced her lips with her tongue, pulling his gaze down to their glistening wetness. Hunger rose inside him, the need to kiss her, to taste her. To know her as he once had.
 

Her lashes fluttered, long and dark against her pale cheeks, before she surprised him by confessing, “I remember a lot of things.”
 

“Good,” he said. “Then we can compare memories.”

Her eyes opened and she met his gaze. The warmth and desire he saw there punched him in the gut. The sexual tension between them was going to kill him. He ached for her, burned for her.
 

Her cell phone rang. Neither of them moved. It rang again. She swallowed hard. “I should get that. My assistant and I were playing phone tag this morning.”

He grabbed her purse and handed it to her. She retrieved her phone. “It’s her.” She hit the answer button and he watched shock roll over her face. “Dead?” She sat straight up. “How? When?””

“Who?” Luke asked, having a bad feeling he knew the answer.