Trust Me: The Lassiter Group, Book 1 (24 page)

The hallway was empty.

Trusting her gut and not the voice that wondered if she suffered from chronic paranoia, she started down the hall, then paused, sensing movement directly behind her.

Spinning to meet the threat, she lead with her fist, not hearing the sound of her name until her hand had already connected with Lucas’s face.

Goddamn it.

Lucas’s head snapped back, but the pain that flared across his jaw wasn’t as bad as his side when he twisted to dodge the blow. With his hand pressed to his still healing side, he backed up, giving her plenty of room.

He would have called out her name earlier, but thought he’d recognized one the guys who walked into her building a few minutes ago as one of Blackwater’s. If the guy had ID’d Max and got in ahead of Lucas, he hadn’t wanted to give the guy any kind of heads up.

Apparently, though, he was the only one who needed advance notice. Christ, she had a good throwing arm.

“Lucas?” Max asked.

Shaking off the pain, he straightened. “Surprised to see me I take it.”

Max stilled, an unreadable expression clouding her face. “What the hell are you doing here? And why didn’t you knock? You scared the crap out of me.”

As far as reunions went, this wasn’t how Lucas had envisioned this one going down. Her arms around his neck maybe, her mouth on his—definitely. An aching jaw and a gun between them? Not a chance.

“I think you can put that down now.”

She glanced at the weapon in her hand. “I could have shot you, you ass.” Her words were laced with more worry than anger, so he chanced pressing his luck and got right into her personal space.

Her gaze landed on his jaw. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Good thing you hit like a girl.”

She rolled her eyes, and he pulled her close, opening his mouth over hers. At least now he knew he hadn’t imagined how good kissing her felt, or how much he’d missed her. He’d known her staying away from the hospital had been the right call, but every moment since then he’d been so worried about her.

Who cared that she was strong and resourceful and determined? He’d wanted her close so he could see with his own eyes that she was okay. If anything had happened to her…

She murmured a little protest against his lips, and he forced himself to give her a little room to breathe, but didn’t release her entirely. He wasn’t ready for that yet.

Eyes closed, she held onto him, her free hand cupping his face and erasing anything negative Joe might have said about Max when his boss had cautioned him against going after her.

Max finally drew back, her attention sliding down his chest.

It didn’t take a lot of imagination to know she was thinking of his gunshot wound. “Max—”

“I should get some ice for your face.” She turned and walked away from him.

Lucas followed her into the kitchen, wanting to tell her…what exactly? How much he’d missed her, was glad to see her, that the last ten days had been the longest in his life?

Max motioned for him to take a seat, and turned to grab something from the freezer. Ice probably. If he hadn’t glimpsed that little flutter of panic in her eyes a heartbeat before he’d kissed her, he would have insisted he didn’t need anything but her to make him feel better.

Sensing she needed something to keep her hands busy, though, he kept quiet.

“How did you find me?”

“You were spotted near Blackwater’s warehouse last night.” He’d been both relieved and angered to know someone had spotted her. Relieved that she was safe, and angered that she hadn’t been careful enough to avoid notice entirely.

Any one of Blackwater’s snitches could have ID’d her and followed her back to the apartment. One of them had probably come too damn close to exactly that tonight.

She pulled an ice pack from the freezer. “How come you haven’t gone after the weapon?”

“Big warehouse and lots of places to check without knowing where to start.”

Her fingers faltered as she folded the pack up in a dish towel. “So you need me,” she guessed, something in her tone rubbing him the wrong way.

“Need you to tell me where it is, yes.”

“So you can go in and get it,” she finished, finally meeting his gaze.

“That’s the plan.” Among other things. Things he didn’t want Max anywhere near when they went down.

She pressed the pack to his face, and he closed his hand over hers. “I want in.”

“That’s not part of the plan.”

Her eyes narrowed at the corners, but she didn’t pull away from him. “You wanted my help.”

“Coming back here to handle Blackwater on your own wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.”

Anger flared in her eyes. “I was just supposed to cooperate and do everything that you told me to, right?”

Why did it seem like answering such a straightforward question was so incredibly complicated?

He set the ice on the counter. “How about we start over.”

She shook her head. “I need to get in touch with Glen. I don’t want him anywhere near that warehouse when you guys make your move.”

Lucas frowned. “Why would he be near the warehouse?”

“I’d like to think he’s steering clear of it, but just in case he’s following leads he thinks will help me, I need to give him a heads up.”

“Are you sure you can trust him?”

She crossed her arms. “You tell me. I’m sure you’ve probably investigated him by now. Right?”

He nodded, not feeling the least bit apologetic for doing his job.

“Look, I realize that I can’t be sure about anything anymore—”

Now why did it feel like he was suddenly being lumped in with that?

“—but Glen has been looking out for me too long not to give him the benefit of the doubt.”

“Fair enough.” He let it go for now, really wanting to get back to the part where she was in his arms and tucked against him. Safe.

All too soon they would need to talk about the case’s location inside the warehouse, but for a few more minutes he just wanted to indulge in being close enough he could reach out and touch her.

Max reached for the phone, and he did his best to be patient while she left a short message for Glen to meet her an hour sooner if possible.

He’d strategically placed himself behind her, and when she hung up the phone, she turned around and nearly ran into him. Her eyes drifted up, studying him through thick dark lashes.

He cupped her cheek. “So did you miss me at all, Max?”

A soft, sexy smile—the one he’d been dreaming about—touched her lips. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

He grinned, murmured, “Hell, yeah,” against her lips, and slid his mouth over hers.

Each time he kissed her, he expected the feeling to be less powerful, less consuming and each time he was never so happy to be disappointed.

Much too soon she pulled away from him. “We should go. Glen will be waiting for us.”

Deciding it would be good to meet this guy in person, Lucas nodded. “But when we get back, there are a few things we need to settle between us.”

“Us,” she repeated. “Like the weapon’s location?”

“Us. As in you and me.” No matter what happened with the weapon and Blackwater, he wasn’t leaving her again until he knew where they stood.

Max tried hard to concentrate on the menu in her hand and not think about what Lucas planned on saying when they got back to her cousin’s apartment. Not even the inviting smells wafting out of the run-down diner’s kitchen, a place she and Glen had stumbled across after a stakeout a couple years back, managed to tempt her to think about food over the man opposite her.

Every time she looked at him she felt her insides slide together in a warm wave that made her want to get as close to him as she could. But as much as she wanted him here, she couldn’t help but wish he hadn’t found her and was far away from New York.

Her gaze drifted to his chest, and she fought the urge to run her hand over him to make sure he really was okay.

“So you say the pancakes are good?” Lucas’s voice pulled her mind from the guilt still swirling in her stomach.

“The best in the city,” Glen finished, sliding into the empty seat next to her.

Before she could get a word out, his arms went around her, squeezing the air from her lungs.

“Glad to see you’re in one piece.” Glen nodded to Lucas, his practiced cop smile revealing only polite curiosity. “Who’s your friend?”

Setting aside her menu, she made a quick introduction that didn’t fully satisfy Glen.

“Lucas…” Glen trailed off meaningfully, not missing the fact she hadn’t mentioned his last name.

“McAllister,” Lucas finished, setting his own menu aside and staring just as intently at Glen.

“How about we put away the testosterone until recess,” Max suggested.

They both glanced at her then back at each other, both equally guarded and just a little bit suspicious.

Glen took a sip of the coffee the waitress had left for him as he continued to size up Lucas like he would a suspect during interrogation. Before she could tell him to knock it off, he looked at her. “I’m glad you called actually. There’s talk that Blackwater has a new deal going down. Something big, apparently.”

“Who’s your source?”

Glen didn’t even pretend to contemplate answering without waiting for her to nod that they could trust Lucas. “It’s one of Wade’s informants.”

“Wade Cummings? The narcotics detective Max was engaged to?”

“His informant thinks it might have something to do with a deal that went bad a few months back,” Glen continued.

Max sat straighter in her seat. “Like the night Cara was killed.”

“Or,” Lucas interjected, “Blackwater knows Max is back in town and wants to find a way to draw her out.”

Glen nodded. “We can’t rule out the possibility.”

“Not when it’s personal after what she did to him.”

Frowning, Glen glanced at her for an explanation. “What does he mean?”

“She gave Blackwater that scar over his eye,” Lucas answered before she could get a word in.

Surprised by that, Glen shot her an incredulous look, and then went right back to his conversation with Lucas. “She did that?”

“
She
happens to be right here,” Max said through her teeth, not bothering to hide how annoyed she was that they were talking like she wasn’t even in the room.

God, it was like they’d gone from testosterone archrivals to estrogen allies in less time than it took for them to take a piss. “Are you two finished?”

Both heads swiveled in her direction, neither one of them missing the hard edge to her voice.

Slanting her a mildly apologetic look, Lucas focused on Glen. “Do you have a time and place this is going down?”

“I’m working on it, but there’s no guarantee I’ll hear before the deal is over.”

Lucas dug into his pocket and pulled out a card. “You can use that number to get ahold of us.”

Her partner took the card, glancing between the two of them at the barest emphasis Lucas had put on
us.
“If this deal is meant to draw you out, Max, you know you can’t be anywhere near Blackwater when it goes down.”

“If you can’t tell me you’re absolutely certain it’s some kind of trap, I’m not sitting on the sidelines.”

Lucas crossed his arms. “There’s no way to know that, Max.”

“Then I guess we all understand each other.”

His expression darkened. “The only thing we all need to understand is that Blackwater wants to get his hands on you, Max. You can’t just waltz straight into the lion’s den and expect to come out unscathed.”

“If you didn’t want me involved in any of this then maybe you should have left me in Riverbend.”

“Max—”

“Don’t
Max
me. It’s not your career or your life that Blackwater screwed with. You don’t have people you worked with, people you trusted, friends, thinking the worst of you, that you’re one of the bad guys.”

“I know this is hard for you,” Lucas began.

“Then don’t sit there and expect me to stay out of it when we both know you wouldn’t if our positions were reversed.” Glen stood up. “I think that’s my cue actually. I’ll be in touch as soon as I hear anything else.” His gaze moved to Max, and she swore he was trying not to grin. “At least you’re finally involved with someone who makes as much sense as I do.”

“We’re not involved,” she and Lucas said in unison.

Glen nodded toward the door. “Well, while I’d love to stay and mediate for you two, I want to see if Burton disappears mysteriously when he hears about this potential deal.” He quickly drained the last of his coffee. “You two play nice.”

Nice
apparently equaled quiet in Lucas’s book, Max soon realized.

He hasn’t said more than a few syllables on the walk back to Ashley’s. She wanted to think he was preoccupied with staying focused on their surroundings and making sure no one followed them from the diner, but she couldn’t entirely ignore the vibe that warned her there was more to it than that.

A vibe she’d felt since Wade’s name was mentioned.

As much as her ex was a total asshole, she’d always been convinced he was a good cop. Now she didn’t know what to think. His name being tied to a tip about a deal she had a vested interest in brought to mind a few questions.

Like had Wade realized who Glen had been talking to the day she called him at the precinct?

As soon as they were inside, Lucas stripped out of his jacket and got right down to business. “I need you to tell me exactly where the case is, Max. Any detail you can remember about where you saw the Russian stash it, any marker or anything at all would be helpful.”

“Or you could just let me go with you.”

“You’re not trained for that kind of thing and you know it.”

She did know it. She also knew she wasn’t crazy about sending him in there when she knew how scared she’d been the night Cara died. Scared enough to screw up a detail that she might not remember clearly until she was back inside the warehouse.

“So I’m not a covert operative. That doesn’t mean I can’t follow orders.”

He snorted, and she ignored him, focusing on what else she did know.

“You’re the one with the highly trained team. You mean to tell me you guys aren’t good enough to cover my ass in a situation like this?”