Лиза Джонс: Dangerous Secrets

“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.

Chapter Four

“You dropped your phone, miss,” the man said in a heavy Spanish accent, squatting down beside her and offering her phone, his hand on Julie’s chair for balance.

Julie let out a breath that she didn’t even know she’d been holding, because for the past two seconds, she’d pretty much didn’t know anything but panic. Her phone. Right. Which she probably knocked off the table when she’d picked up the waiter’s pin. Or while distracted by Luke, which was pretty much always.

Thank you,” she said, accepting her cell from the stranger, but not looking at him. Her spine was buzzing with ridiculous unease. The man was just helping her. “I had no idea I dropped it.”

“My pleasure to help,” he said, and pushed to his feet and left.