Лиза Джонс: Dangerous Secrets

Julie held the phone, staring down at it. What was wrong with her? This wasn’t like her at all.

“What just happened,” Luke prodded urgently. “What upset you?”

She shook her head. “Nothing.” She refocused on Luke, glad he was here. “I’m just tired.”

“No,” he insisted. “That man upset you.”

“No, I-”

“Yes,” he said. “And if you don’t tell me why, I’ll go find out myself. I’ve never seen you like this.” He started to get up.

“No. Wait. Luke. Please stay here. I’m just embarrassed. It’s me being paranoid.”

He relaxed back into his seat. “You don’t need to ever be embarrassed with me, Julie. And you aren’t a paranoid person. If something feels wrong to you, it probably is.”

“Maybe,” she agreed. “But not here or with that man. I think one of my cases has me worried and it’s got me seeing demons everywhere.”

“Talk to me, sweetheart.”

She inhaled and let it out. “I can’t.” But she wanted to. She really wanted someone’s advice and Lauren didn’t need this right now. “Client-attorney privilege.”

He scooted his plate aside. “Do you have a dollar?”

Her brows furrowed and she reached for her purse. “Well, yes. Sure. I always carry cash when I travel.” She pulled out a bill and slid it on the table.

“Great,” he said. “Walker Security is now your private investigation firm. We are bound by privacy laws as well. So talk to me.”

Relief washed over her. “I actually think that hiring you might be exactly what I need to do.” She told him the entire story about Elizabeth’s visit.

“Blake was ATF,” he said when she’d finished. “They deal with art theft and money laundering so I’ll want to get him involved in this.”

“Money laundering?” she asked, the idea opening up all kinds of new concerns for her. “That’s what you think is going on?”

“What do you think is going on? You’re close to this. You must have had some initial thought pop into your head when Elizabeth made this claim.”

“My fear was some sort of illicit pornography.”

“That’s certainly a possibility, but one thing is for sure. You don’t want to be accused of covering it up. Ignorance has benefits when it comes to the law in this case.”

“But I’m not ignorant when I’ve been warned,” she said, “so I need to know what it going on.”

“You could drop out of the case.”

“I could,” she said, “but I could still be connected, or even become a fall guy. I’ve seen some nasty things since I started practicing. I’d rather be on the offensive and be sure this goes away for me.”

“That makes sense,” he said, “and while Elizabeth thinks her husband isn’t capable of hurting her, or you for that matter, I’ve seen some things myself. Desperation brings out the worst in people.”

“I saw that in Elizabeth. It worried me.”

“What worries me more than anything,” he said. ”is this other party who’d be dangerous if they found out whatever the secret is. If this is something illicit, and the wrong person–”

“I’m in trouble.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You were going to.”

“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.