Jennifer Morey - Justice Hunter

“All right. Dinner.” She reached for her purse.

“I’ll have a car brought around,” Joseph said.

While Rachel wondered why he went out of his way to accommodate, Luke extended his hand to her.

She stood without taking it. “Slow down, fancy man.”

Joseph had a limo waiting for them by the time they made it down to the lobby. Her suspicion grew.

“What did the two of you talk about?” she asked.

The driver opened the door and she got in, Luke behind her.

“You,” he surprised her by saying.

“Me?”

“He told me about your parents.”

Not expecting that, Rachel faced forward.

“I’m sorry. That must have been rough on you.”

Rough. She didn’t think she’d ever get used to not having them around, or the sudden way they had been ripped out of her life. All through junior high and high school, she’d felt so different from everyone else. No one understood her loss. Other kids had parents who picked them up and took them to activities and showed up for events at school. Not her. She had to take care of herself. As an only child, she’d been close to both her parents.

“They were a lot of fun to be with,” she said.

“Any kid would have rebelled. I hope you don’t regret what you did.”

She didn’t respond for a while. “Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything to Marcy.” She’d been so easy to talk to, though, once she realized she had nothing to fear from her.

“You straightened your life out.”

She breathed out a scoff.

“You’re not in jail.”

No. Not in jail. She’d been close to crossing a bad line.

“What changed it for you?” Luke asked.

She found the question awfully insightful for a man who knew so little about her. He and Joseph must have really had a talk about her. He got her thinking about that. The only thing she hadn’t told Marcy was about Jared. The juvenile record must have come up in her background check through the hiring process.

“After my third arrest, the judge made me go to counseling and said if I didn’t go he’d keep me in jail. The counselor helped me. He talked to me about my parents and reached me. He asked what my parents would think of the way I was behaving.” That still had the power to choke her up. Such a simple thing to ask, and yet such a profound impact on her. “They would have been upset. Disappointed. Unhappy. I didn’t want to do anything that would make my parents unhappy. It took me a few years to figure out what to do. I worked a job or two but stayed at my third foster home until I got my GED and saved enough money to get a place of my own.”

“So it was the counselor who changed it for you?”

She hadn’t thought about the path in her life like this before, that there had been some exterior trigger that had steered her in the right direction. But it hadn’t been the counselor. He’d helped her emotionally.

“No,” she said. “It was the job I got at an insurance company, my first real job. I made good money for someone who had a juvie record. I felt really lucky.” And then she’d discovered something about the company that had ruined it all. As her thoughts ran into everything that had followed, she didn’t feel like talking anymore.

“What company?”

The limo had stopped in front of the restaurant.

“We’re here,” she said, and got out before the driver could open her door.

Stepping up to the entrance, she endured Luke’s curious glances. He’d noticed her unwillingness to talk further about her one and only good job. She stole a closer look at him. He met her gaze and in the brief moment, they connected, enough for her to see suspicion...or maybe disappointment.

* * *

Lucas rode in the back of the limo with Rachel, neither of them saying anything since leaving the restaurant. He’d tried to get her to talk about her job at the insurance company over dinner, but she’d fielded his questions—or more like blatantly changed the subject. She handled herself professionally, graciously countering his attempts with questions of her own.

How did your friend get his business going?

How long have you known Joseph?

Have you ever worked for him?

After the third question she refused to answer, he’d given up. He could tell she hadn’t missed his probing. She must realize he wanted to know more, even, perhaps, that he found her reluctance suspect.

While his wariness of her remained intact, her golden-brown eyes kept flashing up to his—strong, unflinching and magnetizing. Her beauty threw him off when he least needed.

The limo came to a stop in front of her apartment building. Cracked concrete, missing bricks, boarded-up windows and next to no exterior lighting brought the gentleman out in him. Frustrated or not, he couldn’t allow her to walk to her apartment alone at this time of night.

“I’ll walk you.”

“No need. Thanks for dinner.” She opened the car door.

Lucas got out with her, stopping the driver from doing so, as well. His long strides easily caught up to her as she headed for the front doors.

“I can handle myself just fine,” she said.

She must have lived like this for a long time to say something like that. Ignoring her, he opened one of the doors for her, not seeing a doorman anywhere, or even anyone at the enclosed desk.

She went to the elevators, facing him after pressing the up button. “You can go now.”

He couldn’t leave on a note like this, with her bothered by his probing and him bothered by her secrecy. “The door isn’t locked. Anyone can come in here.”

“Of course they can. This isn’t Manhattan.”

The elevator doors opened. Rachel got in and reached for the close button, but he stepped in before she could shut him out.

She moved to the back and leaned with her arms folded, her avoidance in talking about her past hanging between them. If he was going to win her trust he had to ease up on her, and maybe lighten the mood. Even dressed conservatively in a knee-length, slightly flaring gray skirt and white, ruffle-collared blouse, she looked sexy. Silky brunette hair draped over her shoulders to the tops of her round breasts. Her outfit didn’t conceal her curves. Lucas doubted anything would do that. She’d have to be wearing a bag for that to happen.

He noticed how she became aware of his inspection, a warming one, and she responded. He loved how she did that, such an unconscious reaction. Her instincts kicked in and their attraction heated the elevator. He took a step toward her just as the doors opened.

Grinning, he offered her to precede him. With the tiniest of smiles, she did. One small step toward winning her back over to his side.

He glanced at her on the way to her apartment. She noticed, and the physical awareness worked in his favor. Even if she sidestepped him with her secrets, a baser part of her had other ideas. At her door, she faced him.

“Well, here I am,” she said. “Safe and sound.”

He stepped forward, testing her space. Her eyes grew less playful, but heated curiosity remained. Never before had he deliberately kissed a woman. He’d always waited for the right moment. Not this time.

She put her hand on his chest, and for a moment he thought she’d refuse him. “Are you always this pushy with women?”

“Is this pushy?” He leaned in slowly, watching her eyes, feeling her hands press firmer on his chest, but not enough to pass as refusal. He hovered over her mouth just in case. Those golden-brown orbs blinked. Softly, he caressed at first, moving over her lips awhile before reaching with his tongue to ask for entry.

She parted her lips, and he kissed her as expertly as he could. He put all his experience into this kiss. A lot rode on its success. But as she responded with a warm sigh and an answering tongue, he lost control. No longer deliberate, desire made him slide his arm down to her rear and angle his head for a deeper connection. The sweet confection of her mouth, the soft curves of her breasts now crushed against him, the feel of her firm butt in his palm, all swarmed into his consciousness, obliterating reason.