Elizabeth Heiter - Bodyguard With A Badge

She had the distinct feeling that she was either the butt of a joke she didn’t understand, or Andre’s brothers thought something more scandalous was happening between her and Andre than a simple felony. Abducting a federal agent at gunpoint was surely a felony, she thought, then tried not to dwell on it.

Andre sat on the couch, and since it was the only seating left, Juliette joined him there, sticking close to the opposite side. No need to tempt herself even further by getting within touching distance of Andre. But nerves still shot through her at his nearness.

She scooted even closer to the far side, shifting so the armrest would hide her weapon. She’d kept her arm strategically placed over the bulging pocket of her cardigan since Andre’s brothers had arrived, but she was pretty sure neither of them had been fooled.

“So, what’s the plan?” Cole asked. “Get us up to speed here.”

When Andre explained the last few hours—glossing over her armed abduction—Cole seemed considerably less amused.

She fidgeted, not liking the idea of Cole and Marcos thinking poorly of her. Their opinions shouldn’t matter, but it was obvious how close they were to Andre, and already his opinion of her had become very important.

The three men were silent for a long minute, until Marcos burst out, “What a bastard.”

It took her a minute to realize he was talking about her ex-husband. A tentative smile bloomed.

“We start there,” Cole said, nodding at Marcos as though he was agreeing with his brother’s assessment.

Juliette’s shoulders slumped and she hadn’t realized until that moment how tense she’d felt through Andre’s explanation. Although he’d painted it as though her word was all he needed, she’d had no idea what reaction to expect from Cole and Marcos.

Even her own parents hadn’t just blindly believed her when she’d tried to ask them for advice. They’d insisted she must have misunderstood what was happening. Then, they’d gone back to their own lives in England and hadn’t bothered to check back in with her. She wondered what they thought now, if they’d heard about her in the news during the three years since she’d disappeared, and tried to push down the guilt.

“Start where exactly?” Juliette asked. “I wish I did, but I don’t have any proof of the payoff.”

“Well, technically, you do. Your eyewitness testimony,” Cole said. “But that’s not actually what I meant. I think we should investigate this attempt on your life. These cons took a payment for it, right?”

Andre nodded.

“So, there’s a trail. We just need to find it.”

“How?” Marcos asked. “We don’t exactly have the legal authority to go for a warrant. This isn’t our case. But I’m sure the Bureau will be doing that. What about Scott? Can he help?”

“I want to give him plausible deniability here,” Andre replied. “He doesn’t know Juliette came home with me. Right now, the FBI is searching for her. I don’t want him to need to lie for me. Besides, HRT won’t be handling the criminal investigation. That’ll get handed off to the Washington Field Office.”

“So, ask the WFO agents,” Marcos suggested. “They’ll share, won’t they?”

“If they can find the money trail,” Cole said. “But if these criminals don’t even know who paid them, I’m betting it’s pretty hidden. I know someone who can help.”

“Shaye?” Marcos guessed, that same smile flickering on the corners of his lips that had been there when he’d spotted her in Andre’s entryway.

“Yes, Shaye,” Cole replied.

“You sure this isn’t an excuse to see her again?” Marcos teased.

“Whether it is or not,” Andre jumped in, “Cole is right.” He looked at Juliette. “Shaye Mallory is some kind of computer forensics genius who used to work for Cole’s department. If anyone can find a trail, it’s her. Ask her,” he told Cole. “But make sure she’s careful. I don’t want to spread it around why we’re digging.”

“Not a problem,” he said, sitting a little straighter.

Even Juliette could tell he had a crush on this woman. The only question was why Shaye hadn’t jumped at the chance to go out with him. She glanced between the brothers. The same was true of all three of them. What if Andre had a girlfriend? Maybe she’d misread his intent to ask her out when he’d saved her life in the woods this morning.

Wow, had it really been less than twenty-four hours since she’d been on her way to work, thinking everything was going to be normal today? Exhaustion hit so hard she couldn’t stop herself from sinking into the cushions.

“I think that’s our cue,” Cole said.

“You take the big hardship and talk to Shaye,” Marcos teased Cole, “and I’ll start digging into the Manning murder, see if I can get any traction there.”

“And I’ll check into Dylan Keane,” Andre said, a determined edge to his voice.

It wasn’t until Andre stood to walk his brothers to the door that Juliette realized they were leaving because of her. She tried to sit upright again, get focused, but the stress of the day had finally caught up to her, and her body didn’t want to obey.

“Thank you,” she called after them.

Then Andre was back, scooping her off the couch as if she weighed nothing.

She squeaked—actually squeaked—with surprise and looped her arms around his neck for stability. He smelled vaguely of the woods he’d been running through this morning. On him, the scent of pine managed to be an aphrodisiac. Her voice came out breathy when she asked, “What are you doing?”

“Taking you to bed.”

Suddenly, she wasn’t tired at all. Her body came alive, sensitive to every inch of his arms looped under her back and knees, the solid warmth of his chest pressed against her side. She looked up to discover his face was much closer than she’d expected. If she just tilted her head back and snuggled closer, she could trace her lips over the adorable cleft in his chin, over the tiny dots of scruff just starting to come in, to his mouth.

Her throat went dry at the thought, and her pulse picked up until surely he could feel it. When his gaze met hers, his pupils instantly dilated.

She stared up at him, anxious for him to dip his head and kiss her but not wanting to break the anticipation. She let her gaze slide down to his lips and then back up to his eyes, so there was no mistaking what she wanted.

Some logical part of her was screaming a warning about the last time she’d taken a chance on a man in law enforcement, but logic was not winning against the desire in Andre’s eyes. She could feel the pace of his breathing change beneath her, and his fingers curled into her arm and her leg where he held her. His head lowered, infinitesimally slowly.

Just when she was gripping his shirt to pull herself toward him, he straightened and picked up his pace, striding into a room and dropping her on the center of the bed.

Surprise made her laugh, then nerves kicked in. Kissing Andre was one thing, but she wasn’t sure she was ready for anything more.

But he was already backing out of the room. “You should get some sleep,” he said, then disappeared through the doorway, leaving Juliette alone.

* * *

ANDRE SWORE UNDER his breath as he paced back and forth in the kitchen, forcing himself to stay away from the guest bedroom where he’d just deposited Juliette. He didn’t know what had happened. Despite his attraction to her, his intent had been innocent when he’d picked her up. She was obviously exhausted. He’d planned to let her get some rest.

Then she’d stared up at him as if she wanted to devour him. The memory of it heated him until he opened his freezer and stood in front of it to cool down.