“And Julie? What does she know?”
“How to please me,” he said, with a lift of his lips. “Let me know if you decide you have any special requests.” He started to turn. “And by the way, Judge. I did some digging. I know you have an offshore account and I know how much you’ve deposited into it. I want to work for whoever you’re working for. If you’re smart, you’ll introduce me. I might even throw in a little something special for your private collection, hmm? If not, it would be interesting to see your sweet setup spiral horribly out of control.” He turned and sauntered away.
The instant Luke was out of the corridor, Julie was by his side. “Well?”
“He’s panicking right now,” he said, taking her hand. “Let’s go the bar and give him a chance to pick himself up off the floor and decide what to do next.”
A few minutes later, they leaned on the bar and Julie sipped champagne. “You know,” she said. “I’m going to make you pay for that ‘good girl’ comment back there.”
His lips curved as he repeated the question she’d asked him earlier. “Promise?”
She smiled, a miracle considering her nerves were still in tiny, tight knots. “Oh yes. I promise.”
He laughed, low, deep, and sexy. “Sweetheart, I’ll pay any way you like.”
She eased closer. “Whips and chains?”
He arched a brow. “A new side to you I should know about?”
“Drastic measures to remind you that your submissive little mouse isn’t submissive at all.”
“I can’t wait,” he said with a grin, and set her drink down, drawing her hand into his, “but for now, be a good girl and follow along with me. I want to make sure the judge knows just how deep I am in his world. Let’s walk.”
They spent the next hour feigning interest in random conversations throughout the room, until a waiter appeared with a champagne tray.
“None for me,” Julie said automatically.
The waiter looked at Luke, “A message, sir.”
Luke reached for a glass and the note laying with it. The man nodded to Luke before moving through the crowd. Luke tucked the note in his pocket.
“Go check on whoever you need to check on,” Luke said in a clipped tone as he covertly checked out the room to see if anyone was watching them. “And then we’re leaving. Can you do it in fifteen minutes?” They’d already planned this. Luke didn’t want her here late, when the crowd thinned and she was an easier target. She was right on board with that.
“Yes,” she said, wondering if her heart could take much more of this night. “That’s plenty.” She rushed away, checking on the closing team, thankful that Elizabeth had one heck of a volunteer team, many of whom Julie knew from past events.
***
Luke didn’t look at the note in the museum for a reason. He didn’t want to seem eager. The valet brought the truck to the door and Luke helped Julie inside.
Once they were in his truck, he still didn’t read it, afraid of watchful eyes. And they were being watched, he was sure of it.
At the first red light they came to he yanked the note from his pocket and unfolded it. He read in silence. Then he cursed running a hand through his hair.
“What?” Julie asked urgently.
Luke tucked the note back into his pocket, and then tugged his tie loose. He flicked a quick look her direction before refocusing on the road.
“I need to think before I can talk about this.”
“What does that mean? Luke, please. Tell me what’s going on.”
“It means I need to think. Give me a minute.” His tone was clipped, something she wasn’t used to from him and he knew it, but he wasn’t himself. In fact, he was someone else who made a stupid mistake that got people killed.
“Luke–”
“It says there’s a house party on Staten Island Friday night. The exact location to be disclosed later.”
“And you’re invited.”
His tone was clipped. “Yes.” He could feel her attention, her need for more.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“I’m not going.”
She was silent a long moment, as if she was trying to read his mind, understand him. When she spoke, the anger was gone from her tone. “But you said children are dying and this was what you wanted?”
“Not only are children dying,” he said. “The one agent that was inside is now missing.”
“I still don’t understand what you’re telling me here.”
“There are conditions to the invitation that make the risk too high. The end.”
He felt her confusion, but for the fifteen-minute ride until he pulled his truck under the Walker building, and into the parking lot, she didn’t press him. He killed the engine and sat there, unmoving, staring into the darkness.
She touched his sleeve. “Luke? Talk to me.”
He let out a heavy breath and forced his gaze to hers. “My invitation is contingent on you coming with me.”
He watched her eyes go wide, the shock slide over her features. “I...see. Why would he want me there?”
“Perhaps to test me. To see if they pass you around I’ll flinch. These people are bastards who only want to deal with other bastards. It’s all part of their manipulation tactics.”
“Can you stop them from...passing me around?”
“We aren’t taking a chance that will happen at all. I’m not going. You’re not going.”
“This is bigger than both of us,” she said. “You know that or this wouldn’t be eating you alive. We have to do this.”
He pulled her to him. “I said no. You are not going.” His mouth closed down on hers, hot and demanding. He would not risk her life. He would not let anything happen to her. Luke wasn’t sure what happened to him then. He wasn’t someone to lose control, but he did now.
Luke had her flat on the seat, her soft curves beneath him, the thick ridge of his shaft pressed between her thighs in a matter of seconds. And he kissed her. God, he couldn’t stop kissing her. He thought of Blake, of his brother losing the woman he loved, of the danger of losing Julie. Love. He loved this woman. His mouth trailed down her neck, then lower, to the trim of her dress over her breasts. His hand inched up her dress.
“Do you,” she panted, “know how terrified I was for you tonight?”
“Then you know,” he said, pulling down her top to tease her nipples, and kissing his way back to her mouth, “why I’m not letting anything happen to you.” His mouth closed over hers, and the craving for her, the burn, seemed to expand. His hand slid under her and he lifted her hips, settling more fully in the warm heat he wanted to lose himself in. He had to have her. Here. Now. This instant.
A loud knock sounded on the window.
Chapter Eighteen
Luke looked up to find Hendrix staring at them from the window, and every instinct in him screamed with warning. Luke knew right then that he didn’t trust the man. Not even a little bit.
“Give us a minute,” he said, fighting the urge that told him to go for his gun. His brother appeared where Hendrix had just been. “Jezus,” Luke added. “I said give us a damn minute.”
“I’m not alone,” Blake called. “Just thought you would want to know.”
“Like we don’t know that already,” Luke mumbled under his breath and tugged at the top of Julie’s dress. “Our peeping Tom was one of the task force members. I’m sorry. I don’t know what got into me. I knew we’d have a parade chasing us tonight.”
“It got into me too, Luke,” Julie said, telling him that despite the hellish situation, she was with him for the good and the bad. It was something he wanted to deserve, to own, and not make her regret.
“This is so embarrassing,” Julie said. She sat up and reached for her coat where she’d slid out of it back at the valet area.
He adjusted her dress where a little too much of her breast remained in view. “Don’t be. You’re beautiful, and they’re just going to be jealous it was me and not them.”
“That doesn’t help,” she said in a hoarse voice. “Not when we were just talking about men passing me around.”
He pulled her close. “That won’t happen. Ever. I won’t let it.” He kissed her temple and motioned to the door. “Let’s get this over with.”
Luke pushed the truck’s door open and walked around to help Julie out. Once he brought her into view, she sat there for a minute not moving. He held out his hand in encouragement. “Come on,” he said softly. “Who cares what these guys think?”
She inhaled and let it out before sliding from the vehicle to stand by his side. He took one look at her swollen lips, now lipstick free, the whisker burn on her delicate skin, and knew no one would doubt what they had been doing.
With a sigh he stepped forward, pulling her coat tightly around her, and brushed his lips over hers. They walked toward the stairwell to find Blake waiting, and he wasn’t kidding about not being alone. Murphy and Hendrix were with him, which was expected, considering they’d known his plan. That made his losing control in the truck all the more out-of-character.
“Both from the task force,” Luke told Julie when she cast him a questioning look.
She gave a barely there nod. “Nothing like making an impression.”
“They need to worry about that far more than you do.”
“You don’t like them?” she asked softly.
“I don’t know them well enough to say.”
They stopped several feet from the group and Luke quickly introduced Julie. “Why don’t I meet you all in the office after I take Julie upstairs?” he suggested. He didn’t want her in on this talk. These guys wanted to catch Arel. He wanted to protect Julie. Those two things didn’t necessarily coincide. Talking through the evening’s events with Julie present wasn’t going to work either. She’d put herself at risk, when he wasn’t going to let that happen.
She shook her head and crossed her arms, clearly digging in her heels, and proving Hendrix and Murphy were the least of Luke’s worries.
“Forget it, Luke. You aren’t going to play bodyguard and send me on my way.” She let her gaze scan the other men. “Luke was given an invitation to a party on Friday night we assume is to meet Arel. The condition is that I go along with him.”
Blake cursed and ran a hand through his hair. “No. That’s not happening.” His gaze collided with Luke’s. “Tell me you didn’t agree to this.”
“I didn’t even consider it,” Luke confirmed. “She’s not doing it.” He cut his attention to Julie. “You aren’t doing it.”
“You had a tail tonight,” Hendrix said. “You’re being followed. You’re being watched. You’re both in this and there isn’t an easy exit. You might as well do what you can to save a few innocent kids’ lives.”
It was a taunt, a way to manipulate Julie, and Luke lost it. He lunged at the son-of-a-bitch, grabbing his coat. Hendrix’s phone flew off of his belt and hit the pavement.
“Luke, no!” Julie screamed.
Blake grabbed Luke and shoved him back, getting between him and Hendrix.
Blake pointed at Murphy. “I suggest you get Hendrix out of here before I help Luke beat his ass.”
Hendrix grabbed his cell phone from the ground and glared at Luke. “My ass is on the line for letting you in on this. Stop thinking with your dick, man. My ass isn’t going down for you.” He headed for his SUV in a slow saunter that only had Luke ready to go after him again. Murphy saw it too, walking backward and watching Luke, while Blake stood in front of him, his hand on Luke’s chest.
“Don’t, Luke,” Blake said. “He’s a tricky bastard who might just get you thrown in jail.”
“He needs me too damn much for that.”
Julie stepped up beside Blake. “Don’t go after him,” she said softly. “Please. I’m begging you, Luke. Don’t do it.”
That plea wore him down and all the adrenaline pumping through his veins evaporated. His shoulders slowly relaxed. Blake stepped away and let them have space.
“Let’s go upstairs,” Luke said softly.
“Yes,” she said, holding his stare. “I think that would be a very good idea.”
It was an announcement of war, but this one war he intended to win. The minute she was inside his apartment, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her, taking her mouth with a hot demand, and when she whimpered, he picked her up and carried her toward the bedroom.
She must have sensed how on edge he was and how out of control he felt He was certain that the only way to feel better was with her, to be inside her, and a part of her, because she didn’t argue. She didn’t try to talk through what had just happened in the garage.
He stripped her naked and barely remembered undressing himself. He just knew he took her down onto the bed, unable to stop kissing her. He spread her legs and pressed his fingers inside her, craving her soft sounds of pleasure. Craving her. And when she came, when she moaned with release, he only wanted more. He needed more.
Luke pulled her beneath him, settling into the slick, wet heat of her body. And then he was inside her, with her. Her skin was soft, her kisses sweet and sultry, her responses to his touch intensely erotic.
She moaned and arched into him, clinging to him, as if she felt what he did, as if she was standing on a ledge with him, the only thing keeping him from falling.
They clung to each other and moved together as if they were trying to become one, until she spasmed around him and took him over the edge with her. They collapsed together. Time ticked by in silence until their breathing evened out.
Until Julie said, “Luke–”
“Don’t say it,” he said, pressing his forehead to hers. “You’re not going. I’ll find another way.”
“What if you can’t.”
“I will.” Because he had to. Because he wasn’t letting anything happen to her.
***
Gina threw her purse down on the kitchen counter as she entered her apartment, disgusted from thinking about how Julie had floated around museum, being complimented by everyone. They all loved Julie at that party, and what was Gina? Her assistant. Her fucking assistant.
Marco came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. “What’s wrong, bebe?”
She turned in his arms. “Even you wanted her,” she accused. “I saw how you looked at her.”
“I looked at her,” he said, not even asking who she meant, because he knew. “I touch you.”
“Not tonight you won’t.” She tried to push away from him, but those big strong arms of his held her, one big hand molding her closer.
“I know what you need,” he claimed softly, that damnable sexy accent of his tingling along her nerve endings. “Something special to make you forget how much you hate this woman you work for.”
“I don’t want to forget.” She wanted to remember. Oh yes, she wanted to remember, and she wanted to do something about it.
He slipped a feather light strip of something to her lips and she frowned as it began to melt, pulling back. “What is that?”
“A new kind of pleasure,” he promised. “You will feel me in ways you never thought possible.”
She didn’t do drugs. It had always been her taboo. She didn’t like feeling out of control. But whatever he’d given her began to dissolve on her lips and instinct made her scrape it with her teeth, the sweetness of it drawing a swipe of her tongue.
“That’s ma belle,” he approved, and pressed more of the sliver of sweetness into her mouth and this time she accepted it willingly. It was good and he was just so damn convincing without even trying.
Suddenly she felt warm and wonderful, and wait, was she on the bed? How had she gotten on the bed? And where were her clothes? Not that she cared. Naked was good. Naked with Marco was even better. Her world was spinning, but in rainbow colors where time and space seemed some distant place. Marco was nowhere, yet he was everywhere, kissing her, whispering naughty, wonderful things to her.
“You hate Julie, oui?” he asked by her ear,
and his hand was on her stomach, heat seeping into her skin and sending these amazing sensations through her.
“Yes, I hate her.” She rolled over and wrapped her arms around him but then she blinked and everything went blank. She couldn’t remember what she’d said but she was pretty sure that, oh wow, oh, yes....she’d just had the orgasm of orgasms. “Do it again,” she demanded. ”Make me come again.”
“Non,” he declined, his lips on her neck. “Not until you give me something. Remember? That’s how we play this game. I give you pleasure. You give me...something. Now, tell me more about this journal.”
“The journal,” she whispered, trying to remember why she hadn’t told him about it before now. Wasn’t there a reason? She couldn’t think of the reason. This was Marco, the man who made her feel so good, the man she wanted to be rich and naked with for the rest of her life. “The judge,” she whispered, pressing his hand to her breast. “He will pay for it.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know...I thought fifty thousand....” Rainbows floated in her vision again and she blinked them away. “I think much more.”
“And where,” he said, against her mouth, “is this journal?”
“Julie has it.”
Chapter Nineteen
It was early Friday morning, the day of the party, and Luke had yet to get instructions about where to go and when. He sat at a coffee shop several tables from where Julie was meeting with a client, his MacBook open. She’d called in with the flu for two days, and then worked twelve-hour days from his office. Today though, she insisted she had to go by her office for a meeting and to pick up some files. He planned to wait on her in the building.
Luke’s cell rang and he snatched it from his belt and grimaced at Murphy’s number. “Why do I know this is you trying to convince me to take Julie to Arel’s party?”
“I’ve studied this guy for two years,” Murphy said. “He’s got the same mentality gangs operate with. The strong get respect and rise to the top. The weak are destroyed. You told the judge you use Julie to get to her high-powered clients. If the judge shared that information, which considering he’s trying to stay on Arel’s good side, I’d venture that he did, then Arel will want the power you have by the impression that you basically own Julie.”