Tempted by a Touch (Unlikely Hero)

by Kris Rafferty

  Dane nodded, but he didn’t look happy. “Nothing happens that isn’t cleared by me.”

  Lucas nodded. It was more of a concession than he’d expected. After all, a couple of hours ago, the guy was wearing his ex-partner’s blood. Now wasn’t the time to cross the t’s and dot the i’s on a plan. “So…we trust no one outside this circle,” he said. For Lucas, it felt wrong. He’d built his life and his career depending on his brothers in arms.

  Smith chuckled. “Does that mean you trust me, Sullivan?”

  “No.” He didn’t trust him, but Dane did for some reason, so Lucas was stuck.

  Smith winked at him. “Admit it. You like me.”

  “Blow me,” Lucas said.

  Smith’s smile was feral as Marnie elbowed him. He frowned down at her, clearly irritated she was interrupting his posturing. “The solution is clear,” she said.

  “Oh, I can’t wait to hear this.” Harper folded her arms across her chest.

  Marnie nodded. “She stays with Caleb. No one would dare hurt her while she’s under his protection.”

  “What?” Both Lucas and Smith reacted with equal horror.

  “Thanks a lot!” Harper scowled at Smith. “Am I really that bad?”

  Lucas saw the idea play out in his head. “No fucking way.”

  Marnie pulled out her phone and dialed. Everyone waited to see who she was calling this late at night. Lucas imagined some underworld kingpin, or some shady guy from her past, or heaven forbid, her mother, Charlotte Pleasant, a woman with a rap sheet longer than his arm. That was the thing about Marnie. She seemed so…well, normal, but then she said or did something that proved you wrong. He was half expecting her to order a hit. And he didn’t like it. Not one bit.

  “Yeah,” Marnie said into the phone. “I need to speak with the manager. Yes, you can take a message.” They all waited, getting more and more curious about this manager. “Hello. I’m calling to say Harper MacLain has the flu and will be out of work for the foreseeable future. Thank you.” She hung up, leaving Lucas feeling guilty for his unkind thoughts, but Harper was sputtering from outrage. “What?” Marnie said. “I called your work. I was doing you a favor.”

  “I don’t have time for this. Let’s just say,” Smith said, “she stays with me. Okay? I’ll keep you safe, Harper.” He threw a derisive glare at Lucas.

  “No. She stays with me.” Everyone stared at Lucas as if he’d grown two heads. “If rumor escalates to reality, the lieutenant and Internal Affairs will have to be brought into the loop. I can make that happen without explanations. Smith can’t.”

  Smith shook his head. “No. I don’t trust you.”

  “Stop,” Harper said. She waved Smith away. “Caleb, there is no way I’m staying at your place.”

  “You’ve been to his place?” Lucas said.

  “What’s wrong with my place?” Smith said.

  Harper rolled her eyes. “I’ve been there. Remember? Marnie brought me there a week ago to return something or other. Once was enough, thank you very much. It’s a dump, and your friends leave a lot to be desired.”

  “Yeah?” Smith smiled, amused.

  “They hit on me and I didn’t like it. Lucas can stay at my place. If I have to have a babysitter, at least I want to be in my own home.”

  Lucas could tell Harper still didn’t understand the direness of the situation. Her house was not an option.

  “There’s a target on your back, Harper. You can’t go home,” Marnie said.

  “Lucas will be there. He’ll keep me safe, and like I said—”

  “Yeah, you have a gun. It didn’t stop Smith’s guys from getting you, and I’m assuming Lucas had a gun, too.” Dane waited for his words to sink in.

  Lucas nodded, glad he wasn’t the only one who was thinking clearly.

  Harper sighed. “You win. But I’m in my pajamas. Let me go home to gather some stuff and then we’ll decide what to do.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Dane said.

  “Well, I don’t like it,” Smith said. “Not any of it.”

  Harper glared at Smith. “Well, who asked you?”

  He glared back and then glared harder at Lucas. “I’ll be watching you.”

  Lucas arched a brow. “Maybe you’ll learn by example.”

  Smith harrumphed and then kissed Marnie’s cheek. “Got to go, and so do you. Now.” Then he was gone.

  Harper didn’t wait; she followed Smith out. The gunmen were no longer pointing their guns at them, which was a nice change. The moon had disappeared, and in its place was starlight that became more evident the farther they walked from the clearing and its halogen lights, shipping containers, and hidden things Lucas had no interest in exploring.

  Back into the woods, on the trail and under leaf cover, even that light disappeared. As point person, Dane held a flashlight. Lucas stayed to the rear, attempting to ignore the brush underfoot cutting his feet again, ever aware of his outsider status in this group.

  The MacLains were intense, and as Marnie said, they were a team. First it was Team Dane, now it was Team Harper. They were there for each other. Family. A harsh reminder of the sacrifices his father, and now he, made for the job. Lucas was a family of one. Hard to be a team with only one member.

  The longer he was around Harper, the more his decision to devote his life to his job seemed less fated and more optional, and his fears of failing as a husband and father seemed…shit, no. The long day was messing with his mind. He wasn’t wrong, he was just thinking with his dick. He needed to solve this case and then get the hell away from the MacLains.

  A career is a meal… His father’s voice echoed in his head. Love the seasoning. Yet Harper was now the job. Lucas wondered what his father would have said about that curveball.

  Chapter Six

  Dane and Marnie took their car home, and Caleb arranged for a ride to transport Harper and Lucas to her house where Lucas had left his Chevy. When she stepped through the door, her relief was at odds with reality. The lock and handle were busted from the break-in, a stark reminder of how she wasn’t safe here. They couldn’t leave it like that, so after Lucas offered to fix it, Harper directed him to the basement, where spare wood could be found. She made sandwiches—tuna on rye with chips—as he nailed the door in place. She ate, gun in hand, and kept a lookout as Lucas hammered away. Caleb’s driver still sat in his car outside, an added layer of security she was grateful for.

  “Thanks for doing this.” She took a bite of her sandwich, hungrier than she’d been in a long time. “I’d help, but…” Last time she’d used a hammer she’d nearly broken her thumb.

  “Nothing to help with. It won’t be pretty, but it will keep the door shut so no one will wander in and clean your place out while you’re away.” Still in his briefs, dirty and covered in abrasions from their trek in the woods, Lucas was sexy as sin. Fact was, she’d always found watching Lucas more enjoyable than most things in life. Even a good tuna on rye. She took another bite, if only to stop her drooling over his rippling muscles.

  “Your tuna sandwich is behind you.” She pointed to the foyer table where she’d set the plate amongst day old mail.

  “My favorite.”

  “I know. Least I could do after you saved my life.”

  He nodded, hammering in the nails. “Any time.” His muscles rippled some more, and it was magnificent.

  She took a bite of her sandwich, feeling repressed, and depressed because her door would have to be replaced. It had survived generations of MacLains intact. It didn’t survive Harper. “How many movies have we seen where the hero is nailing doors shut? It’s like we’re having our own zombie apocalypse.”

  “Or aliens who can travel light-years but are baffled by kitchen locks.”

  “Exactly! I’d take one of those threats over what we’re dealing with.”

  “The unknown?” He stepped away from the door, perusing his handiwork.

  “You always could read my mind.” She stuffed some chips in her mouth and thought
a wine chaser was in order.

  Lucas flipped the hammer in the air and caught it by its handle. Smiling, nearly naked, he couldn’t have been more tempting. “Not that it did me any good.”

  His comment was in itself a door, demanding to be opened. Harper didn’t want to go through. To distract herself, she ducked her head, accessed her voicemail, and put it on speaker so she could continue eating. “This is Mrs. Coterie, secretary at Smyth Road School. The principal, Ms. Nougat, would like to schedule an interview with you tomorrow morning at nine, if that’s convenient for you.”

  Harper’s second interview. Yesterday she would have danced about the room at the opportunity to teach second grade at a school she’d grown so fond of, but today there were more obstacles between her and the job than simply impressing the principal.

  “Interview, huh?” He nodded, giving the impression he was excited, if distracted.

  “I can go, right?” His dour nod told her he wasn’t happy about it, but he’d make it work. “I’m going to gather some of my stuff.” She headed to the stairs, bringing her sandwich with her.

  Lucas brought his plate of sandwich and chips with him as he followed her upstairs. “And I should dress. Do you have any of Dane’s old clothes?”

  Harper glanced over her shoulder, saw him take a bite of sandwich and wink at her when she glanced at his briefs. She tripped on the first stair, barely catching herself in time to prevent a facer. They’d created a new normal in the course of the day. Usually when Lucas popped into her head, she’d force herself to think about something else. It had been impossible today, and it was taking a toll on her resistance to him. She liked him, desired him, missed him…and being around him was making her forget why she’d left him, or rather, that her reasons to leave him were valid. Harper feared, at this rate, she’d never get over him. Worse yet, she feared she didn’t want to.

  “I am such a masochist,” she said, rushing up the stairs.

  “Today wasn’t your fault.” Lucas stayed close, gun in hand.

  “What?” Harper walked to her bedroom, trying to follow where he’d taken the conversation.

  “Believing the lieutenant doesn’t make you a masochist. You took a risk that Folsom would give you the list. We all did. If it had panned out, we’d be drinking champagne now. Can’t win them all.”

  “I guess.” She allowed his take on her remark to stand, mostly because she didn’t want to explain it. The fact was, her record for good judgment was taking another serious hit. She’d trusted Lucas. She’d trusted Joe. She’d trusted the lieutenant. The only person she’d trusted who hadn’t let her down was her brother, and he was the one she’d injured. Her heart clutched when she thought about having to tell Dane what she’d done…she’d do it, just not today. Later. When he could handle it better.

  Harper rushed to pull together an overnight bag, still chewing the last of her sandwich. An outfit for the interview, and then T-shirts, pants, a couple of sweatshirts if the nights became cool, and she’d wear her sneakers. Then she found an old gym bag of Dane’s in one of the spare bedrooms, left over from when he and Elizabeth had lived here.

  Lucas was similar in size to Dane, so the sweat pants fit, the T-shirt, and even the sneakers. The holstered gun was too heavy to attach to the waistband, so he kept it in hand. “We’ll go to my place for the night.”

  “Or a bar.” Harper was in the mood for a stiff drink. She rushed past him to the bathroom, gathering up her necessities.

  “I’m on the clock. But when we have the list and word on the street is you’re no threat, I promise, I’ll take you to the Dublin House.”

  She stuffed her pocketbook and bathroom kit into the overnight bag and slung it over her shoulder. “It’s a college pub. Everyone would stare. We’re too old.”

  “I’m twenty-eight and you just graduated. You act like we’re ancient.”

  “I’m twenty-four. To them, I am ancient.” She couldn’t repress a smile, just thinking about the times they’d had there. “We did have fun.”

  “Yes, we did.” He smiled back at her. “So we make new memories, go local, somewhere downtown. Strange Brew, near the Merrimack River. You, me, knocking back a few. What do you say?” He left her bedroom and took the stairs down two at a time.

  Following at a slower pace, Harper felt her heartstrings tug. He was a constant reminder of why she fell in love with him. The pull to say hell, yeah to this idea was on the tip of her tongue. She couldn’t think of a better way to spend a night. Her, Lucas, Strange Brew. But she knew better.

  When she reached the living room, he was waiting for her, his gaze scanning the room as if he’d lost something. It was his hands on his hips that tipped her off. Lucas was organizing his thoughts. Shit. He wanted to talk.

  “I’m sorry.” The words burst from his mouth as if it took all the air in his lungs to push them out.

  “About what?” Unless he’d gotten into some mischief between upstairs and down, she wasn’t aware of Lucas doing anything that required an apology.

  His confusion was swift and all encompassing. “That you believed I wouldn’t, or couldn’t, be there for you when your family crisis hit. That’s on me. Somehow, words or deeds, I’d convinced you that you were expendable, that you were only in my life because of…I don’t know, as an accessory? Is that what you think? Because that’s not how I felt. How I feel. Well, we’re not together now, but I mean, if we were, that’s not how I’d feel now.” He cringed. “I’m not making sense.”

  “You’re making perfect sense. That’s how I know you’re completely off base. No, Lucas. You have no apologies to make. I knew what we had. You were very clear.”

  “Not clear enough if you thought—”

  “I thought exactly the truth. You’re a kind, loyal, righteous man that wouldn’t go against his conscience. Ever. I knew the moment you realized I was in need, you’d pull out all the stops, no matter our relationship status. We’ve been over this. We broke up, Lucas. People do that every day. I never took emotional support from you or invited you back in my life when Alice was murdered because…” Harper approached, rested her hand on his chest. “Because you’d have given it to me. You’d have come back into my life, and then we’d be back where we started.”

  “And that would have been so bad?”

  “It wouldn’t have been right for me. And you know it.” She suspected this conversation was about Lucas seeking closure. “You’re a good man, Lucas. Your ambition in the force is a good thing, an admirable thing. You were born to be a cop, and I support you in that in every way. You have to return the favor with me.” One day she’d meet a man who made her feel like Lucas made her feel, and that man would want marriage and children. She had to believe that, or sacrificing what she had with Lucas would be for nothing.

  Lucas covered her hand on his chest and opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Just imagining what he might say, what she wanted him to say, was enough to make her crazy. Harper couldn’t handle it. Not after the day she’d had. Joe dying. Being convinced she and Lucas were going to die. The shipping container. His hands caressing her once again, kissing her, reminding her what she gave up…

  “Harper—”

  “Listen.” She pulled her hand from his grasp and stepped back. “We have bigger fish to fry. Dane and Marnie’s panicked attempt to keep me safe has officially freaked me out. All we have are rumors, and my life has been upended. I wasn’t the only person to see Joe today. You and the officers that led him in and out of that interrogation room also saw him, and probably had more private time with him than I did. My rational mind isn’t sold on the idea that the people who killed Joe are coming after me, but my nerves are shot, and believe me, you’ve all convinced me it’s time to buy a cemetery plot, so don’t worry. I’m on board about this run-away thing, but I’m tired. Can we just go to your apartment?” She turned her back on him and headed toward the kitchen, through the back door, not the front, because that door was broken. “I have first di
bs on your shower.”

  “Yeah,” Lucas said. “Sure.” Then he grabbed her arm and stopped her from going further. “Wait, though. Give me a chance to make sure there’re no surprises outside.” Harper nodded, feeling safer already. Pulling his gun, he nudged the drapery aside and peeked outside. Harper’s gun was in her pocketbook, and as she waited, she contemplated pulling it out. Then Lucas reared back, shock making him pause. “What the hell?” He threw the door open.

  Caleb Smith was standing on the porch with three burly men, dressed much like him, but from less expensive stores. Each was in his mid- to late twenties, each sporting suspicious, gun-shaped bulges around their hearts. If Harper wasn’t mistaken, Caleb had come calling with armed backup.

  “Hey,” Caleb said.

  “Hey,” she said back. Peeking outside, and behind them, she wasn’t sure what she expected to see, but she saw an empty backyard, just as she’d left it this afternoon. Lucas drew her back into the kitchen and gave her a look that said be quiet and stay put. Harper ignored him. “Any more of you?”

  “No. Three is enough.” Caleb kept his eyes on Lucas, studying him, as if he were expecting a reaction. “Just wanted to let you both know that I have men watching the house.”

  “Oh.” She glanced at Lucas, relieved. “We don’t have to go to Lucas’s apartment then. Great. Thanks, Caleb.”

  “Yeah.” Lucas grimaced. “Thanks, Smith.” Then he slammed the door in Caleb’s face.

  “Lucas!” Harper pushed him aside and opened the door again. “Sorry about that.” Caleb was the only one remaining on the porch. A quick glance left and right showed his men had blended into the shadows around her house. “He’s in a mood.”

  Caleb ignored Lucas and was all business with Harper. “You have my number. You need me, call me. My men will be here round the clock.”

  “Okay.” She was about to say good-bye, but he was already gone, and Harper was left looking out her back door, wondering how her sedate, cozy yard had suddenly turned into a scary place of shadows and the unknown.