But he had.
Just as he’d found Julie.
“You knew he was close,” Dylan told her as he unloaded the fresh bandages he’d just purchased inside the store. The neon sign flickered, casting a green glow across the front seat and the man seated just inches away. Thomas snored lightly from the car seat.
“He’s always been close,” Julie said, the day’s events replaying in her head, stirring her fear. “But never right here.”
“He isn’t here.” He pulled out a handful of cotton balls and soaked them with alcohol. “He’s behind us again, and he’ll stay that way as long as we don’t slow down and we don’t panic. That means we get to Hattie’s place before them. We leave her place before them. We get the locket before them, and in the process, we get Sebastian before he gets us.”
“And what if we can’t get him? What if I’m wrong about the locket figuring into this somehow?”
“Then we go back into hiding before they find us again.” When she started to protest, he added, “And we think of another way to get the upper hand with Sebastian so you and Thomas can stop hiding.”
“You finally agree with me.”
“Partly. I still think you should be hiding and I should do this myself.”
“I’m doing this.” Her gaze locked with his. “I need to do this. To do something. I’ve spent the past year letting the situation dictate to me. I can’t do that anymore. I have to stand up for myself.” She shook her head. “I know that’s probably hard for you to understand. You’re always in control of the situation instead of the other way around.”
“Not always.” He looked so defeated in that next instant that it touched something deep inside her. “I should have seen this guy coming tonight. I felt uneasy about him, but I thought it was the other guy I had to look out for because he was alone. He seemed suspicious. I shouldn’t have let the kids throw me like that.”
“There’s no way you could have known it was a setup.”
“It’s my job.”
“But this time it involves people you care about, which keeps you from thinking completely straight.” Her fingertips trailed over his jaw. Stubble scratched across her skin as she traced the shape of his face, his chin.
It wasn’t until she felt his fingers close around her wrist that she realized what she’d just done.
She’d touched him. Not the concerned touch of a caring friend, but the slow, soothing stroke of a woman who’d spent the past night dreaming of him.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m...” Her gaze fell on the blood-soaked bandage he held against his neck. “I’m trying to help you for a change.” She shrugged free of his grip and took the alcohol-soaked cotton from his hand. “We need to get this wound cleaned and dressed.”
She spent the next few minutes dabbing at his skin and trying to forget the man with the knife. But she was too skittish, the sight of Dylan’s wound stirring her memory. Her fear.
“Talk to me,” she finally blurted as she reached for some antibiotic cream.
“Why?”
She stared at the nasty cut and swallowed the lump in her throat. “I’m not too good with blood.”
“I can clean it—” he started, but she slapped his hand away.
“It’s the least I can do. You’re always helping me. Always being such a good friend.”
“That’s me.” He sounded irritated.
“Just talk to me. Tell me about Dallas.” After college graduation, while she’d gone off to pursue a career in journalism, Dylan had entered the police academy. He’d spent several years with the San Antonio Police Department before moving to Dallas to do undercover work. “Why did you go?”
“I’d always wanted to get into undercover work, but San Antonio was too close to home. Dallas was a great opportunity.”
“Weren’t you lonely?”
“I was busy. Making detective was hard enough. Making lead detective was even harder.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“Nothing else.”
“You were there for five years. I’m sure you did more than work. Did you have friends?”
“Co-workers.”
“How about girlfriends?” Now why had she asked that?
Because the old Julie would have asked. The Julie who’d always bugged him for help in her calculus class. The Julie who’d always been trying to set him up with one of her friends. Julie always wanted to know everything about his love life, or lack of, so she could help.
She told herself she was asking now for the same reason, but she knew in her heart there was more to it. The need to know went deeper.
“I dated a little. Not too much and never the same woman.”
“Why not?”
“Because I never found the right woman.”
Julie wasn’t sure why she reached out to him in that next instant. Maybe it was the panic at seeing the knife against his throat, the fear that he would be hurt, that he would die, that finally caught up to her. But suddenly, all the reasons why she shouldn’t feel attracted to Dylan Garrett faded. Liquid heat surged through her, washing away her hesitation and her doubt, until she felt only a burning lust that demanded instant satisfaction.
She leaned over and touched her lips to his.
She tasted his surprise for those first furious heartbeats, before something much more basic and elemental seemed to take over.
He groaned, the sound welling up from his chest as his hands curved around her shoulders and pulled her close. He returned her kiss, his tongue and lips hot and urgent—as hot and urgent as her own.
Friends, a voice whispered someplace far, far away, but the knowledge didn’t scare her off. It made the kiss even more intense because she and Dylan already shared an emotional intimacy.
It was as if she’d unleashed something inside him. Everything that followed seemed to move at lightning speed as his hands slid down her back to cup her buttocks. He urged one leg over him until she sat straddling him, her back to the dash.
He pulled her close, cradling her hips against the rigid length of his erection, and awareness gripped every nerve. He wanted her just as much as she wanted him. The realization sent a wash of joy through her, followed by a fierce pang of doubt.
She wanted this closeness with him. She’d reached for him. She’d kissed him. But this was more than a kiss. Much more. Things were moving way too fast.
“No,” she gasped as she wrenched her mouth free from his and pulled back enough to give herself some breathing room.
His eyes blinked open and she glimpsed the raw hunger in the blue depths. At least, she thought it was hunger. But then the fierce gleam faded into concern and she was left to wonder if she’d only imagined it.
Hoped for it.
Silence wrapped around them, the sound disrupted only by the frantic draw of air as they both fought for a calming breath.
“I’m sorry,” she finally blurted, eager to dispel the awkward quiet. “I shouldn’t have. I mean, we’re friends.”
“Friends don’t kiss like that.”
“That’s my point. I didn’t mean... It’s just, I’ve been really uptight and I guess all the excitement from tonight finally got to me. I’m a little high-strung. I needed to work off some tension.” It was a lame excuse, but it was all she could come up with to explain her actions. “I shouldn’t have.”
“No, you shouldn’t have,” he said.
She was right. She had stepped over the line and misjudged his response. It wasn’t that he wanted her. He simply wanted. He’d been worked up, his adrenaline flowing from his brush with death. Of course he’d responded rather fiercely.
“I should have,” he continued. “A long, long time ago.”
And then Dylan Garrett did what she’d spent an entire sleepless night dreaming of—he kissed her.
CHAPTER SIX
HE’D KISSED HER.
The knowledge echoed through Julie’s head as she watched him round the front of
the car, open the driver’s door and slide behind the wheel.
“Are you sure you can drive?”
“It’s an automatic,” he replied, shoving the keys into the ignition. “I’ll be fine.”
But would she? she wondered as he shifted into drive, arm flexing, muscles rippling. She shot a sideways glance at him, studying his profile as he steered the car out of the parking lot and onto the feeder road.
A few seconds later, they sped onto the Interstate for the last two-hour stretch until they reached the exit leading to Bayou Blue.
Images flitted through her mind—the knife-wielding man, the steely blade pressed to Dylan’s throat. She blinked back the tears that suddenly burned her eyes.
She forced herself to focus on the passing road markers, counting down the exits until they finally swerved off the highway. A quick stop at a liquor store for some liquid painkiller for Dylan to take once they reached their destination, and then they were back on the road. A few more miles and they turned onto County Road 161.
Pasture lined the road for several miles before giving way to gigantic trees that crowded overhead. Spanish moss draped the lazy branches and fog clung to the ground, shrouding the path in a fuzzy gray.
“Are you sure this is the road?” he’d asked too many times to count.
“I know it’s a little rough, but this is it.” Julie would know this road anywhere. She’d traveled it many times going to and from town with various groceries for herself and the other women boarding at Hattie’s.
But somehow driving along the familiar stretch felt different now. The tree-shrouded path had once seemed like salvation, the covering a godsend to a woman in hiding. Now it seemed eerie, threatening. She couldn’t see beyond the trees to what might lie in wait just beyond them. But she could feel it. A strange dread prickled her nerve endings and sent unease crawling up and down her spine.
Couple that with the crazy whirlwind of emotion inside her and Julie Cooper was this close to having a full-blown anxiety attack.
He’d kissed her.
Her mind replayed the scene yet again. Dylan’s lips touching hers. His arms pulling her close. His tongue plundering her mouth, stroking and coaxing and devouring. She’d felt his heart pounding in his chest.
Desire.
That’s what she wanted to think. What her gut told her. But Julie knew better than to blindly trust her instincts. She’d let her feelings get in the way of the truth once before. She’d been so eager for a happily ever after that she’d completely ignored the warning signs that told her Sebastian wasn’t the man for her. The man she’d thought him to be.
Not this time. She wasn’t letting her wishful thinking mistake Dylan’s eager kiss for true desire. He’d just had a near brush with death. He’d been anxious to feel alive. To feel, period. The kiss had been the best affirmation of his vitality.
Of her own, as well. She’d been frightened, her heart pounding, her adrenaline rushing. The situation had undoubtedly contributed to her body’s fierce reaction.
The heat of the moment.
Now that moment was over and it was back to reality.
She glanced behind her and checked on Thomas. As usual, the car ride had its lulling effect. He was dozing again, his head resting against the car seat, his lips clamped firmly around his pacifier.
He’d been through so much. He was such a good baby. He deserved so much more than a life on the run. He deserved calm. Peace. Happiness.
Everything she was going to give him, or die trying.
The notion sent a burst of fear through her, but she fought it back down, holding on to her determination the way she would a shield.
“Where are you going?” she asked when they reached the next county road. Instead of taking a left, as she’d instructed, he turned the opposite way, heading toward the small town of Blue Willow.
“Hattie obviously hid the locket well. If Sebastian’s men couldn’t find it, chances are it isn’t going to be easy for us to find, either. Unless you know where it is?” When she shook her head, he added, “I bet you do.”
“She never told me.”
“Not verbally, but you know her habits, her quirks. You lived with her. If you think about it, you’ll probably come up with a few places to start, and that’s what we’re doing. Giving you some time to think. And sleep. Besides, the last thing I want is another confrontation with one of Sebastian’s men. When it’s daylight I stand a better chance of seeing them coming.” He cut a sideways glance at her. “You were great this afternoon. Quick thinking.”
“My quick thinking nearly got you killed.” She should have swerved in the opposite direction so that Dylan’s assailant would have fallen away from the knife and Dylan’s throat.
“I would have gotten far worse if that guy had climbed into the car with us and we’d taken off.”
“You think he would have harmed us?”
“Not you. They need you to find the locket since they’re not having much luck on their own. You would have been safe.”
“And what about you?”
“I’m a nuisance. A pest. I’m better off out of the way.”
Her gaze rested again on the bandage at his neck. A red stain had seeped through. “Oh, God, I’m so sorry, Dylan. I almost got you killed.”
“For you and Thomas? I consider it a worthy cause.”
The words didn’t make her feel any better, but she tried to believe them anyway. The last thing she needed right now was guilt. Or fear. Or panic. She needed to stay calm. To relax and think. Otherwise, she would never find the locket.
And he was right about one thing. Thomas was a worthy cause. He was a small child who deserved a normal life, and Julie was going to give it to him.
“So who was the other guy? The one that Sebastian’s man mentioned?”
“I had a little encounter in the men’s room. I thought the guy was after us, too, but I was wrong.”
“So who did he work for?”
“I’m still trying to figure that out, though I have a pretty good idea.”
They fell into a companionable silence then and Julie settled into the seat.
The locket.
She let her mind drift back to the days she’d spent at Hattie’s place. She remembered Hattie showing her the old navy trunk—a relic from her marriage to her first husband back in the fifties—that she kept hidden beneath a board in the floor of her bedroom. Then there’d been the scarred flour jar containing the wad of bills she’d tucked away in the back of the pantry. All possibilities.
She leaned her head back against the leather headrest and forced all thoughts from her mind. The steady hum of the engine sent a laziness creeping through her until her eyes drifted shut.
With the vents blowing cool air and Dylan’s body a handspan away from her, the soft seat lulling her muscles and turning them to marshmallows, she had the odd thought that she never wanted to be anyplace else. She felt safe and protected and, for once in her life, not so lonely.
For a brief moment, she let herself forget about the past year and pretend that she was meant to be here in this car, next to this man, and in much more than a friendly capacity. He was hers and she was his and...
Thankfully, she drifted into unconsciousness before she could finish the thoughts. But her dreams took over from there, and what Julie’s conscience had hesitated to complete, her subconscious took great pleasure in seeing through to the very end.
* * *
HE WAS DEFINITELY going to make her pay.
Sebastian listened to Cap Pendleton, a crack shot and one of the best hired guns in the business, recount the day’s events over the phone. His temper burned hotter with each word.
“She practically ran me over,” Cap growled. “Jeez, I’ve got bruises and a scraped knee and I busted out a tooth when I hit the ground.”
Sebastian gritted his teeth and snapped. “So you let her go? Is that what you’re saying?”
“Did you hear me? She nearly killed me!”
“I don’t give a crap about your locket. What about my tooth? What are you going to do—”
“Shut up,” Sebastian seethed. “If you’d done the job right, you wouldn’t be such a mess. You can forget about a bonus—come to think of it, I’m not even sure I should pay you at all.”
“What do you mean?”
“You heard what I said.” Sebastian slammed down the phone. He didn’t normally do any kind of grunt work. He’d worked hard not to have to dirty his hands with such petty stuff, but obviously Pendleton wasn’t up to the job.
This was important. He’d have to go out to the Devereaux place himself.
Only once before had he stooped to such menial work. But he’d had to prove himself, and so he’d actually kidnapped a woman to show Crowe that he was a loyal and worthy business partner.
The crime boss had been convinced and had given Sebastian a nice chunk of the change coming through courtesy of various illegal venues. Drugs. Gambling. Money laundering.
Crowe controlled it all.
Controlled as in past tense. The man was in prison now, using Silva to run things on the outside. Silva wasn’t nearly the generous sort his boss was. He didn’t like Sebastian.
And Sebastian didn’t like him, nor did he like taking orders from him and catering to him.
Not for long. The locket would solve all his problems, which meant the piece of jewelry was far too important to trust with anyone but himself.
He intended to be there when Julie retrieved it.
And then he would silence her for good.
* * *
“WAKE UP, sleepyhead.”
Julie opened her eyes and stared up at Dylan, who leaned into the open passenger door, his face inches from hers, breath warm on her skin.
She blinked, feeling the heat and her own exhaustion.
“Are we there already?” she grumbled, closing her eyes again. She would rather go back to the dream she’d been having. To the cool, crisp sheets and the warm man...
“Come on,” he said. Had her head not felt so heavy, she might have opened her eyes again. Instead, she turned, nuzzling the warm leather headrest.
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