Wary, Julie glanced up. "What do you mean— other warehouse? There's only one."
"Not according to this."
Finn's solemn expression revealed nothing. He could just as easily be prepping to slap cuffs on her, or suggest a date. If she'd believed her life couldn't become more confusing, she was wrong.
"I think I'd remember KTec owning another warehouse." After a noisy, festive dinner that had suspended talk of drugs and murderers, they'd piled back into the living room. She'd suspected the vacation from reality would be brief. Now, it was officially over.
"The warehouse is owned by someone related to KTec." Matt joined the conversation.
"Can you explain?" Finn repeated.
"I just did." Julie fought a wave of panic. How could she explain something that didn't exist? "KTec doesn't own-"
"Not KTec," Matt interrupted. "You."
"Without remembering I bought it?" Fatigue spinning cobwebs through her brain, it was difficult not to feel hopeless. She'd been set up. It was the only possibility that made sense. Someone had worked diligently to make her appear guilty of crimes she couldn't fathom.
But who had the most to gain by her losing everything? Dandridge? Board members? Lambeth? "What was the other question?" Shaking her head to clear it, she frowned. "About Jack?"
"Why'd you fire him?" Finn's jaw worked a piece of gum.
"I had no choice." Guilt stung over the long term employee. "He wouldn't answer questions about discrepancies in the warehouse. He kept . . . stalling-"
"I wouldn't feel too bad. We think he ran the operation."
She winced. "Operation makes it sound like a huge deal."
"Sugar— a warehouse loaded with heroin is a huge deal." Mullaney joined them, with Madeline close behind.
Desperate for warmth, Julie clutched her teacup in both hands.
"Care to eyeball this signature for me?"
Dazed, she accepted the papers Finn thrust at her. "What am I looking at?"
"That's the deed to the warehouse out in Three Rivers."
"Three Rivers?" She jolted upright. "You mean where . . . the b-bodies?" Words blurred on the page. "I don't understand— who signed these?"
"That's your signature." Mullaney leaned in, casting a shadow over the papers. "Jonas went to the town hall-"
Before Julie could form a response, Maddie pushed past Sean to snatch them from her nerveless fingers. Impossibly grateful over the show of loyalty, warmth trickled through her icy panic.
***
"Let me see that."
Leaning against the wall, Matt curbed his urge to smile when Pop shot his mother an irritated glance. Only four hours— and his mother was protecting Julie like a bear guarding cubs.
"That signature doesn't compare to this one," Maddie pointed out. "Sean— this isn't her handwriting."
Mullaney bristled. "Is anyone authorized to sign on your behalf?"
Blank with shock, Julie's eyes revealed a vulnerability she could no longer hide. Matt suppressed the urge to run interference. For once, he was grateful for his mother's meddling.
"Ray Dandridge can sign . . . but not as me."
"You've put her through-" Madeline's expression was mutinous until recognition crossed her face. "Ray Dandridge, the attorney?"
Julie nodded. "He's a part-time executive at KTec."
As Finn's shocked gaze met his, warning flares exploded. "How do you know him?" Matt's harsh voice broke the sudden stillness.
For a decade, he'd labored to segregate his undercover profile from his personal life. His mother and sister introduced him as a management consultant. On the rare occasions he ever discussed work, he spoke in generalizations— and never in real time. In the hands of a cartel, personal information was wielded like a weapon. If Dandridge knew his mother-
"You'd be hard pressed to find anyone in Boston who hasn't heard of him," his mother pointed out.
Relief flooding him, he persisted. "So, you don't know him personally?"
"I know of him-" She stopped mid-sentence, eyes narrowing. "Is Dandridge who you're after?"
"Christ." Finn glared at him.
Despite a lifetime finessing through his mother's conversational minefields, he'd walked straight into her trap. "Never mind that-"
"Let's get back to this signature business," Mullaney cut him off. "Walk us through the process," he ordered Julie. Grateful for the old man's diversion, Matt nodded.
As she haltingly ran through it, Mullaney shot his mother a look that should have terrified a normal woman.
But no one had ever accused his mother of normalcy. Hand on Julie's shoulder, she glared back. "It's clear Juliet didn't do it. What's the point of this interrogation?" She advanced on Mullaney. "You enjoy stirring up trouble?"
Matt winced. If she expected Pop to back down— if she thought he could be civilized, she was crazier than the old man.
His expression bemused, Mullaney finally chuckled before guiding his mother to the solarium to continue their argument.
"I can't be this dumb." Julie's whispered words drew his attention. "Maybe I shouldn't be running KTec."
Matt extracted her teacup from suddenly trembling hands. "Jules— it's a huge leap from unaware to incompetent."
Her eyes flashed with the fire he'd grown to expect. "This happens all the time? You find warehouses loaded with drugs— clueless women driving cars with dead bodies in the trunk!" Her voice anguished, she turned away.
More than tears, he hated seeing defeat. Second-guessing herself wouldn't change anything. She was being hunted by a druglord who believed her a threat. Dismantling the cartel— capturing Viper. Only then would Julie be safe. And Matt desperately wanted her safe. He liked her so damn much. The knowledge chilled him. What if he failed? What if she were hurt? Or worse?
"Jack worked at KTec for s-six years."
"Which puts him in play long before you arrived," O'Brien reminded, as he multi-tasked a text message on his phone.
"So, I should feel better?"
Finn shot him a look that said 'handle her'. Conscious of the buzz around them, Matt steered her toward a spare bedroom, where they might achieve a moment of privacy. Closing the door, he crossed his fingers. "If this happened on your dad's watch, would that make him foolish?"
Eyes downcast, she mumbled. "No."
The attack on her company was an assault on her father's memory, one she took personally. He could relate. Pam's death weighed on his conscience. All the what-ifs. Jagged guilt had begun to fade, leaving an angry scar to remind him of his biggest failure.
But he didn't like Julie beating herself up— over something she'd had no knowledge of. Matt didn't question the urge to bolster her confidence. She'd faced the last week with phenomenal courage. A hellish endurance test he'd made worse by doubting her. Accusing her. And she'd challenged him every time.
"Jules— listen." Steering her to the end of the bed, he gently pushed her down. "If you don't believe you're capable, then nothing else matters."
She straightened at his implication. "Despite all the problems, I-I know I'm doing a good job," she admitted. "I'm killing myself trying to make it succeed."
He nodded, relieved to see the spark return to her eyes. "I have a surprise for you."
***
Julie startled at the sudden change in topic, still absorbing the glow his reassuring words ignited. "I don't think I can endure any more surprises."
"I have something that might help you feel better."
The biggest surprise was his sudden smile. For a moment, she glimpsed a dangerously human Agent Barnes. Her pulse thudding erratically, she couldn't resist being swept up by it.
The trouble with Matt was he was so damn reassuring. Despite the chaos her life had become, Julie felt safe. For the first time in— forever, someone was watching out for her. Someone was lessening her burden instead of adding to it. The feeling was completely foreign and dangerously intoxicating. The more she experienced, the more she wanted him. He was ma
king it impossibly difficult to fight loving him.
"Close your eyes," he directed.
Complying, she wasn't surprised when his mouth brushed hers, but the encounter ended too briefly. "Hey-"
"Sorry. I couldn't help myself." He tapped her shoulder. "You can open them."
"That's my suitcase." She stared, momentarily speechless. "You-"
He'd barely set her suitcase on the bed before she threw herself into his arms. When she'd complained about wearing other peoples clothes . . . he'd actually remembered. "You did this for me?"
"I listen sometimes."
"You said it wasn't safe-"
Matt shrugged. "I was careful."
The reality of the risk he'd taken left her alarmed. How would she have felt if he'd been injured? "You shouldn't have risked it." His words about safety returned to haunt her. She didn't want to think about him being in danger.
"If there's something I can do to make this bearable for you, I'm happy to do it."
"Take me with you?"
He smiled. "Except that."
"I don't suppose you thought to water the plants?"
His smile grew. "No, but I did thoroughly investigate your underwear drawer-" At her indrawn breath, he laughed. "All in the line of duty, of course."
"I finally have clean underwear." She tugged his face down, ignoring his shocked expression. Planting a kiss on his lips, she pulled back to stare at him, her defenses crumbling in a way she'd never experienced. "Thank you so much."
A lifetime passed while he stared at her— his beautiful eyes betraying the internal battle he perpetually fought. "What am I supposed to do about you?"
"You could kiss me."
His sensual mouth curved in the most amazing smile before he complied. Her arms locked around his neck, Julie pulled him closer until her back rested against the wall.
Catching her breath was simply out of the question— not when he completely overwhelmed her. She'd known the first time he touched her that they were dangerously flammable. Now, she couldn't make herself care. For this moment, he was all hers. His body hard and unbending, she absorbed the memory, her senses steeped in the scent and feel of him.
"Is this in the handbook, too?" Sagging against him, Julie discovered her legs had lost the ability to support her. And the rest of her was slowly dissolving into a puddle of aching need.
Effortlessly, Matt propped her against the wall, continuing his exploration of the overly sensitized hollow of her throat. "Subduing a subject. It's my favorite chapter."
Seconds later, she startled when his phone vibrated in his pocket. A groan of frustration lodged in her throat. "Maybe this isn't meant to be."
His shoulders rippled with laughter. "That was my timer."
She was unsure whether to laugh or be insulted. "You— set a timer?"
"You tend to distract me." Reluctantly, he loosened his clasp. "I have to go."
Like a machine cranking to life, Matt shifted gears in a heartbeat, as though mentally preparing for battle. Agent Barnes was a hard man to miss with his careless good looks and laid-back demeanor. Now, in the guise of a warrior, he was devastating. She shivered at the intensity that flared in startling blue eyes. Only moments earlier, they'd held her spell-bound.
"Something going on tonight?"
"That's classified, Jules." Moments earlier, he'd been accessible in every way. But that openness had slammed shut when the timer went off. "You'll be asleep when I get back tonight, so I'll see you in the morning."
"I plan to go in early," she reminded.
"I'll be ready," Matt countered with a wink.
"You should go." Her voice betrayed resignation. He still wouldn't confide in her.
"There will be guards on the door and in the lobby."
"I know."
"If you get past them, the officers in the parking garage will drag you back."
Her temper flared. She might be stubborn, but she wasn't completely crazy. "I won't-"
Seeming to read her thoughts, he leaned in for a lazy kiss, cutting off words she probably would have regretted. When they finally came up for air, Matt stared at her, a fiery intensity in his eyes. His hair in disarray from her hands, she smoothed it for him.
He managed an amused smile. "Bye, Jules."
For several minutes after he left, Julie sagged against the doorframe. He'd seduced her into cooperation. Again. And again— she'd fallen for it.
***
Chapter 11
"Juju— is that you? I've called a thousand times. Where the hell have you been?"
At the sound of her friend's familiar voice, relief cascaded over Julie. The odd-looking phone Finn had provided clutched in her hand, she smiled. "Tori? I'm finally back."
"Thank God."
"Sorry if I worried you." Warmth stole over her as she imagined her friend pacing her tiny apartment, phone glued to her ear.
"Next time you want to scare the hell out of me, think again and don't do it. Where were you? Why didn't you show Thursday? Why didn't you answer my calls-"
"I lost my phone-" She wedged in words when Tori finally took a breath. Unease snaked through her stomach. How much was she allowed to spill? She tried to remember Finn's instructions, but— there'd been so many. Don't reveal location. Explain she'd be back tomorrow . . . drop hints about a car accident. Oh yeah— lost her phone.
"Julie— you okay? Should I come over?"
"N-no. Sorry, I just walked in," she lied.
"Where were you?"
"I must have gotten the directions confused. I thought . . . you were there." She'd seen Tori's car . . . hadn't she? Could she have gone to the wrong place?
"I waited for you . . . but you never showed."
Julie could envision her on the other end of the line . . . completing a contract or checking email. Tori was a hyperactive force of nature . . . unable to do only one thing at a time.
"I assumed you changed plans, so I drove back after the appointment." There was a long pause. "I didn't worry until you didn't call me back Sunday night. And then today," she added, "after the news about Griggs. When you didn't show up-"
Wincing over the undercurrent of fear in Tori's voice, she hastened to reassure her. "I'm sorry to worry everyone."
"Jeez, Julie. You scared the hell out of me." Her friend sighed. "It's been bananas here. I must have talked to Dandridge ten times today."
Her pulse accelerated. "The board is flipping out?"
"Wouldn't you? One of your partners turns up dead?" She snorted. "I held off Dandridge today— but they'll probably show up en masse tomorrow."
"I'll be there," she reassured.
"Seriously Juju, what happened?"
"I had car— issues." The dead bodies in her trunk had certainly proven problematic. Madeline glanced up from her newspaper, not bothering to hide her curiosity. One brow rose in an everything-okay? expression. Julie was having enough difficulty juggling Tori's probing. She couldn't handle questions from Maddie, too.
"For all this trouble— I'd hoped it was a guy."
"You sound disappointed." Julie couldn't suppress her smile.
"Duh." Tori sighed. "What's with the car? Didn't you take one from KT?"
"Um… the radiator, I think. Something started smoking," she ad-libbed. Mentally crossing her fingers, Julie scanned the gourmet kitchen, seeking possible sources of diversion.
"That took three days?" Her friend chuckled. "Okay— so that story might work for everyone else, but I know you. You're holding out."
"I'm not— you know, holding out anything." Dead silence. She glanced at her watch. Sixty seconds into the conversation and she'd begun sweating. This wouldn't work. Tori knew her too well.
"So— you have nothing to confess?"
Lunging for the drawer, Julie snagged a pack of matches. Maybe she could set off a smoke detector.
"Please tell me," Tori urged, "you met some hot guy and a one night stand turned into a three day sexcapade."
She was sore
ly tempted to pounce on her friend's suggestion. But she'd demand details. "Sorry to disappoint, but no one night stands-"
Her friend's sigh was exasperated. "Only you could go off on an adventure and have a boring time."
"I— I met someone," she admitted to save face. This conversation was humiliating enough, but to be labeled boring after the week she'd endured— was simply too much. "But it's more of a friends . . . thing," she hastily tacked on. Wimp.
"I thought maybe my pep talk worked."
Pep talk? "Um— yeah. I guess it did."
"So, the dryspell's over," she congratulated. "What's it been— a year?"
Her gaze met Madeline's, blatantly listening in on the conversation. "I really can't talk about sex right now." Maddie lowered her reading glasses, her smile achingly familiar. Heat threatening to incinerate her cheeks, Julie was grateful Matt and his gang had cleared out, leaving her a semblance of privacy— if one considered a meddling middle-aged 'friend' latching onto every word and two armed giants on the door as private.
"Anyway, the fender-bend— I mean radiator issue— kept me at the hotel an extra day."
"Hotel pick-up. Nice work," Tori congratulated. "Depending on the hotel, I've had great success in the lobby bar. Expensive hotel translates to a rich guy or an expense account. Either way, I win," she said. "Low budget place— he'd better rock a smokin' body."
"N-no, it wasn't like that." Julie groped for an explanation that remotely made sense before her friend jumped to even worse conclusions. "My phone— got lost."
"Why didn't you just call from the hotel?"
She heard the puzzlement in her voice and cringed. What the hell was she doing? Lying to her best friend? "I'm sorry, Tor. It's a little more complicated than— I just can't explain-"
"Juju, it's okay to keep the hot sex guy under wraps." She paused for dramatic effect. "Sharing would be nice. Since I'm your best friend and everything."
Perspiration beading her forehead, Julie gave up. "I'll tell you about it . . . him tomorrow."
"So, you're okay? I'll definitely see you tomorrow?"
She heard the relief in her voice. "I'm fine. Honest."
"That's weird about Bernie screwing up your directions." In typical Tori fashion, she quickly switched gears. Grateful, Julie dropped the matches, relieved she wouldn't need to set something on fire.
Out of the Mist (Can't Help Falling Book 1) Page 18