by Dee J. Adams
“Gee. Twelve whole minutes. You’re a real stand-up guy.”
He grinned at the delivery, loved her sense of humor. “I try.”
She leveled narrow eyes at him. “Fifteen and you’ve got a deal.”
“I can live with that.” He kissed her forehead and pulled back. “You need some help getting up?”
“Pft. No,” she said as she threw the covers off, but her first move to get out of bed brought a grimace to her face. She needed a pain pill.
Troy ignored her words and helped her up anyway. He handed her the crutches that she’d placed at the bedside. “You can wash down your antibiotic and pain meds with the coffee. I’ll be fast.” Although he felt relatively sure they were safe, he didn’t want her out of his sight. The coffee shop across the street had everything he needed and he could be back in minutes.
“Can you get me a chai instead of coffee if they have it? Otherwise, coffee is fine.”
“Got it.” He watched her hobble to the bathroom and every possessive cell inside him screamed with fury. Tamping down his anger, Troy jogged to the coffee shop and got an assortment of doughnuts, a coffee for him and chai for Julie.
He brought back everything and knocked on the bathroom door to make sure she was okay. Her curt “I’m fine!” made him grin.
After checking out, he went back to the room. Julie had changed into black yoga pants and a white form-fitting strappy top that showed off the soft curves of her figure. With her thick blond hair up in a ponytail, she looked like a college student. He was glad to see some color in her cheeks too.
She’d already dug into the breakfast bag and had white powder on her lips from the frosted doughnut.
“Hey, I wanted that one,” he said with just the right amount of pout.
“You snooze, you lose. Sorry, pal.” She took another gigantic bite and Troy held back the urge to smile. He couldn’t remember wanting to smile so much.
He shuffled through the outside pocket of her bag where he’d tossed her meds yesterday. “Here,” he said, tapping out a pill from each bottle. “Wash these down with your tea.”
“You know you’re not my keeper, right? I’m perfectly capable of taking these without your help.”
“Yeah. I know.” He nodded and took a step back. Why was he so freaked out when it came to this woman? Why did he feel so off balance around her? Because she wasn’t what he expected in a superstar? Because her unique beauty and personality hit him square in the chest and made him want something he couldn’t have?
Julie’s cell phone rang and interrupted the silence. Troy stopped her from punching the talk button.
“Just so we’re on the same page. No one knows where we are or where we’re going and it stays that way.”
She lifted the phone, showed him the screen. “This is Cal. I can tell my best friend where I am. Besides, I don’t even know where I’m going.”
Troy shook his head. “Not your best friend, not your mother, not anyone. What if our guy decides he wants the information and picks up one of them?”
Julie’s face went ashen and it was all Troy could do to keep from smacking himself in the head. Not the right thing to say at this moment in time.
“You think this guy will go after my mom or Cal or someone who knows me?” She tossed the medication bottles in her bag. “That’s it. We’re going home. If my leaving puts them in just as much danger as it does when I’m there, then I may as well stay.”
The phone quit ringing and Troy stopped her, pulled her in front of him. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I doubt it will happen. My point is I don’t want to take the chance. All it takes is one person to spill it to the wrong person and if word gets out then...” He let the sentence dangle.
“I just can’t stand that people are getting hurt because of...” She couldn’t finish her sentence and tears pooled in her eyes.
“I know.” He pulled her against him and held tight, took in the sweet smell of her. “I know.”
But honestly, he didn’t know jack shit. Someone could hurt her, a relative or a friend. Someone could be following them right now, waiting for the exact right moment to pounce. Troy concentrated on Julie and her safety. It was the only thing he could do.
* * *
Julie slept another two hours in the car, then after a phone call to the detectives on the case, who told her they had exactly nothing, she started reading one of her three psychology books. She didn’t say anything to Troy. She didn’t know what to say. The farther she got from home, the more worried she became for her friends and family.
Would someone really hurt the people she loved just to find her? It didn’t seem real. This whole scenario seemed out of left field. She had to believe that leaving town kept everyone safer than if she stayed. Her mother was the perfect example.
“How about we stop for some lunch,” Troy said from the driver’s seat.
“Whatever.” She wasn’t very hungry, mainly because when she worried she didn’t eat.
“There’s a diner about thirty miles away,” he said.
“Where are we anyway?” she asked, glancing outside. The desert terrain from hours ago had morphed into a forest of thick green pine trees and cooler air.
“Utah,” Troy said.
She’d gone skiing in Park City once and she’d always planned to come back. She never would’ve guessed her return trip would be like this.
Julie closed the book in her hands. She could barely focus on the medical and psychological jargon used in the text. She reached into her bag and pulled out Ari’s script. Another half hour would give her a chance to make notes in the first act. This script had held her attention from page one. A psychological thriller. Funny how the timing of this movie should work out with the turn her life had taken.
Maybe that explained why she fidgeted with her utensils and napkin at the table in the diner. Maybe now wasn’t the time to be reading about all the psychoses that triggered people to do crazy, unjustifiable acts. What she needed to know for the upcoming role was why seemingly normal people let other people decide their life, their fate. Was it chemical, hormonal, or was it simply the need to please beyond all reason? The research for the movie inadvertently turned into an expedition on finding why someone might be after her, but so far she’d come up empty.
The small eatery buzzed at half capacity. A toddler cried two tables away and three boisterous truckers sat at the counter and kept each other laughing. The smell of fresh-baked apple pie had Julie’s mouth watering.
Troy leaned forward, his voice low. “Want to talk about it?” He’d been so sweet this whole trip even when she’d been a pain in the ass. It wasn’t his fault that someone wanted her dead.
She shrugged and met his gaze as she scratched at the itch under her stupid brown wig. “What’s to talk about? I’m worried about everyone I left behind.” She’d already made a second call to the police, who still had nothing to tell her.
“I know. I don’t blame you.” He leaned forward, his forearms on the table. He had big hands. She remembered all the things he’d done to her with those hands. “I shouldn’t have said what I did. I do believe that they’re safe. I also think that it’s really important to keep your location top secret.”
“A need-to-know basis, huh?” She leaned forward too and lifted an eyebrow. “It seems pretty dramatic if you ask me.”
He scanned the restaurant behind her, then leveled her with hard, serious eyes. “The shooting at the Sporties wasn’t dramatic? The sniper at the party and that car bomb at your house weren’t dramatic?”
Point made. “Touché.” She studied him, wanted to take his hands in hers, but didn’t. “When exactly did you quit working for Ari?”
He didn’t answer immediately. He just twirled the pepper shaker. “Does it matter?”
“Yeah. It does.” She had so many questions for this man, but this one topped the list.
“Right after you called me when the bomb exploded.” He didn’t bat an eye.
She processed this. “You just dropped him off, said, ‘I quit’ and came to me.”
“Something like that.”
Julie leaned back as the server set down her salad. The college-age girl kept a shy gaze on Troy, which didn’t surprise Julie since he filled out his navy T-shirt with broad shoulders and a muscled chest. Her glance at Julie turned into a double take. Julie knew the look well. “Billy Joe Bob, if I catch you lookin’ at another woman again, I’m gonna hit you so hard your mama’s gonna feel it.”
Troy’s brows lifted and Julie mirrored the move. He glanced at the server staring at her and caught on like the astute man he was. “Now, calm down, Irma Jean. I’m not staring at anybody. You know I love you, sugarplum.”
Her lips curved in a half smile and she glanced at the waitress, who finished setting Troy’s burger in front of him. “Let me give you some advice, Ginny,” Julie said, reading the girl’s nametag. “You can only trust a man about as far as you can throw him.” She shook her head. “It just ain’t enough.”
Ginny gave her a weak smile and bustled away. The toddler finally stopped crying when his mother handed him a glass of milk.
“Having fun?” Troy asked before taking a bite from his burger.
“Not especially. I still think she might figure it out. Ask me if I care.” She stuffed her fork with wilted lettuce and stuck it in her mouth. Nothing like diner food. She washed it down with weak iced tea. “So you quit working for Ari. Does this mean I’ve hired you? I mean I know I offered the other night and I was serious, but it’s not like I even know what Ari was paying you. Not that I can’t match it or beat it, but I should probably know what I’m going to be paying you.” Boy, none of that came out the way she wanted it to. Jeez.
“I’m not on your payroll,” he growled before taking another bite of his lunch.
“Why not?”
He raised a hand in the air as if she should know the answer to that question. When he finally swallowed his bite, he wiped his mouth with a napkin. “I slept with you,” he whispered fiercely. “I’m not taking your money. I’d feel like you were paying me for...for...”
“For services rendered?” She worked to keep a smile off her face.
“Yes,” he said sharply.
Maybe things were looking up. She liked the taste of victory. It sure beat the salad she was trying to force down. “So...if I’m not paying you, does that mean we’re still sleeping together?” At his deer-in-the-headlights expression she continued, “I’ll take that as a maybe.”
Glass shattered and Julie jumped. The toddler started wailing again because he’d dropped his milk. She’d seen that coming a mile away and wasn’t even a parent. Yet. But someday...
“First of all,” Troy said, taking her attention away from the mother scrambling to clean up the spill. “I can’t sleep with you while you’re hurt. I’d be scared to make you worse. Second, I really wasn’t sure you wanted...to... I wasn’t sure you wanted...”
Sex? She couldn’t believe it. “After a whole night of crazy amazing sex, you weren’t sure if I wanted to do it again? Are you out of your mind? Who wouldn’t want a repeat performance of that night? It was, it was...”
A slow smile spread across his face. “Outstanding.”
“Yeah. Outstanding.” She liked that word. She also liked the heat in his eyes. Thinking about that night brought a definite flush to her cheeks and she concentrated on her salad.
They ate in silence for another few minutes, getting used to the idea. As far as Julie was concerned they’d just vaguely committed to sleeping together again. That was a start. Kind of. Okay, not really. She wanted more from him. She wanted him to realize that the time they spent together was unprecedented.
But what if he didn’t want to be the guy who dated Julie Fraser? Maybe he didn’t want the notoriety that came from being with a famous actor. He wouldn’t be the first. Clearly, he was a private man. Hell, she barely knew anything about him.
She had the next four days in the car to learn. Her smile widened.
“Why are you grinning like that?” He took a sip of his water.
“Just thinking.”
“About?”
Getting information required a sneak attack. The man already knew about her since much of her life had been played out in the public eye. But she wanted the story on him and planned to get it by the time they hit their destination. Wherever the hell that was.
“Nothing for you to worry your little heart about, Billy Joe Bob.”
* * *
Troy leaned against a picnic bench, waiting while Julie used the facilities in the rest stop. A light breeze rustled the leaves on the nearby trees and carried the smell of pine as he checked his phone. He’d missed call after call from Sophia all day long, but there had been no way to talk to her while being in the car with Julie. At least now he knew she’d picked up his voice mail. He couldn’t ignore the woman forever. That was bad for business.
He punched her number from his call log and braced himself.
“You!” she said when she finally answered. “What is the meaning of this? You cannot quit. Not after all the money I’ve paid you.”
“You paid me to do a job and I did it. I’ve hung on to Ari closer than his underwear. I’ve been working around the clock, so don’t make it sound as if I’ve had a free ride.”
“Why? Why would you quit? I don’t know anyone else who can do the job. You must have something by now. I know he’s sleeping with her. You must have pictures.”
He did have that. He knew without a doubt that Sophia would take those pictures and misconstrue them the same way he’d initially done.
He also knew that not only was Julie not fucking Ari, but she stayed clear of any married man. She’d been damn sincere when she told him she didn’t screw around. He believed her. Yeah, she was a world-class actress, but she was also as honest as Sophia was miserable.
“Tell me at least why,” Sophia urged. She’d been ranting the whole time. Troy barely registered her question as he watched two squirrels playing tag around the trunk of a tree.
“Ari is not sleeping with her. As far as I can tell, he’s not sleeping with anyone.” Currently. Troy had no doubt that if the opportunity presented itself, Ari would jump in the sack with just about any female, but the couple of months Troy had been around, he was reasonably certain Ari had been clean.
“But he gave her the role in his film. He wouldn’t have done that if she hadn’t slept with him.”
He felt sorry for her. “Sophia, do you think he sleeps with every woman he casts in his films?”
“No, of course not,” she scoffed. “But this one... Julie.” She huffed the name. “She is American royalty. She is just what Ari likes.”
“It doesn’t mean he’s slept with her.” Troy saw Julie hobble out of the restroom and stop at the vending machines. Just the sight of her set all his protective instincts on high and he glanced around the lot again. “Look. I can recommend a couple of guys if you still want someone to watch Ari.”
“Why now?” Sophia asked, suspicion in her voice. “Why did you quit now?”
Had she seen the news? It had probably gone worldwide at this point, but Troy hadn’t been watching TV, and radio news had limited information.
“I have my reasons,” Troy said, avoiding the question.
She gasped. “You’re fucking her yourself, aren’t you?” The certainty in her voice surprised him. She had to be throwing darts and waiting for one to hit the mark.
“I’m going now, Sophia. Don’t bother sending the last check if it’ll make you feel better.”
“That’s it, isn’t it?” Her voice rose an octave. “You’re fucking her. You probably haven’t even been watching Ari all this time.”
“You know I have. You’ve seen the log of every meal, every event and every meeting. Quit grasping at straws. I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help to you, but our business is finished.”
Julie made her way toward him wi
th two bottles of water stuffed in the pockets of her gray hoodie, and Troy’s time dwindled to seconds.
“Take care of yourself. I hope everything works out.” He disconnected the call as Julie stopped in front of him.
“Something serious?” she asked.
“What makes you say that?”
She balanced the crutches under her armpits and tipped her sunglasses down. “You’ve got your serious face on.” She grinned. “Although I’ve learned you almost always have your serious face on.”
He loved that crooked smile of hers. “I thought I had a pretty happy face on the other night. All night.” He lowered his shades so he could waggle his eyebrows at her. Their talk in the diner had been enlightening, but she still had something up her sleeve. She was nothing if not crafty.
“I guess so. Maybe.” She looked around the deserted rest stop. “I got you a bottled water,” she said, pulling one out of her pocket. Her crutch started falling and she reached for it, but lost her balance when she put weight on her bad leg.
Troy leaped forward and caught her. Being chest to chest with her sent his dick into search mode. “You know, you kinda suck at this whole crutch thing. I never would’ve pegged you for a klutz.”
“Well excuse me if I’ve never used them before yesterday,” she said, using the bedroom voice he remembered so well, while wrapping her arms around his neck. “Normally, I’m not a klutz.”
It would be too easy to kiss her right now and get thoroughly distracted. Troy leaned the crutches against the picnic table and scooped her up in his arms. Her perfume filled his head, but he refused to cave. “Can you grab those sticks of death?”
“Sticks of death.” She chuckled and reached for them. “I like that.” She hooked her arm through the crutches and slung it around his shoulder, then gazed up at him. “I like this too.”
He was a goner when it came to her. She had him wrapped around her finger like a yo-yo string. “Stop flirting with me.” He started toward the car with her in his arms.
Laughing again, she caressed the spot under his ear with her thumb. His dick liked it. A lot. Search mode turned into a full salute. “You’re no fun.” Her voice had that sexy, husky thing she did so well. His dick liked that even more.