Dangerous Secrets (Tall, Dark & Deadly #2)(63)

“Me either, baby,” he promised, kissing her neck. “But you still smell like heaven and I won’t find it hard to be convincingly into you.” He laced his fingers into her hair and pulled her mouth to his. “Try to do the same.” His mouth closed over hers and she whimpered into his mouth.

“Hey,” a guard said. “Rooms are upstairs.”

Luke glanced up at him and drew Julie’s hand in his. “Just warming up.” He tugged Julie forward, confident anyone who missed them would be told they were getting the nasty on.

Luke glanced over his shoulder, making sure they weren’t being watched, and bypassed the stairs, following the rich, spiced scent of cigars he’d smelled when he’d been near Arel. It ended at a closed door he shoved open and prayed the room beyond was empty. They entered an office, where a low burning fire was giving its last breath in a massive white hearth, giving an orange glow to the room. Silently, he was thankful for the light it expelled.

His eyes scanned the room, resting on a large desk set against one wall. Pulling Julie behind him, determined to keep her near, he moved across the room, his eyes quickly adjusting to the dim light. Once they were behind the desk, Luke settled his hands on Julie’s waist and set her on top, making sure they had a cover if they were interrupted.

Luke bent down and flipped his heel open, removing the extra mic he had inside and sliding it under the desktop. He’d barely attached it, when when the door jerked open behind Julie.

Luke moved instinctively, stepping towards her, pushing her legs apart as he insinuated his body between her thighs. “Wrap your legs around my waist,” he whispered.

Even as she did as he said, he buried one hand in her hair, the other around her neck, and covered her mouth with his.

The door squeaked.

Footsteps echoed.

Luke broke the kiss without releasing Julie. He looked over her shoulder into Michael’s suspicious eyes. “Buzz off,” Luke ordered.

“You can’t do this in here,” he said sharply.

Luke’s laugh mocked him. “If she’s willing, I assure you I can.”

Julie let her legs fall from his waist, but he didn’t release her. Instead, he bent down and nipped at her lips.

“Hey!” Michael exclaimed insolently. “I told you no!”

Luke gave him a go to hell look. “Arel told me I could grab a room, man. Back off!”

“Upstairs. Not here. You must leave, now.”

Luke scowled at the man, and then looked down at Julie. “Let’s go, darlin.” He moved his hands to her waist and lifted her off the desk.

Pulling her under his arm, he said, “We’re out of here. Where do we go to get a ride?”

Michael’s eyes narrowed as he studied Luke curiously. “There are rooms upstairs.”

“Yeah, well,” he said, sliding his hand around Julie’s waist, “she’s the only hospitality I need the rest of tonight and I don’t want to miss the last ferry off Fantasy Island here because I forget the time.”

Michael considered them a moment, and said, “Follow me.” He unhooked a walkie-talkie from his belt and called for a car.

A few minutes later he and Julie were seated in the back seat of the same car they had arrived in. Luke was certain, compliments of Blake, the car now had a tracking device attached to its belly. If the car took a turn away from the ferry, he’d have men to back him up. He didn’t try to play the game of seducing Julie in the car this time. She seemed to relax next to him, as if she felt like it was over. What she didn’t know, and he did, was that if they were going to be taken out, it would be now.





Chapter Twenty-Three


Luke didn’t breathe again until he and Julie were out of the car at the ferry station. He took her hand and led her to the main building. He could feel relief shifting inside him, turning into something darker that had been beneath the surface since the moment he’d found Julie on the ferry.

“What happened back there with Arel?” she asked the instant they were inside the building. “I felt so in the dark while we were there and it was killing me not to be able to ask.”

“He’s going to give me a chance to prove myself.”

“When? How?”

“I’ll get a message like I did for the party.” He didn’t say anything else, fighting the rising storm inside him. She could have died. She shouldn’t have even been here to be at risk.

He glanced at the schedule board for the boats and then the clock and by pure luck they had a few minutes to make the next ferry. He wanted the hell off of this stinking island and he didn’t ever want to return, but would probably have to.

“Let’s go.” He pulled her along with him.

“Luke?” she asked. “What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong? You could have been killed back there.”

“But I wasn’t.”

“And Jesse better thank the good Lord above for that.”

“It’s not his fault, Luke. He’s a great guy. I used that against him and I hated doing it, but I had to do this.”

He ground his teeth, biting back some choice words about Jesse. “This isn’t the time or the place,” he said, and made sure she couldn’t argue, he ducked a shoulder between bodies and inched them into the center of the herd boarding the boat.