Those words punched her in the chest. This was more to her than him. “I was?”

“Yeah, you were,” he said. “We were just as good then as we are now.” He brushed his lips over hers. “See you tonight.” He grabbed his bag and was out the door before she could think what to say or do. The door shut, and she sank against the wall. Cici appeared again and began rubbing her leg.

Julie sank down to the ground and ran her hand over Cici’s head. “What are we going to do about him, kitty?”

Cici purred and meowed, and Julie imagined her saying ‘Can we keep him?’ “You’re no help,” Julie said with a grimace. “You’re kitty putty in his hands.” Julie sighed. And she wasn’t much better herself.

 She grabbed her purse to punch in Lauren’s number.

“You’re home! I was worried sick,” Lauren exclaimed.

“I’m home, so don’t worry,” she said. “I’m taking care of everything for tomorrow night.” She hesitated. “I was thinking though it would be fun to have a girl’s night two nights in a row, instead of just the night before the wedding. I could stay with you tonight or you with me and we could do up the gift bags together.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” Lauren said. “It’s silly because we never fight, but I have this fear Royce and I will fight and decide to call off the wedding. Or maybe we’ll have really bad sex and that will make the wedding night really awkward.”

Julie laughed. “Fighting and really bad sex don’t fit the Lauren and Royce I know, but it’s a date. My place or yours?”

“Yours,” she said. “But, can you swing by after work and help me get everything to a cab and over there?”

“Of course,” Julie said. “I’ll see you there say, about four? I’m taking off work early.”

“Perfect.”

Julie ended the call and inhaled deeply. She was being a big chicken, but she didn’t care. She really did want to spend time with Lauren. In fact, she wanted to very badly. The problem was, she could easily say the same thing about Luke.

***

Later that afternoon, Luke still had Julie on his mind, more than a little eager to see her again. He sauntered down the hallway of the apartment building he and his brothers had bought and renovated several years ago to both work and live in, carrying a tuxedo for Royce. He stopped at the door at the far end of the hall, two doors down from his, and knocked. Used to be he’d just walk into Royce’s place, but since Lauren had moved in, he was sensitive to their privacy.

The door opened and to his surprise there stood the woman of his recent, and not so recent, dreams. His lips curved in a knowing smile. “Decided to stay the night?”

“Actually,” she said. “Lauren’s staying with me.”

“Not when Royce finds out what’s going on,” he said. “He, like me, will be concerned about safety.”

She stepped into the hall and shut the door, her blue eyes lit with urgency. “Luke, she wants to stay at my place to build up the anticipation before the wedding. I don’t want to tell her no. Please don’t involve Royce in this mess I’m in and get both of them all worked up about this. Lauren will worry herself sick about me and now is not a time for her to worry.”

“You stay here at their place,” he said. “Tell her you want her to be comfortable. Royce can stay with me. He’ll stay away if that keeps Lauren happy.”

 “But–”

“Now is also not a time for anyone to get hurt as you pointed out at the airport,” he said. “Be safe, not sorry.”

She sighed and nodded. “Okay. You’re right. To be honest, I’ve been thinking about it ever since she and I decided this and I thought about calling you.”

He arched a brow. “And?”

“I was still thinking about it when you showed up at the door.”

“Is that right?”

“Yes. I would have called.” She crossed her arms in front of her. “Probably.”

 “Not,” he supplied. “Did you talk to the judge?”

She shook her head. “He won’t return my calls. Did you find out anything?”

“Nothing worth telling yet.” He lifted the tuxedo. “I’ll take this back to my place. Is Royce here?”

She shook her head. “He’s at the limo service fixing some mix up.”

“I’ll call him and work things out,” he said, and smiled, lowering his voice. “There’s an easier way to deal with me than avoiding me.”

“What? I wasn’t...” her voice trailed off, and she shoved a lock of that silky blonde hair behind her delicate earlobe. “And that would be what?”

He gave her a wicked smile. “Don’t.” He turned and headed back down the hallway, feeling her watching him, and wishing he could just drag her to his place and make love to her. But as his SEAL commander used to drill into their heads,  ‘patience is a virtue’ and Luke had learned to make it work for him. Every instinct he’d honed over the years said this was one of those times when slow was better than fast.

Chapter Six

Once Luke knew Julie was safely at Lauren’s place, he headed to the offices of Walker Security on the ground floor of their building to meet with Blake. Royce was taking a shower and then the three of them planned to head out for beer and pizza at their favorite joint up the road.

“Anything?” Luke asked, shoving open the door and finding Blake behind one of the four desks facing each other in pairs.

Blake leaned back, his hands behind his head where his long hair was tied at the nape. “The judge has his records sealed fairly tightly,” he said. “But not tight enough for me not to get past them. I just need more time that we don’t have right now.” Luke perched on the edge of the desk across from Blake as his brother continued, “As it stands, since our guy Jesse was  NYPD for years, I put him on the judge,” Blake continued, “Kyle is the tech guy so he’s following up on the electronic trails. We don’t have the manpower to dig into her family right now. We’re too stretched, but I’ll do it when the wedding is behind us. I already tapped his phones at home and work. One thing that stands out so far is that he’s got an offshore account – that is never a good sign.”

“He could have been hiding money from his wife,” Luke said, thinking his brother might be messed up in the head, but he was damn good at his job. “They were, after all, getting divorced.”

“She was broke and struggling,” Blake confirmed, “so no doubt, but I’m guessing we’ll find out it’s more than that.”

Luke ran his hand over the knot of tension at the back of his neck. “Yeah, me too. Otherwise the wife wouldn’t be dead. And I can tell you right now that Julie isn’t going to let this go. She feels responsible for Elizabeth Moore’s death.”

“Speaking of Elizabeth Moore,” Blake said, sitting up and tapping a pen on the desk. “She was cremated, as you said, and the public is only being allowed at a short cemetery service. This happened way too quickly. The body was examined and prepared in a window that is nearly impossible. Someone pulled strings to make that happen.”

“Someone powerful like the judge,” Luke supplied. “That was exactly my thought, too.”

“Just to be safe, you need to keep Julie close,” Blake warned. “I don’t know what it is us about us Walker men, but the women in our lives tend to end up in trouble or dead.”

 “I plan to,” he said, thinking there might be some truth to his words. Luke knew he was talking about more than his dead financee. Lauren had been in some trouble months back that had almost gotten her killed. “Can you keep Royce busy during the funeral? The last thing I need is getting him all worked up over this.”

“I hear ya on that one,” Blake said. “I’ll work something out with him over dinner.”

Luke looked up the details on the funeral and dialed Julie, knowing she wouldn’t back down about attending. She answered on the first ring.

“Hello.” She sounded surprised. “Something wrong?”

A lot, but he didn’t say that. “Just calling to confirm the time for the funeral. It’s at two tomorrow. We’re only allowed to attend the outdoor ceremony.”