***

Gina ordered a sandwich at the nearby deli and waited patiently at the take out counter. It didn’t surprise her that Julie had backed out of lunch. People like Julie always thought they were above people like her. She didn’t know much about Julie’s past, since Julie didn’t talk to her about anything, but she imagined her boss must have been born with a silver spoon in her mouth. After all, she was extremely young to have achieved such success.

Gina hated her.

If things had been different it would have been her who had such success. The fake niceness Julie had handed out today sickened her. Damn good thing lunch had been cancelled. She wouldn’t want to be sick at the table, and eating with Julie might just have done that to her.

When her food was ready, she accepted her take-out bag. Thoughts of Julie’s demise made her strides towards the door a bit more energetic. Shoving it open, she stepped outside and quickly turned the corner. She came to an abrupt halt as she ran smack into a very hard something.

Her balance faltered and strong hands steadied her. “Easy now, bébé.”

Something about the French accent insinuated itself into her senses like a soft breeze, caressing her nerve endings into awareness. She looked up into sky blue eyes that were alive with interest.

“Sorry about that,” she said.

The man was tall, with brownish blond hair that was a little too long. His body was Adonis-like, his smile sexy as hell. “Perhaps is fate, no?”

She tilted her head. This guy made her heart go pitter patter with a whole new tune. And that accent… “Perhaps, yes.”

He reached his arm overhead flattening his palm on the wall to support his weight. His eyes grazed her lips and lingered before settling back on her eyes. “I am Marco.”

She wet her lips and then offered him her free hand. “I’m Gina.”

He brought her knuckles to his lips and kissed them. ”A pleasure, cherie. I think we should take advantage of this chance meeting. When can I see you again?”

Gina wanted this man. He absolutely made her burn. The gods above seemed to have presented her with her own special sex toy. “Dinner. Tonight. My place.”

He smiled, his eyes reflecting his approval. Her gaze traveled down his body, to his belt, and below. He was hard. She stared a moment, not afraid of the boldness it represented. Then she looked up at him, and smiled her favorite wicked smile. “Tonight indeed. Got a pen? I wouldn’t want you getting lost or anything.”

There was a glint of something she didn’t quite understand in his eyes as he reached forward and ran a finger down her cheek. “I never get lost, so, ma cherie, plan on being found. ” He keyed her address in his cell phone and she sighed as he sauntered away. Once he was out of sight, she headed to her apartment to take her long lunch and break out some sexy lingerie.

***

A half hour after Julie had left Luke on the corner, she sat at her desk, her stomach growling, thumbing through a case file and the silence was deafening to the point of creepy. The creek of the wooden floor in the lobby actually made her jump.

“Hello?”

Julie walked to the lobby to find one of the guys from the mail department who ran errands holding a bag of food. “Ms. Harrison?”

“Ah yes.”

“Got food for you and a note that I put inside the bag.” He set it down on the desk and Julie could see it came from the Mexican restaurant she and Luke had been headed for when she’d left. “Paid in advance including the tip.” He waved and backed away. “Gotta run. More stops.” He took off for the hallways.

Julie’s stomach and her nose applauded the wonderful smells coming from the bag and she quickly went to find the note.

I planned to eat this with you, but Blake called and has something he wants me to see regarding that situation we discussed. I’m not calling because I’m going to pick you up from work and if I call you can tell me not to.

Luke

PS Lock the lobby door.

Julie leaned on the desk. Luke hadn’t let her walk away.

Chapter Thirteen

Leaving Julie when there was so much tension between them was killing Luke, but keeping her safe had to come first. Twenty minutes after sending her the lunch order and note, Luke sat behind his desk on his computer at Walker Security, waiting for Blake to arrive and trying to figure out how Elizabeth Moore’s sister had gotten his phone number. And there it was. A proposal Royce had submitted for several charity events involving Elizabeth Moore that included Luke’s phone number. That was how the sister had gotten his number. She must have Elizabeth’s computer or charity documents. Nothing overtly sinister and he hoped like hell that was the case all together. After reading the journal, he wasn’t so sure.

Blake walked through the front door from the street, with two men on his heels, both stiff, in slacks and button downs, with faces made from stone. Cops or some type of law enforcement, Luke decided instantly. He didn’t get up. It wasn’t that he didn’t respect those who protected the innocent. He’d simply been around the track enough times to know everyone who was supposed to be a good guy wasn’t, and many who were still pulled the power play every chance they could find.

“This is Brian Murphy,” Blake said, indicating the stocky black man who stood at his right shoulder. “He’s ATF and he saved my ass a time or two.”

Murphy won Luke’s immediate attention and his respect. Luke dropped his feet to the floor and pushed to his feet.

Murphy, who looked at least ten years older than Blake, laughed low and hearty as he extended his hand to Luke across the desk. “Yeah, the kid was wild, but he kept things interesting. We miss him.”

Luke rounded the desk, accepting Murphy’s hand. “He’s still wild, trust me. He doesn’t seem to understand that red sports cars, motorcycles, and women by the bucket come with some downsides, like danger.”

Murphy chuckled and ran his fingers over his chin. “I think that might be exactly what he likes about those things.” He indicated the tall man standing next to him with sandy brown hair and closely set untrusting eyes. “This guy here is Tom Hendrix.”

“DEA,” Blake said, “and I haven’t worked with him but he’s on a task force with Brian that you’ll find interesting.”

Luke gave the man a quick once over and a nod, crossing his arms without an offer of his hand. Hendrix wasn’t eager to offer his hand either. Luke didn’t like him, but that didn’t mean the man wasn’t good at his job.

“Ex-SEAL, I hear?” Hendrix asked.

“That’s right,” Luke said, and then motioned to a few chairs. “Why don’t we sit and you can fill me in on this task force.”

“Don’t mind if I do,” Blake said, claiming a chair. Murphy sat down next to him. Hendrix leaned on the desk across from Luke. Luke stayed as he was, arms still crossed, legs in a V.

Blake pressed the conversation onward. ”I used some connections to check out the names in the journal you were given. Dragonfly pulled up nothing, but Paul Arel gave me a hard agency hit.”

Luke arched a brow. “I’m listening.”

“He’s a French-Canadian Citizen who owns a jewelry store he uses as his excuse for travel,” Murphy said. “He’s also the leader of a cartel that is a little too good at the money laundering used to hide their drug and weapons operations. We haven’t been able to nail them.”

“We need to have enough hard evidence to take him down and keep him down,” Hendrix said. “And it sounds like this Ms. Harrison has a way in through the doors we need open.”

Luke didn’t like the sound of this. “How exactly is that? She’s got a journal with names. Nothing more.”

“Arel is a big art fanatic,” Hendrix said. “Not only is he suspected of having some highly-sought stolen pieces in his personal collection, but he buys expensive, even rare art, with illegal money, and then transports it across international lines.”