“But it’s also been three years since your father passed,” she said and their eyes met, and she knew he was remembering two years before, and the night he’d told her about his father, his hero, dying of a heart attack. They’d been at a Japanese restaurant drinking sake and laughing when things had turned serious. It had been the night that she’d known she was in unfamiliar waters with this man, that she felt so much more for him than just attraction.

“Yes,” he finally agreed. “Three years ago last month.” His lips curved. “I guess that means she’s allowed to date. And he’s a nice guy. A retired school teacher who lives down the road from her in Jersey. A real scholarly type who is night and day from my career military father.”

“Maybe she needed night and day to move on,” Julie suggested thoughtfully.

“Maybe,” he conceded. “I suppose that’s true.” He took a drink of his beer. “Blake doesn’t like the guy.”

“You said he was nice.”

He laughed. “That’s why Blake doesn’t like him. He says no one is that nice.”

“Cynical, isn’t he?”

“Aren’t you?”

She didn’t even try to deny the truth. “Yes. I am.”

He arched a brow. “That was an easy confession.”

“I’m a divorce attorney.”

“And maid of honor at your best friend’s wedding. That can’t be an easy match.”

“My job is incentive for the groom to be sure he keeps the bride happy. And he’d better or I’ll personally kick his ass. Screw divorce court.”

He chuckled. “I don’t think you have to worry about that. Lauren turns my big grumpy brother into a teddy bear. But if Royce screws this up, I’ll help you kick his ass. She’s good for him. He needs her.”

“In contradiction to my cynicism, I believe she needs him, too.”

The waiter showed up with the food and they both dug in. “I’m curious,” Julie said, after a small silence to enjoy a bite of her surprisingly good burger. “Why did you leave the SEALs? You were so adamant about being career Navy.”

He poured ketchup on his plate and then motioned to hers, and she nodded, letting him put some on her plate too. “The official story,” he said, “is that I had an injury to my leg.”

“The unofficial story?”

“It healed, but Blake is a loose cannon, damaged and in a big way.”

“His fiancée was killed on an ATF mission,” she said. “I heard.”

“And he’s a time bomb waiting on his chance to explode. He wants vengeance to the point of absolute obsession. It’s why he left the ATF. He wants it at all costs; he’ll even ignore the law.”

“And you intend to do what?”

“Keep him alive.”

“Royce couldn’t have done that?”

“My brothers would die for each other, but most of the time, they also want to kill each other.”

She inhaled and let it out. “I see. That’s...intense. And honorable, Luke. I know how much the SEALs meant to you. You–” That same shiver of foreboding slid down her spine and her gaze lifted to find the man from the elevator at the hostess stand. His eyes met hers and then suddenly he stalked toward their table. Julie did something she never did under pressure. She froze.

Chapter Four

“You dropped your phone, miss,” the man said in a heavy Spanish accent, squatting down beside her and offering her phone, his hand on Julie’s chair for balance.

Julie let out a breath that she didn’t even know she’d been holding, because for the past two seconds, she’d pretty much didn’t know anything but panic. Her phone. Right. Which she probably knocked off the table when she’d picked up the waiter’s pin. Or while distracted by Luke, which was pretty much always.

Thank you,” she said, accepting her cell from the stranger, but not looking at him. Her spine was buzzing with ridiculous unease. The man was just helping her. “I had no idea I dropped it.”

“My pleasure to help,” he said, and pushed to his feet and left.

Julie held the phone, staring down at it. What was wrong with her? This wasn’t like her at all.

“What just happened,” Luke prodded urgently. “What upset you?”

She shook her head. “Nothing.” She refocused on Luke, glad he was here. “I’m just tired.”

“No,” he insisted. “That man upset you.”

“No, I-”

“Yes,” he said. “And if you don’t tell me why, I’ll go find out myself. I’ve never seen you like this.” He started to get up.

“No. Wait. Luke. Please stay here. I’m just embarrassed. It’s me being paranoid.”

He relaxed back into his seat. “You don’t need to ever be embarrassed with me, Julie. And you aren’t a paranoid person. If something feels wrong to you, it probably is.”

“Maybe,” she agreed. “But not here or with that man. I think one of my cases has me worried and it’s got me seeing demons everywhere.”

“Talk to me, sweetheart.”

She inhaled and let it out. “I can’t.” But she wanted to. She really wanted someone’s advice and Lauren didn’t need this right now. “Client-attorney privilege.”

He scooted his plate aside. “Do you have a dollar?”

Her brows furrowed and she reached for her purse. “Well, yes. Sure. I always carry cash when I travel.” She pulled out a bill and slid it on the table.

“Great,” he said. “Walker Security is now your private investigation firm. We are bound by privacy laws as well. So talk to me.”

Relief washed over her. “I actually think that hiring you might be exactly what I need to do.” She told him the entire story about Elizabeth’s visit.

“Blake was ATF,” he said when she’d finished. “They deal with art theft and money laundering so I’ll want to get him involved in this.”

“Money laundering?” she asked, the idea opening up all kinds of new concerns for her. “That’s what you think is going on?”

“What do you think is going on? You’re close to this. You must have had some initial thought pop into your head when Elizabeth made this claim.”

“My fear was some sort of illicit pornography.”

“That’s certainly a possibility, but one thing is for sure. You don’t want to be accused of covering it up. Ignorance has benefits when it comes to the law in this case.”

“But I’m not ignorant when I’ve been warned,” she said, “so I need to know what it going on.”

“You could drop out of the case.”

“I could,” she said, “but I could still be connected, or even become a fall guy. I’ve seen some nasty things since I started practicing. I’d rather be on the offensive and be sure this goes away for me.”

“That makes sense,” he said, “and while Elizabeth thinks her husband isn’t capable of hurting her, or you for that matter, I’ve seen some things myself. Desperation brings out the worst in people.”

“I saw that in Elizabeth. It worried me.”

“What worries me more than anything,” he said. ”is this other party who’d be dangerous if they found out whatever the secret is. If this is something illicit, and the wrong person–”

“I’m in trouble.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You were going to.”

“No,” he corrected. “I was going to say you could be linked to something really nasty that you don’t want to be. There’s no reason to get as worked up as you are, though, when you know nothing right now about what is really going on. But it doesn’t hurt to be cautious either. I’m going to get Blake on this tonight and look into it more myself when we get home.”

She swiped hair behind her ear. “Thank you, Luke. I’m really glad things worked out like they did and I ended up telling you about this. I didn’t want to bring it up to Lauren and Royce right now. Not with the wedding coming up.” And Lauren was her family, the only real person she counted on. The one person she would say anything to, admit anything to.

“I’m a friend, Julie,” he said. “I hope you’ll remember that. You can come to me. I’ll help you.”

Friend. That word changed everything between them. You didn’t have a fling with a friend. You had a relationship. She smiled through the tight ball of emotion coiling in her gut at that claim. “Be careful what you wish for,” she teased. “I might take you up on that and ask you to, oh I don’t know, do some manly thing like put brakes on my car.”