Chapter Nine
Royce watched Lauren disappear into her bedroom, thinking about the senator’s insistence that she would dismiss a threat, and put herself in harm’s way. Sure, he saw her caution about overreacting, but he couldn’t blame her in the role she was in with the DA. Most importantly thought, she wasn’t under reacting either or pretending nothing was wrong. The senator clearly knew something he wasn’t saying, something he didn’t want Lauren to know.
Royce headed to the front door and unzipped his bag and replaced his wet Yankees t-shirt with a dry white one on his way to the door. He had Luke on the line the instant he was in the hallway. “Senators can’t give stays of execution,” Royce said. “I get that but”
“They can influence them,” Luke finished for him. “I’m already on it. I’m trying to find any connection between the senator and the Sheridan case, be it past or present, or both.”
“You mean I’m trying,” came Blake’s voice in the background. “And I’m already on it. Apparently, you’re taking all the credit.”
Luke grimaced at Blake’s comment and continued speaking to Royce. “As you can see, I’ve recruited help. While Blake works the Sheridan angle, I’m working on anything and everything the senator has touched in the past year. Are you going to tell him about the phone calls and the calendars Lauren is getting?”
“Not yet,” Royce said. “Let’s see what we come up with first.”
“Exactly my thought,” Luke agreed. “This whole secrecy thing just doesn’t add up.”
“Agreed,” Royce said, glancing at the caller ID as his phone beeped. “Speak of the devil, the senator is calling me. Text me when you find something out.” He ended the call and flipped over to the next. “This is Royce.”
“Update, son. What is happening with my daughter?”
“That’s exactly what I’m trying to find out,” he said. “And it would be easier if we told her what is going on.”
The Senator grunted. “Absolutely not.”
Royce ran a hand through his hair. “She is going to hate us both when she finds out we didn’t tell her.”
“Then don’t let her find out,” he said bitingly. “Where is she now?”
“She’s safe.”
“Translate that to a detailed assurance.”
“I’m with her, out of her hearing range.”
“Well done,” he said. “I’ve got to head to a meeting. I’ll check in with you tomorrow.”
“Have you?” The line went dead.
Royce dropped the phone to stare at it in disbelief. Damn it to hell, he’d hung up. And without one single question about the progress on finding out who was behind the letters or what the lab had found out. More and more, something didn’t add up.
***
Lauren returned, having dried her hair, dressed in black sweats, a tee, and slipper socks, to find Royce stoking a fire that seemed to be on its way to a nice blaze.
He rotated on his heels from where he squatted, apparently hearing her approach, his gaze hotter than the fire, as it traveled a path up and down her body and settled on her t-shirt. He laughed, a deep rumble from his chest. Damn, she loved his laugh. “Lawyers have more fun?” he asked.
“Julie got it for me since I always tell her blondes have more fun. I told her the shirt proves nothing.” She motioned to the kitchen. ”I’ll grab the drinks. I’m starving.”
A few minutes later, they both sat on the floor with their laptops at the ready, their Reubens on plates. The fire crackled and rain splattered on the window in heavier taps.
Lauren took a bite of her sandwich and sighed. “Either it’s good or I’m just really, really hungry.”
“It’s good,” he agreed. “I haven’t had one of these in a long time.” He opened the container with his cheesecake and took a bite. “It’s good, too.”
“I’ve never seen anyone eat dessert with their meal instead of after.”
“It’s better than before, right?”
“I suppose it is,” she agreed and found herself considering him a moment. “You know, you really aren’t what I expected.”
“You’ve said that before the other night and then fell asleep. This time you’re not getting out of an explanation.”
“You’re just... different.”
“Different from other men you’ve known? From the politicians you work with?”
“Everyone else around me. I’m surprised you took the state advisor job. It doesn’t seem like you to want to deal with the politics of things.”
“I tolerate the politics, because I’m able to influence decisions that impact the safety of the public. I worked some pretty intense post 9/11 FBI operations. I don’t ever want the people of this country, this city, to see 9/11 happen again. And as I suspect you have done, I made the decision to grin and bear what I had to, to make an impact, or at least try. Frankly, I‘m shocked you aren’t working for your father’s law firm.”
She took a sip of her drink and set it down. “My father is all about money and power. That’s just not who I am. It wasn’t who my mother was either. Looking back, I think she chose to be a professor over a practicing lawyer to avoid the differences between her and my father.” She opened her cheesecake and took a bite. “Oh, that’s good.” She shoved her sandwich aside.
“Now look who’s eating out of order,” he teased.
“I ate half my sandwich,” she said. “That’s enough for me. You want the other half?”
“I thought you’d never ask,” he said and grabbed her plate, setting his now empty one aside and then surprised her by asking, “Didn’t I read you were engaged at some point?”
Her fork stilled in her mouth a moment, before she nodded and set it down, her gaze fixing on the orange flames of the fire. “Yeah. I was.”
Royce slid a finger under her chin. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.”
“You're not. It’s just not a happy subject.”
“He hurt you.”
“I caught him in bed with another woman.” She held up a hand. “And don’t do the sympathy thing. After I was over the initial shock of his betrayal, I was actually relieved.” Lauren turned to face him, leaning her elbow on the couch, her legs curled to her side. “I wasn’t happy with him. I knew long before we broke up that he didn’t want me. He wanted control of my father’s law firm. By him taking it, I didn’t have to deal with my father’s nagging for me to take over.”
“He hates it,” she said. “And he really hates this case I’m about to go to trial on, because the defendant is playing the battered woman card and I’m being painted as a monster. He’s been getting hate mail and phone calls over it.”
“Have you seen any of the mail?”
“I don’t want to see it. I get plenty of my own. It’s part of the job. But that’s just it. It’s my job, not his. I’m helping victims fight for justice and that feels good. I hope my ex stays with my father’s firm forever and the two of them live happily ever after making tons of money. That’s not what motivates me.”
“Wait. Are you saying he still works there?”
“My ex and my stepbrother are controlling partners.”
“I’d have kicked his ass and wiped the floor with him and then thrown his stuff out the door with him. I can’t believe your father let him stay.”
“It’s business.”
“It’s family.”
Her chest tightened. “Not everyone has the kind of bond with their family you seem to have.”
He studied her a long moment and then pushed the table away from them. He scooted back to sit beside her, his back against the couch before pulling her legs over his lap. Awareness rushed through her, and something else, something warm and right, like she’d never felt with another man.
“I owe you an apology,” he confessed, his hands settling on her legs.
“An apology?” She laughed. “For eating my sandwich? For being bossy by nature? Because I can’t imagine what else you have to apologize about at this point in our short relationship.”
“I judged you by a stereotype before I met you. I thought you were the pretty, spoiled senator’s daughter. And now, more than ever, I not only know how unfair that was, I know how much it eats you alive.”
“Thank you,” she said, moved by his honesty. “I appreciate that more than you can know, but if you’re apologizing for your assumption, then I have to apologize for mine. I thought you were an arrogant ladies’ man. Single, good looking, in your thirties, with two different women at two different functions I saw you at.”
His chest expanded with an inhalation before he exhaled. “I haven’t been much on serious relationships but I was engaged once, right when I joined the agency. It was the wrong time, the wrong situation, and I was the wrong man for her. I was high on my job, and she wanted me home, when I wanted to catch the next bad guy. The deeper and more dangerous my work became, the more I saw the writing on the wall. You put bad guys behind bars, they become your enemies and you become dangerous cargo to the people you love.”
“Well, I guess I’ve proven I’m dangerous cargo,” she said, a shiver chasing a path up her spine. “And I guess being alone is a small price for fighting for the innocent.”
“You're not alone now,” he said softly, brushing his fingers down her cheek, sending a tingle of electricity through her body. “I’m here and no one is going to scare me away.”
“Have you met my father?”
He laughed. “Not even your father.”
“We'll see about that one.”
“Yeah,” he said. “We will. I’m not going anywhere unless you make me.” He turned to his side to face her. “I know I said this before, but I’m going to say it again. I’m not here because of the threats. If they didn’t exist, I’d still be here, if you’d have me. I’m here for you, Lauren. I’m here because there is something about you I can’t escape, and I don’t even want to try.”
The rain pelted against the windows, the fire crackled in the fireplace. Electricity sparked in the air, intimacy thickening with it. “I’m glad you’re here, and not because of the threats.” She hesitated. “Okay, maybe I’m a little glad you’re here because of the threats. I’m rattled, Royce. I don’t know why; it’s not like me, but I am. And I wouldn’t tell anyone else that, but I am. And I feel like I can tell you that without it becoming everyone else’s knowledge.”
“You know what I think?” he asked, lowering his head slowly, his breath warm, teasing her with the promise of intimacy. “I think you need something else to think about.” His lips touched hers, a soft caress that traveled her nerve endings. Her nipples tightened, and heat pooled low in her belly.
Nerves fluttered in her stomach, with the awareness of where this was going, but his tongue, his hands, his touch, drew her deeper into the fog of desire. She lost herself in the moment, savoring the feel on him, a soft sound of pleasure escaping her lips as his tongue swept against hers. He deepened the contact and she wrapped her arms around his neck. His hand traveled her back, scorching her with heat, melding her closer. She could feel the desire expand between them, consume them, and leave her with only him.