AS JUDD PULLED his mouth away from Danielle’s, and when he sprang up from the bed, she emitted a sharp cry.
“Oh, mon Dieu, I’m bleeding,” she gasped.
Lucy stood rigidly at the open door surveying the little love scene, as Judd turned from her and glanced distractedly over his shoulder at the French seductress. Blood was trickling from Danielle’s mouth.
“It was your braces. They cut me,” she whined, sprinting over to the mirror that hung above the low-slung white bureau to examine the damage.
That was when it hit Lucy. When he was kissing her not twenty minutes ago, he hadn’t been wearing braces. She was certain of it. If she hadn’t been so damn wrapped up in that intense kiss, she would have realized it at the time.
Hold it, she thought. Forget the braces for now. Concentrate on the fact that Judd Turner—nerdy, misshapen, Laundromat mogul—had gone from kissing her to kissing another woman—her arch rival no less—in a matter of minutes. What was it about this guy!
“I must get some ointment for this cut. I could be scarred. For life,” Danielle gasped, her sham seductress voice replaced by self-absorbed agitation.
“I’m…sorry, Danielle,” Judd muttered as she hurried for the door, her hand over her mouth. Although Lucy was standing right in her path, Danielle skirted around as though she didn’t exist.
It was a different story when Danielle collided with Kyle, who was in the hallway just about to enter Judd’s room.
“Dani, what’s wrong?” Kyle asked solicitously.
Lucy’s lips had tightened to a thin line. Dani. Lucy knew all too well that Danielle liked all her close friends to call her by her nickname.
“What are you doing here, Kyle?” Lucy demanded.
“I wanted to talk over some business ideas with Judd,” Kyle retorted. “What are you doing here, Luce?”
“I am…wounded.” Danielle broke in, with her hand still over her mouth.
“How did it happen?” Kyle asked, looking from Danielle to Lucy to Judd, then back to Danielle again.
Lucy laughed sharply, her eyes on Judd. “Who knew kissing could be so dangerous?”
Kyle gave his fiancée a befuddled look.
Danielle grasped hold of his arm. “Please…come with me to the pharmacist. I’m feeling a little…faint.”
Lucy rolled her eyes.
Kyle wasn’t sure what to do. His gaze once again fell on his fiancée. “Well…I…”
“Oh, go with her,” she snapped. “Go get her a blood transfusion for all I care.”
“Why are you angry at me, Luce?”
“I’m not angry,” she said.
Judd knew she was lying. He was sure she was furious at the whole lot of them—Kyle, Danielle and himself.
He watched her step purposefully into his hotel room and shut the door firmly behind her. This time, unlike when he’d followed Danielle inside a short while before, he heard the lock click into place.
Lucy stood right in front of the closed door, her silence more of a demand for an explanation than any words. But as he looked at her, he couldn’t think straight. Certainly not straight enough to come up with a story that she would conceivably buy.
She was so beautiful. All he could do was stare at her like a lovesick pup. Even though he admittedly preferred her naked and wet, she looked absolutely beguiling in her simple peach colored sleeveless shift, her auburn hair still damp from the shower. His gaze traveled downward. He took in the lush curve of her hips, the long, shapely legs. She was wearing a pair of cream sandals, her feet exposed, and he got lost in the exquisite perfection of all ten of her perfect toes.
But when his gaze returned to her face, he caught the shadow of hurt and betrayal reflected in her eyes.
He cleared his throat. “Lucy…I can…explain…about Danielle.”
She bit her lower lip. “Oh, I’m sure you can come up with a good tale. But that’s all it would be. A tale. A lie. Just like all your other lies.”
“Lucy, that’s not true. I—”
“Look Judd, you’re a free agent. You can go around kissing every woman in Miami Beach if that’s your thing. Just leave me out next time around.”
“I wasn’t kissing Danielle. She was kissing me.”
“Is that what you told Dani about our kiss?”
His eyes locked on Lucy’s. “I didn’t tell Danielle about our kiss. And if I had, I would have said I kissed you. And I absolutely adored every moment of that kiss.”
The look on her face said she didn’t believe him.
“It’s the truth, Lucy. And you know it is. You think this is easy for me? Well, it isn’t. Seeing you again…All those old unrequited feelings…” He pressed his hand to his pounding heart. “All the fantasies, the longing…And then seeing you again after ten years…more beautiful…How is that possible? How could the most beautiful girl in the world get more beautiful?”
“You shouldn’t be…flirting with me, Judd. I’m almost a married woman.”
“That’s like saying you’re almost pregnant.” The possibility that she was pregnant hit him hard. “You aren’t, are you?” It would be bad enough to put her fiancé behind bars, but if Kyle also turned out to be the father of her unborn child—
“No, I’m not pregnant,” she said, her face flushed.
“Good.”
There was a dead silence between them for a minute.
“Why was Danielle kissing you?” she demanded.
He thought it best not to remind her that she’d already told him he didn’t owe her an explanation. That she couldn’t care less.
“She wasn’t interested in my body, Lucy. She was interested in—”
She cut him off. “You know what? I’m up to here with your lies.” She placed her hand beneath her chin. “I don’t care why she was kissing you or why you were kissing her or why you got yourself into the mess you’re in. It’s none of my business. I was just…stupid. Stupid to think we were…friends. Stupid to…to want to help you. You obviously have plenty of other women ready to jump right in and…and rescue you.” As she stammered her way through this speech, he was moving toward her. She backed up only to slam into the closed door after two steps.
“I don’t want to be rescued by any other woman, Lucy.”
He was inches from her. She could feel his breath on her face. Even though the air-conditioning in the room was on max, she could feel heat prickle the back of her neck. Damn it, she wanted him to kiss her again. She wanted to kiss him back. She wanted—
She pushed him away. “Kyle and I are getting married.”
Judd held his ground, as well as her gaze. “Are you?”
She closed her eyes. “Yes. Of course we are.”
“What about Danielle?”
Her eyes popped open. “Danielle is a—” She clamped her lips shut before some very unladylike profanities escaped through them.
“Kyle’s not worthy of you, Lucy.”
“There’s nothing between Kyle and Danielle,” she said. Now who was lying?
“Then why are you so upset?” he demanded.
“I am not…upset.” She looked up defiantly into his eyes.
He stared her down.
Lucy could feel herself losing the battle. But she wasn’t licked yet. “You don’t know Kyle. You haven’t seen or spoken to him in ten years. He’s not the boy you remember, Judd. He’s grown up. Matured. He’s…changed.”
“Has he?”
She poked him in the chest. “I know what you’re doing, Judd Turner. You’re trying to get the focus off yourself by turning the spotlight on me.”
He reached out and wiped a tiny bead of sweat from her brow. “You’re getting hot under the glare,” he murmured.
She scowled, pushing his hand away. “When did you learn to…to talk like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like…like you’re talking, that’s what.”
“Well, Lucy, I’ve grown up, too. I’ve matured. I’ve changed.”
“You certainly have,” she snapped. “You know something, Judd. I am sorely regretting having agreed to come down to this dumb reunion. And the festivities haven’t even started yet.” Well, they’d started, but not in the way she’d anticipated.
He smiled.
She held out for a minute, but then a smile broke across her cheeks, as well.
“I want to kiss you again, Lucy Weston.” He leaned a little closer, capturing her with the full impact of his desire. “And that’s the truth. I swear to—”
She pressed her hands to his mouth, her smile fading. “Don’t do this to me, Judd. It isn’t fair.”
“At least you believe me.”
She edged around him and moved into the center of the room, surreptitiously wiping more beads of perspiration from her forehead. She was desperately in need of some breathing space.
She looked across at him, grateful that he’d remained standing near the door. She didn’t feel altogether safe, even from this distance. Only safer than she’d felt close up. “How about if I ask some of the questions?”
“Okay. Shoot,” he said, trying to pull off a nonchalant stance as he inwardly tried to prepare for the onslaught.
“Start with the braces.”
He smiled crookedly, revealing a mouth full of metal-work. “Yeah…the braces. I had a feeling you might ask about them. They’re…um…what you might call—”
“Bogus?”
He sighed. There was no point in making up some ludicrous story that she was not about to buy anyway. He held up his hands in surrender.
“It’s obvious you’re worried about being recognized by someone,” she said.
He felt an all-too familiar wave of guilt cut through him. He couldn’t meet her gaze.
“FBI?”
He looked her in the eye. “What?”
“Lucy—”
“IRS? CIA? Come on, Judd. I’m running out of letters here.”
“It’s just not something…I can talk about. At least not right now.”
She felt a mix of disappointment, irritation and frustration. “So, you’re saying you don’t trust me.”
Her remark triggered a lingering anxiety that she might be involved in some way in Kyle’s criminal activities. But Judd erased the feeling. Or at least he altered it. If she did have anything to do with it, he decided it was strictly inadvertent. But even if she knew nothing about her fiancé’s sticky fingers, Judd couldn’t risk confiding in her. Out of some misguided loyalty to Kyle, she might feel compelled to tip him off. He closed his eyes, trying to wish his way out of this situation.
“Judd, there is a way out of this mess you’ve gotten yourself into.”
He slowly opened his eyes. “There is?”
“Listen, I’ve covered enough stories like this. People, basically decent, well-meaning people who…got mixed up in something and then…realized they were trapped.”
Truer words had never been spoken, he thought.
“But you’re not trapped,” she said emphatically. “You can cut a deal.”
“Cut…a deal?”
“Turn state’s evidence against Morales. Depending on how much you know…Well, maybe you won’t get off scot-free…maybe you’d have to do some time, but it wouldn’t be nearly as long—”
“Lucy, I’m not going to prison.”
“They all say that, Judd.”
“Look, I’ll be able to explain everything to you later.” He felt a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach. If things went as he hoped with this assignment, she wouldn’t need or want him to explain anything to her.
She was exasperated. “Oh, please, Judd. If you’re going to stand there and lie to me—”
“I swear to you, this is one thing I’m not lying about.”
Her gaze narrowed. “You mean everything else has been a lie?”
“Wanting to kiss you again wasn’t a lie. The kiss we shared wasn’t a lie. And while I take full responsibility for having started it—” He moved toward her again. It seemed to be the only direction that made any sense to him, even though he knew, logically, it didn’t make any sense at all.
This time, when she backed up, she fell onto his bed.
He pointed his index finger at her. “You, Lucy Weston, contributed your full share—”
She straightened up just as he got to her. “You…you caught me…off guard.”
“I’ll grant you that. For the first few seconds,” he added with a teasing smile. The feel of her lips on his, their tongues entwined, her wet, naked, svelte body pressed to his, was almost as vivid now as it had been during their hot shower. He knew this last kiss, even more than the first, would be an indelible memory. He also knew that Lucy could not have responded to him the way she had if she truly was in love with Kyle Warner. Nor would she be so willing to help him. Albeit, as it had turned out, she thought he was the one in trouble with the law, not Kyle. But somehow he’d set things right with her. He had to. Ten years ago, he’d kept his longing for her locked inside himself. He’d never even tried to win her affection, much less her love. He’d convinced himself he didn’t stand a chance. Even with Kyle out of the picture.
Well, this time around, Kyle in the picture or not, Judd was going for the gold. Because that’s what Lucy was. Pure gold.
“Will you take those dumb braces off,” she muttered as she again dodged by him.
Judd gladly complied, tossing the sham metalwork onto the bedside table. He offered a wide smile. “Better?”
Damn him, she thought. It was better. “I can’t figure you out, Judd Turner. One minute you’re this…this—”
“Nerd?”
“And next minute you’re…Don Juan.”
“I guess you could say I’m a man of many sides.”
“And I’m not sure I care for any of them.” But she was lying through her teeth.
He picked right up on it. “If you’re not sure, that means you might care for at least one of them.” He knew he was taking a dumb, not to mention dangerous, detour from his assignment. He should be putting all these intense feelings for Lucy on temporary hold. But he could not dismiss the high voltage between them any more than she could.
“Let’s stop playing games, Judd. Either you’re going to come clean or I’m washing my hands of you.”
She waited, chin tilted up, toe tapping, arms folded across her chest.
He couldn’t let her walk out. But he couldn’t tell her the truth. And he couldn’t bear to make up any more lies. He was left in a complete quandary.
Lucy sighed. Then, without another word, she turned away and started for the door.
“Did you know Danielle Brunaud was involved with your pal, Rico Morales?”
She spun back around to face him. “What?”
“The rich investor Kyle was telling you about when we were—”
She held up a hand to stop him from finishing the sentence.
“He was talking about Rico Morales.”
“Why did you call Morales my pal?” she demanded. “If Morales is anyone’s pal, he’s yours.”
“And Danielle’s,” he said, deciding not to get into a discussion of his relationship—or current lack thereof—with the mobster.
“You’re sure about Danielle and Morales?” she clearly wasn’t convinced.
“They’re lovers. She told me herself.”
“Before or after the kiss?” Again she held up her hand to indicate she didn’t want an answer.
She started pacing. “So that’s why Danielle latched onto Kyle the instant she laid eyes on him. She wants to introduce him to Morales so that hood can rope him into investing some of his ill-gotten gains.”
For a second, Judd thought Lucy was owning up to her knowledge of her fiancé’s criminal tendencies. But then he realized she was referring to Morales. Another disquieting thought hit him.
“How well do you know Rico Morales, Lucy?”
She rolled her eyes. “What’s there to know? He’s a mobster. He’s been up the river. I’m sure he’s got his hooks into a lot of people just like you, Judd.”
He was wondering if the same thing had happened to her. Maybe she’d met him when she was covering his trial. Or before that. Maybe she’d covered the investigation. She might have done a story on him. Gotten an interview. Gotten to know him. Maybe she’d been misguided into believing she could help Morales go straight. Instead, he’d seduced her—
Was this the real reason she’d come to the reunion? Was Morales doubling his odds of getting Kyle Warner’s cooperation in whatever new felonious schemes he had in mind, by using both Danielle and Lucy as pawns?
“Judd, you’ve got to keep Morales from getting his hooks into Kyle.”
Hold everything, Judd thought, confused. Either he had it all wrong about Lucy setting Kyle up for her mobster lover or she was having second thoughts. Or…
Judd had another sickening thought. What if Lucy was afraid to cross the mobster, but she really didn’t want her future husband tied in with the mob? She could be using him as her pawn. She wouldn’t be the one keeping Kyle out of Morales’s clutches. She’d get good old Judd to do it.
Great. She wanted him to protect her crooked fiancé from her crooked mobster lover.
“It’s not that Kyle is…dishonest,” she said. “It’s just that he could be tempted…if a lot of money was involved….”
Maybe Kyle wasn’t the only one tempted by money. Maybe, deep down, Lucy wasn’t really all that different from Danielle Brunaud. Maybe Lucy was also driven by sex and money. Morales probably had both. Kyle certainly did. Judd was thrown by the whole idea.
“Oh, Kyle would convince himself there was nothing…wrong with what he was doing, but—”
“You mean he’s good at lying to himself.” Not to mention lying to you, Lucy. Not to mention you lying to me….
His mind was reeling. He couldn’t make sense of any of it.
Lucy bristled. “You’re the last person to be calling someone a liar, Judd Turner.”
He wearily expelled a breath. She was right. Who was he to talk?
Her expression softened. “I know you don’t…like Kyle, but…please look out for him…for my sake, Judd.” Her eyes locked onto his, her expression so earnest it broke his heart.
He sighed heavily. How had it all gone so wrong?