Chapter Nine

Lucas blinked. He hadn’t slept for long. His internal clock said it had to be past midnight, but he was awake as soon as he saw Harper, barefoot and wearing a cream-colored silk thingy…damn, he remembered that nightgown. He tugged the blanket over his lap to hide his instant hard-on. “Hi,” he said. “Can’t sleep?”

She tilted her head to the side, exposing her delicate neck, drawing his eyes to the silk covering her breasts, lush, her nipples erect. The hunger in his gut twisted and made it hard to breathe.

“Did you ever love me?” she said.

He still did, but her question was easier to answer, so he relaxed into it. “Yes.”

Something had prompted the question. He wasn’t sure she believed him but forced himself to be patient and wait for the real reason she sat before him. Her expression reminded him of a year ago, at the expensive restaurant he’d taken her to days before she’d left him. They’d been sipping champagne, he’d been scared shitless, teetering between doing what he wanted and what he thought was right. The engagement ring he’d bought on a whim burned in his jacket pocket. He’d had an epiphany; he’d give everything up, things he’d worked his entire career for, if it meant having her in his life. And the only thing stopping him was Harper didn’t ask it of him. He knew she wanted kids, a family life, to be part of his future. They both knew he’d have to change to be the kind of guy that deserved her. Sitting there in that restaurant, sipping champagne, it was scary knowing his happiness, so tied to this woman, was tenuous at best. Hence, the ring. He’d choked. Days later she left him and his two possible futures were whittled to none, his life a meal with no seasoning.

“It’s been a year, Harper.” She left him.

She pressed her hands over her heart. “I want you to know I trust you.”

Lucas leaned toward her, his knees touching hers, his heart on his sleeve, their breath intermingling. He’d take trust. He’d be grateful for trust. “Thank you.” He saw the struggle she was trying to hide. It seemed obvious to him that she wanted to tell him something, and the longer she took to speak, the more uneasy he became.

Harper covered her face and took a moment. When she dropped her hands, she was poised again. “I believe people, Lucas. I’m gullible. I just am. I don’t see that as a flaw. Believing people means I see the best in them. That’s a good thing.”

“It’s one of my favorite things about you.”

“Well, it’s caused me nothing but trouble.”

“What is this about? Closure?” Lucas took her hand, running his thumb along her palm. “For me or for you?” Her skin was soft. He missed touching her, couldn’t look her in the eye for fear of revealing this vulnerability. Vulnerability never won a girl. “This last year has been all about moving on for you.” He’d been the one who couldn’t find closure.

Harper tensed. “I don’t know what that means.”

“I know you said otherwise, but you seemed over me the moment you left. Admit it.” The words were out before he could rein them in, and then he felt the need to defend himself. “I understand that we broke up, and I understand that you’d want your distance, especially after what you’ve been dealing with this last year, but I don’t understand how you just turned off your feelings for me when you left. Unless you never really had them in the first place.”

“That’s not how it was.” Harper searched his face, rueful. “I was protecting you, Lucas. My family was poison in the precinct. And I was protecting me. Trying to be strong, I guess. I don’t know anymore.”

She’d mentioned this before, wanting to protect his career. Since that was all he’d admitted to wanting in life, why wouldn’t she believe that was his highest priority? Lucas had never felt more like an ass than he did now. “You broke my heart.”

“Lucas.” Harper blinked, as surprised as he’d ever seen her, and in that surprise, he saw what she’d hidden so well this last year. She still had feelings for him. He could see it. Then something, deep inside, unfolded and Lucas had to call her on that, to claim what was there for the taking.

“Turnabout is fair play. Did you ever love me, Harper?”

She was trembling, searching his expression for something. What, he had no idea. “You broke my heart, too,” she said.

Neither moved…then he leaned toward her, hesitated an inch from her lips, and held her gaze, waiting to see if she’d accept his kiss. When Harper threw her arms around his neck and kissed him with gusto, his heart burst with hope and happiness. He felt as if they were floating on air and all that existed was this kiss…and as it grew in intensity, it became less controlled. His body vibrated with so much contained hunger, his gut told him to take her now, take her hard. But he’d waited too long to rush this moment, so he took note of the pressure of her kiss, turn of her head, caress of her tongue tasting his. All while his body demanded he Take. Her. Now.

When she crawled on his lap, knees sinking in the couch on either side of him, his hands grabbed her ass and discovered her nakedness. His body reacted instantly. Hips rocking. Harper gasped as his brief-covered arousal connected with her soft warmth. She threw her head back, mouth open, seemingly surprised as her arousal grew, fed by his touch.

He needed her naked. Slipping the nightgown off, he feasted on her breast, savoring the sight of her, and the sound of her moans. When he had her rocking her hips against him, her tiny noises driving him wild, he sank his tongue in her mouth, drowning in her, reveling in sensations he’d thought never to experience again. Harper. How many nights had he longed to be with her as he was now? Too many to count, and there was no going back…unless she asked it of him.

Harper pulled at his briefs. Lucas broke their kiss, seeing the answer in her eyes. She wanted this as much as he did. “When all this shakes out,” she said, out of breath and trembling with want. “I’ll own my mistakes. I’ll pay for them.”

“I refuse to be your mistake.” He stood, holding her, keeping her flush with his body, as her legs locked around his hips. Then he hurried upstairs, kissing her, feeling his way to her bedroom, using the walls to guide him and the laptop’s light to find the bed.

Harper wiggled out of his arms only long enough to strip him of his briefs and then she sat on the bed’s edge, and pulled him toward her by the hips, kissing his belly, caressing him, licking and tasting until he trembled under her hands. It was agony and heaven…and then he couldn’t contain himself and pressed her onto the bed, splaying a hand between her breasts, kissing his way up her body until Harper was gasping and clutching the sheets, watching him, his lips, his tongue as he explored her. When her eyes glazed over, he covered her body with his, loving how her arms pulled him close.

“I missed this. You,” she said.

He’d missed her, too. “Losing you was the most devastating failure of my life.” He drew his palm up her belly, cupping her breast. She caught her breath as he drew his thumb over its tip, and rocked her hips against him, seeking him. It aroused him beyond measure.

Harper pulled him close, whispering. “Make me forget.”

“I’ll make you remember.” He nipped her lush bottom lip and then kissed her deeply, positioning himself. Harper wiggled, frantic to help, and with one stroke Lucas sheathed himself inside her, and it was like…coming home.

All his emotions—regret, longing, grief, and desire—swirled together, blending with a feeling of rightness he’d missed. As he loved Harper, as they moved in concert, eager and frenzied, he kissed her as she begged for harder, faster. Her desperate motions mirroring his, spiraling out of control, and then Harper shouted her release as Lucas was slammed by his own. She was spectacular. He was humbled.

“It was always you,” he said. The words surprised him, because he only now realized they were absolutely the truest thing he’d ever said. Always Harper, from the moment he met her. So where did that leave him?

If she heard his confession, Harper didn’t acknowledge it. Out of breath, eyes unfocused, she gasped through her response. “No matter what happens, I’m glad we had these last two days.”

“No matter what happens? You’ve crippled me.” He laughed, struggling to slow his breathing.

She was also out of breath, flushed, but as she held his gaze, he saw guilt. “Don’t freak out,” she said.

He noted her worry. “Talk to me.”

Harper hugged him close, and then kissed him with more vigor than passion. She’d said she trusted him. Had loved him. Whatever it was she had to share with Lucas was big enough that she’d felt it necessary to draw those lines of distinction.

He broke the kiss, saw her fear. Whatever was to come, he had to be ready. Rolling off the bed, hating that they were now subject to a distance that might last forever, he stepped into his briefs and braced himself. “Tell me.”

Harper bypassed the silk nightgown on the floor and instead grabbed a T-shirt, jeans, and her beat-up Converse sneakers. So whatever she had to say wasn’t something they could sleep on.

He watched as she picked up a broken necklace from her side table and held it out to him. When he looked closer, his breath left his body. He was shocked. Hurt.

“The locket,” he said. So she’d lied to Joe, to all of them in the interrogation room. Now Lucas’s fear had fertile ground. What had she done? “The locket. The one you said you didn’t remember.” She flushed, and he chastised himself to move on to the meat of the issue. “Why is it in pieces?”

“Doesn’t matter. But when it broke, I found a SIM card hidden in it.” She waved him over to her desk, and upon clicking the mouse, making the screen saver disappear, she revealed the document. “This is what was on it.”

He read the single line—Harper’s name, a familiar bank, its address, and a safe-deposit box number. His heart pounded. Flight or fight was in full bloom as he stepped away from the computer, listening to the house’s sounds. It was quiet but felt like a lull before the storm. “How long have you known about this?” He held his breath, controlling himself lest she drop another truth bomb that needed his focus.

“Moments before I woke you.” He believed her. Because he wanted to? Maybe, but he did.

“Is this it?”

“Isn’t it enough?”

“Folsom mentioned the locket yesterday. Why are you only finding the SIM card now?”

She shook her head with frustration. “At the time I thought he was…” She waved off the direction she was about to take the conversation. “It doesn’t matter now. I didn’t think he’d hidden a SIM card in the locket. And didn’t know it was there until I threw it against the wall.”

Once again, he believed her. “So Folsom did tell you where the list was in that meeting, you just didn’t realize it. The bastard. Though this might put him a few more rungs up the ladder of hell.”

“He gave me the list without telling me, put me in danger under the guise of giving me a gift. No. He gets no hand up any ladder, thank you very much.” Her hands trembled as she packed up the laptop, her gaze skittering around the room, searching shadows.

“I need to get dressed.” Lucas wasn’t sure who to contact first. Lieutenant Zimmerman, maybe. Then he’d contact IA. Shit. This was happening. Dane was going to champ at the bit to be involved. And Harper. He needed a safe house not connected to the MPD.

“What are we going to do?” she said.

“You’re going into protective custody.” He dialed his phone, ready to do just that. Harper grabbed it from his hand and disconnected the line.

“No.” She shook her head.

“Don’t fight me on this, Harper. I need to know you’re safe.”

“Caleb’s men are outside, and the FBI special agents follow us wherever we go. How much safer can I be? Just take the SIM card and bring it to the lieutenant. I’m fine here.”

“Don’t you understand?” Lucas grabbed her hands, forcing her to hold his gaze. “We know it’s not some imaginary list anymore. It’s real, and it is radioactive, Harper. Smith’s men, the FBI, they both want it for their own reasons, so I don’t trust them. Certainly not with your safety. So we slip away and hide you in a safe house until I can come up with a plan.”

“Well,”—she sighed and then shrugged—“if you can give our babysitters the slip, I have a place we can go.” She sounded confident, but this was Harper, not some secret agent. He hesitated, not sure what to say. “Trust me, Lucas.” Her confidence made him believe her. She was, after all, a MacLain. Why wouldn’t she know a place with the necessary security parameters to keep them safe? “You drive. I’ll navigate.”

Lucas threw on jeans, a T-shirt and sneakers, worried about the unfamiliar safe house Harper suggested. “Tell me about this place.”

“It’s where Dane put me and Elizabeth when he was building his case against Whitman Enterprises.”

His heart sank. “You were caught. Elizabeth was kidnapped.”

“Because I left. Wow, rub it in.” She turned the lights out and then peeked out the window. “Time for you to trust me, too. I’m telling you, this place is safe. And I don’t want to be around a bunch of strangers in some smelly protective-custody hotel room. I’ve heard stories my whole life about those accommodations. One word—bedbugs.”

“We need to contact your brother. I don’t care how safe your hideaway is, I’m not leaving you there alone. Your brother will keep you safe while I get the list.”

She walked to the bed and pulled a handgun out from under her pillow.

They’d just had raucous sex on and around that pillow. “Please tell me a bullet wasn’t chambered.”

“No.” Harper pulled back the slide. “Now one is.” She tucked it behind her in the waistband of her jeans, hidden under her T-shirt. “So what’s the plan? Caleb’s men aren’t slouches. How will we get past them?”

“I’ve been studying their movements—”

“You have?” She seemed impressed, and though part of him wanted to preen, the other part wondered if she had any clue about his credentials…what he’d done in his career.

He shook off the weight of his past. “They switch patrol responsibilities every half hour. Smart. Keeps them alert. But they meet up in the backyard by the hydrangeas, give their reports, and then split up again. In five minutes, they’ll meet there again. That gives us one escape route that either they or the feds on the street can’t see at all times.”

Harper’s eyes widened. “What are you talking about? They chose their meeting place well—it gives either them or the feds a complete view of the circumference of the property. Unless you intend to jump out of my bedroom window and into a rosebush.”

Lucas grimaced and tapped his watch. “We have four minutes before they meet. We’ll have thirty seconds to get it done, and there’s still a risk of getting caught.” He pushed aside the drapes. Smith’s men were still in place, glancing at their watches. “If they catch us—”

“They’re Caleb’s people, Lucas.”

“Exactly, Harper. He’s a criminal.”

“He’s Marnie’s friend. If they catch us we’ll be embarrassed, but nothing more. I know you don’t like him—”

“We’ll lose our shot to get away. There will be no shaking them after that. So we get it done the first time, or risk bringing the problem to Zimmerman and hope for the best. Are you okay with that?”

Harper nodded, glanced out the window, and then studied the room. She indicated the bed and they both stripped it, tying the sheets together and then to the bed post. “If we move the bed closer to the window, we won’t have to drop that far,” she said.

Lucas easily moved the four-poster bed closer and knew there was no way it would carry his weight without making a lot of noise. Window to the ground was at least fifteen feet, and though he’d jumped from greater heights, it’d been from a helicopter into water, not onto a rosebush. “Beggars can’t be choosers.”

He carefully opened the window and screen and saw Smith’s men tense, giving a last look at their area of responsibility in preparation of moving. His watch said it was almost time. Barely breathing, Lucas waited, and when they finally moved, he threw the sheet out the window, grabbed Harper’s satchel and put it over his shoulder, and then he gripped her wrist, as she gripped his, and then lowered her out the window. When she could go no lower, Harper grabbed the sheet and slid quietly down its length, pushing off the side of the house to avoid the rosebush below.

Smith’s men were giving their reports. He had moments left before they’d be in position to see him and Harper race across the yard. Lucas didn’t take a chance that his weight would cause the sheet to pull on the bedpost, crashing the bed into the windowsill, so he lowered himself down, hanging from the sill. Kicking off the house, he dropped, cleared the rosebushes and rolled, never stopping his momentum, but rather grabbing Harper and running to the edge of her yard. He lifted her up and over the fence separating the yards, and then hopped it himself. They didn’t stop running until Lucas was sure they were in the clear, then he pulled Harper into the shadows of a closed convenience store and pulled out his phone, dialing Dane.

There’d be no sleeping tonight.