Lucca (18 page)

He most certainly did not. He was about to
say, but Juliet turned her gaze on him and all coherent words left
him. The sun shone through the window, making her reddish strands
glisten. Her green eyes lit up as they touched him with
appreciation. Damn the woman. She made him a bumbling imbecile.

“Thank you. I saw my front door open and I
panicked.”

“Owen may come over anytime.”
Did he just
say that? What the heck? He didn’t need a snot-nose boy and his
feline disturbing his peace and quiet.

“That’s sweet of you.” Juliet’s lips curved
and her hand landed on his forearm, warmth radiated through him in
areas that had no business feeling pleased at her touch. He stepped
away before he committed himself to anything else. She thought he
was sweet.
Sweet
. His mind cringed at the word. He was not
sweet.

Juliet turned toward her nephew then. “Come
on, Owen. Say thank you to Mr. Marlowe.”

Owen looked like he didn’t want to leave,
but he pushed back his chair and stood. “Thank you, Mr. Marlowe.
I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Lucca opened his mouth to say no he
wouldn’t, but the boy bolted past him like lightning.

“I’ll see you later?” Juliet asked. Hope
radiated from her eyes.

He needed to back off fast. “Sure. I’ll be
home around six or seven.”

She nodded. “The same. I’ll see you then.”
She strode out the door, closing it behind her and he just stood
there like a lame-arse, wondering what had just happened.

Mrrrow….mrrow…

He looked down at Tiger Lilly rubbing
against his pant leg and purring like she found a friend. “Oh, no
you don’t.” He leaned down and scooped the cat up. Taking sure
strides to the door, he threw it open intent on throwing the cat
out the door, but Owen stood there, making him hesitate.

They stared at each other for a blink of a
moment before Owen’s outstretched hands demanded he release the
feline into his care. Fine and dandy. No arguments there. He
dropped fourteen pounds of feline into the boy’s arms. Owen’s lips
curved into a huge grin. “Thanks for taking care of Tiger Lilly.
She likes you, you know.”

“What do I care if the cat likes me,” he
grumbled, making Owen break out into a giggle. Dear Lord, the boy
thought him humorous.

“I don’t mean Tiger Lilly. I mean my Auntie
Jules.” He turned and ran back to his apartment, leaving Lucca
staring after him.

“Humans,” he said and slammed the door.
She likes you.
The boy’s words followed him in like a
trailing ghost persistent to make contact. Against his will, the
words nestled inside his heart.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Juliet dropped Owen at school before going
to work, picking up a coffee on the way in. Her vanilla latte
tasted like heaven, hot and frothed with a topping of milk foam,
just the way she liked it.

Seated at her desk, she worked on neglected
paperwork, hoping to weed through the files that needed her
attention.

She’d panicked this morning. All coherent
thoughts left her brain, but when it came to losing Owen her heart
threatened to stop.

At work, the top priority was the Leroy
Fennings’ case. Only she knew they would never find the
perpetrator. His file would be put in the cold case bin and
eventually forgotten. She wondered how many of those cold cases had
actually been preternatural business?

She reached for her coffee cup, indulging as
she waited for the caffeine to kick in. The noise in the office was
at a minimum this morning—phones ringing, chattering about what
people did last night, and file cabinets being opened and closed.
As she worked, her mind kept wandering to Leroy. She missed the
Angel with his quick human quips and warm embraces. God, she hoped
Zaiden found the S.O. B. who killed Leroy and eliminated him.

She took a ragged breath, wondering when she
had decided being a vigilante was okay with her, but there it
was.

Leroy dealt with humans and preternatural
beings, a likable sort on both realms. It didn’t sit well that
someone wanted him dead and ended up making it happen.

“I need to let this one go.” She tapped her
pencil on her desk. It wasn’t like she could arrest anyone. The
preternatural beings would have better luck apprehending the one
responsible. They tended to take care of their own.

Leroy’s death had to be the result of
something the Angel was involved in since no one came after her and
Owen. Everything remained quiet, maybe too quiet.

Raziel hadn’t contacted them in a while, but
it didn’t mean anything had happened to him. Raziel disappeared on
occasion. He didn’t recognize time as she did. She understood he
needed to keep his distance. If he showed up on their doorstep too
often, it would draw attention. Besides, if she had to, she knew
how to contact him. She hoped she never had to resort to the S.O.S.
he gave her. If she did, it would mean an extraction.

She liked it here. Owen had made friends at
school. She met Lucca, too. Whatever that might mean in the future,
she at least wanted the chance to find out.

Fate has a way of finding you.
Leroy’s last conversation with her made her wonder again what he
wanted to talk to her about. He asked her if she met the neighbors
as if it was somehow important that she did. Had he meant Lucca?
Leroy would have liked him, probably had liked him. He trusted him
enough to call him when he thought he was in danger.

Lucca was a private man, a little rough
around the edges when it came to relationships, but he was
intelligent, versed in the arts, and enthusiastic about literature
as she was. Owen adored him, too. Even knowing all this, she still
didn’t really know the man. He was keeping something from her. She
couldn’t pinpoint what it could be, but she’d been hiding long
enough to recognize the signs of someone keeping secrets.

“We got a call.” Tony Squires called to her
from his desk.

She looked at him.

“There’s been another murder. Looks like the
same M.O. as the Fennings’ case.”

Same M.O.? If so, another Watcher had been
murdered.

“You coming?” Squires stood donning his
jacket. The guy’s suits fit him well, always neat and pressed. He
was a regular nice guy. She knew he went home after his shifts, if
he wasn’t meeting some of the boys after work. Why hadn’t she
fallen for him? No, she had to fall for a guy with secrets.

Juliet pushed back her chair with a heavy
sigh. “Yeah, I’ll meet you out front,” she called to him.

Chapter Twenty-Four

The house was on Lakeshore Drive in Orange.
Tony Squires drove the unmarked Chevrolet Impala, the cruiser that
had been assigned to them. He parked the vehicle in front of the
house.

The forensic team was already there. Officer
George Channing was keeping the curious neighbors at bay. He nodded
to them as they entered the front of the one story house where Tim
Hammond, a rookie, stood in the living room, sporting a nice shade
of green over his surfer’s tan. He and Channing were the first on
the scene.

“He’s…the vic… What’s left of him is in the
kitchen,” Hammond’s eyes watered as he tried to hold it together.
Most likely this was his first homicide. It never got easier. You
just learned to hide it better.

“The kitchen again,” Squires cursed. “What’s
with this bastard? Killing them over a cup of coffee or what?”
Squires stayed with Hammond, while Juliet went to speak with the
M.E. and find out if they were looking for the same killer.

As she neared the kitchen, her feet
faltered. It was like evil hung in the air, waiting to suck the
life out of the next victim. She looked back at her partner,
debating if she should let him question the medical examiner. “Get
a grip, Romeo, and do your job.” She straightened her shoulders and
strode forward.

Her gaze landed on a man kneeling down next
to Georgia—long burnished strands of wheat-colored hair was tied
back in a neat ponytail. Broad shoulders strained against a navy
blue T-shirt. There was no mistaking who the man was.
Lucca.

As if he sensed her, his back stiffened and
he turned his head. She swore his blue-gray eyes blazed brighter,
but with a blink of an eye they resumed their normal intensity. He
rose to his full height in one fluid move, taking the steps that
separated them. How could such a large man move as though every
muscle, every joint was under his command? He reminded her of the
predator cats in the wild with their mesmerizing eyes that missed
nothing and the strength, endurance, and graceful moves that could
turn lethal at the spur of the moment.

“What are you doing here?” She couldn’t keep
the accusation out of her voice, but this was the second time she
came across him at a brutal murder site. There had been too many
coincidences with this man and she felt she was somehow missing the
bigger picture.

“Same as you, it would seem.” His brows drew
down over his straight nose. He possessed perfect bone structure, a
face designed to make a woman whimper with lust. Even the M.E. gave
him a once over, sweeping her gaze over his faded blue jeans that
fit Lucca exceptionally well. Georgia’s tongue slid over her lips
as if she planned on tasting a delectable treat. Juliet’s hands
fisted and it took all her control not to leap over the crime scene
and slap her desire-lit face.

Her foot moved forward, but she stopped
herself.
Good Lord, what was wrong with her?
She forced
herself to relax her hands, wiggling her fingers to get the blood
circulating into them again. Jealousy was a new emotion to her and
she didn’t like it.

“Juliet, are you listening to me?” The
concerned tone of Lucca’s voice drew her back, but she couldn’t
talk to him here where Georgia could hear what they were
saying.

Her hand snaked out, taking hold of Lucca’s
arm. His skin felt warm to the touch and smooth with no traces of
fine hair that most men possessed. Odd, he didn’t strike her as a
man who would wax. Were his legs smooth to the touch, too? Her gaze
landed on the Celtic scrolled tattoo on his forearm. She hadn’t
noticed it before. She led Lucca away in hope of a little
privacy.

She halted their steps at the back door,
which was situated near the laundry room and adjacent to the
kitchen. “Explain why you’re here again.” She folded her arms
against her chest as she stared at him, her anger building. She
didn’t like to be lied to and Lucca couldn’t possibly have a good
reason to be here.

His wheat colored brows rose high on his
forehead obviously noticing her odd behavior. Anger, jealousy...
her emotions were roller-coastering all over the place. “I told
you,” he said slowly. “I’m investigating the murder.”

“You’re a private detective, Lucca. No one
called you in as a consultant.”

His lips pursed together as if he didn’t
want to reveal his connection to the case. Finally, he let out a
sigh. “Purcible Andrews hired me to investigate a break in.”

She eyed him closely. He was lying or a part
of what he told her was a lie. She noted the way his gaze shifted
as if he didn’t want to meet her eyes.

“Two people, who hired
you
have met
their demise, and all in the same week. Seem a little suspicious to
you?”

His large shoulders lifted in a nonchalant
shrug.

“You know I need to report this,” she told
him.

“You need to do what you have to, Juliet. I
won’t stop you.” His expression turned grim. Something was wrong,
as if he was trying to piece together a puzzle, but one of the
pieces came up missing. This time he did meet her gaze. “Did you
know him?”

“Excuse me? What are you talking about? No.”
She hadn’t considered that she knew the vic. Purcible Andrews was a
preternatural being. Could she have met him at Leroy’s?

Lucca took a frustrated breath. “I’m going
to go out on a limb here. You have to tell me the truth.”

“Okay.” She looked at him, waiting for him
to tell her what he thought was so important. Whatever it was,
unease crept into his gaze. “Evil,” she murmured under her breath.
Her hand automatically went to her amulet. She rubbed the metal
between her thumb and forefinger, saying a silent prayer to ward
off the presence weighing down on her.

Her emotions were heightened here in the
house as if the residue left behind, fed off of negative energy,
bringing the worst out in her—jealousy number one on the list.
Suspicion burrowed into her pores, contaminating any rational
thoughts. Her body convulsed, a small tremor as the magic expelled
the black essence weighing down on her, pushing it away and
building a wall around her to keep her safe.

“You tremble,” Lucca had noticed. “You feel
the presence too, don’t you?”

Her gaze riveted to his. He felt the evil.
How? She sensed it because of Raziel’s gift to sense preternatural
danger, but how was Lucca sensitive to it?

His frown deepened, his hands gripping her
shoulders as he stared at her with worry. “Are you okay?”

She let the amulet slip from her fingers as
she went into his arms. Her cheek rested against his chest where
she could hear his heart beating faster than it should. “Hold me,
Lucca. Hold me.”

His hand landed in the middle of her back,
anchoring her against him in a fierce hug. He breathed her in and
for the first time she understood why he did so. To her, Lucca’s
scent filled her with longing, but also with something more. His
essence gave her peace. It shut out all the evil around her,
allowing her to think clearly again. She pushed back only to look
at him. The restless desire in his eyes made her heart race. It was
the same fierce longing that coursed through her. He lowered his
mouth to hers. His kiss was demanding and fierce as if he poured
everything he had into the caress. He awakened something in her
that had never been touched before and it scared her to know how
much he was beginning to mean to her. She shifted, pulling away if
only to take a needed breath.