Trust Me: The Lassiter Group, Book 1 (9 page)

For a moment Max envied their close relationship, one she’d become convinced wasn’t in her future. Aside from few men lining up to get involved with a cop who always put her job first, forgetting that she was presently wanted for murder, she wasn’t sure her heart was ready to trust anyone after her last boyfriend, Wade, had used her to advance his career.

Dating Wade had made sense in the beginning since they both understood the job, but as far as reasons to get married went, it fell short. It just shouldn’t have taken Wade breaking things off when he was promoted to make her see that. Adding insult to injury, Wade had also been one of the first to believe she’d been taking bribe money from Blackwater.

She had foolishly believed everyone who knew her would instantly dismiss the possibility she was a dirty cop. Turns out it didn’t matter how many how many lives she’d improved through her job or how many criminals she’d help put away. One seed of doubt planted by Blackwater was all it took to make conversations cease the second she walked into the room at work. “And now our sex life is better than ever,” Henry added, drawing her back into the present.

This time it was Max and Lucas’s eyes that met and held. Somewhere in the intense green depths she swore she glimpsed the same surreal humor she felt at the course their conversation had taken.

“We’re only a couple of miles from the next town. Where about would you like to be dropped off?”

“A gas station would be fine,” Lucas answered.

Charlotte stood up. “I certainly hope you two get back on track. It would be a real shame for such a lovely young couple to drift apart over something like this.”

The amusement vanished from his eyes when he glanced at Max. “It would be a real shame, especially when I need you so much.”

“We’re done talking about it, Lucas.” Ignoring him, Max focused on the scenery sliding past the window.

He leaned toward her, his gravelly voice deep and his breath warm on the back of her neck. “I’m not giving up.”

“I’m going to enjoy shooting you then,” she snapped under her breath, trying to tamp down the rising awareness of exactly how close he was.

Charlotte and Henry dropped them in front of a gas station situated right across from a
Tim Hortons
. Her mouth salivated at the thought of the steaming coffee she’d become addicted to since she’d been staying with Sherri.

Before she could thank the couple, Charlotte enveloped her in a motherly embrace and told her to be patient with Lucas. Erectile Dysfunction was a challenge she and Lucas needed to overcome together.

Oh, how she wanted to laugh out loud.

She didn’t wait for Lucas, who was still shaking hands with Henry, but thanked the couple and strode across the street for coffee. As she walked, she dug into her bag for change. The first steaming sip would be exactly the jumpstart her brain needed to figure out her next move.

Lucas followed her from the counter to the table. She did her best to pretend he wasn’t there as the hot liquid slid down her throat. She gulped down more than half of it before she acknowledged him.

“You still here?”

“You know I need—”

“My help,” she finished. “I get it, but what you don’t seem to understand is that I don’t care.”

“I thought you and Cara were friends.”

“Cara’s dead,” she snapped. The second the words left her mouth, she wanted to take them back. A cold fist squeezed her heart and she looked down at the table.

“Come on, Max, you were there. You must have seen something.”

Too much. Too fucking much. Nausea swirled in her stomach, and she jerked to her feet.

“Where are you going?”

“Ladies’ room.” Max brushed past him when he stood to block her path, her annoyance level spiking when he followed on her heels.

Outside the door, he leaned against the wall. “I’ll be waiting right here for you.”

A scathing reply perched on the tip of her tongue, but being on the verge of throwing up she only glared at him and rushed inside.

She didn’t wait for the door to shut completely, but darted into one of the stalls. Her stomach heaved as she collapsed over the ceramic bowl. Chills raced across her skin and her hands trembled.

Images whirled through her mind of what some faceless bastard had done to Cara, his back to her as she’d been forced to watch it happen.
Christ.

Max heard the door open, knew it was Lucas before he spoke. “You okay?”

Like he cared. “Yeah, fine. I’ll be out in a minute.” Max squeezed her eyes shut when the door closed, wishing she were anywhere but here.

It took a few minutes before she regained control and climbed to her feet. In front of the mirror, she took note of the dark circles under her eyes.

Cara.

Another twist of guilt made her insides wobble. If she hadn’t agreed to help Cara with her investigation maybe she could have stopped it and—

Silencing the pointless train of thought, Max clenched her hands until they stopped shaking. Was Lucas on the level? Was he really Cara’s brother?

For the last half hour she’d wracked her brain, trying to remember anything Cara had mentioned about her brother, but she continued to come up with nothing. She was sure Cara had mentioned him frequently, but the details were fuzzy with time, even his name.

Did he really just want to see his sister’s killer brought to justice? Or did he have another motive? Either way it meant nothing to her. She was on her own—no one else could get hurt that way.

And then there was Sherri. Max still hadn’t called her. Had she told the police Max’s name, or shown them a picture? It would make it more difficult to move around if the RCMP was keeping an eye out for her.

The door burst open, a thousand pounds of teenage girls swallowing the small space with their high-pitched voices and ear piercing giggles.

It took Max only a few seconds to realize these girls were her ticket to get free and clear of Lucas.

“How’s the fishing?”

Lucas froze at the sound of Joe Lassiter’s voice on the other end of Tess’s phone. “Not too bad.”

“Any bites?”

Was he still talking about fishing, or had Tess changed her mind about keeping Joe out of the loop? “Here and there,” he answered vaguely.

If Joe was still unaware of the situation, Lucas wasn’t about to fill him in until he had Max cooperating. There was little point in getting Joe’s hopes up if she somehow managed to ditch him.

“How are you doing, really?”

“Surprisingly, ready to get back to work.” He eyed the bathroom door, wondering how Max was holding up. Either she’d been more shaken up by their accident than she let on, or the mention of Cara had upset her.

“I should have something for you and Eli in another few days,” Joe said.

“Great.”

“I’m glad you took some time, Luc.” Joe lowered his voice. “I know I’ve said it before, but no one blames you. And even Caleb has been asking where you disappeared to.”

Lucas leaned against the wall to let a group of girls pass him. “The same Caleb who rarely speaks to me at all and when he does only uses one or two syllables at a time?”

“When you actually stay in the room long enough for anyone to talk to you, you mean?” Joe sighed. “Caleb’s coming around.”

“Yeah, maybe I’ll have him up to a full sentence or two by the end of the year.”

“She’d be pissed at the two of you, you know.”

He blew out a breath, imagining just how furious Cara would be. “I know.”

“I’ll see you back here in a day or two.” Joe hung up, and Lucas slid his phone into his pocket.

He heard the door open and looked up just as a dozen hysterical females pounced on him.

Jesus.

He had just enough time to brace himself before the girls surrounded him.

“Can I have your autograph?”

“Me too.”

A third girl yanked down her shirt. “You can sign me right here.” She pointed to her cleavage.

He whipped around, swearing that one of them had just grabbed his ass. Had they all skipped breakfast this morning or something, or were they high?

“Hey!” he snapped at whoever at pinched his ass a second time. “I think you have me confused with someone else.”

Two of the girls shook their heads. One of them, a short blonde with wide brown eyes and braces said, “We know who you are, the lady in the bathroom already told us.”

“What lady…?” Max. Damn it.

Taking an opening, he slipped past the shortest two and checked the ladies room.

Empty.

She must have slipped right by him when the girls had surrounded him.

“Let me by,” he insisted turning around to squeeze past his entourage. As a group, the girls pressed in closer, backing him against the wall.

This was not happening. Not the Viagra conversation with Henry or the worshipful looks on the teenage faces in front of him. And not Max slipping away on him. Again.

If he had a prayer of catching up to her, he needed to go. Now.

Without knocking any of the girls over—barely—he pushed his way free and ran out to the parking lot. He scanned the surrounding area. No pink sweater in sight.

Fuck.

In one direction, he took note of a car dealership, a gas station and a hole in the wall tourist bureau. In the other, a pizza place, a book store and a strip mall. Both sidewalks in either direction were empty.

Which way had she gone?

A bark of laughter caught his attention. Pivoting on his heel, Lucas saw two men leaning against a dark green SUV, sipping coffee.

“I don’t suppose one of you guys saw a woman walk by a few seconds ago. Pink sweater, black hair?” Lethal determination.

“Great rack?” One of them joked.

Lucas ground his jaw, not in the mood to screw around. “So you saw her?”

“Yeah, she headed that way.” The taller one vaguely motioned in the direction of the strip mall.

Lucas thanked them and took off down the street. This would be the absolute last time she got away from him. Whether she liked it or not, from now on she’d be joined at the hip or unconscious.

Stopping at each shop on the main road long enough to peer through the front window, he searched for any sign of Max.

Outside a crowded bakery, the smell of fresh bread and doughnuts made his stomach rumble. How long had it been since he last ate? He’d devoured a drive-thru burger and fries on his way into Riverbend yesterday, but nothing since.

His stomach rumbled again. Food was next on his agenda, right after he found Max.

After passing half a dozen stores with no sign of her, Lucas wondered if she’d bribed the two men to lie about which way she’d gone…

A flash of pink snared his attention, and he stared through the window of a woman’s clothing store just as Max disappeared through a doorway in the back. A changing room or a back door?

Stepping inside, he approached the counter. The sales clerk looked up from a crossword book.

“Hi,” he began, his voice purposely low so Max wouldn’t hear. “I’m looking for my wife. This tall—” he held up his hand to chin level, “—beautiful blue eyes, sexy smile. Looks great in pink.”

The clerk smiled knowingly. “She’s in the back trying on a couple things.”

“Would it be all right if I went on back? I want to surprise her with something.”

“No problem.”

Lucas moved as quietly as possible to the changing rooms. After confirming Max was the only one in the back, he tested the handle and, surprised to find it unlocked, shoved the door open—

And found Max naked from the waist up.

Chapter Six

Swallowing past the rough spot in his throat, he slipped inside.

Max grabbed her sweater and hugged it to her chest. With her hands occupied, he snatched her bag off the stool and tossed it into the aisle before closing the door.

“Get out.” Her normally round eyes were tiny slits.

Lucas imagined she was more annoyed at being caught off-guard than cornered in a four-by-four square box with only a pink fuzzy sweater between them.

That was for him to worry about. Even without a gun, Max was dangerous, but his mind wasn’t focused on defending himself. Instead, it was preoccupied with the slope of her shoulders and how the ill-positioned sweater revealed enough curves to set his senses on edge.

“I said,
get out
,” she hissed.

Lucas forced his attention to her face. “No.”

“Then turn around.”

“And give you the opportunity to jump me again? Sure,” he drawled.

“Fine.” Max dropped the sweater, and it took way more effort than it should have not to look.

He would have been just fine, except the hostility slowly drained from her face, replaced with something too raw and vulnerable to be misinterpreted for any kind of sexual ploy.

At least that’s what he told himself when she slid on a new bra. The one at her feet was ripped, her sweater too, and stained with blood. It was then he noticed the angry scratch that curved down from her side and slashed across her abdomen.

“You okay?”

She angled her body away from him, reaching back to clip her bra and wincing as the material tightened over the scratch. “You’re getting better at sounding like you care.”

“Maybe I do.” He stepped closer to her. “Turn around.”

“Why?”

“Just do it, Max.”

Watching him in the mirror, she did as he asked, which surprised him. He brushed her hands away, then proceeded to take a full minute to get the tiny clasp to hook properly.

“I hope you’re better at taking one off.” Her gaze darted away from him, a flush of pink creeping into her cheeks. “That didn’t come out the way I meant.”

“So let me get this straight. Shoot-outs and car accidents don’t shake you up, but lingerie does? Interesting.”

Interesting like the pretty lace edging on her bra strap, especially where it curved over her shoulder. He slid his finger beneath the strap, running his thumb over the satin material, up to the exact spot he’d been staring at since moving closer to her—the tempting curve where her neck and shoulder met.

The perfect place to press his mouth and run his tongue across her skin…

Christ, he was having problems. Two of them, he quickly realized, as he caught her reflection and noticed her nipples were hard and pushing against her bra.