Reluctantly, he turned around and found her standing a few feet away, wearing his flannel shirt once again and looking all warm and soft and sleep-tousled. In that moment, all he wanted to do was take her back to his bedroom, strip off their clothes, and make love to her again. To lose himself, mind and body and soul, in her giving body, in her sweet, drugging kisses, and forget about Zach and his lies, and Joel's own deceit.
But that wasn't going to happen. In fact, it wouldn't happen again,
No, somewhere along the way the entire situation had gotten emotionally complicated, and so fucking personal. And as a result he'd lost his edge and his ability to remain focused. Lost those instincts that kept his senses sharp and honed and enabled him to keep his client out of danger. It was obvious to him that his desire for Lora had become too damned distracting, to the point that he'd grown lax. Too comfortable. So caught up in the awareness and sexual tension between them that he'd let his guard drop long enough for Zach's thugs to get their hands on her.
Knowing that the next time could be deadly, he couldn't afford to make that kind of mistake again. Which meant he had to distance himself from his attraction to Lora, and keep his lust in check. Had to keep his head in the game and make her safety a priority, and he couldn't do that if he was constantly thinking about getting Lora naked again.
'You were talking to Zach, and he is obviously keeping something from me that you know about,' Lora said, bringing his thoughts back to the discussion at hand. 'What's going on, Joel?'
He watched as she approached him, her gaze searching his for answers in the still dim, shadowed room. He'd prefer that she heard the full story from her brother, but Zach hadn't given Joel that option, and he was done lying, done pretending to be someone he wasn't, and done covering Zach's ass.
He switched on a nearby lamp, set his cell phone on the coffee table, and released a deep sigh before facing her again, 'Zach's in trouble, Lora.
She crossed her arms over her chest, drawing his gaze to the full swells of her breasts peeking from the low V where she'd buttoned his shirt. 'I think I've figured out that part already,' she said wryly. 'Why and how does Zach's situation involve me?'
There was no easy way to couch the ugly, disturbing truth, so he didn't even try. 'Because Zach used the life insurance policy on you as collateral for a loan so he could gamble some more and get himself out of debt,' he said bluntly. 'Except now he's in deeper shit than before and his 'friends' are demanding payment, or they'll go straight to the source to get it themselves.'
Lora's eyes widened in disbelief and her hand fluttered to her throat, her fingers pressing against the red mark still visible on her neck. 'And that's me. Dead.'
'Yeah, that's usually how those insurance policies work,' he said grimly.
'Oh, God,' she breathed. Stunned, she sat down on the sofa, then her gaze cut to his. 'And all this time, you knew.'
It wasn't a question, but a statement of fact. 'Yeah, I knew. Zach called me a few weeks ago and told me everything. He knew those guys were going to come after you eventually, and he asked me to watch over you until he could get the money together to pay back the loan.'
She swallowed hard. 'How much does he owe them?'
'Over fifty grand,' he said, and watched her complexion pale even more.
She was quiet for a long moment, and Joel gave her the time to process everything he'd just told her. He'd always known that she was a strong, capable woman, but her relatively low-key reaction to learning that her brother pretty much sold her life to enable his gambling habit proved it. Most people would have been frantic, hysterical, and emotionally distraught, yet here Lora sat, trying to sort out the facts. He couldn't help but admire her for that internal fortitude and her ability to remain calm in the face of such devastating news. However, he also suspected that this was the calm before the storm, that soon her composed demeanor would shift to a very justified anger.
'So,' she said, a small, pained smile on her lips. 'Our meeting at The Electric Blue wasn't some kind of coincidence, was it?'
He shook his head. 'No, it was planned.'
'Oh, wow.' Lora exhaled a deep breath, feeling as though her world as she knew it had tilted on its axis. And in a big way, it had, considering nothing had been as it seemed.
But knowing the truth now explained so much. Like Joel's single-minded pursuit in order to stay close to her. His resisting the attraction between them because it went against that code of honor of his when their meeting had been based on a pretense. But there were other questions, important ones, that still remained unanswered.
She glanced back at Joel, who stood just a few feet away, his arms crossed over his wide chest and his expression as guarded as his attitude. Last night he'd been her rock, her anchor in a very stormy, turbulent sea of shock and confusion. Now, he looked like what she knew him to be… her protector, a man who'd promised her brother that he'd watch over her. And he was back to taking that job very seriously.
'Why didn't you tell me about Zach's debt and my part in it?' she asked.
A muscle in his cheek ticked, and he scrubbed a hand over the dark stubble on his jaw before answering. 'Because I promised Zach that I wouldn't tell you the truth.'
Judging by the reserved look in his eyes, she suspected there was more to that simple reply than he was letting on. 'Why not?' she asked curiously. 'Wouldn't it have just been easier if I knew what I was up against?'
'Hell, yeah,' he said with a dry little laugh. 'If you knew, last night with those thugs
'So why keep everything a secret?' she persisted.
He hesitated, his reluctance to reveal that part of his agreement with Zach nearly tangible. Then, he obviously decided that honesty at this point was the best option. No more lies between them. 'There's two reasons, actually. First, Zach didn't want you to know what he'd done, because he was afraid this would be the final straw for you when it comes to him, considering this isn't the first time he's gotten himself into this kind of situation.'
'As upset as I am about Zach's gambling addiction and what he did with my insurance policy, he's my brother and I love him. Nothing will ever change that, but it's so clear that he needs professional help.'
'Yeah, he does,' Joel agreed gruffly.
'And the second reason?' she asked, wanting to hear it all.
'I owed Zach for saving my life in Iraq.' His eyes grew dark and shadowed, and uncompromising. 'If that meant promising him I wouldn't tell you that your life was in danger while protecting you, it was a small favor to agree to, considering what he did for me.'
Lora stared at Joel in shock. Her brother had saved his life? Good Lord, what had he endured in the military? What had Zach gone through, as well? A huge lump formed in her throat, and she spoke around it. 'What happened?'
'Look, this conversation isn't about me,' he said, pushing aside her too-personal question to redirect the discussion back to business. 'It's about you and keeping you safe until Zach gets his shit together.'
Lora knew it was a very real possibility that her brother wouldn't be able to come up with the fifty grand, or more, that he owed. Which meant not only her life was in danger, but Zach's as well. And that thought was enough to make her feel physically sick.
Knowing she had to do whatever she could for Zach, she stood up and approached Joel with her idea. 'I have over twenty-five thousand sitting in a savings account that I've accumulated over the years. I've been putting it away so I could use it to open my own spa one day, but if that money means helping Zach get out of the trouble he's in, then I'm willing to use it for that.'
Joel's brows rose incredulously. 'Just a few hours ago you told me that you've bailed him out of similar situations before. And now you want to do it again?'
'He's in trouble, Joel, and he's my brother,' she said, a little angry that he'd question her solution.
'You don't get it, do you?' He jammed his hands onto his hips and moved closer, so that he was in her face and being brutally honest and straight with her. 'You're
