Was he making her beg to do something she didn’t even really want to do?
“Juliet, wait—”
“Because I don’t want to get either of us hurt or killed. And I’m scared. But I’m more scared of the drones being used on innocent people. I couldn’t live with myself if I had a chance to stop it, but was too much of a coward.”
Evan couldn’t take any more. He rose and went to her. He gripped her biceps gently, running his thumbs along the smooth skin of her arms. “Yes, I believe all those things I said. Nothing has changed that—even though you’re now the one with the bachelor death pad.”
Evan kissed her softly, briefly. But he knew this wasn’t the time for anything more, so he pulled away. “You can do anything you set your mind to. I’ve never doubted that for a moment.”
“I’m afraid I’ll screw up.”
“I’m afraid I’ll screw up, too. But we won’t. We’ll just work together and do what we do best,” Evan said with a wink. “Catch some bad guys and save the world.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Something released inside Juliet. A weight lifted off her shoulders now that the truth about the sweetheart emails, as they decided to call them, was out in the open. They took her computer to Omega to be examined. She explained to Evan that she’d tried using Omega resources before, but agreed the sheer volume of emails she’d received over the past few weeks warranted a second look. Maybe there’d be some clue about who was sending them.
Evan also helped Juliet make a dent in cleaning up her house. It wasn’t actually dirty—she hadn’t left food out or anything that had attracted any sort of bugs, and none of it was garbage. Instead, the clutter consisted mostly of old reports, files, books, maps, mail.
Almost as if her subconscious had attempted to build a fortress of paper around her.
When Evan opened the drapes covering her windows, Juliet watched, blinking rapidly as her eyes attempted to adjust. It had been months since this much light had been let into this house. Letting light in being a fitting metaphor.
They didn’t spend all day in the house, knowing there was too much other pressing business from the case. Juliet packed a bag so she could stay at Evan’s place for a few days. It would be better, just in case they were ever followed, if they seemed to live in the same house.
Juliet knew that tomorrow they would need to move into full agent mode, including infiltrating and scoping out Cady’s house as much as possible tomorrow night. Any information they had before going in on Wednesday would only help them. Plus it would give Juliet a chance to reacclimate herself with clandestine incursion tactics.
Surprisingly, she felt equal parts ready and scared to death.
Dinner was nice, just the two of them at Evan’s town house. But afterward, while discussing the case and the details of Vince Cady’s residence, Juliet heard the dreaded chirp from her phone, the sound she had assigned to signify the receipt of another sweetheart email.
She didn’t realize how relaxed she’d become in Evan’s presence until the tension flooded back through her.
This was the third email she’d received that day. The frequency of the messages was definitely escalating, particularly today.
“You okay?” he asked, reaching for her hand.
“I won’t lie, I don’t like getting these. And three in one day?” She chewed at her bottom lip, but then forced herself to stop. “But I’m glad you know, Evan.” She grasped his outstretched hand. Even through the fear she could feel little sparks of attraction where their palms touched. She wondered if it was the same for him.
“I’m glad you don’t have to go through this alone anymore. Nobody should have to.” Evan squeezed her hand.
“I just hope receiving these emails won’t interfere with the case. I don’t want to just ignore them in case the perp slips up and says something useful that’ll help us catch him.”
Evan nodded. “How about if we look at them together from now on when you get one. Keep everything in perspective and on an even keel.”
“That would be great.” Juliet kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you, Evan. I know today hasn’t been easy on you, either.”
“We’ll just take it as it comes. But no more hiding stuff.”
“Deal.” She smiled, and for the first time in a long while, it wasn’t forced.
Evan stood. “I’m going to go shower and get ready for bed. I left a towel and stuff out for you in the guest bathroom.”
“Okay, thanks.”
He turned as he was heading out of the living room. “And Jules, I was thinking…” He seemed uncharacteristically at a loss for words. “At your house you showed me the couch and the pallet in the closet where you said you’ve slept since the attack. That you haven’t been back in a bed?”
Juliet sighed inwardly. It must have seemed ludicrous to him, her blankets on the closet floor. “Do you think I’m crazy?”
“Not at all.” His smile was gentle. “You did what you had to do to get by. Nobody would think that’s crazy. But once we get to Vince Cady’s house, you can’t sleep on the floor.”
She hadn’t really thought of that. “Right, yeah.”
“And we’ll probably be under surveillance, so I wanted to address that now. You can’t be all tense and nervous getting into bed with me there.”
“Right, yeah.” Juliet felt like a parrot.
“So, it would probably be a good idea for both of us to sleep together in my bed tonight. So you’re more used to being in a bed…”
“And being with you in a bed.”
Evan grinned. “I promise to stay on my side, if that’s any consolation.”
The thing was, Juliet wasn’t sure if it was
