She needed to remember that this intimacy, the heat she could feel between them, was just because of his undercover skills, not because of any real attraction. At least on his part.
But she’d like to see some more of his “undercover” skills.
The thought popped into her head before she could stop it. Shocked, Juliet brought both hands up to cover her mouth, just in case the words came shooting out. And she giggled.
She didn’t know who was more surprised by the sound, Evan or her.
“What’s going on in that head of yours?” he asked, still grinning.
“Nothing.” Juliet tried to pull herself together. “Got it. Bed, together, for the case. No problem. I’m going to take a shower, too. Um, in the guest shower, I mean. I’ll see you in a few minutes.”
She was still snickering as she fled the scene of the crime.
Undercover.
* * *
SHAKING HIS HEAD, Evan watched Juliet all but run down the hallway. What the heck had just happened? He had no idea.
But if it made her smile and giggle like that, he’d take it no matter what it was.
Since the information about the sweetheart emails had come to light, Juliet had been more relaxed, freer, than Evan could remember seeing her since the attack. And she didn’t cringe from his touch. At least not as much. And sometimes even initiated a touch herself.
Evan found it difficult to believe how happy it made him when Juliet touched him of her own accord. Even something as simple as a brush of her hand on his arm meant more to him than entire embraces from other women.
He was feeling better about this operation than he had since Juliet showed up at the warehouse yesterday morning. He’d lost faith for a little while when he’d seen the state of her house, but now, understanding the reason, he could even understand that.
And she had just giggled and run out of the room.
And they were about to sleep together in his bed.
The thought of it thrilled Evan in ways he never would have thought. And it wasn’t about sex. Obviously, Juliet wasn’t agreeing to have sex with him, so he could just push that thought right out of his mind. Which, surprisingly, didn’t upset him one bit.
Just the thought of being in bed next to her was more than enough. Able to help her if she needed him, or just knowing she was sleeping peacefully even if he didn’t.
In the dark, lying with her after their respective showers, he could feel Juliet’s discomfort. At first she fidgeted, tossed and turned. Obviously, being back in a bed reminded her of the attack. He wasn’t sure what he could do, if anything, to help.
“I’ll be okay. I just need to get used to it.” She answered his thoughts before he could even voice them.
“I’m never going to let something like that happen again,” Evan told her softly, reaching out to touch her back.
Juliet slid a little closer. He wrapped an arm around her, pulling her all the way over to his chest.
“Right now just try to get some sleep,” he murmured.
It was as if her body needed a haven, a place where her mind felt safe, and Juliet was almost instantly asleep.
Long after he could hear her even breathing, Evan stayed awake, appreciating having Juliet in his arms. What he’d said to her was true. He would die before he let anything like the attack happen to her again. While they were undercover he didn’t plan to let her out of his sight. But for now he just held her gently while she slept, and eventually fell asleep himself.
Evan awoke a few hours later to a knocking on his door. The sun was already up, but Juliet was still asleep. He glanced over at the clock: 6:30 a.m. Later than he had been sleeping, for sure, but still too early for someone to be knocking.
Evan reached for the Glock on his bedside table, easing away from Juliet’s sleeping form. His phone buzzed with a message.
At your door. Hurry up, sleeping beauty.
Sawyer. Evan was tempted to ignore Juliet’s brother’s message, but knew he’d just start knocking louder. Evan slid out of the bed, slipped on a T-shirt with his pajama pants and went to open the door.
Sawyer and Cameron. Great. But at least they had doughnuts.
“Why the hell are you two here at this ungodly hour in the morning?”
Cameron dropped the doughnut box on the table. Sawyer, quite familiar with Evan’s house, began making coffee.
“We had an idea. Wanted to run it by you first before talking to Juliet,” Sawyer told him.
“Do I need coffee before hearing this grand plan?” Evan wondered if he should mention that Juliet was asleep upstairs.
“It’s not a grand plan so much as a safety precaution for Juliet,” Cameron said. “We were talking to one of the geeks in the tech department…”
“Excuse you, I happen to sleep with the head geek from the tech department every night,” Sawyer said, pouring himself a cup of coffee from the pot before it was even finished brewing.
“Okay, so you guys were talking to Megan, and she told you what?” Evan asked. Megan was Sawyer’s genius fiancée, who had recently come to work for Omega.
“Tech has developed a short-range tracker/emergency response initiator that is virtually undetectable, even with a scanner, or someone monitoring frequencies,” Cameron replied, pushing Sawyer out of the way so he could get his own coffee.
“And you want Juliet to have it.”
“Yes.” Both men said it at the same time.
“An added safety measure for everybody. Plus, it would probably make her feel better about the entire operation,” Cameron stated.
Evan nodded. Even though he had no plans to let Juliet out of his sight the entire time they were on Cady’s property, a backup safety measure was never a bad idea.
“She’s going to do fine. Although she’s been getting a string of emails from some sick secret-admirer-type bastard. So
