He felt Juliet stiffen as she leaned back in his good arm. His gaze followed hers and he realized the problem. Heath Morel. That bastard was still throwing malicious glances their way every chance he got.
Evan and Juliet hadn’t checked for the past twenty-four hours to see if she had received any more sweetheart emails. But regardless, Evan had had enough of that nonsense. As soon as they were back on dry land, he was going to make sure Cameron or Sawyer picked up Morel.
The man needed to be questioned about the emails so they could get to the bottom of this. So Juliet could move on with her life. They probably couldn’t actually arrest and prosecute Morel, as the emails weren’t threatening in nature. But they could see him charged with other crimes.
“We’ll get him, don’t worry,” Evan vowed. “He may not spend any time in jail for those emails, but I’ll have your brothers breathing down his neck. He’ll keep his distance.”
“I just want to move forward. To stop having to worry about those emails and the past in general.”
Evan kissed her temple. “I know, hon. And you will. We’ll handle it for you. Let’s just concentrate on the future.”
Juliet smiled and turned her face back up toward the sun. “That’s no problem at all.”
* * *
A FEW HOURS later Juliet and Evan were finally off the yacht and on their way back to Omega to debrief. At the first pay phone they saw, just in case their cell phones had been bugged by Cady, Evan stopped to call Cameron and Sawyer. He wanted Heath Morel picked up as soon as possible, before the man went underground and they couldn’t find him.
As Juliet had said, it was time to start concentrating on the future. The sooner they took care of Morel, the sooner that would happen.
He and Juliet both were looking forward to not having to worry about what they said or if someone was watching or listening. And he knew they both wanted to wash the filth of the past few days off them.
After they had gotten off the ship and returned to Cady’s house via limousine, Cady had apologized again, Christopher right by his side, as they were leaving. “I hope this incident won’t jeopardize our business dealings in the future,” Vince had told them.
“It’s not like you planned this,” Evan had responded.
“Although next time, we trust your security team will be more on the ball.” Lisa’s snooty tone came through loud and clear.
“Oh, believe me, they will,” Vince promised.
“And thanks again, Christopher, for your quick trigger finger.” Evan shook hands with him, noting that his gaze remained riveted on Juliet.
“Yes, thank you, Christopher,” she had murmured, when he’d let go of Evan’s hand to shake hers.
“Au revoir,” Christopher had replied.
French? Evan barely refrained from rolling his eyes. He had ushered Juliet to the Jeep immediately.
They both just wanted to go home and crash. Evan especially, since Juliet had agreed to stay at his house, but they both needed to debrief, so here they were.
They barely made it out of the parking garage and into the building before Juliet was engulfed in hugs by her brothers. All three were still there, even though Dylan didn’t technically work there any longer. The eyes of each shone, locked on Juliet.
Relief and pride were evident in their every motion, every statement.
Juliet smiled at Evan from the circle of brotherly limbs and torsos. Her chin was high, her voice animated as she told some of the story of what had happened on the yacht.
Good. She deserved to be confident and satisfied in what she had accomplished. Because it was a lot, on both a professional and personal level.
After greetings, they were ushered to the Omega physician, who reevaluated their wounds. Although Evan’s shoulder hurt like hell, the doc agreed with the ship’s medical professional. It didn’t look as if there had been any permanent damage, given Evan’s range of motion. The doctor gave him a round of antibiotics and pain medication, warning him not to take the latter until he was near a bed he didn’t need to get out of for at least eighteen hours.
Juliet’s wounds, now a myriad of purples, greens and blues all over her face, were also superficial. Painful, but not serious.
Their boss, Dennis Burgamy, with his overworked assistant Chantelle by his side as always, found Evan and Juliet. He congratulated them on a job well done, obviously thrilled that Omega would be able to take credit for recovery of the drone codes.
Yeah, Burgamy always had his eye on the truly important stuff. Like accolades.
But at least he told them to go home and get some rest. Debriefings could take place tomorrow, since nothing involved with the case was pressing.
Evan was thrilled at the thought of sleeping with Juliet at his side. Someplace where he didn’t have to watch what he said because other people were listening. Where he could actually call her Juliet. Although he didn’t think either of them were up to anything too physical, he still just wanted to be with her. Holding her. That was more than enough to make him happy.
Of course, he didn’t necessarily want to explain any of this to her brothers just yet, even if they were his best friends.
Evan grabbed Juliet’s hand and pulled her around a corner, out of earshot of everyone else. “You’re still coming back to my place, right?” He kissed her briefly, gently on the lips.
Juliet nodded. “I need a ride, since you drove me here. And my brothers are going to have a field day with this, you know.”
Evan rolled his eyes. “Oh, believe me, I know. I was hoping maybe not to get into all that with them tonight. I’d like to be fully functional and able to defend myself before telling them that I’m having my wicked way with their sister.”
Juliet leaned in a little closer. “Your wicked way with me? I think I like
