“Then let’s get to my house.” He kissed her again; he couldn’t help it. It was all he could do not to back her up against this wall and kiss her until both of them couldn’t see straight. Brothers be damned. Evan would take his chances.
And what was that nonsense he’d been thinking, about just holding her tonight? Not the way both of them were feeling right now.
At least Juliet still had the sense to remember that a lot of their colleagues, not to mention their boss, were just right around the corner. She pushed Evan back. “Okay, we’ll just need to stop by my house and grab a few things. Then I’m all yours.”
At those words, he leaned in again, but she stopped him with a hand on his chest, a playful smile on her face.
Not a moment too soon. Sawyer stuck his head around the corner. His eyes narrowed at their close proximity, but he didn’t say anything about it. “Hey, Evan, Baltimore PD just nabbed Heath Morel. They’re not sure what to hold him on. Cam and I were going to go question him. You want to come observe in case you can help?”
Evan sighed. All he wanted to do was go home with Juliet this very second. But the sooner they dealt with Morel and got those sweetheart emails stopped, the sooner she would be able to move on with her future.
Their future.
“Yeah, I want to come,” Evan told him. “We can’t let Morel see me, of course. But I can feed you info from the other side of the glass.”
“Okay, we’re headed out.”
Evan nodded. “I’ll be right there.”
Sawyer left and Evan turned back to Juliet, smiling ruefully. “I guess we’ll have to put those other thoughts on hold for a few hours. Here are my keys, to the Jeep and my house. I’ll see you in a little while, okay?” He tucked a strand of Juliet’s blond hair behind her ear, then kissed her again.
“I’ll be waiting,” she murmured against his lips.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
A couple hours later, after Evan and her brothers had left to question Morel and Juliet had finished a little of the paperwork at Omega, she pulled up to her house in Evan’s Jeep. She just sat in the vehicle looking at her home, dark and empty, for a minute. How she had hated coming here for the past eighteen months. Hated knowing she was alone and weak and a coward.
Hated knowing she’d be trying to sleep in that damn closet, like a child afraid of the monsters under the bed.
But now, after the past week, her perspective had changed. She had found her footing in the case and realized how much she truly enjoyed undercover work. She’d kept her wits about her and successfully completed a dangerous mission, possibly saving thousands of lives in the process.
Just as importantly, she’d found out she could still respond passionately to a man. At least when that man was Evan, whom she had known—somewhere in the depths of her subconscious—was in love with her. Had been in love with her for a long time.
Just as she had been with him.
They had been floating toward each other for years and things probably would’ve happened a lot quicker if it hadn’t been for the attack. But Juliet didn’t begrudge that anymore. The past was the past and she wasn’t going to let it control her. She and Evan were stronger together because of what had happened. And they would remain strong.
She got out of the Jeep and made her way inside her house. For the first time in eighteen months, she didn’t bolt all the multiple locks on her door when it closed behind her. She didn’t have to live in fear any longer.
Juliet looked around. She liked the thought of leaving this house for good. It held too many bad memories she didn’t want to battle anymore. Even if she wasn’t moving in with Evan she would’ve been looking for a new place. Moving forward.
She didn’t rush through her house. She knew Evan would be hours with Heath Morel. That was another part of her past she wanted to have done with. She was glad they’d arrested him. Her brothers would take care of this for her. For once their excessive overprotectiveness would come in handy. She didn’t expect to have much future trouble from Morel.
Juliet got a suitcase out and packed clothes and toiletries. Her house was still a disaster, even with the work she and Evan had done a few days ago. But she’d deal with that later.
She grabbed a soda from her fridge and decided to catch up on a little office work on her computer. She smiled. Once Evan got home, who knew when she’d be interested in checking emails again? She’d have better things to do.
She checked her own personal stuff first. Not much there. Then she decided to go ahead and check Lisa Sinclair’s emails. She knew there would be new ones. Undoubtedly Morel had sent her some since she’d turned off the email indicator chirps on her phone.
And there were. Juliet was aghast to see fifty-seven new messages in the past two days.
Oh my God. Morel was obviously more sick than they had thought. Being around Juliet and seeing her on the yacht must have made him downright crazy.
Fifty-seven messages.
At one time she would have read them all. Pored over each one, here alone, fighting and losing the battle to not let fear overwhelm her.
But she wasn’t going to do that. Not tonight. She’d wait until tomorrow, or the day after, when Evan, or even the entire Omega staff, was with her. Waiting didn’t make her weak or a coward. It meant she was growing, learning. Facing her fears in a better, more effective, way.
She would just go on over to Evan’s house. She didn’t need to stay here anymore. But as she scrolled up to close the email account, she noticed the date and time
