Free Pursuit of a Kiss by Lola Drake Page B

sounded
forced, and he wouldn’t quite meet Juliet’s eyes.
    Juliet remained silent. First Brad and now Jake.
Boy, did she know how to pick them.  
    ****
    Her silence unnerved him. If she’d shouted or
cried or done something he could have responded, but the lack of reaction was
almost eerie. Not knowing what else to do, he called Wetherby.
    With speeding, he made good time driving to the
lawyer’s office. Juliet practically had her door open before he’d come to a
complete stop.
    “Jules, wait.”
    “Don’t worry, Jake, I know you have stuff to do.
No need to see me in. I’m sure Michael will take good care of me.”
    He knew she only used that sugary sweet voice to
push his buttons, but it still worked. He slammed the car door behind him,
following her up the steps and grabbing her arm. “Don’t walk off by yourself in
any exposed area like this, you got me? The guys in
Martinez
’s gang are smart enough to realize
if you’re not at your house you might be here.”
    “So? What do you care?”
    Jake pulled her to a halt, but she refused to
look at him. “You know I care.”
    “Ok, fine, you’d care if I died—mainly because
Aaron would never forgive you.”
    “No. You know there’s more to it than that.”
    “Oh, I do?”
    Jake wished she would go back to the grating
sugary voice instead of the painfully bitter one he heard now. What did she
want him to say? So they’d had one night together. A pretty incredible night. In
fact, if he was truly honest with himself, he didn’t think he’d ever
experienced anything quite like it before with any woman. But so what? They’d
had fantastic sex. It took more than that to make a relationship. With his job,
he didn’t do relationships. Surely she couldn’t be expecting some declaration
of love already?
    At his continued silence, Juliet jerked her arm
free and continued toward the building. Feeling pathetic, Jake trailed behind
her to Wetherby’s office.
    Wetherby rose to his feet instantly, holding out
a chair for Juliet. She flashed him a dazzling smile as she sat. Jake gritted
his teeth.
    “Thanks for arranging all of this so quickly,
Michael. I really appreciate it.”
    “Of course, of course. It’s no trouble. I’m just
sorry you’ll have to wait here for a bit until an officer can take you to the
safe house.”
    Both of them glanced over at Jake, who hadn’t
moved from his stance in the doorway. Wetherby obviously expected him to
volunteer to drive her, but Jake didn’t say anything.
    Wetherby quickly filled the awkward silence.
“Now, when you see the house, remember it’s just for the next week until the
preliminary hearing. Don’t get too used to the luxury.”
    “You have a luxurious safe house?” Jake asked
skeptically.
    “Yup. It’s in
Beverly Hills
. The bank foreclosed on it
recently, and we made a deal with them to use it for the next week. It even has
a pool,” Wetherby added with a wink. “After that we’ll move you somewhere else.
We just need the week to arrange for something more permanent.”
    Juliet nodded, her eyes darting between Wetherby
and Jake. Jake couldn’t stand it any longer. “OK, then, I guess I’ll get
going.”
    Wetherby seemed surprise by the announcement.
Then he took one look at Juliet’s face and mumbled something about getting a
file as he fled the room.
    “Didn’t you tell Aaron you took some personal
leave from work so you could protect me?”
    “Yeah, but you won’t need me now that you’ve
agreed to witness protection.”
    “So that’s it? You do realize this is probably
goodbye for at least the next year or until whenever the trial happens.”
    “It probably won’t take that long.”
    Juliet didn’t even dignify that with a response.
With a sigh, Jake stepped forward, opening his arms to her. She remained
seated.
    “I don’t know what you expect here, Jules.”
    “I don’t expect anything.”
    “That’s bullshit and we both know it.”
    When she turned away from him to look