“Fresh pot on the counter,” Britt informed him.
“Did someone say coffee?” Sabrina entered the living room lookingfarmore rested than she had the day before. She wore jeans and a crisp flannel. Her hair was pulled back in a sleek ponytail. And her face looked fresh and completely free of pillowcase lines.
Apparently,shewasn’t a restless sleeper.
Grr.
Julia wasn’t the jealous type, but she felt a little punch of petulance that anyone should wake up looking like Sabrina whileshewoke up looking like she’d gone ten rounds with a hurricane and lost.
Hoping to succor her sour mood with that sweet, sweet cure-all known as caffeine, she took another long sip and watched Hew rush to help Sabrina pull down a mug from the cupboard.
The quietthanksSabrina gave him was coupled with a shy…knowing?...look that made Julia lift an eyebrow.
Was something brewing between Cooper Greenlee’s dark-eyed sister and the auburn-haired behemoth? And if somethingwasbrewing, was it a foxhole Hemingway thing or something more?
The thought of it possibly being something more made the green-eyed monster hop back on Julia’s shoulder. Why didSabrinaget the guy when all Julia got was laid?
No,she scolded herself.Be grateful for the night you had. You’ll hold the memory dear for the rest of your life and?—
A loudbuzzingcut into her thoughts. She glanced around curiously.
Hew pulled a phone from his pocket and held it to his ear. “Oz, man, what do you know?”
She watched Hew’s serene expression grow increasingly troubled as he listened to whatever was said on the other end of the call. Every instinct she possessed went on high alert, and she’d already stood from the sofa when Hew cursed, “Fuck. How long?” Then he immediately added, “Never mind. They’re here.”
He promptly dropped the phone on the floor and, to Julia’s surprise, began stomping it to bits.
“What in the world?” She blinked. “Who’s here?”
Then she heard it, the subtlewhomp-whomp-whompof helicopter blades slicing through the morning air. Her heart sank.
“Don’t tell me you didn’t think to use an encrypted phone.” She pointed to the shattered plastic and twisted metal that lay on the floor at Hew’s feet. “I told you the techs in the bureau could trace?—”
Hew cut her off. “I smashed the phone to make sure your friends don’t try to use it as evidence against Black Knights Inc. And for the record, they didn’t traceus. They tracedyou.”
“Me?” She blinked incredulously. “How? I yeetedmyphone back at the farm and?—”
Again, Hew didn’t let her finish. “Something about your family and a tracking device and a fanny pack. Ozzie kept tabs on online bureau chatter and just saw that your coworkers were coming here.”
Julia felt all the blood drain from her head.
She stubbed her toe on the leg of the coffee table as she raced for the pile of clothes she’d left behind the sofa. Hopping on one foot and cursing up a storm, she snatched her fanny pack off the ground, unzipped it, and used the sensitive pads of her fingers to feel around the pack’s lining.
She screwed her eyes shut when she located the telltale lump of a small tracking device.
“My father,” she breathed, turning to the gathered group and shaking her head apologetically. “He worries, you know? Because this is a dangerous job? And when he bought me this for Christmas, I never thought to?—”
“We don’t have time for explanations. Your friends are here.” Britt silenced her by slashing his hand through the air as Knox began to pace the floor like a trapped animal. Hew pulled a weapon from the back of his pants and carefully placed it on the bar. And poor Sabrina’s eyes were round as saucers and fixed on the front door.
“They’re not myfriends,” Julia insisted. “They’re my colleagues.”
“Whatever. The important part is now it’s going to be up toyouto keep my brother alive.” The look on his face was a far cry from the one he’d been wearing the night before.
That look had said he thought she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.Thislook said he wanted to wring her neck with his bare hands.
And who could blame him?
He’d gone to all this trouble to keep his brother safe and out of the hands of the feds, and now, because ofher,all his well-laid plans had gone up in smoke.
