Page 20 of Free to Judge (Amaryllis Heritage #2)

CHAPTER NINETEEN

I’ve been here long enough to wonder if this was a good idea.

Leaning back against the hood of my car, I replay Jon’s earlier call in my head. He explained he wasn’t with his cousin but with someone who works with her on, “—her special project. I have to meet this doctor in the city.”

“What for?”

His words echo in the recesses of my mind. “Kalie’s admired for a lot of reasons by a lot of people, but it’s her story to tell.”

It’s understandable, really. Kalie is the epitome of the word “fantasy” with her long, dark hair and deep blue eyes, not to mention legs that seem to go on endlessly.

Still, it’s not her looks that have me waiting for her and her trailing agent to finish the run her cousin suspects she took.

It’s the quiet worry something she learned is going to put her in mortal danger.

I remind myself of the grim side of what could happen to her after the incident at the chop shop. I need to ensure she never repeats what she uncovered, not even to her family.

Still, I’m completely unprepared for the frantic slap of sneakers.

Immediately, my hand snakes beneath my jacket for my gun.

That’s when I see her charging into the parking lot with the surefooted speed of a cheetah locking onto a prize, every muscle visible beneath her skin.

In that moment, she is all focus, all fierce energy—a presence that demands attention.

She abruptly slows near another woman—a tall, leggy blond in athletic gear—whose arrival is marked by a quick high-five and a burst of laughter that momentarily dissipates the tension I felt earlier.

For a moment, her walls are down. I see the real Kalie, the one who enchanted me, captivated me, from the moment I spotted her all those years ago.

In the last few weeks, I thought that woman was merely a figment of my imagination. Instead, I’ve been confronted by the woman who would sooner have set me on fire if she’d had the chance instead of just letting her fist connect with my face.

Worse than an infuriated Kalie was the heartbreak I saw on her face when I told her what caused our paths to cross the way they did. Compassion bled from her pores inside her father’s office.

I couldn’t handle it. At least, not then.

I murmur to myself, “No wonder her cousin knew where she’d be.

” As if I summoned her attention by whispering in the wind, her head whips around.

Regret and apprehension collide in a tight, burning knot in my stomach.

My presence slams her defenses up faster than a shield.

Bitter regret surges through me at her obvious tension.

Muscles that were loose just seconds ago lock up as our eyes meet across the distance of the parking lot.

Even as she moves to where I’m partially hidden in the shadows. I straighten, bracing for confrontation as she approaches. Despite the earlier breakthrough we had in her father’s office, her knowing who I really am, her eyes are still guarded. I can practically feel her walls going up.

“Kalie,” I greet her.

“Declan,” she returns cautiously. “Do you mind if we talk while I stretch?”

I mistakenly presume she’s going to drop to the ground or cross one leg over the other.

I wince as she casually throws her leg on top of the hood of my quarter-million-dollar car—even if it’s one I have all intentions of handing over the very second I have enough evidence to topple the Byrne empire.

Still, I can’t help but respect the fact she gives zero fucks over the fact the car costs as much as most people’s home, instead flexing her thigh on the sleek hood as if it were a park bench.

“Yeah, not a problem. Happy to sacrifice the paint job.” The words come out with a sardonic edge.

“I assume there are minions around who wouldn’t mind buffing that out for fear they’ll end up rotting in the big house.” There’s an amused tilt of her lips I can’t help but respond to.

There’s no way to prevent my lips twitching back at her. Her wit might kill me before the Byrnes do.

With a quick wink and a graceful hop, Kalie switches legs.

I can’t help the way my body betrays me—her sculpted calves and the line of muscle beneath her skin spark a reaction below my waist. Christ, I wasn’t certain my cock even knew what it was supposed to do besides take a piss.

Still, it’s nice to know it’s not dead, as it can’t help but respond to the perfect view in front of it.

My tongue feels thick in my mouth, like the air has become too dense to breathe. What am I doing? She’s Jon’s cousin, Keene’s daughter—and I’m supposed to be chasing down the people who killed my former partner. I vowed I’d take them down.

Then, slicing through the haze of my conflicted thoughts, Kalie’s amused voice wonders, “Is there a point for you tracking me down other than checking me out?”

I lift my eyes slowly from the temptation of her sleek curves to the wild storm brewing on her face. Beneath the facade, there’s a desperate plea for answers I can’t give her. “You didn’t respond to my text.”

She shrugs. “I wasn’t certain if I should.”

Good girl. “Understandable, but I need you to listen to me.”

“Declan,” my name slips from her mouth on a sigh. Great. Now I know what I’ll be hearing in my dreams later. “Why did you really reach out?”

I step closer. To anyone spying on us, it would appear as if we were about to embrace. “I need you to listen to me, Kalie.”

Straightening to her full height, she glances from side to side before shifting forward just a bit. Each muscle tenses, as if to prepare her for battle. “About?”

“Your family.”

I realize my mistake and poor choice of words immediately. Kalie may be furious with them, but she won’t tolerate an outsider’s slight. Her cheeks bloom a deeper red than even her run caused while her blue eyes crystallize in defiance. “Like hell.”

“I’m just trying to…,” I go to explain, but the hissing sound she makes causes my balls to draw up between my legs sharply. “Right. Let me rephrase.”

“Be very careful about the next words out of your mouth,” she warns.

“Got it.” Judging from the way my nut sack is hiding behind my dick, I’ll never forget the lesson.

Not going to lie, as much as she’s caused something inside me to sit up and take notice, I’m more than a little scared she’ll shred me apart like she did her family.

I lift my hands in supplication. I should have thought about whose daughter she is and chosen my words more carefully.

The banked fury in her eyes explodes like a star going supernova. I pinch the bridge of my nose. “I said that out loud, didn’t I?”

She taps her toe on the ground. “Declan, what do you want from me?”

“To talk to you.”

“About?”

“What you overheard today.”

“What about it?”

“I need you to keep it to yourself. Don’t say anything. Not to anyone.”

Her expression twists in disbelief before it turns mocking.

“Well, damn. Here I was going to call my cousin who works for StellaNova and let him know all about my new bestie, Lawyer Dec and his fake ass clients, right after we went shopping for the next charity ball together and I get a lollipop to suck on.”

My jaw tenses. “I’m being serious.”

All humor evaporates. “So am I. It’s none of your business whether I scream at my family…”

“Please don’t. You don’t know if the wrong ears might be listening.” I hope my words of caution come off as a plea for protection for me but they’re really for her.

God, if something happens to her…I can’t fathom the thought.

My concern must show on my face because she frowns.

“Tell me why,” she whispers. She moves so close until our noses almost touch.

It forces me to inhale her scent of sweat and expensive perfume.

The two smells mixed remind me of sex—a cocktail that stirs raw images of intense, uninhibited passion.

Mind blowing, middle of the night release.

Something I haven’t had in so long, I can’t remember what it feels like to slide into a woman’s warm slickness.

Only, I don’t just want it with anyone. I want it with her.

My body reacts, defiant and debased, and I silently pray she doesn’t catch sight of my arousal.

I deliberately run through the catalog of crimes the Tiberis and Byrnes have admitted to with me as their defense attorney. Then, I feel it.

Her hand clasping mine.

It’s an innocuous touch, yet once her skin brushes against mine, all I feel is the electric leap of her touch.

She gasps softly. Involuntarily, I cant my body forward ready to capture her lips beneath my own.

My brain switches off as my mind forgets about why I’m even there as my imagination forms the lucid thought of Kalie sprawled in my bed, her hair fanned out like a dark, shimmering fan.

A groan of conflicting desire escapes me.

“Declan? Declan? Declan!”

Her voice adds to my fantasy. “Yes?”

That’s when the sharp burst of pain transmits through my foot. “Ow! Shit! What the hell was that?”

“I called your name four times! If we were being shot at, what good would you have been?”

Like a bucket of ice water, her words drag me from my sexual haze like nothing else possibly could.

I don’t blame her for snapping and finally resorting to something physical to get my attention—even though my dick wishes it was something more hands-on and my foot is cursing me for being a stupid fool.

“Your family—especially your father—they’re my only lifeline, Kalie.

I don’t have a team backing me on this op, just them.

There’s nothing standing in between when I confront the Irish or the Italians except my brain and the knowledge that if something goes wrong, they know who I am and what I was doing.

” I raise my hand when she starts to argue.

“I need the anonymity they maintain for me to operate in the field, to bring down the rest of these organizations.”

Her breath shudders out. In the dim light, I recognize a glimmer of agony dulling the brightness of her eyes—a pain that twists something deep inside me.

Something I thought long dead after Tanya disappeared.

“I figured that out on my own, Declan. Still, don’t tell me my family can or cannot be trusted. You don’t get to decide that.”

“I never said they couldn’t. Just, what you heard is part of something much bigger.”

“How big?”

I don’t answer immediately but let our eyes lock in silence for a heavy moment. Finally, I murmur, “Look, this isn’t the right place. But we need to talk about everything so you understand how to protect yourself.”

Laden with bitterness, she retorts, “According to my father, I already heard too much.”

My voice is steeped in regret. “You need the whole picture.”

“Why are you telling me this, not my father?” she challenges quietly.

Is it even possible to make a daughter appreciate her father’s outdated creed of protecting the women in his life at all costs? “I can’t answer that. This is about more than your cousin’s ordeal, Kalie. It’s bigger than even what happened to my partner.”

“I’m getting that. When and where?”

Relief surges through me at her willingness to listen. “When is the next time you can guarantee being by yourself?”

She stares off into the distance. “Friday. My cousin is flying to a conference and will be gone for a month.”

“Friday night then. I’ll come to you.” My voice trails off as her eyes meet mine.

Her expression immediately turns serious.

“If you do anything to betray my family, there won’t be anything I won’t do to annihilate you.

” As her words hang in the charged air, a piercing whistle crackles overhead—a call from her friend.

In response, she blows a soft whistle of her own before she walks away from me.

Over her shoulder she calls, “Don’t make me regret this. ”

I let out a slow breath as she jogs away. Determination to keep this woman safe turns my guts into a knot even as I acquiesce silently, accepting her terms.

For now.