Love or Justice Read online

  “Let’s go. I’ll bring in the bags once everything is secure.”

  Dante moved like clockwork. Opening doors, checking each room. There was nothing in the house but blank walls. Once the house was clear, Dante turned to her.

  Her hands clutched at the gun as her whole body shook in slight tremors.

  He grimaced.

  “House is clear.” He gently took the gun from her. “We’re safe.”

  She nodded. Her shoulders slumped in exhaustion. She blinked in slow motion as all her energy seemed to evaporate.

  Dante wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

  “Let’s get some sleep.” He kept his arm around her as they walked into her room.

  “I’ll go get our bags—rest.” Dante jogged out of the room.

  When he returned, Laurie was making the bed. She pulled soft, dark blue satin sheets onto the mattress. Dante grabbed a pillow and a matching pillowcase and started stuffing one into the other. A thought struck him, and he swore under his breath.

  “I forgot the sleeping bag.”

  Laurie turned to him. She considered him for a long moment, her bleary eyes taking in the grim set of his mouth and the stark stain of blood soaking through his bandage. Laurie didn’t want to sleep alone. She knew she shouldn’t allow him to sleep with her again. He had a strong, steady, and comforting presence, which she was beginning to crave. She should be cautious, but she decided to throw caution to the wind. Her need to have him beside her won out over her logic.

  “I don’t think I can sleep alone tonight. Can you just sleep beside me?”

  Dante hesitated, giving her a sidelong glance.

  “Please? Just this once.” She wrapped her arms around herself.

  His whole body softened.

  “Yeah. It’s been a tough night. I would feel better if we were in the same room.”

  “Thank you.”

  Laurie hugged him. She wanted to cry. The unshed tears tightened her throat. She had waited in that horrible safe room. Then she walked out of the safe room, only to see David gunned down by someone trying to get to her. Her mind was numb as she released Dante, grabbing her bag of toiletries. She went across the hall to the bathroom to get ready for bed. She went through the motions of it, one minute at a time. When she came out, she saw Dante standing beside the door, looking almost guilty.

  He coughed and looked away.

  “Sorry—just wanted to be sure you were okay.”

  Laurie nodded with the barest hint of a smile. At least there was one thing that remained the same. Dante would do whatever it took to protect her.

  Laurie dumped her clothes into her bag, knowing she could deal with separating the dirty from the clean tomorrow. Then she fell into bed and pulled the covers over herself.

  A few minutes later Dante re-entered. He closed and locked the door. Then he turned off the light.

  Laurie’s heart started pounding, but she ignored it. It was silly. He had already slept with her before. Why should she be nervous? She chalked it up to anxiety hanging on after the attack.

  Laurie rustled around in the bed, throwing back the covers for him.

  He lay down beside her. She felt the warmth radiating from his body. As he settled into bed, Laurie cuddled up beside him. She laid her head and hand on his chest.

  Dante hesitated, but after a few minutes, he wrapped one arm around her.

  Soon after, they both fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Dante

  The next morning, Dante awoke to a frantic beeping from his cell phone. He tried to slide out from beside Laurie.

  She mumbled something and rolled over, turning her back to him.

  He fumbled for the phone inside the pocket of the jeans he wore the night before. Finally, he pulled it out. It showed a missed call from his boss. He stepped out of the room and hit speed-dial.

  “Hi, Rick,” he said into the receiver.

  “What the hell happened?”

  “We were ambushed. They came by night. Four guys.”

  “God, so it’s true. Where’s the girl?”

  “Laurie’s with me.”

  “Well I’m glad. I don’t know what we’ll do about David though. Have you called his family?”

  “No, I was going to do that this afternoon.” Dante closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

  “Good. You should call Max and Cheyn’s families and tell them they’re in the hospital. What can I do for you right now?”

  Call David’s family for me, Dante thought it but he didn’t say it—he knew it was his job.

  “Well, I could use some more men. I can’t protect her by myself the whole time.”

  “No. Of course not. I’m already working on that. I have two men flying in later this evening from Maui. They’re wrapping up another assignment, but I’ll try to get them out to you as soon as I can. The fourth I might be able to get from California. But he won’t be there until tomorrow morning at the earliest.”

  “All right. We should be fine until tonight.”

  “How is she doing?”

  Dante stared at the bedroom door. He wanted to go back to the woman in question.

  “Shaken, but she was in the safe room. She’ll be fine. She’s a tough girl.”

  “Good. I expect a full report on this by mid-week.”

  “Not a problem. How are Cheyn and Max? Have you called the hospital yet?”

  “Yeah, yeah. Cheyn’s just fine. He’s a little out of it but you should be able to talk to him if you call. Max is still recovering from surgery, but the doctors sound hopeful.”

  “Good. I’ll have to call and check on them later.”

  Some of the tension eased from Dante’s shoulders. He leaned up against the wall by the bathroom. He felt suddenly weary.

  “All right, kid. You two stay safe!”

  “Thanks, we’ll certainly try.”

  Rick hung up in Dante’s ear.

  Dante was relieved to hear Cheyn was going to be fine, and Max pulled through. Dante pulled open the door to find Laurie on her side almost buried under the covers. He shut the door and made his way back to bed. He slipped in beside her. She stirred a bit but didn’t wake up. Dante, however laid awake. He watched Laurie sleep for a little while, brushing his fingers through the cool silk of her hair. Her skin was tan from years of living on the island, but he could tell it was naturally fair from the tender skin on the underside of her wrist. He slid the back of his fingers down the bare arm resting above the covers. Then her eyelids fluttered open. She smiled up at him. His heart thumped in his chest.

  Laurie yawned, and stretched her arm over him gracefully.

  “Morning. Who was on the phone?”

  “Rick.” Dante took a deep steadying breath to keep from kissing her awake. “Wanted to know what happened last night, make sure we were okay.”

  Laurie mumbled something else, laying her head on his chest.

  Dante closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep again. He laid there, his thoughts roaming. He tried not to think of the beautiful woman lying beside him or the scent of her shampoo, which drove him crazy. First, he made running lists of things that needed to be done. Then he tried to think of who might be the men coming tonight. Finally, he thought about what he would write for his report. He thought about what he remembered. Then he started reliving the night. Before he knew it, Laurie shook his shoulder.

  “Dante are you okay? You’re shaking!”

  “Huh? What?” He snapped into consciousness with a gasp. “Oh, sorry. Must have just slipped into a nightmare.”

  “What were you dreaming about?”

  “Nothing—it was just a dream.” He shook his head. He didn’t want to talk about that with her this morning. “No nightmare last night?”

  “No, not that I can remember. I guess I didn’t have one.” Laurie ran her hand through her tousled hair. “Should we have breakfast?”

  “Sure.”

  They climbed out of bed
. Laurie went to the bathroom to change while Dante pulled on his usual jeans and a t-shirt. He holstered his gun as he tried to think of how he would explain to this new group of men why he slept in Laurie’s room. It wasn’t something he thought he could explain to men he didn’t know.

  When Laurie came back, she threw her nightgown on top of her bag, and they went to the kitchen to make breakfast. Laurie got her first look at the squat one level she was now living in. The roof was rather short. If Dante was a bit taller he’d have to duck. Daintily flowered wallpaper covered the walls, yellowed with age.

  The hallway of rooms opened up into a living room and front door on the right, the kitchen on her left. They turned into the kitchen, which was quite large. There were two ovens, an extra-large dishwasher and two mismatched microwaves. There were a dozen cabinets, and a long counter along the wall that separated it from the living room. Toward the end of the counter was a kitchen table with ten chairs. Beyond the table was a sliding glass door leading to the patio.

  “Let’s see what we have here.” He pulled open a pantry door beside the double door refrigerator.

  He pulled out a moldy bag of bread and tossed it in the trashcan. Then he pulled out a box of cereal and read the expiration date. That, too, went straight into the trash. So did the next box. As he pulled open the fridge door, Laurie started to hunt down everything she needed to make coffee. She found the coffee grounds. There were a couple of filters in the cabinet. Dante pulled out the milk, and after taking one whiff of it, that went into the garbage.

  “Laurie, I’m not having much luck here.” He pulled open the freezer. “Well, it looks like we have frozen waffles.”

  “That’s fine.”

  Dante pulled out the waffles, syrup, and a tub of butter that had about a tablespoon left. He microwaved their breakfast in both microwaves.

  “You must have families come here.”

  “Yes.” He set their breakfast on the table. “We usually have large families come here. Ones with more than two kids.”

  Laurie sat down at the table with him.

  “Are more men going to come, or are we on our own?”

  “We’re on our own for today. Two more men should join us tonight and another is coming over from California tomorrow morning.”

  “What happened to Max and Cheyn? Did Rick say anything?”

  “Rick said they’d be fine. I’ll call them later. Maybe we’ll be able to talk to them.”

  “I’d like that. Can we visit them in the hospital?”

  Dante looked at her and shook his head.

  “I’m afraid were not going to be able to leave the house very much, Laurie. I don’t even want to go to the grocery store today, but we have to. There has never been an attack on a safe house in Hawaii’s history, and we’ve harbored plenty of witnesses. Kaimi’s obviously very afraid of what your testimony could do if they find him.”

  Laurie took a bite of her breakfast, staring down at her plate. She blinked at it, a puzzled look on her face.

  “I wonder how they found us.”

  “I don’t really know, but I’m willing to bet they followed Evan James. There are many reasons a victim shouldn’t have contact with a witness and that’s one of them. I know he fucking knew it too.”

  Laurie flinched, but said nothing. They finished their coffee in silence. Then Laurie cleared away their dishes.

  “I’d like to show you the safe room before we do anything else.”

  Laurie nodded and followed him back to the hallway.

  He led her into her room and opened the closet door at the far end. It adjoined her room to the one beyond it. As with the linen closet at the other house, there was a trick door hidden behind the shelves. Dante lifted the shelving up and forward. The door to the safe room swung toward him. It was a small, cramped space, with all of the same emergency supplies crammed in there.

  “I hope we don’t have to use it.” Dante gestured inside. “But this is the only one we have. If anything happens, you’ll be in here.”

  Dante closed the door. They stood there for a minute or two, both of them lost in thought.

  “I hated being in there. I know you had to put me there, but last night was awful.”

  She spoke softly, staring at the door to the safe room.

  Dante nodded.

  Laurie played with the sleeve of his shirt, and then placed her hands on his chest. She looked up into his eyes.

  “Thank you for protecting me,” she said, her voice quivering. “I know it’s your job, but you risked your life for me. It would have been awful if…”

  She choked up.

  He wrapped his arms around her, bringing her flush against him. He didn’t tell her he would have done anything to protect her. He ran his hands up and down her back, kissing her forehead.

  Laurie looked up at him again, her sapphire eyes glazed with tears.

  “Thank you,” she murmured. “Thank you.”

  Half hypnotized by her eyes, half wanting to comfort, Dante reacted out of instinct. He bent his head down and kissed her gently.

  Laurie gasped when his lips whispered over hers. Then she melted against him as his lips settled there.

  Dante thought of nothing except how good it felt to kiss her, the rush of pure pleasure it brought him. He deepened the kiss, one of his hands wandering into her hair while the other pressed against the small of her back.

  He was dizzy and breathless when he pulled away. A tingling sensation crept down his spine. He felt a flush of heat wash over him. When he kissed her again, she kissed back hungrily, parting her lips and letting his tongue play with hers. She ran her hands up his chest, interlacing her fingers behind his neck. After a few minutes of enjoying each other’s tongues, they parted so Dante could kiss a trail down her jaw line.

  Dante kissed Laurie’s neck, running his tongue in slow circles over her skin. He could feel her rapid heartbeat beneath his lips, and he smiled. When he sucked at the base of her neck, Laurie let out a small moan of pleasure. Then he kissed her mouth again, long and deep. The hand that pressed the small of her back sank lower to squeeze her soft flesh.

  Dante nibbled and sucked his way along her neckline again. Laurie gasped when he hit a soft spot next to her clavicle. He stayed there for a while, teasing her until she trembled. Desire settled in the pit of his stomach. He wanted more, much more.

  Laurie started kissing his neck, and when she began nibbling on his ear, he groaned at her. She kept at it for a while, until he broke away from her neck to kiss her more insistently.

  Dante started backing Laurie toward the bed. He needed her so much he trembled. When they got to the bed, Dante wrapped his arm around her waist. He lowered her to the mattress while kissing her breathless. He pressed his desire up against her inner thigh. They laid there, licking and kissing each other, until Laurie grew impatient. She tugged his shirt up. When she finally got it off him, Dante gathered up the last bit of his good sense and placed his hand on her stomach.

  “Wait, wait.” He locked eyes with her. “I don’t know if we should really do this.”

  Laurie reached up, placing her hands on his shoulders.

  “Please,” she said. “Please.”

  Her eyes were full of passion and need. Her grip on his shoulders was insistent, painfully tense. The simple plea broke the rest of Dante’s strength. He lowered himself to her again.

  They made love to each other like they were starving. They pulled off clothing, stripping each other naked in minutes. Their hands were everywhere, touching, caressing, squeezing. Their mouths elicited moans from each other. When Dante sank hard into her soft flesh, they both took up a fast rhythm, chasing each other into ecstasy. It was hurried and passionate, and it left them dazzled. When it was over, Dante rolled them both so he was on his back. He held her there as their breathing calmed and their heartbeats returned to normal.

  As if waking from a dream, Dante realized what he had done. He had slept with a witness. He had hot, passionate se
x with a witness. He would lose his job without question. There was no way to hide this with so many other men joining his team. Dante stared at the ceiling.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Huh? Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” He gave her a little squeeze.

  “I don’t appreciate being lied to, Dante. You became tense just now. I could feel it.”

  He winced, looking away. Laurie turned his head toward her with gentle fingers.

  “Dante, what’s wrong?” A pained expression crossed her face. “Do you regret that we—”

  “No. I just started thinking about what would happen if my boss found out. That’s all. I’m just worried.”

  Laurie propped herself up on her elbow. Her hair drifted off her shoulder toward the pillow in a yellow curtain. Her expression was stern.

  “He doesn’t have to find out anything. I don’t want you to get in trouble for this Dante—to get in trouble for me.”

  “There are going to be other men here, Laurie. It’s going to be hard to keep this a secret.”

  She leaned in close to him, bringing her nose inches from his.

  “Then we’ll just have to try really hard. I don’t want you to be punished for being with me. I don’t. So whatever you need me to do to protect you from that, then you just need to tell me.”

  Dante stared at her for a moment. Then he cupped her serious expression in his hands and kissed her. He gathered her close, running his fingers through her hair.

  “We’ll be fine. We’ll both be just fine.”

  ***

  Dante was so relieved when they returned from grocery shopping he let out an audible sigh as they walked up to the front door of the house. Laurie chuckled at him.

  “I hope this means you can relax a little.” She started putting away the food. “You were looking over your shoulder so much, I thought your head might start spinning.”

  Dante grinned into the refrigerator, as he stacked two cartons of eggs on top of one another.

  “I haven’t been able to relax since the moment I laid eyes on you. You’ve made my job nothing except difficult.”

  “Me?” Laurie waved the lettuce at him. “I haven’t done anything.”