If You Know Her: A Novel of Romantic Suspense

flatly. “All the times he left bruises on me, I didn’t just
know
. I had proof, physical proof. I could have left, I could have come to you—even a phone call would have been enough. But I stayed. I can try to move past my guilt, but it’s going to be damn hard to do it, if I see my best friend wallowing in his.”
    He narrowed his eyes at her. “That’s pretty damn manipulative.”
    “Yeah. It is.” She cocked a brow at him. “But if it works …”
    Then she shrugged and pushed up onto her toes, pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Stop brooding. Go talk to people. Ethan’s here … that deputy from the sheriff’s office. You two hang out some. Go talk to him. Have fun. You look like you’re facing an IRS audit or something.”
    Law grimaced. Shit. He’d rather face that. He had an accountant he paid to handle that shit.
    But he couldn’t pay somebody to handle this for him.

CHAPTER
TWO
     
    Three months later
    S HE WAS SLEEPING WHEN HE CLIMBED OUT OF BED .
    By the time he came out of the shower, she was stirring and he knelt by the bed, pressed his lips to hers. She turned her head aside so his lips brushed her cheek. “Morning breath,” she muttered.
    He laughed.
    “You going to call me when you get to the hotel?”
    “Yes.” Although he already knew the answer, being ever dutiful, he knew he had to ask. “You sure you don’t want to come with me?”
    In the dim light filtering from the hallway, he could see her grimace. “No. Not my thing. You know that. But you go … have fun.”
    He kissed her again. “I’ll try. I’ll miss you.”
    “Hmmm. You do that. Bring me back something pretty …”
    “You know I will.”
    In his mind, he was already making plans.
    He was heading to Chicago. It was a big city, one he was familiar with, and although he’d miss the pleasure of a leisurely hunt, he couldn’t keep putting this off. The urge was a hungry, boiling need inside him …
    By the time he was ready to head out the door, she wasalready lost once more to sleep. He paused to look in on her one more time, smiling absently at her. Then he left, impatience building, burning inside him.
    He needed to be gone, away from here and gone.
    He hadn’t realized it would be this hard to stop …
    Her name was Katia. Or at least that was the name she’d given him. He didn’t know if that was her true name, and just then, he didn’t care. All he cared about was getting her out of this club. Getting her to a quiet, private place.
    She didn’t know her time was running down. He figured that the one thing she was aware of was the need for sex—he could see it in her eyes. It probably had something to do with the pills she’d been popping. He didn’t much care for that, but in the end, it wouldn’t matter. She’d still fight—he could see it in her eyes. He knew which ones would fight.
    A fast hunt wasn’t the same as a leisurely one, but there was pleasure in it just the same. A lot of pleasure.
    They were walking down the block—or rather he was walking, she was stumbling while he held her up. One of her hands kept sliding down to rub his cock through his jeans and despite the need, he was a little disgusted with her. Beggars couldn’t be choosers, though, and he knew Katia was ideal for his needs. Ideal …
    Abruptly, she giggled and grabbed his hand, jerking him into an alley. “Let’s do it in here.”
    “Wouldn’t you rather get a hotel?” he asked.
    “No.” She grabbed the hem of her short dress, pulling it up to show that she wore no panties. Faint light fell across her hips and thighs, revealing her waxed cunt. “I want to do it here.” She licked her finger and touched herself. “If you’re good, then I’ll let you get me a hotel. Later.”
    He lifted a brow and followed her deeper into the shadows. This … well, this could be a new challenge altogether. He had some of his tools secured inside the leather jacket he wore. It wasn’t much, but it would suffice.
    It wasn’t like they were in a
quiet
area of town. He’d heard sirens three different times in the past ten minutes, all from different directions. Voices rising and falling, the occasional yell, the pump and blast of music coming from somewhere close—very close. Another club, he assumed.
    Behind him, he heard footsteps, a shout. Automatically, he lowered his head, hunched his shoulders. Hiding his height, his face as much as he could as he moved across the busted-up pavement, feeling the crunch of