If You Know Her: A Novel of Romantic Suspense

answer, though, just kept muttering.
    She didn’t really get irritated, though, until he rather unceremoniously moved her off his lap onto the bed. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone while Nia stared at him, trying to figure out just what in the world he was mumbling about.
    “Law?”
    He didn’t answer, still fiddling with his phone. Irritated, she clambered off the bed and stood up, getting pissed off. What in the world had she said?
    “Damn it,” he snapped behind her.
    Turning around, she looked at him as he stood up and shoved his phone into his pocket.
    “What in the world are you mumbling and shaking your head and scowling about?”
    “I’m not sure. Come on. We need to go back to my place—I need to check something out.” He grabbed his jeans, pulling them on without bothering to look for his boxers.
    She stood there admiring the view, a little too distracted by said view for a moment to even realize what he’d said. Then she jerked herself back to attention. “Huh? Go where? Check what out?”
    “Something. I’m not sure,” he said, that distracted look still on his face—distracted, kind of sexy, brooding. He had a faint line between his brows like he was thinking damn hard about something and despite her irritation over his suddenly strange behavior, she found herself thinkingabout how damn gorgeous he was—and then she wanted to kick herself.
    Crossing her arms over her naked breasts, she glared at him. “You’re not sure what we’re checking out?”
    “No. That’s why we need to go home. It’s been a few years since I looked at all that shit.” He stared at her, frowned. “You’re not dressed.”
    “No. I’m not. You haven’t told me why we’re supposed to be leaving or what we’re looking for.” Fucking strange—why hadn’t she noticed how easily his mind moved from one topic to another before now?
    “Caves—you said something about caves,” he said patiently, like he was talking to a child. Like she could follow whatever very strange path his brain was obviously taking—the one she was having a very hard time following. “I need to look at my maps.”
    “Maps?” She stiffened. Inside her chest, her heart skipped a beat.
    “Yeah.” He looked around. “You need clothes.”
    “Damn it, Law, what
maps
?”
    Rummaging through Nia’s closet, he pulled out a black shirt. He tossed it at her, along with the bra that was draped over the foot of the bed. “The maps that aren’t here,” he said, trying to guide his brain back to the present, although it was racing just then—racing as a picture suddenly started to come into focus.
    It wasn’t
caves
Nia needed to be looking for—although she didn’t need to be looking for a damn thing, and shit, he couldn’t exactly leave her alone, either. He saw a pair of jeans in a tangle on the floor and he scooped them up, dumped them in her arms. She was glaring at him, giving him the same irritated look a hundred other people had given him when his brain took a little side trip, but he wasn’t about to try to explain anything to her just yet.
    Ezra needed to know this first. And Law wasn’t aboutto tell Nia what he was thinking and then
leave
her here. So she needed to go with him, so she’d be kind of stuck with him—stuck, and safe.
    While she stood there,
still
not getting dressed, and fuming, he gave her the smile that he used with others—sheepish, self-deprecating. “Look, I just need to look at a few things—you made me think of something, but I can’t entirely remember it, okay?”
    Not a lie. He
didn’t
remember entirely … 
where
.
    “So the sooner we get to my place and I look at the maps and stuff, the better, right?”
    Her eyes full of suspicion, she turned away and headed to the bathroom.
    Five minutes later, she emerged, dressed, silent, and still watching him like she didn’t entirely trust him.

CHAPTER
FOURTEEN
     
    T HE DEPUTIES FOLLOWED THEM .
    Law wasn’t too sure how he felt about that, but he wasn’t going to throw a fit about it, either.
    Right then, his brain was too occupied just trying to figure out what in the hell he was going to do once he told Nia what
was
in the woods. Not
caves …
but yeah, there was something underground. Or at least there had been. A long time ago.
    Stands to reason it could still
be
there, right?
    And if it was, what then? What then? Short of locking her up and throwing away the key, he suspected he didn’t have a chance at keeping