Targeted Risk (R.I.S.C. #7) - Anna Blakely Page 0,48

no. I chose breakfast and lunch. This meal’s all you.” When Jay smiled, she asked him, “What?”

“Just seems funny. Last night you were dodging bullets and bombs, and today we’re arguing over who’s gonna choose what we eat for dinner.”

Juliet felt her smile falter a little. She’d done her best to push away the events of the previous night. It hadn’t really worked, but that hadn’t stopped her from trying.

“Sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

“It’s okay. I mean, it is what it is, right?”

Walking with Jay’s arm around her shoulders like before, Juliet leaned into him, soaking up every ounce of his warm embrace. She felt him kiss the top of her head through her hat. A hat that his friend Ben had purchased for her—along with a whole slew of clothing and other necessities.

She couldn’t believe the lengths the mysterious man had gone to in order to ensure she and Jay were comfortable and taken care of. In her world, or more accurately, her father’s world, no one ever did anything for someone else unless they expected payment in return.

Sometimes that payment came in the form of cash. Sometimes in a beat-down. Then there were the other times...the ones Juliet never saw but heard whispers about. Those were the things of real nightmares.

But Jay had assured her this Ben guy was totally on the up-and-up, and she trusted him, so...

The thought left her smiling.

“Do I even want to know what’s going on in that pretty head of yours?”

She glanced up at Jay whose mouth was curled into that half-smile she’d grown to love. Her lower half tingled the way it always did when he looked at her like that, and suddenly nightmares and boogie men were the farthest thing from her mind.

“I was just thinking how soft that rug in front of the fireplace looked.”

Heat filtered behind his eyes. “Oh, yeah?”

She nodded. “Maybe when we get inside, we should check it out. See just how comfortable it is.”

“I’ve said it before, woman. I love the way you think.”

“In that case, I think the last one there has to...wash the dinner dishes!”

Running as fast as she could in her new hiking boots, Juliet slipped out from under his arm and took off for the cabin.

“Hey!” Jay began running after her. “Cheaters never win!”

She laughed and stole a glance from over her shoulder. “That’s what you think!”

He caught up to her in the end, but she didn’t mind. Juliet did, however, learn that the rug in question was every bit as soft as it looked.

Three days later, they were still living the dream...if the dream was to hide out away from civilization while Jay and his team back home tried to figure out who wanted her dead.

Still, as far as safe houses went, this one was a hell of a lot better than the one she’d been forced to stay in two years before.

Juliet glanced at the man sitting across from her and smiled. Yes, this one was much, much better.

“Well...lunch is over. Whatever will we do, now?” She straightened her leg and ran her socked foot up and down the bottom of his denim-covered calf.

Looking much too serious for her liking, Jay stood and picked up their plates and silverware. “Saw on the news that a storm’s supposed to come through here in the next couple of days. I need to go chop some more wood before it hits.”

Blinking at his suddenly strange demeanor, Juliet glanced over at the ample stack of wood by the fireplace. “You need more?”

He set the dishes in the sink and headed for the door. Grabbing his coat and hat from the wooden peg near hers, he shook his head. “That won’t last us a full day.”

“What about the massive stack on the porch? Won’t that be enough?”

“Not if we get snowed in for a significant period of time.” He threw on his cap and gloves. “Stay inside. Don’t—”

“Answer the door unless it’s you. I know the drill, Jay.”

Something strange—almost angry—flashed behind his eyes. “I’ll be back in a little while.”

And with that, he was gone.

What the...

Juliet’s mind began to race through the past few days. Had she done or said something to upset him?

She couldn’t think of a single thing that had existed between them that wasn’t warm, loving, or passionate.

Maybe he was worried because his team hadn’t figured out who wanted her dead yet. That had to be it because nothing else made sense.

Despite his rules, Juliet rushed to put on her