His Every Desire by Shiloh Walker Page B

Grainger.
    But she had enough to put that fuck in jail without him.
    “What’s the problem here, Mike?”
    “No problem.”
    “Then why did it sound like you were telling Mr. Lockhart he was going back to prison? He kept his end of the bargain. We’ve got three big, nasty fish off the streets, thanks to him. And one left to go—what’s the problem?”
    Mike hesitated a little. “We need the wife. Lockhart knows where she is. He’s been holding back information.”
    “We don’t need the wife. And she disappeared. Nobody has been able to find her.”
    Joel closed his eyes, tuning Dowling’s voice out. He couldn’t listen to that again. Tracy had done what he’d told her to do. That’s all—nothing had happened to her.
    Damn it, Carly said she was safe—
    She is safe, baby…
    The cold settled in but this time it came almost like a comforting hug as Carly wrapped her presence around him. She’s safe, honey.
    Where is she? he wanted to demand. He wanted to leave right now. Hell, he could get out of there. Three federal agents and one DA. Dowling was the weak link. Grab her, get her gun—but she was also the soft spot for him, because he couldn’t hurt her.
    He looked into her eyes and saw pain. Grainger had hurt somebody in her life as well. He couldn’t add to it. Damn it.
    Their voices murmured in the background, making no sense even when he tried to focus. He needed to get to Tracy.
    Grainger wasn’t a threat now, not while he was still out of it. But the minute he started recalling things, Tracy could be in danger.
    Joel needed to get to her before that happened.
    You will, baby…
    “We need the wife, damn it! And the hell he doesn’t know where she is. Half of Maine knows he was fucking her—”
    Joel moved. Grabbing Chaumers by the neck, he slammed him into the wall, pressing against the DA’s windpipe and watching as his face went red and then purple. “You don’t want to talk about her again, Mike. You understand me?” Joel said, his voice casual, an easy smile on his face.
    Footsteps moved up behind him, but then they stopped. “Back off guys. He’s not hurting him.”
    Chaumers’ eyes wheeled around, staring at somebody behind Joel and he heard Dowling laugh. “I told you, we don’t need the wife. You can’t find the wife. How is he supposed to know where she is? He’s been in lockup for the past two years.”
    Joel smiled at Chaumers as he let go. The DA clutched at his throat, gasping for air and staring at Joel with wide, terrified eyes.
    “Yeah, how am I supposed to know?”
    Casey gestured to the two agents. “Why don’t you all take Mike down to the café and get him a coffee or something? I need to talk to Joel for a bit here.”
    One of them paused only long enough to study her with a lifted brow. The other was already assisting the attorney to his feet.
    By the time they were out the door, Joel was back to staring out the window.
    “There’s really nothing to see. It’s a parking lot, Joel. Boring, gray. We don’t have the budget to get you anything worth looking at.”
    Glancing at her, Joel shrugged. “I’ve seen worse.”
    “Hmmm.”
    Hearing that tone in her voice, he finally turned around and leaned back against the wall, staring at her with an expectant look on his face. “What?”
    “There was something between you two. What was it?”
    Joel studied her closely. “If I tell you, will you answer a question for me? Honestly, no lies? No FBI evasions?”
    Casey arched a brow. “Well, I guess that will depend on the question. But I am very nosy. Sure—but I want the answer first. I don’t trust you entirely.”
    “I love her,” he said quietly, simply.
    Casey’s lashes lowered briefly. “I thought so. You have an excellent poker face, Joel. I’ve only seen it crack on rare occasions. And usually when it involves her. What would you do for her? What would you give up?”
    Scowling, Joel shrugged, spinning away to pace the tight confines of the