Taking the Heat - Sylvia Day Page 0,2

touched. “You’re being so brave, baby. I’m proud of you.”

Her eyes stung. “I’m not a little girl anymore, Brian.”

“Believe me, Layla. I know that.” Releasing her, he dug two baseball caps out of the bag and slid one onto her head. His fingers sifted through the dark tresses draped over her shoulders, as if he couldn’t help himself. “When we get to the car, I want you to change your shirt and tie up your hair.”

“Okay.”

He grabbed the bags and set off, heading in the opposite direction of the Civic he’d commandeered. They made their way across the street, his stride smooth and easy, but she knew he was sharply focused on their surroundings. He was always alert, but he was inclined to be hypervigilant with her. Not just because she was a protected witness, but because she was his best friend ’s younger sister and the woman he’d once loved.

He walked directly to a beat-up Bronco parked off to the side of the convenience store and tossed the bags through the lowered rear window. “Hop in.”

When he slid behind the driver’s seat, he handed her a body armor vest he’d pulled out of the cargo space.

They were back on I-70 in less than five minutes.

Brian took the cap off his head and tossed it on the floorboard behind Layla’s seat. She was already pulling her Henley off, as comfortable in her own skin as any woman had a right to be. As she bared a tealcolored lace bra that perfectly matched her irises, he could barely keep his eyes on the road.

“So the guy whose car this is,” she began. “A deputy? Or a SEAL?”

“Can’t he just be a civilian?”

“Not with you. You live and breathe the job—on duty and off.”

Which was why she’d left him. “Deputy.”

She dug into the plastic bag of clothes he’d set between her feet. “What do we do now?”

Now that they were on the move, his tension eased up a fraction, although he knew he wouldn’t be fully relaxed until after Layla testified. Looking over, he saw the bullet-hole scar on her back and the rapidly bruising flesh on her elbows from when he’d tackled her to the ground. His teeth grit again. “We’re going to drive straight through to San Diego. Fourteen hours a day on the road will get you there on time. I know that’s not going to give you much opportunity to go over your testimony with the assistant U. S. attorney.”

“Well . . .” She exhaled harshly and straightened. “Missing witness prep is better than death.”

Fucking understatement of the year, but so like her. The daughter and sister of Navy SEALs, she’d been raised to be a straight shooter. The day she’d turned eighteen she had marched right up to him at her birthday party and tossed a gauntlet at his feet—Teasing’s over, Bri. Put out or get shut out. I’m not hurting for dates.

Prior to that day, he’d told himself to wait a little longer. Let her go to college, spread her wings. He knew once he had her, their future together would be cemented for both of them. She’d be his and he would be hers ’til death parted them.

But faced with the possibility of seeing her with other guys, laughing and playing and fucking other guys ...

His hands tightened on the steering wheel. “Tell me what happened.”

She glanced at him, then yanked a new shirt over her head. She slid the vest on over it with impatient but practiced movements. “What are you talking about?”

“Tell me how you got into this mess.”

Sitting back, she put her seat belt on. “Steph and I headed down to Rosarito and Tijuana for spring break. She hooked up with this dude she met at Papas and Beer, and since she was drunk and hellbent on getting it on with him, I had to stick with her. I wasn’t going to let her take off with some strange guy all by herself. So he rounded up a friend of his and we climbed into a Camaro and headed back up to TJ.”

Fighting to relax his tautened jaw, he bit out, “You fucking know better!”

“What’s the problem, Deputy? Living dangerously only applies to you?”

“Don’t even try to compare reckless partying with the job I do.”

Layla stared out the passenger-side window, frustration vibrating from her slim body. Her feelings about what he did for a living had broken them apart. He understood that losing her father and brother had set her against the