AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"I didn't know he worked for Dad." There wasn't so much as a glimmer of warmth in Nik's eyes. "I rarely talk to him about business or his employees."
"How well do you know Jarvis?" Nik asked.
"He was a few classes higher than me in school." She sipped her coffee thoughtfully. "He's different. Really quiet. The last I heard, he was living in Nolan Village with his sister and niece since he served six months in jail for shoplifting. I heard he was fired from the construction job where Eddie was killed about three weeks before the murder, but I didn't hear why."
Nik nodded slowly. "I have the address to the apartment. We're going to see if we can't catch Jarvis before he leaves this morning." His gaze flicked over the lacy summer blouse she wore. "I'd change clothes if I were you. Jeans, T-shirt, and sneakers would work best."
She bit her lip nervously as she continued to watch him. There was something too cold, too hard, about him. As though the veneer of ice was only hiding a seething volcano. It made her nervous, made her wonder what that volcano actually consisted of. Finishing the light breakfast, she moved from the table while Nik was going through the file he'd managed to somehow accumulate through the night. Retreating to her bedroom, she quickly changed clothes before braiding her hair, then lacing white sneakers on her feet.
She didn't often wear jeans and T-shirts. They weren't the best attire for the shop, and that was where she spent the majority of her time.
Returning to the kitchen, she found Nik waiting for her. The dishes were cleared away, the coffee cups rinsed, and he was waiting with an air of impatience as she walked 145
into the room.
"Remember what I told you last night," he warned her. "If I say 'jump,' don't bother asking how high; just jump as high as possible. If you get in the way, this will be the last trip you make with me."
"I feel so welcome," she murmured as they left the house and Nik quickly set the alarm and locked the door behind them.
"Then I'm not using the proper tone of voice," he growled before catching her arm, swinging her around, and glaring down at her. "Get hurt and I promise you, you'll regret it for far more reasons than the obvious. Don't dare question an order I give, and if you even think of making a move I don't approve of beforehand I'll make a drive-by shooting look like a picnic in the park. Do you understand me?" Her eyes narrowed. He was big, brawny, and giving her orders she didn't need.
"If you don't get out of my face you're going to find my knee in a very sensitive area of your body."
She had managed, as she spoke, to maneuver said knee until she was pressing against the heavy, thick bulge in his jeans.
His jaw tightened. So he was mad. Big deal. She was mad, too.
"This isn't playtime, Mikayla." He was almost snarling. He was cute, sexy as hell, but the fire burning beneath the ice in his eyes was almost mesmerizing.
"Then don't make it playtime, Nik." Her knee pressed more firmly into place. "Or we might be later leaving."
She didn't give him a chance to pull her away or to retaliate with mockery, sarcasm, or male disgruntlement. Turning, she moved around the truck, leaned against it, and waited patiently for him to help her. The truck was a little too high.
"I don't feel like mountain climbing," she stated as he stared at her from the other side of the truck.
If his jaw became any tighter, it was going to crack.
He strode forcefully around the truck, opened the door, and lifted her into the passenger seat before closing the door and returning to the driver's side. The drive to Jarvis Dalton and his sister's residence in Hagerstown was made quickly, if quietly, and filled with tension. Mikayla didn't even try to speak. As the truck pulled into Nolan Village, Mikayla drew in a deep, slow breath. Parking, Nik left the truck, helped her out, then keeping carefully in front of her moved to the apartment where Jarvis and his sister lived.
Jarvis was the same beady-eyed little pervert Mikayla remembered. From the second she and Nik walked into the apartment, Jarvis's eyes didn't seem to want to leave the area of her breasts.
"So whatdya want?" Jarvis ran one hand over his greasy black hair as he ran the other hand over his bulky chest while staring at her breasts again. Slimy dog.
Barefoot and clad only in sweatpants, Jarvis made his way along the stained carpet into a living room piled with pizza boxes, beer and soda cans, and a heavy layer of dust.
Nik pulled the black leather badge wallet from his back pocket and flashed the official identification. "FBI Agent Nik Steele. I have some questions for you."
"FBI." Jarvis blinked back at Nik before staring blurrily back at Mikayla. "I didn't 146
hear your boyfriend was FBI, Miki."
Nik gritted his teeth at Jarvis's nickname for Mikayla.
"My relationship with Mikayla isn't the issue," Nik informed the other man briskly. "You are."
"Me?" Jarvis scratched at his head, parting his oily hair. "Whatdya want from me?"
"I want to know where you were the night Eddie Foreman was killed," Nik stated as he stood in front of Mikayla just inside the door.
