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“I can’t—”
He held up a hand. “The room has a lock on the door if you’ll be more comfortable. I know we don’t know each other and I can appreciate you being cautious. But sleeping in your car or at a cheap motel isn’t the right alternative. Or safer,” he added after a beat.
She wanted to argue with him but Nova knew he was right. She’d done enough of the “cheap and seedy” on her drive west, and while she hadn’t run up against any real problems, her pregnant state hadn’t even stopped some less savory characters from making passes at her.
“It’s a deal. On one condition.”
“Tell me.”
“You wouldn’t give me your opinion before. On if I should or shouldn’t reach out to Ace Colton’s family.”
“Why do you want my opinion?” Nikolas asked.
“Let’s say it’s sort of like your lunchtime expense.”
“My what?”
Confusion stamped itself in his hazel eyes, and once again, Nova felt something flutter deep in her belly that had nothing to do with the baby. He really was attractive. In a roguish, sexy way that was deeply appealing. And nothing like the overly slick, three-piece-suit look she usually went for.
Add on that thick head of dark curls and long-lashed eyes that would make a supermodel envious and she figured she’d better keep her head about her and her hormones off Nikolas Slater.
And hormones or not, there was something about him she trusted. Which was the last thing she needed to be doing after the whole Ferdy mess, but still...there was something there.
The kind way he’d taken on her case and then bought her lunch. Sure, he might be looking to get as much intel as he could for the other case he had on Ace Colton, but he was still helping her.
He’d even acknowledged that she had no reason to trust him.
It was a risk but she needed the help, too.
“Before,” she pressed on. “When I asked you why you were paying for lunch, you told me it was an investment and that you’d come up with a way to explain it later.”
“So I did.”
“Then that’s my answer.”
“About Ace and his family?”
“Yep. I want your opinion. Sooner or later I’ll figure out why.”
* * *
Nikolas had to give her credit, the woman paid attention. She was sharp and smart and she continued to amaze him at every turn.
Even if she was too stubborn for her own good.
And too focused on maintaining her independence to consider the realities of her safety.
No matter how capable she might be, she was seriously pregnant. A reality she seemed to keep ignoring. “When is the baby due?”
“A few more months.”
“Wow. That’s close.”
She rubbed a hand over the large mound that was impossible to ignore. “Not as close as you might think. Especially if you were the one staring down at many more weeks of an alien invasion.”
“An alien what?”
She smiled in a way that lit up her whole face, and again, he caught the teasing underneath her words. “There are moments when it feels like I’ve got an alien growing inside instead of a baby. The way he or she moves or a random foot that suddenly sticks out the side of my belly. A few weeks ago I swear he was doing jumping jacks.”
