“That’s enough,” barked Calvin.
“Real professional,” Nikki tacked on.
Reardon instantly went on the defensive. “Do you know who his father is? Can you blame us?”
The pain of the past flashed across Jackson’s face. Guilt was a feeling Nikki had grown used to over the years, too. Seeing that mirrored in the man who had just saved her life made her snap.
She’d had enough.
“Can I blame you?” she repeated, stepping closer to the man. “Can I blame you for focusing on an irrelevant past detail that in no way pertains to the dead man in my tub or whoever it was who sent him? Can I blame you for the fact that the only person who has done anything helpful so far is this man you’re now treating with more attention than the dead man in my tub? Can I blame you for letting your job take a backseat while you judge a man you don’t know, and seem to care so little about the dead man you don’t know in my tub? Can I? Yes. I can. Thanks.”
In the back of her mind Nikki realized she might have crossed a line. Even though she was close to Calvin, that didn’t mean she had a free pass to say whatever she wanted to the other men. However, she found she couldn’t seem to help or care what the officers might dish out to her if they were truly offended. Her night had taken such an unexpected turn that her emotions seemed to be finding it hard to return to their normal state. Instead of pausing to weigh the officers’ reactions, Nikki continued. “Now, if you don’t mind, Jackson and I will be in the kitchen if you need us.”
Nikki didn’t wait for permission to leave the conversation and take her agent with her.
Last time she checked, it was still her apartment.
Even if there was a dead man soaking in her tub.
Chapter Seven
Nikki looked at her reflection and willed herself not to cry.
It was just after midnight and she was standing in Orion’s bathroom, toothbrush in hand, and dressed down in a T-shirt and sleep pants. To the best of her abilities, she was trying hard to feel normal. A hard objective to meet when pain throbbed along her side and elbow and part of her scalp was sore.
Curveballs on contracts, she was used to, but in her personal life? That was new territory and she was quickly realizing she wasn’t as prepared as she would have liked to be for any of it.
She felt her cheeks heat as she remembered standing frozen earlier. Sure, she had fought the intruder before fear had made her freeze up, but then...
What if Jackson hadn’t come?
“Stop it,” Nikki whispered to the empty bathroom. She had spent years giving advice to her friends and Orion employees to not focus on the unending road of what-ifs. It never led anywhere good. You couldn’t change the past, only try to make better decisions in the future. She packed up the rest of her toiletries and went back out into the grazing area, trying to clear her mind.
Another nearly impossible objective when the newest Orion agent looked up from his spot on one of the couches.
“You know I could fire you,” Nikki said. “That would get you to leave.”
Jackson nodded, not seeming worried in the least. He didn’t say it, but Nikki doubted firing him would really make him leave her alone completely. He’d probably just wait out in the parking lot until morning. Though she didn’t know why he felt so strongly about it all. They were basically strangers. Nikki exhaled a long stream of air that made her body sag slightly. She had started to walk back to her office when she paused.
“Again, I have to thank you for what you did tonight,” she said. “I know I was kind of brash with you earlier, but—”
“There was a dead man in your tub,” he offered, mild humor to try to lighten the mood.
Nikki nodded.
“Are you okay?” she asked. He’d been as much a part of the man’s death as she had. Surely it wasn’t just she who was shaken up. Jackson didn’t seem to consider the question at length.
“I don’t feel bad for the man who tried to beat you, if that’s what you’re asking,” he answered.
“Good. But let it be clear. This,” she went on, waving her hand to include the building around her, “is a one-night deal. I may appreciate what you’ve done for me, but I will not be treated like I’m a contract when I’m the one who signs them in the first place.”
Jackson’s jaw set. He wanted to argue again, she could tell, but instead he didn’t say a word. She took it as an agreement and turned to go back to her office, the couch inside it waiting for her tired body.
“Nikki,” Jackson called after her. The way he said it, however, sounded off. It made her look back at him wordlessly. She was surprised to see him coming toward her. Wearing an undershirt and a pair of jeans, he looked on the sexy side of casual. His eyes kept to hers just as they had done when she was naked. It somehow made her feel even more vulnerable now that she was clothed. She straightened her back as he stopped a few steps from her.
“You know who I am,” he breathed, words dripping with an emotion she couldn’t quite place. “I know you’ve looked into my past and that means you know who my father was. And what he did. And what I didn’t.” Pain lined his expression. It quickly turned to something else she could recognize. Genuine curiosity. “So, why did you defend me tonight?”
Nikki wanted to let out the breath that had somehow caught in her chest at the man’s closeness, but she found it trapped. She was starting to find that she wasn’t prepared for Jackson Fields, either. Still, she answered.
“Loyalty,” she answered, simply. “Welcome to Orion, Mr. Fields.”
Before he could respond, Nikki said good-night and closed herself in the office. Though she didn’t miss the small smile that picked up the corner of his lips as she’d turned away. It made her wonder how many had shown the man any kind of goodness since his father became known as one of the most infamous cop killers in the West.
* * *
“HEY THERE, BOSS.”
Kelli Tranton and her pregnant belly were the first things Nikki saw the next morning. She stared for a moment, confused at her surroundings, until the night before came back. As if on cue, a soreness radiated up her side.
“What time is it?” Nikki asked, sitting up. Her scalp definitely still stung.
“Just after eight.”
Nikki ran a hand over her eyes. When she looked back up, her friend’s stare was unblinking.
“Not that I’m here to pry into your personal life, but seeing as technically you’re at the office, I just have to wonder out loud why you’re sleeping here.” Kelli lowered her voice to a whisper. “And why a shirtless Jackson met me at the front door this morning.”
Nikki inwardly groaned.
“He didn’t tell you?” she hedged. If she told Kelli what had happened, the woman wouldn’t hesitate to tell her husband. In turn he wouldn’t hesitate to tell Oliver and Jonathan. If there was even the slightest possibility that the Averys were targets, she couldn’t and wouldn’t take the risk of the boys being called off. Not on her behalf.
“All he did was point me in your direction. And now I’m here.” Kelli’s expression was expectant. She wasn’t going to leave until she was satisfied with an explanation. Luckily Nikki didn’t have to make one up. Her phone vibrated so violently against the desk that both women jumped.
“I’ll give you some privacy,” Kelli said, handing it over. “But I’m not dropping this, so don’t even think about pretending I am.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Nikki said. She waited for the door to close behind the blonde before answering. The caller ID belonged to Calvin’s work phone at the station.
The detective dove in. “Nikki, we think we found out who your attacker is. But I’d like to talk about it in person. Can you swing down here?”
Nikki refrained from asking for a name. She’d been his friend since firs
t opening Orion and had learned quickly that he hated talking business over the phone.
“Can I stop for coffee first?” She rubbed at her eyes again, knowing the drag of the bad night’s sleep she’d gotten would hit her as soon as she got into the car.
“Only if you grab me a cup. Make it strong. I feel like today is going to be a long one.”
* * *
JACKSON ONCE AGAIN was tasked with giving Nikki a ride. Also, once again, he could tell she didn’t like it. He was starting to see just how much lack of control put her in a bad mood.
Despite the Texas heat that had Nikki in a pair of shorts and a red blouse and him wishing he’d thought to keep a change of shorts in his truck, a few patrons sat outside of the coffee shop on patio chairs with cups of joe between their hands. The shop was small and nestled between a hair salon and a craft store. No drive-through, which meant the urgency he felt to find out who the man was who had gone after Nikki couldn’t be expressed by refusing to go inside just for the sake of it. He’d already tried to convince the redhead to let him go through one of the chain coffee shops’ drive-throughs to cut down on time. But Nikki had pointed out that there was only one coffee shop in all of Dallas, as far as she was concerned, and this was it. After the night she’d had, he relented.
“Are you sure you want me to chauffeur you to the station?” he finally asked as she seemed to be irritated once again that she couldn’t drive herself.
“It’s cheaper than taking a cab,” she said with notable sarcasm. Then she sobered. “Plus, I figured you’d want to know the man’s name, right?”
Jackson quickened his pace to open the door for her. He smirked.
“Can you blame me?” he asked. “Can you?”
He saw the whisper of a smile lift her lips at his reference to her impassioned speech the night before. One that had caught him so completely off guard.
Loyalty.
Not a word he’d ever thought someone would attach to him and certainly not act on.
“I shut him up, didn’t I?”
Nikki walked through the open door with a smile. Jackson grinned.
“That you did,” he said.
The line wasn’t long, but the wait was what got you. Nikki surprised him by ordering some cold frap-a-something while he went with a very large black coffee. The Orion couches were comfortable enough to sit on, but staying there for hours had made relaxing in any form impossible. Then again, that hadn’t been his goal as he stayed awake watching the only door into Orion.
And trying to keep his eyes off the only one that led to Nikki.
Sitting across from her now at a small table waiting for their orders, Jackson tried to reason that the pull he thought he felt for her was nothing more than appreciation.
He appreciated her hiring him.
He appreciated her sticking up for him.
He appreciated the redness of her lips. The curve of her jaw. The way her hazel eyes and their hypnotic swirl not only looked at him but grabbed him, too.
Jackson shook his head, trying to physically stop the thundering thoughts that had sprung up without his permission. Wanting to take the woman who cut your checks back to your place wasn’t the best idea. Not even for a man who had a background in having bad ideas.
“So you and Detective Cooper must be close,” Jackson said in an attempt to derail thoughts of how her lips would feel against his. She raised her eyebrow in question. “For you to leave him at your apartment last night to clean things up, I mean. After they take the body and the evidence, I don’t think it’s normal for them to bring out a mop and bucket.”
Nikki smirked.
“He owed me,” she said. Just like in true Nikki fashion, she didn’t immediately elaborate. He’d never met a woman so overtly mysterious. He wondered if she even did it on purpose.
“Cool story,” he said, sarcasm turned on high. The redhead didn’t seem offended.
She shrugged. “There’s not much to tell. When I first opened Orion we had a contract here in Dallas that involved calling the cops. Calvin was in the area and we met and became friends.”
She paused and seemed to consider her words before she spoke again. “A few years ago he set me up with one of his colleagues. Let’s suffice it to say that it did not go well and because of that he became indebted to me. Not to mention, I introduced him to his wife.” She grinned.
Jackson was still hung up on that first part. “Huh, you and a cop... I could see that,” he found himself admitting. He couldn’t even picture her dating someone without combat training.
Nikki snorted. “Calvin thought it would be a good fit, too, but it’s hard to enjoy dinner with a man who is constantly trying to prove to you that he’s much tougher than you.” She shrugged again. “Apparently I can be intimidating.”
“You, intimidating? That I can’t see.” Jackson made a show of scrunching up his face, like he was running the mental numbers and coming up with nothing. “Bossy, maybe, but intimidating? No dice, sorry.”
Something flashed across Nikki’s face. An emotion that he couldn’t peg down. For a moment he wondered if he’d poked the bear, so to speak, but then she did something he wasn’t used to at all.
She laughed.
“Want to know the kicker about the whole Calvin thing?” she asked, humor breaking through the hard outer shell she’d formed since they got into the car. “The colleague he set me up with? Ryan Reardon.”
“Wait, wait. As in the Reardon you ripped a new one in last night?”
Nikki nodded. Jackson hooted in laughter. It drew some attention from the patrons around them, but he didn’t care. “So that little show was less about me and more about humiliating your ex?”
Nikki was trying not to laugh again. “I’d hardly call him an ex. We went on two dates.”
“Right, right,” Jackson said, hand raised to stop her from trying to talk him out of believing at least some of the anger had been directed at Reardon for a different reason than defending him. The more he thought about it, though, the more Jackson realized he didn’t like the idea that she hadn’t been solely thinking about him in that moment.
Maybe Nikki noticed the shift in his thoughts. The smile across her lips was wiped clean off her face so fast that in turn Jackson stiffened. Her hand went to her phone so quickly that he was about to ask what was wrong when he realized she was looking at the mirror that lined the back wall of the shop behind him.
Following the reflection, he turned and watched as three men entered. To him they didn’t seem out of the ordinary. One was even dressed like he was ready to go into a corporate tower of some sort after he made a stop to get some caffeine. However, as soon as they were shut inside the shop, all three turned to Nikki, as if a part of some automated hive mind. It was too perfect a motion to be a coincidence.
Jackson pushed his chair back and stood as the men approached.
The man dressed in a suit smiled.
“You don’t need to get up on my account,” he said. “In fact, we’d like to join you.” Jackson was about to argue when the men on either side of him moved their blazers to the side just enough to show their guns. Jackson shared a quick glance with Nikki. She gave him a tight nod. He lowered himself back into his seat. The best-dressed man kept smiling and sat at the only other chair between them while the other two pulled up wayward chairs opposite him. None of the other patrons made a fuss.
All traces of her earlier humor gone, Nikki turned to the man. “Hello, Andrew.”
Chapter Eight
Andrew Miller looked nothing like what Jackson had expected. To cause such caution in not only Nikki but also the other Orion agents, Jackson had pictured a brute of a man. Instead, what he saw was a man who could have walked straight out of a business catalog. His suit fit him expertly, unlike the blazers his friends wore, wh
ich hung awkwardly around them. Even his hair seemed prepped to run its own meeting, slicked back with copious amounts of gel. Again, not what Jackson had expected.
“You must be new,” Andrew said. “I don’t think we’ve had the pleasure.” He extended his hand. Jackson didn’t take it.
“What are you doing here?” Jackson bit out.
Andrew’s smile widened, as if he was pretending to be innocent. He motioned to the coffee bar behind him. “I’ve heard wonderful things about this place. Why wouldn’t I be here?”
“What do you want?” Nikki asked instead. Her voice didn’t waver. It was hard and seeping with caution. It reminded Jackson that, even though the man next to them didn’t look capable of anything other than doing your taxes, at the end of the day Jackson didn’t know anything about Andrew.
“I just wanted to see how you were doing,” he said, a tilt to his head that implied it was the most obvious reason as to why he was there.
“And the men with guns?” she added. Tweedledum and Tweedledee managed their own versions of Andrew’s smile. It sent a pulse of anger through Jackson.
They shouldn’t have stopped for coffee.
“They’re kind of like my bodyguards, I suppose.” Andrew laughed but without humor. “I know how much you like those. You stole, what, three from me?”
Nikki’s jaw hardened.
“I didn’t steal anyone,” she said. “They left.”
Andrew snorted, anger showing through his casual facade. Jackson balled his fists beneath the table. Would he really do anything in such a public place? The patrons around them were oblivious of their conversation, but that certainly wouldn’t last long if Andrew’s lackeys pulled out their guns.
“They left because you asked them to, Nikki. You put an idea in their head that twisted them to your liking. You manipulated them for your own gain and they, like lost sheep, listened.”
Jackson didn’t know what they were talking about, but he knew that it hit a nerve in the woman. Her lips thinned. When she spoke, her words almost sounded rehearsed. This seemed to be an old fight between them.
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