Mindy looked up at him with those big blue eyes, and he felt it like a kick in the stomach. “You and the other guys in the office...you’ve all been great to accept me the way you have. It’s just...it isn’t really your job to take care of me. I mean, I work for The Max, but that doesn’t make me your responsibility. It’s too much to ask.”
He wanted to tell her that she meant more to him than just an office employee and friend, but it was the wrong thing to say. He wasn’t the right guy for Mindy. She was too sweet to handle a hard guy like him. He wanted her, but he didn’t want to take advantage, and if he wasn’t careful he would. She deserved better than a few nights in his bed, the length of his usual relationships with women. If she was even interested.
The thought she might not feel the same fierce attraction to him that he felt for her did not sit well.
“We’re friends,” he said. “Friends help each other. I’ve got the skills you need right now to keep you safe. Okay?”
She studied him for several long seconds, but he couldn’t read her thoughts.
“Okay...” she said reluctantly.
Jax paid the bill and they headed back to the office.
“I need to call Gunderson, see if the cops have turned up anything on the van. Then I’m going to pay a visit to Curt Wyman.”
“What?”
“I want to talk to him, see what he has to say. You don’t think he’s involved, but we need to be sure. I’ll call Maddox, have him come over and stay at your place while I’m gone.”
“If you’re going to talk to Curt, I’m coming with you.”
“If Wyman’s behind the attempt, he might not be alone. Anything could happen. I want you somewhere safe.”
She turned on the sidewalk and propped a hand on her hip. “I’m going, Jax. I realize you know a lot more about this kind of thing than I do, but I know Curt and he isn’t going to open up to you. Not the way he will with me.”
He didn’t miss the determined set of her features. The look in her eyes said she was not backing down. He was impressed. He was a former navy SEAL. Most women did what he said without question. This was the second time Mindy had stood up to him. He was learning something new about her. Mindy Stewart was a lot tougher than she looked.
Plus he had a hunch she was right.
“Well?”
“All right, fine, you can go. Let me make that call to Gunderson, then we’ll go.”
He opened the door to the office, and she walked past him into the waiting area. “You know where Curt lives?” she asked.
“I’m a detective, remember? I know where he lives.”
Mindy flicked him an impertinent glance that had him biting back a grin. She walked over to her desk, drawing his attention to the stretch jeans curving over her sweet little ass, and inwardly he groaned.
Forcing his thoughts back to the job, he sat down at his desk and phoned Walt Gunderson. “It’s Ryker,” he said. “Anything new on the Stewart case?”
“Not much. We picked up the van on some street cam video. Lost it in the warehouse district, but it gives us a place to look. Too bad they disabled the cameras in your parking lot.” Both cameras had been taken out with a single shot each. These guys had been prepared.
“By now Chase probably has them back online,” he said. “But that doesn’t help us.”
“No, it doesn’t. I’ll let you know if we come up with something new.”
“Thanks.” Jax didn’t mention the possible ransom motive. If the lead proved false, information about Mindy’s connection to three million dollars’ worth of trust fund money wasn’t something he wanted floating around.
He hung up the phone and headed for the front desk. “You ready?”
Jax wasn’t looking forward to a visit with Mindy’s old boyfriend. But he had to admit he was curious.
CHAPTER SIX
WITHTHEWEATHERimproved from the day before and the Saturday traffic fairly light, it wasn’t a bad drive to Curt Wyman’s expensive condo in Uptown Dallas. The guard recognized her and let them pass without comment. Mindy rode in silence next to Jax as the glass elevator whisked them up from the slick, futuristic lobby to the fourteenth floor.
“He might not be home,” she said as they reached the front door. “He liked to play golf with some of his clients on the weekends.”
