He chuckled. “I wanted you. I didn’t want to wait. Any complaints?”
She smiled and shook her head, moving her heavy mane of hair. “Definitely not. Curt insisted we always make love in bed.”
Jax grinned. “Then you’re in for some surprises, honey. I promise you.”
Mindy laughed, and Jax frowned. “Wait a minute. Curt wasn’t the only guy—”
“No, of course not. But it had to be special, or it just wasn’t worth it, and that hasn’t happened very often.”
He tried and failed not to be glad.
Jax headed for the bathroom. By the time he got back, Mindy was asleep. Jax joined her on the bed, snuggled her against him and kissed the top of her head.
She belonged to him. He had never felt that way about a woman before, but he could feel the rightness deep in his bones. All he had to do was convince Mindy.
Jax sighed into the darkness. First, he had to find the men who threatened her. Until then, he had to keep her safe.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
AFTERASECONDnight of glorious sex, Mindy went to work with Jax on Monday morning. Before he left her at the office to drive out to the Westin hotel, he checked with Jason Maddox to be sure his friend would protect her until his return.
It didn’t sit well with Mindy. She might not be a former police detective like Lissa and Wolfe, or former military like Jax and Maddox and some of the other guys in the office, but she was smart, and she was used to taking care of herself.
She didn’t want to be a burden to her friends. She was an independent woman and she wanted her life back.
Thinking about it as she sat behind the reception desk, her shoulders slumped. She would never have her life back exactly the way it was. She would have to quit her job as soon as this was over. No way could she come to the office every day, see Jax and not yearn to be with him.
But the two of them would never work. They were just too different. She was a bookkeeper-receptionist, planning to take night classes to get her CPA accounting degree. He was a hot navy SEAL, a private investigator who took perilous assignments, and did God only knew what else. He lived on danger, while she wanted a quiet life with a husband and kids.
There was no way she could be with him, and once she ended things, it would hurt too much to be around him. Jax Ryker was a very virile man. A man like that had needs, and she wasn’t willing to be his booty call no matter how much she wanted him. Which meant he would turn to other women, and there was no way could she could handle that. She hadn’t forgotten the crushing pain she’d felt when Candace had appeared at his door.
She forced her thoughts back to the ledgers she was working on, glanced up a few minutes later to see Lissa walking up to her desk. She stood half a foot taller than Mindy, around five-nine, slender, with short, softly curling blond hair.
“Want to take a walk?” Lissa asked. “Maddox can keep an eye on things, and I need a cup of coffee. How about you?”
She could certainly use a cup. “That sounds great.” Rising, she followed Lissa into the break room. The smell of coffee hit her as Lissa filled a mug decorated with a cowboy hat on the side and handed it over. She poured a mug for herself, and they sat down at the round, Formica-topped table.
Lissa took a sip of coffee. “I thought the Sunday meeting was very productive, didn’t you?”
Mindy sighed. “I guess. We still don’t know what’s going on.”
“No, but we came up with a couple of solid working theories. Jax is tracking one of them down right now. I know Jason and Chase are both trying to come up with something useful.”
“I know.” Mindy’s hands tightened around the mug. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate everyone’s help. It’s just... I feel so useless.”
“Hey, we all have our strengths. Jax and the rest of us—we’re each involved in law enforcement in some form or another. That’s what we do. We want to help you solve this.”
Mindy took a drink of coffee and sat back with a sigh. “I hope it doesn’t take too much longer.”
Lissa smiled. “Just think of the time you get to spend with Jax.” She lifted her mug, looked at Mindy over the rim. “How’s that going, by the way?”
Surely Jax wouldn’t have told Lissa. Surely not. “I’m not...not exactly sure what you’re talking about.”
“Seriously? You’re going to take that route?”
Mindy straightened. “How did you know?”
“It wasn’t hard to figure out. I could tell you were attracted to him when I saw the way you looked at him in the office. It’s tough to hide that from another woman. When the two of you walked into that meeting yesterday morning, it was written all over your face.”
