“I’ll be there.”
“Maybe we can come up with something that makes sense.”
“You’ll take care of her tonight?”
“You know I will.”
“Yeah...” Hawk said. “I do.”
Jax ignored the subtle innuendo. He had gone out of his way to make sure no one guessed the attraction he felt to Mindy, but Maddox was his closest friend.
“Call if you need me,” Hawk said.
“Will do.” Jax hung up the phone. Pulling open the bottom drawer of his desk, he punched in the code for his gun safe, drew out his .38 Colt revolver and strapped it to his ankle. He took out his holstered HK45 Compact Tactical semiautomatic pistol, the same weapon he had used as a SEAL, and set it on the desk. From now on, he planned to be armed.
As he rose from the chair, Mindy looked at him with big, worried eyes. She still wasn’t completely used to working around men and women in the security business, but she was learning.
“You ready?” he asked as he clipped the pistol to his belt.
Mindy eyed the gun, looked up at him and nodded.
He had already retrieved his laptop from where he had dropped it in the parking lot. Fortunately, the padded case had protected it. He grabbed the handle and they started for the door.
Mindy was also carrying her laptop. “I have some work to do in the morning so I planned to leave my computer here overnight, but the way things are going, I think I better take it with me.”
“Good idea.” There was a chance the laptop contained information that might help them figure out what the kidnappers wanted. He planned to take a hard look at it once he got Mindy home.
She slung the strap of the computer over her shoulder and grabbed the battered purse she had retrieved from the parking lot. As they walked outside, she started toward the little red Volkswagen Beetle that seemed to fit her just right, but Jax caught her arm.
“It’s after midnight. You might as well leave your car here, and I’ll drive you back to work in the morning.”
She hesitated. He could tell she was still trying to come to grips with the notion he would be spending the night. “I...um...hate to waste gas so, okay, I guess that works.”
He walked her over to his pickup and opened the passenger door, glad he had installed running boards along both sides of the extended cab. Then again, if she’d needed his help to get in, he would have an excuse to put his hands on her again.
Until tonight he had never touched her. Now he’d fantasize about the soft fullness of her breasts against his chest, the long, silky strands of her hair teasing his cheek as he’d carried her into the office.
Jax swore a silent curse. He’d be sleeping on Mindy’s sofa tonight, a task made nearly impossible with her asleep in a bed down the hall—with her cat. He hated to admit he was glad it was a cat curled up with her and not some other guy.
He sighed as he rounded his truck to the driver’s side. For weeks, he’d steered clear of her. She was Chase’s employee, the receptionist at The Max. That made her completely off-limits. The attraction he’d felt from the first time he had seen her had no place in his life or hers. But little by little, her sweet smile and vivacious, always cheerful attitude began to melt his iron resolve.
He’d begun to wonder about her, think about her even when he wasn’t in the office. He hadn’t realized how much he’d come to care for her until he had walked out into the parking lot and seen three masked men attacking her.
A fresh shot of fury burned through him as the scene flashed back into his head, and his hand unconsciously fisted. He took a deep breath and forced himself to relax.
He needed to table whatever feelings he had for Mindy, bury his fantasies and do his job. Keeping her safe was all that mattered and to do that he needed to remain objective.
Strapping himself in behind the wheel, Jax made a final scan of the parking lot, saw nothing out of the ordinary and started the engine.
“Put on your seat belt,” he said. He didn’t call her sweetheart or honey, which he shouldn’t have done in the first place. Instead, he focused on the address she had given him, which was not far away. He’d be watching for a tail, taking evasive measures until he was sure they weren’t being followed.
From now on, he was on the job. Mindy Stewart was a client, nothing more. Jax planned to do whatever it took to keep it that way.
CHAPTER THREE
MINDYLAYINbed staring up at the ceiling. It was late, quiet and dark, Muffin, her little black-and-white short-haired cat, curled up at her feet.
Her bedroom was decorated in rose and cream, a feminine room she had designed herself. She usually found it comforting. Tonight her nerves remained on a jagged edge, and even having Jax Ryker, armed and staying in her apartment, didn’t put her worries to rest.
