I planned on doing thatunless this asshole was stupid enough to start something. Miles didn’t need to bebailing me out of jail or anything.
And if I let Fox or Logan doit, again: I’dnever hear the end of it. So. Civility it was.
Civility that left noquestion about what I’d do if my hand was forced, or if I caught himwithin ten feet of Miles ever again.
“Sure,” he said, glancingbetween me and the booth.
I herded him over, keepingmyself between him and the door, and gave him what I felt was a very gentlenudge onto the bench seat.
It probably wouldn’t bruise.
“I didn’t get a name lasttime,” I said, sitting opposite him, poised to get up if I had to. I didn’twantthis to get anymore physical than it already had, but if I had to sit on him while I waitedfor Sergeant Moreno to show up, I’d do it. Even in the middle of a public coffeeshop.
I doubted the yoga-pantscrowd in here was likely to stop me.
“Jimmy,” he said. “You cancall me Jimmy.”
“Much more polite than whatI’ve been calling you in my head,” I agreed. “Care to explain what you’re doinghere, Jimmy?”
He glanced at the files onthe table, and I knew for sure I had the right guy by the way he went pale. Notthat he hadn’tbeen pale before, but this was different.
This was theoh shit,blood draining from his face kind of pale.
“Where’s Miles?” he asked,taking another look around the room as though Miles was likely to just appearout of thin air.
“I know I probably look likea dumb jock to a guy who wears a lab coat to work,” I said. “But I’m notthatstupid. Mileshired me to protect him, and I’m planning ondoingthat.”
“I don’t have to tell youanything,” Jimmy said. “You’re just the hired help.”
I raised an eyebrow, not somuch offended as amused. This guy was either surprisingly ballsy, orsurprisingly stupid. “You wanna give a little thought to how you talk tome? I can’t read your mind or anything, butIwouldn’t want to upseta guy like me.”
I squared my shoulders,sitting up straight to make it clear that I meant I could flatten him withoutbreaking a sweat. Outside of work, I tried not to be intimidating. I knew I wasa big guy, and the little scar through my eyebrow didn’t help the look, and thelast thing I wanted was for people to be afraid of me when they were justwalking down the street, minding their own business.
On the job, it was an asset,and I didn’tmind turning it up to eleven. Especially not when it came to someone who’d madeMiles miserable.
“I just want to talk toMiles,” Jimmy said. “This is important, and I don’t think I should be tellingyou. But he won’t talk to me anymore.”
A connection suddenly fellinto place in my mind. This was the ex-boyfriend. The one Miles had told meabout.
The clingy one.
Great. I’d filed thatinformation away, wondering if it might have been him, but I hadn’t expectedthat to actually betrue.
Something about this guy,though…
He seemed so earnest. Iliked to think I was good at reading people, and there was nothing threateningabout him. Not because he was a skinny nerd, but because of the desperation inhis voice, the look in his eyes.
“Let’s assume here that theonly way you’re getting to talk to Miles is to tell me what the hell is goingon.”
Jimmy looked at me forseveral long seconds, and despitejustthinking I could read people, Ihad no idea what he was looking for.
“You… you care about Miles,right? I mean, not just… you’re not really just the hired help, are you?”
I thought back to thepeacefully-sleeping Miles I’d left behind this morning, a smile threatening tobreak my serious, professional, scary bodyguard face without me intending it.
So yeah, I was probably alittle more than just the hired help.
“I care about Miles,” Iconfirmed. Who cared if Jimmy knew?
