Renegade (Elite Ops 5) (37 page)

friends since high school, though Steve travels a lot, so that may have made it easier for Eddie to remain friends with him."

"You didn't mention him to us before," Nik pointed out.

Gina shook her head. "He wasn't in town. Steve just returned last night. He's an architect. He's been in London on a job for the past several months. He called me early this morning to let me know he was back and give me his condolences."

178

"Do you have his address, Mrs. Foreman?" Nik asked.

Gina frowned back at Mikayla. "Mikayla knows it; they used to date."

Mikayla bit her lip before turning to Nik with a bright smile. "Yeah, I know where he lives. She doesn't have to write the address down at all."

"Tell me," Nik muttered, his voice so low Mikayla was certain only she heard him. "Is there anyone you haven't dated?"

She smiled and shrugged. "You."

His eyes narrowed, but thankfully he simply turned back to Gina. "Mrs. Foreman, do you mind if we check out Eddie's office again?"

"Make yourself at home." She waved back to the office. "Someone else did last night. They broke in while I was at work and stole most of the paperwork. That's why I'm home today. I have to get the locks changed and a security system installed."

Mikayla glanced quickly at Nik as he rose to his feet and strode through the short hall to the office. Moving behind him, she reached the doorway just as he entered the office.

"Your friends?" she asked, careful to keep her voice low.

Nik shook his head. "Not my friends."

As Gina had stated, just about everything was gone. File drawers hung open,

shelves had been emptied, and the mess that had been there days before was definitely limited now.

"Wow. Someone cleaned house," Mikayla murmured.

"No doubt." Icy disdain filled his voice now as Mikayla continued to stare around the room. "Maybe Steve will know something."

Bad idea. She should have never mentioned it.

Nik's gaze turned on her slowly, the ice in his pale blue eyes freezing the air

around her.

"How serious was this relationship you had with Steve Gainard?"

How serious?

There was no question of being honest with Nik, but that honesty had the

potential to make Nik's gaze even icier.

"Well, he may have been more serious about the relationship than I was," she admitted.

"Meaning?" Nik's voice lowered.

"Well, he might have asked me to marry him." She winced as she gave the

information.

She didn't expect Nik's reaction. She expected icy anger, expected that distance

that he'd placed between them to grow; what she didn't expect was to have him pull her into the room, lift her against him, and cover her lips in a kiss of pure possessive hunger.

Shock held her; dark, intent need washed through her like a tidal wave of hunger.

There wasn't a chance in hell that she was going to fight this, no matter how brief it would be.

Her arms wrapped around his neck, her fingers tearing at the leather strap that

held his hair back until the thick, soft strands fell over her hands.

As she lifted herself closer to him, her knees gripped his hips, the suddenly

sensitive mound between her thighs rubbing against the heavy length of his cock. His fingers dug into her hair, gripping and holding him closer, her lips parting, her tongue 179

meeting and stroking against his until he suddenly jerked back from her.

His gaze blazed down at her.

That wasn't pale ice; it was pure pale blue flames. White-hot. Possessive.

"As long as I'm here, you're mine," he growled. "Do you understand that, Mikayla?"

She shook her head slowly. "I'm not yours, Nik. At the moment, I choose to be with you. Just as I chose not to be with Steve."

Nik stared down at Mikayla in shock. This wasn't what he expected. This wasn't

the reaction she should have given him. She was to agree she belonged to him. She was to accept that, not disagree with him.

Setting her slowly on her feet, Nik backed away; the urge to pick her up and carry her away back to her bed was nearly overpowering. He wanted to show her, wanted to prove to her, that she belonged to him well before they arrived on Steve Gainard's doorstep. Before he had to face the man who would most likely attempt to pick up the pieces of his relationship with Mikayla once he left.

"You'll be leaving," she whispered, standing in front of him, petite and determined, so strong, and yet so fragile. "Don't ask more from me than you're willing to give, Nik."

She turned and left him standing there. Dressed in butterscotch silk slacks, those sexy-as-hell high heels, and a matching butterscotch sleeveless knit top, she looked as sweet and fragile as the sunrise, but what he repeatedly forgot was the fact that she was just as strong and just as endearing as the sunrise as well.

And damned if he didn't feel as though he had just been put well and truly in his

place.

Later, later, though, he promised himself, his time would come. Tonight, when he

had her beneath him, when she was screaming his name in pleasure, then he would make certain she realized exactly who she belonged to.

Mikayla remained silent as they made the drive to Steve's home outside

Hagerstown. The two-story glass and steel home he had built several years ago rested on the side of Sideling Hill, staring out on the valley below.

The winding blacktopped road was hell in the winter when ice and snow hit, but

Steve, Mikayla knew, was rarely there in the winters.

He was home often in the summer, though, and the sight of the black Bentley

parked in the drive as Nik and Mikayla pulled up to the house assured her Steve was there today.

She waited until Nik rounded the truck and opened the passenger door before

turning and allowing him to help her from the vehicle.

Her hands gripped his powerful lower arms, and a quick peek into his face

assured her that her last comment to him had struck home. Unfortunately, it had only served to increase the distance he placed between them.

She covered the hurt that caused, hid it deep inside, and fought against it. She

didn't want promises from him, she reminded herself, but she was woman enough that it hurt to know that he expected her to give all she was to him while he was holding a part of himself back.

She considered it highly unfair that he would even consider it. He knew he was

leaving her when this was over; she knew it. Did he have to demand everything when she 180

knew he would lay it at her feet, return it to her, and walk away?

She had no regrets, she told herself. That didn't mean she didn't have her pride as well as her determination to ensure that she survived this little affair.

"Tell me about Gainard," Nik demanded as he closed the truck door and touched her arm to keep her from moving ahead of him.

So why hadn't he asked that before they arrived?

Frowning, she stared up at him. "He's thirty-nine, a very successful architect with a firm in D.C. He's never been married and he has no children. We dated for about six months."

"Why didn't you go to bed with him if you dated that long?" Ice dripped from Nik's voice. "A man isn't going to waste six months on a woman he's not sleeping with."

"You don't think I'm worth getting to know first?" she asked, unable to hide the fact that it hurt. "I guess not. You found it pretty easy to get me there, didn't you?"

"That wasn't what I meant, Mikayla." His voice deepened, hardened. "I'm asking you why you waited when it was obvious he was interested in more than sex."

"It's not just about the sex, Nik," she snapped in irritation. "I wasn't ready; that didn't mean he wasn't."

"So why didn't you marry him?" The questions were going somewhere, she knew they were, she just wasn't certain where.

"What does this have to do with Eddie Foreman or Maddix Nelson?" Mikayla demanded as she glared back at Nik. "My personal relationship with anyone has nothing to do with why you're here."

Nik couldn't argue that, but he was damned if he could get it out of his mind. She had dated this man for six months, he had asked her to marry him, yet he hadn't slept with her. She hadn't slept with him, but Steve Gainard had thought he held enough of her heart to ask her to marry him.

It was eating at Nik, and he knew it shouldn't. He had no right to demand

anything from her, just as he had no right to worry about what she did when this was over, or who she did it with.

But it was burning inside him. Like a steady, pulsing flame it was searing his guts with a possessive fever he couldn't seem to control.

"You're right," he finally growled. "It has nothing to do with this."

Turning, he released her arm and settled his hand at her lower back instead, very

much aware of the eyes watching them from behind a curtain at the front of the house.

Gina Foreman had most likely called Gainard and warned him Mikayla and Nik

were arriving. And no doubt Gina had told the other man Nik was living with Mikayla. It seemed the whole damned city knew she was living with him. The woman had more eyes on her than anyone else he had ever known.

As they stepped onto the marble-capped porch, the front door opened decisively.

Standing on the stoop was a somber blond male, his green gaze touching on Nik before he turned to Mikayla.

"Damn, you get prettier every time I see you," he said with a smile as he reached out, gripped her shoulders, and bent his head to kiss her cheek with lingering affection.

No, that wasn't fucking affection, Nik thought as anger tightened every muscle in

his body. That was a warning to Nik. A warning that Steve had known Mikayla far

longer, and better, and that he would be waiting to strike when Nik was no longer in the 181

picture.

"Steve, it's good to see you." There was the slightest edge of discomfort in her voice. "I'd like you to meet Nik Steele," she introduced them. "He's investigating Eddie's murder."

Nik caught that. There was no "my boyfriend, Nik," "my man, Nik," not even a

"my friend Nik." There was no possession whatsoever in her voice.

"Mr. Steele." Gainard's voice chilled, but his hand reached out in greeting. "Nice to meet you."

The handshake was brief, the two combatants very well aware of the stakes of the

game.

"Come in." Gainard's hand settled on Mikayla's shoulder at the invitation.

"There's coffee in the kitchen and Rosa has some of those pastries you like so well, Mikayla."

"I've missed Rosa." Mikayla's voice made Nik's back teeth clench. Familiarity and genuine warmth filled her voice and had him wishing he'd waited to come here. Waited until she wasn't with him.

"She's missed you as well," the other man informed her as he led them through a wide foyer to the back of the house. "We both have."

Strike one,
Nik thought as he gave the other man an icy look. Nik was keeping tabs as of now; when the time was right, Gainard would figure out the mistake he was making fast.

Entering the kitchen, he waved them to a glass-topped table where the promised

pastries and coffee waited.

"Gina said you have questions about Eddie," Gainard sighed as they sat down.

"She called when he was killed. I was sorry I couldn't make it to the funeral."

"You knew Foreman well then?" Nik asked as he waved away Gainard's silent offer of coffee.

Mikayla, on the other hand, accepted the cup Gainard prepared as well as a small

plate topped with a flaky fruit-topped croissant.

"I'd known him since high school." Gainard nodded. "We were thick as thieves until after college. Eddie went into construction and I joined an apprenticeship in London. When I returned several years later, he wasn't the same, but we were still friends."

"Did he have many enemies?" Nik wanted this over with and he wanted it over with fast.

Steve Gainard laughed at the question. "Plenty. Eddie was a helluva prick, Mr.

Steele, if he had the chance. He collected enemies like a connoisseur. The damned man never could understand the value of more than a few friends."

"Yet you claim him as a friend?" Nik pointed out coldly.

"Let's say, I didn't give him a chance to be a prick," Steve answered as his gaze slid to Mikayla once again.

The darkening of the green eyes had Nik glancing to Mikayla where she was

licking sweet, sticky fruit from the tip of her finger, her gaze on the pastry rather than the men.

"Mr. Gainard." Nik pulled his attention back. "Do you know any reason why Maddix Nelson or anyone else would want to kill Eddie?"

182

"Everyone." The other man laughed. "Just no one with the guts to do it. Even Maddix. He might hire someone to kill you, but he would never dirty his own hands to do it."

That was pretty much what Nik had believed until the past few days.

He caught Gainard glancing at Mikayla again, but thankfully her attention was

now on them rather than the pastry.