Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 77344 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77344 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
I was all too happy to skip right past that and get back to business.
“I’m assuming this has to do with that phone call. What the hell kind of ringer was that anyway?”
“One so different from my normal phone that I wouldn’t accidentally confuse them,” he admitted as he turned off onto the highway.
“It’s your burner?”
“Yeah.”
“For this job.”
“Yes.”
“Are you going to clue me in, or should we play Twenty Questions?”
“The call came from my IT guy,” Miko explained. “It didn’t sound good.”
“What does that mean? You think he’s the one who took the diamonds?”
“It means that the person who did take them seemed to be in the apartment with him, shit sounded tense, and the call cut out.”
“Oh, shit,” I said, wincing at the sound of that. “Someone is… cleaning house.”
“Hopefully not if I can get there first.”
“We,” I corrected.
“Absolutely fucking not,” he said with enough ferocity that my brows shot up. Did my pussy clench a little at his bossiness again? Yeah, fine. But we weren’t talking about that. “You’re gonna keep your stubborn ass planted right there in that passenger seat,” he told me as he pressed his foot down harder.
I sat there silently, knowing damn well I wasn’t going to stay in the car when we got there, watching the speedometer inch close to ninety before he finally slowed and turned into an apartment building complex.
He’d clearly been here before.
It was one of those communities where every one of the buildings was the same. Just a labyrinthine collection of identical red brick buildings almost completely devoid of any personal touches. But Miko navigated it with enough familiarity that allowed him to speed around and into a spot.
“Stay,” he growled at me as he threw open the door and climbed out.
It was right then I noticed something I hadn’t seen on him before.
A gun in a holster on his hip.
This whole situation seemed like it could possibly go completely sideways.
I wasn’t going to sit on my ass in the car if Miko might need some backup.
I grabbed the key fob so the car would shut off and ran out to catch up with him.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Miko
“Goddamn it, Max,” I growled when I heard her footsteps running up behind me.
“You’re wasting precious time if you try to argue with me on this,” she reasoned.
I hated that she was right.
Still, I stood there, struggling with my drive to defend her and the urge to get answers to what was going on with the diamonds.
I’d been calling Henry, the IT guy, endlessly since I realized someone who’d known about the diamonds had stolen them. It had been radio silence.
Until the call in the hotel room.
He had the worst fucking timing in the world.
I mean, Max had been all soft and sweet and trembling beneath me. I’d wanted to spend hours exploring her with my fingers, with my mouth, with other parts of me.
One taste wasn’t nearly enough.
But then the fucking call.
I wasn’t an idiot, either. Everything about Max was cold and guarded again. It didn’t take much thought to conclude she was glad for this interruption because it allowed her to put her walls back up and pretend she hadn’t been rocking against my mouth, whimpering and moaning, just half an hour before.
The longer we had to focus on things outside of the two of us and what was clearly growing between us, the more she would push me away, pretend there was nothing going on.
It couldn’t be helped, though.
This could literally be life or death.
That was another reason I wanted Max to keep her ass in the car. The last thing I wanted was for her to be in danger yet again. Even if, objectively, I knew she was a woman who was used to a certain amount of danger.
It was the door swinging open, a food delivery guy making his way back out, that finally spurred me into motion.
I moved inside with Max right at my heels.
Henry lived on the top floor at the back of the building, so Max and I took the elevator before running down the hallway toward the apartment in question.
I only slowed when I saw the door cracked open. Seeming to sense it at the same time, Max grabbed a handful of my jacket, a silent instruction to take notice.
I reached for my gun before moving into the doorway, pushing the door open with my shoulder before moving inside.
I wanted Max to stay in the hall, at least until I cleared the place. But there was no way to tell her that. So I could feel her behind me as soon as I took a step into the apartment.
“Fuck,” I hissed as my gaze landed on the man sitting in his ergonomic chair in front of a long desk full of screens. A fucking charging cord wrapped around his neck.