He chuckled at that. "Nope. Texas."
"Figures." For some reason, it was hard to see him as a Texan, though. "Been here long?"
"Long enough to rent a house." He grinned as he slid a look her way before returning to the traffic. "And you haven't answered my question."
She bit her lip in indecision. "I might have made some people angry." She shrugged, feeling defensive. Angry.
The store was thriving more from curiosity than from her designs. She no longer trusted friends to hold her secrets, because too many had repeated things she had confided to them. She had tried to play the game as Maddix Nelson was, keeping her reserve in public and trying to find the truth by talking to those she knew were connected to the foreman. But no one would talk to her. And Maddix had the perfect alibi. An evening business meeting with the chief of police and two of the members of the city council. It was an alibi she would have believed herself if she hadn't known better.
"Might have?" Nik shot her another glance as he turned onto the interstate and headed for the exit to nearby Williamsport. "How did you 'might have' pissed someone off?"
"Something I'd rather not talk about." Mikayla gave a quick shake of her head. "I'd rather know why you're here from Texas."
"A job." In profile, the hard, sharp planes of his face held a wicked, sexy edge.
The sight, the image of him, had a strange effect on her. Her stomach tightened in response; she could feel her heart racing. It was pounding against her chest, making her breathing short, as she became aware of a peculiar sensitivity within her body.
"What kind of job? What do you do?" She sounded a little breathless, but she could excuse it. She had just been attacked. She'd been struck. God, her father had never even spanked her. That was the first time she had ever been struck in her life.
"I'm in private security," Nik answered, his voice rasping along her senses, almost broken. It was one of the most arousing sounds she had ever heard.
"What kind of private security? Like a bodyguard? A security guard?" She brushed back her hair as the aches of the strikes against her flesh began to actually hurt.
At least nothing had been broken.
"Installation of customized security systems in this case," he told her. "I'm good with electronics."
"You said 'in this case'?" She lifted her hand slowly to the ache in her ribs. "Do you sometimes do other things?"
"Bodyguard, deliveries. I'm pretty well rounded." He made the turn onto the exit, then headed through the small town Mikayla called home.
"So you're here to install personal security systems. Who are you working for?" She needed a distraction until she could get rid of him.
"Privileged information," he drawled as he glanced back at her. "Sorry."
"Not a problem." She shook her head as they drew closer to the house. A part of her regretted that the ride was almost over.
She felt safe here with him, despite the fact that she didn't know anything about him.
"You're hurting," he stated, his voice hardening as he pulled the Jeep slowly into her driveway and slid it into park before turning to look at her.
She almost jerked her hand back from her ribs.
"Some guy just knocked me around for the hell of it," she pointed out with an edge of bitterness. "Yeah, I'll have a few bruises."
"I think you should go to the hospital," Nik suggested, his gaze intent as he stared back at her. "You could be seriously hurt and not know it."
She shook her head. "It's bruises."
"You don't know that, Mikayla," he chided her, his voice lowering. "It could be something far serious and you wouldn't know."
"He slammed me against the Jeep and hit me in the face," she said, rejecting the idea. "There are no internal injuries or broken bones. I'm just going to be sore."
"You're just going to have a bruise across the whole side of your face." He reached out then, his fingertips almost brushing against the ache in her cheek. "He should be killed for that alone."
Mikayla's lips parted before she could control it, her heart speeding up, racing until she swore she could feel it in her throat.
It wasn't racing in fear. It was racing in excitement at the thought of Nik's fingers touching her flesh.
"Let's not talk about killing." She almost gave a hard, bitter laugh. The last thing she wanted to even think about was killing. "I forgot to call your cab. You're going to have to wait awhile for it to arrive."
His lips quirked in amusement. "Not a problem." He pulled his own cell phone from the holster at his side before hitting a number.
"Pickup," he notified the other end before giving the address. "Yeah. Good thing I caught you. I'll be waiting outside."
He flipped the phone closed.
"A friend?" she asked.
"A co-worker. She owes me a favor." He pushed the phone back into the holster before turning back to Mikayla. "I'd ask for coffee, but I can almost feel the word 'no' on your lips."
She had to grin at that. No matter how much she wanted to spend more time with this intriguing man, she wasn't as brave as she wished she were.
"Sorry," she sighed, hearing the heavy regret in the sound. "My dad is already going to go ballistic because I didn't call him first thing. If he finds out I let a stranger into my house, he'll begin to question how well he raised me."
"A woman who listens to her father. A strange concept." Nik grinned, causing her stomach to turn flips at the quirk of his hard, bitable lips. Damn, she would love to taste those lips.
"There are a few of us left," she promised him, letting a small laugh pass her lips despite the ache in her ribs.
"Yes, so it seems." He tilted his head in agreement. "Ah, well, my ride will be here in two more minutes. I have to say, I was glad to meet you, Miss Martin."
"And I have to say, thank you for saving me." She grinned back as she held her hand out. "Can I have my keys now?"
Pulling the keys from the ignition, he placed them slowly in her palm, his fingers touching her flesh as she felt a subtle, low rush of energy as it passed over her skin.
Her fingers curled over the keys, brushing his as his hand lifted.