by Julia Derek
Yet, instead of being happy for her, I couldn’t shake the feeling of unease that came over me as I thought of her pregnancy, the subtle gnawing in my stomach that something about it was just not right. It felt exactly the same way it had felt when I suspected Ian of being behind the nasty texts—something was up, but I just wasn’t able to put my finger on it.
As I walked toward the stairs so I could get to the fifth floor, I resigned myself to the fact that it was probably only because of the very vivid dream I’d had about Nick wanting us to have a child that I was feeling so off about Emma’s pregnancy. Then I spotted Ian walking down the stairs and I had other things to worry about. He smiled at the sight of me and stopped when he was before me.
“Well, hello there, Miss Jamie. What a nice surprise. Doing a floor shift?”
“Yeah, I was just about to do a round on the fifth floor. What are you up to?” I wasn’t about to ask him any more questions regarding Eve’s murder. Surely he would have great come-backs to whatever I’d ask—great if you subscribed to conspiracy theories—and I could use a break from that case. Even if the two eye witnesses’ behavior was odd and one had ties to Adler, I still wasn’t fully buying that Adler and certain government officials were behind everything. There had to be more to the story. Maybe Pete and Lisa had been telling the truth. Maybe Eve had snapped and acted totally out of character. The girl had seemed quite unstable. Then there was the whole situation with Eve suing Adler. Was the suit really so serious they had to get rid of her completely? It seemed like overkill when they could easily just settle with her and be done with it. They were a successful company and could afford it.
“I just took a spinning class,” Ian replied. “Now I’m going for a swim.”
As I was about to say something about him working out so much, Ariel appeared in the stairs, walking down toward us. She was wearing a pair of extremely low-cut tights with leopard print and a minuscule workout top from which her sizeable boobs threatened to flow over. She brightened as she discovered me and Ian standing at the bottom of the stairs.
“Oh, hi Jamie!” she said and continued down to us.
“Hi, Ariel, how are you?” I said, having no choice but to introduce her to Ian. She had positioned herself right next to him, standing very close. He’d get an awesome view of her boobs if he turned his head to the left and looked down, I noted darkly. I didn’t like the way Ian perked up as she had stopped beside him, but there was absolutely nothing I could do about that, nor should I want to. I cleared my throat and smiled, getting ready to do what I had promised her; now was as good a time as any.
“Have you two met?” I asked innocently. “This is Ian, my client. Ian, this is Ariel, one of Nikkei’s top trainers.”
Ian and Ariel shook hands and told each other how nice it was to meet. I wasn’t surprised to hear the excitement in Ariel’s voice as she said this, but hearing the same in Ian’s sure took me aback.
I looked at him, careful not to show what I felt. What the hell? Did he actually like girls who were as showy and fake-looking as Ariel? I would never have guessed. Of course, the bigger question was, why did I care? Really, I should be happy this might be a love match. Not only should it result in Ian having less time to bother me about searching for politicians and God knows what else, but I would then have more time to get on with my own investigation. It wasn’t like I wanted to date Ian myself. Yes, I needed to encourage these two to get better acquainted.
“You’re one of the club top trainers?” Ian asked, smiling at Ariel, whose eyelashes went a mile a minute the way she was batting them at him. “Then what am I doing with Jamie?”
Ariel squirmed and giggled. “Oh, don’t be silly! Jamie is a great trainer. You’re in great hands with her.”
“Yeah, I was only kidding,” Ian said and nudged me. “She really is a good trainer. I’m in better shape than ever because of her. Of course I might be dead by the time she’s done with me. I almost had a heart attack when she had me run intervals on the track. Ten times I had to run it, can you believe it? She’s such a slave driver. I couldn’t walk for days after that session.”
“You needed to be put in your place,” I said, looking at him coolly. My eyes went to Ariel. “This guy’s such a wimp. I bet your clients never complain about being pushed too hard.”
“Oh, yes, they do,” Ariel said, rolling her eyes dramatically. “Some of them never stop.” She looked at Ian. “But at least all that hard work has paid off for you. You’re in amazing shape.” She put a hand on Ian’s strong upper arm and caressed the big muscles there.
Oh, God, could she be any more obvious? I thought. Not that Ian seemed to mind. He just smiled and thanked her for the compliment.
“You’re in great shape yourself,” he added, giving her body an appreciative once-over.
“Thanks,” Ariel said and leaned so close to Ian her boobs nearly touched him. “I try. Are you from England? You have the nicest accent.”
“Yes, I am indeed. I was born and raised in London, but moved to the States after college. Well, a couple years after graduation.”
“Oh, really?” Ariel continued. “What made you move to America? London seems like such a cool place to live.”
I looked at Ian, curious to hear what he would answer to this given that he was a disgraced FBI agent. As interested as he seemed to be in Ariel, I couldn’t imagine he’d tell her the truth and reveal what a loser he was.
“I come from a family of jewelers and art dealers and my father wanted me to expand our business into America,” he said, not blinking once as he smoothly delivered the lie.
Ariel brightened considerably. “Wow, you’re a jeweler? That’s great. I love diamonds and pearls. And rubies. Well, any gems really.”
“I’m sure most jewels would look great on you,” Ian said, his chameleon eyes having taken on a dark hue that gleamed now. I looked at him, amazed. Okay, so he was into Ariel and wanted to bang her, but where would he get jewels to give her? After a comment like the one he had just given her, I couldn’t blame her for expecting him to present some to her when they went out. If this conversation continued in a similar fashion that would definitely happen. In fact, I would help to make it happen right now.
I took a step back from the two of them and, pretending to take them in, I said, “You know what? The two of you would make such a nice couple. You should go out together.” I gave Ian a challenging glance. “Hey, why don’t you take Ariel’s phone number and set up a date? This way you can show her some of the family jewels.”
Ariel looked a little shocked but also pleased. Ian didn’t seem to know what to do at first, but then he cleared his throat and faced Ariel. “Ariel, may I have your phone number? I’d love to show you some of our jewels.”
“Sure,” Ariel said. “Wanna put my number in your phone?” She nodded at the iPhone attached to Ian’s arm.
“Yeah, good idea,” Ian said and removed the phone from his arm. “What is it?”
She rattled off her number and Ian entered it, then called the number. “This way you’ll have my number too, so you can call me.”
“Great,” Ariel said and grinned delighted. “I’ll text you as soon as I have my phone so you know I got it.”
“Brilliant,” Ian said. “Well, I’m going to get going. I have a lunch meeting at one and I want to get a quick swim in before then. Again it was so nice to meet you, Ariel, and I’m looking forward to getting to know you better.”
“Yes, me too,” Ariel replied. “It was so nice to talk to you.”
Ian looked at me. “See you tomorrow at noon for training?”
“Yes, you will indeed. Make sure you come well rested because we’re gonna work out hard.”
“Don’t we always?” Ian shot me a smile that I couldn’t quite read. It was light and teasing, yet had an undercurrent of danger. He gave Ariel a nod, then swiveled around and left.
As soon as he had disappeared, Ariel looked at me, exci
tement personified. “Oh, my God, I can’t believe I’m gonna go out with this guy! Thanks so much for helping making it happen, Jamie. You’re the best wing woman ever.”
“My pleasure,” I replied as I thought about what had just transpired. Maybe I shouldn’t have been quite so helpful in making it so that these two would go out. Really, I hadn’t given Ian much of a choice but to take her number. He would now have to ask her out or he’d end up looking like a total jackass. Well, I calmed myself as doubt that I had put in motion something I shouldn’t have made itself noticed. He had acted like he was really into her. If he wasn’t, he shouldn’t have flirted with her like that. It was mean to lead people on. It would be fine.
“Did you know his family are jewelers?” Ariel asked, bright like the sun still.
“I can’t say I was aware of that, no. But we don’t really talk about personal stuff.”
“Well, if they collect jewelry and art, it means he must be wealthy, don’t you think?”
“Um, I guess. I really don’t know anything about that. You’ll probably find out when the two of you go out on your first date.”
“Yes, that’s true. Oh, my God, this is so exciting! I can’t wait for him to call me.” Her face went dark suddenly. “Do you think he’ll call?”
Oh, God, what did I do? Why did I put him in such an awkward position? I made myself smile at Ariel. “I can’t see why he wouldn’t call you. Not after taking your phone number and everything. That would be screwed up. I’m sure he’ll call. If not, you can always call him, right?”
Ariel’s brown eyes widened. “No, I would never do that. I don’t pursue men. He’d have to call me.”
I wanted to tell her that she was lying; she had pursued Nick. I had seen that with my own eyes. But mentioning that would be stupid on so many levels. So I just nodded. “He’ll call.”
I’d make him call her myself or I had a feeling she’d never stop badgering me about it.
My phone buzzed in my pocket then, alerting me I had a new text.
“I should get going,” I said to Ariel. “I’ve been standing here forever. Rolf will kill me if he sees me.” I waved to Ariel and walked up to the fifth floor. I wasn’t really worried about our manager spotting me; I’d only needed an excuse to stop talking to Ariel finally.
There was a bathroom next to the staircase that I entered. I’d check who had texted me as I did my business in one of the two empty stalls there.
I was glad I was alone in the restroom when I read the text—glad that no one was able to hear the loud gasp that came out of my mouth. It was from the person who’d been sending me those threatening texts. It had been a while since I’d heard from him—I assumed it was a him—so I had almost forgotten about it.
The text said: I’m still watching you. Get out while you can.
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Feel free to check out my six full-length, standalone novels. One is THE DIARY (psychological thriller) and another is THE SMILEY KILLER (YA Thriller). The L.A. Girls Romance Series follows the steamy love lives of four different girls from Los Angeles. While interconnected, the standalone novels don't have to be read in order, but I suggest your read them the following way: TRIGGER, Nina and Dylan's story, a romantic thriller with lots of twist and turns; LOVE CURSED, Ricki and Dante's story, a slow-burn, sexy romance with some suspense; UNDERCOVER LOVERS, Gabi and Paul's story, a sexy romantic suspense novel; and LOVELY REVENGE, Elisa and Chase's story, a sexy action-adventure mystery that ties the series together. You can find links to all my books at the beginning of this book.