Easy This Time - JH Croix Page 0,29

I certainly don’t want to talk to him. I wanted to delete it, but considering the weirdness, I thought I should save it. Here.”

I fished my phone out of my purse and tapped my screen to pull up the voicemail before handing it to Nash. He hit the speaker button, and Brett’s message played again. Just the sound of Brett’s voice grated on my nerves.

“I don’t understand why he’s calling. At all. He screwed me over big-time. Whatever. It’s stressing me out that he knows where I’m staying.”

Nash eyed me for a long moment before he nodded, almost as if to himself. “I need to tell you something. I have a friend who’s a private investigator, top-notch. I asked him to do a little digging. Not only did Brett run up every credit card of yours, but he opened four accounts in your name.”

Anger flashed hot inside. “What? Are you kidding me?”

“This is not the kind of thing I would kid about.”

I shook my head and let out a shaky breath. “All right. I’m trying to wrap my brain around the fact you hired someone to dig into this behind my back, but thank you. Is there anything else I should know?”

Nash took a breath and rolled his shoulders. “Brett also applied for a business loan under your name and put a tracker on your phone. Don’t worry; my friend rerouted it to a burner phone that he carries. He’ll drop it off every evening with the security guard where you’re staying. That way, it’ll look like you’re in the building where Brett expects you to be.”

I felt sick, and my gut churned. I was suddenly hot and cold all over. Oh my God. I immediately pulled up my phone, swiping through the screens to see whatever Brett had put on there.

“You’re not going to see it, Mari.” Nash paused, studying me. His gaze felt as if it were boring into me, and I didn’t like how vulnerable and unsettled I felt. “I haven’t spoken to Max about this, but I think we should tell him today. My buddy’s good at tracking things down because that’s his job. But your brother has more tools at his disposal.”

I took a deep breath, letting it out in a gust. “I know, I know.” I took another sip of my coffee. “I’m guessing it wasn’t easy for you to wait to call Max.”

Despite my distress and anxiety around what the hell Brett was doing, warmth curled around my heart at the knowledge that Nash didn’t try to run roughshod over me and let Max know himself. I sensed that holding back wasn’t easy for him.

“Hell no,” Nash said bluntly. He paused, his gaze holding mine for a beat. He appeared to be considering his words carefully. “Of course, I wanted to call him right away. The only reason I didn’t was because I like you.”

“What?”

“Let me put it more directly. I want you. I want a chance with you. And no, it’s not just about how much I want you. I want you. Badly. But I respect you, so I waited to ask you before I called Max.”

“What if I want to call him first?” I retorted, flushing with an acute awareness at just how bluntly Nash told me what he wanted. Coming off of my shitty not-really-a relationship with Brett and feeling unwanted, I felt betwixt and between with how direct Nash was about his feelings toward me. I thought all he wanted was sex. I didn’t even know what to think now.

Nash’s eyes took on a gleam. He leaned across the table, resting one elbow on it. He curled his hand around mine where it sat on the table, his thumb brushing lightly across my knuckles and sending little licks of fire chasing over my skin and radiating outward.

“Well, darlin’, then I would tell you to call him right now. Because I’m not waiting any longer.”

I let out a startled laugh. “Now?”

“Yes. Now.” He spun my phone on the table to face me again. “Put him on speaker.”

My heart was drumming a fast beat in my chest, and Nash had me all flustered with the subtle brush of his thumb. I swallowed and looked away, relieved to escape from his probing eyes. Pulling up Max’s number, I tapped to call.

Max answered immediately. “Hey, Mari. What’s the update?”

“Nice to talk to you too, Max. Can we start with how are you?”

My brother didn’t even bother to conceal his sigh. “How are you?”

“Well,