“He’s not on a booty call, if that’s what you’re thinking. Although…would it bother you if it were?”
“No,” she lied. “Why would it?”
“You tell me.”
“There’s nothing to tell. I hired Jax for his investigative services. What he does with his personal life is none of my business.” They barely knew each other, after all.
Ivan grunted but didn’t verbalize a response. That, in and of itself, was answer enough.
“You don’t believe me.” She watched him closely.
“Doesn’t really matter what I believe.” His expression didn’t alter. “Jax is in charge, not me.”
Okay, seriously. Is this man even capable of giving a straight answer?
“He told me you two served together,” Poppy revealed. “That you used to be a SEAL, just like him.”
Surprise flickered behind his gray-blue eyes. “Jax told you that?”
She nodded.
A muscle twitched in his jaw, the look in his eyes impossible to decipher. “What else did he tell you about me?”
“That’s it. I asked him how long you two have known each other, and he said you met at BUD/S and then served together after that.” Worried she’d upset him, Poppy quickly added, “I-I wasn’t trying to pry, I promise. We were just eating dinner and I was making conversation.”
“Why?”
Confused by the question, she stared back at him with a frown. “Why was I trying to make conversation?”
“Why do you care?” He stopped near the edge of the bar. “If Jax is just a P.I. to you, then it really shouldn’t matter who I am or how we know each other.”
She thought Jax was bad, but man. This guy had some serious trust issues.
“It doesn’t. But where I’m from, people take the time to, you know…get to know one another.” She kept her spine straight, refusing to allow Ivan to use his size and demeanor to intimidate her. “That’s all I was trying to do.”
“Atchison.”
Hearing this man utter the name of her hometown took her aback. “You know where I’m from?”
“Oh, I know all about you. Penelope Jane Campbell. Born October fourth, nineteen ninety to parents James and Stacey Campbell. You grew up in Atchison, Kansas where you lived and worked until you took a job with a Kansas City based nursing agency. Since then, you’ve traveled the country, working various hospital contracts, the most recent one right here in Denver.”
What the hell?
All at once, Poppy’s mind whirled with several disturbing thoughts. Her initial instinct had her moving her bare feet backward, taking a stepawayfrom Jax’s right hand man.
“H-how do you know all of that?” She hugged herself closely, feeling as vulnerable as ever.
“That’s what I do,” Ivan admitted without remorse. With one elbow resting against the counter’s edge, he elaborated with, “Jax tells me what he needs; I find the information, and then I pass it along to him.”
“Jax asked you to look into me?”
“Yes.”
At least he’s being honest.“Do you dig into all of his clients this way?”
“Yes.” Another unashamed admission.
“Why?”