Free Shadows (Black Raven Book 1) by Stella Barcelona

words were laced with narrow-eyed distaste. She tried to walk around him, in the direction of the door. “Because if it is, you can just go to hell. You have no authority over me, and since I haven’t heard from my father in months, you’re wasting your time asking me anything.”
    He stepped in front of her, blocking her access to the door. “Well, you do have to talk to me.” Gorgeous , he thought, but she was working him as hard as he was working her. “I’m acting as an agent of the government in this instance and, by the way, I’m a private security contractor,” he said, “not a private investigator.”
    “Wow. Big man, big threats. I’ll let a real agent of the government ask the questions. If the marshals come, I’ll talk to them.”
    “There’s no if. They are coming,” he said.
    “Whatever. I’ll see when they get here.”
    “Dammit. Stop acting like talking is a choice and don’t ‘whatever’ me.”
    Ragno said, her voice filling his ear, “Minero’s on the line.”
    Sebastian was so absorbed in arguing with Skye he’d almost forgotten that he was basically tethered to Ragno. Holding Skye’s gaze, wishing she didn’t look so damn good with her hair loose and wild and her cheeks flushed with pink, he said, “Put him through.”
    Skye said, “Who? Through to where?”
    Sebastian pointed to his ear. “Phone call.”
    She lifted her hand and pushed at his shoulder. “Well, take your phone call in your car as you’re driving away. Jerk.”
    Ragno, privy to the entire conversation, chuckled, and said efficiently, “Here’s Minero.”
    He was tempted to stand his ground, to see if she’d try pushing him again. A push-fest with Skye, though, wasn’t something that would end well for either of them. He’d only end up getting aroused again, and she’d be even less likely to talk. He’d be no closer to an answer to the question of the day, and he’d have a hard-on that might never go away, unless he did something about it.
    Fuck.
    Suddenly feeling like a frustrated adolescent whose hormones made him ineffective at everything, Sebastian walked to the only exit from the small office. Turning his back to the closed door, he kept his eye on Skye as he effectively blocked her departure. For the moment she was still, standing between the couch and the desk. At least she was far enough away that he couldn’t be distracted by how damn good she smelled. Although her cheeks remained flushed and her eyes were still wide with fear, her gaze was introspective, as though she was thinking through options.
    She has no option but to cooperate, but I’ll let her figure that out.
    He wondered how long it would take. Hours? A day? Two days? More? Damn. He hoped not. He didn’t have luxury of time, nor the patience to wait her out. The sooner he had what he needed from her, the sooner he’d be out of her hair, and she’d be out of his.
    “Tell me about Barrows’ daughters,” Minero said. “They know anything?”
    Sebastian eyed Skye, who had walked closer to him and was now only an arm’s length away.
    “Nothing,” Sebastian answered, wishing she had kept her distance. “Didn’t even know that their father had escaped.”
    Skye’s intense focus was all on him, as though she had collected her thoughts and come up with a plan. “Let me out of here.”
    He stayed in place, and met her icy glare with one of his own as Minero said, “I have two marshals on their way to you. They should be there in an hour and a half, two hours tops. Keep the daughters where they are.”
    He said, “Okay.” He broke the connection with a discreet touch on his watchband. He added, as though the phone call was ongoing, “You may be wasting your time. I was just about to leave.” Sebastian glanced at Skye as he lied. No point clueing her in that her day was going to get much, much worse when the marshals arrived. He had threatened her enough. Now he wanted to see what she did with his threats. It wasn’t time to