Nikki watched the sporty little car leave the driveway and every muscle in her body relaxed. She stepped out of her hiding place, thankful the man and woman hadn't stopped to look inside the old tool shed. It had taken all of her self-control not to make a sound when they stood nearby, not even when the rat ran over her foot or the spider dropped onto her arm. Virginia had some ugly looking spiders and Nikki really hated spiders.

As she picked her way through the overgrown fields to the side road where she had left her car, Nikki thought about what she had heard from her hiding place. The older woman wanted her son to join an online dating site. She laughed out loud at that. The man she saw through the crack in the door had absolutely no need of a computer program to get a woman. He was fine. Just her type. Tall and broad shouldered, yet trim and athletic. Even in jeans and a light sweater he looked neat and put together. A guy who took care of himself was a real turn on to her. She was sick of guys letting their hair grow out and not shaving as though personal hygiene was unimportant in the twenty first century. The blue eyed hunk didn't have that problem at all.

You don't have time to be drooling over some guy. You need to get this case wrapped up.

What she needed. That was a real joke. Nikki had no idea any more what she needed.

You need to worry about this case and nothing else.

Yeah, the case that was becoming the focus of her very existence. There was no time for drooling over some hot looking guy and his mother's desperation to hook him up.

I could help her out with that.

Nikole Alaina Swenson, get your act together and focus.

The ring of her cell phone startled her. "Hello?"

"Hey, Nik, what ya up to?" Damn! She should have checked her caller I.D. before answering.

"Driving, Troy. So I really can't talk." Ugh, why had she answered this call?

"You want to do dinner tonight, babe?'

"Don't call me babe and no, I don't want to do dinner. We aren't together anymore, remember?"

"You said we were friends. Friends eat dinner." She never should have said they could be friends. What was she thinking? Troy was relentless. He would assume dinner meant they had gotten back together and there was no way that was ever happening. Her lapse in judgement in dating him in the first place haunted her daily.

"Troy, I don't want to be friends."

"Ouch, babe. That hurts."

"It's the truth. I just said that to make it easier to break up."

"Wow, Nik, take your bitch pills today?"

"That is exactly why I don't want anything to do with you. You can't take a hint when I try to be nice and you become abrasive when you don't get your way. I'm working so I am going to hang up now. Don't call me again."

As she took the phone from her ear to end the call, she heard several colorful words tossed at her but she ignored them. Troy was an ass of major proportions. Why she had ever given him the time of day, let alone months of her life, was beyond her.

Nikki reached the end of the country road and merged with regular traffic on one of the city's main streets. She needed to get back to the office in Norfolk and rush hour was in full swing. The normally twenty-five minute trip would take her an hour. Nikki turned on the radio and tried to concentrate on some music but her mind kept wandering back to the handsome man she had spotted at the farm. From the conversation she had overheard, he was the new owner of the property and he was single. Bad and good. Bad that she could no longer move freely about the land and good because, well, he was really flipping sexy.

Not that she had the time right now to even worry about another relationship. This case kept her days and her nights all tied up.

Her phone rang again. Nikki picked it up and checked the screen. It was Troy. Why was that man so damned thick in the head? She tossed the phone onto the passenger seat and let the call go to voice mail. As soon as it stopped ringing, it started again.

Nikki grabbed the phone. "What the hell do you want? I told you not to call me anymore!"

"Um, Nikki?"

The voice of her boss sounded in her ear. "Hey, Henry. Yeah, it's me. Sorry about that."

"That boyfriend of yours hassling you again?"

"He's not my boyfriend," she answered automatically.

"Are you okay?" Her boss sounded worried.

"Yes. Fine. Now, what's up?"

"You find anything out there?"

"There's several falling down outbuildings on the property. Any one of them could be a stop for the drugs. There were too many to get through, I need to go back."

"So, go back."

"It's not that easy. Someone bought the place. He could be involved." Oh, she really hoped he wasn't. It would be a damned shame to have put that finely toned body in an ugly orange jumpsuit.

"What's your plan then?"

"Go back tomorrow. First thing in the morning."

"How 'bout you wait until Friday night? Just got word another shipment is supposed to hit the shipyard in one of the containers early Friday."

"Why don't we just pick it up there?"

"Then we just get the drugs. Not the people handling them on this end."

"Pretty sure I can't take them down singlehandedly."

"Nope, I don't suppose you can. But I can have back up on the ready to storm the place with your say-so."

Back up sounded good, as long as she got to pick it. A picture of the handsome, blond man flashed through her mind. She hated the idea of damaging his home and land but this was a matter of keeping hundreds of pounds of cocaine off the streets of Hampton Roads. A bust like this could propel her up the ladder of the DEA with lightning fast speed. If he were somehow involved, she would arrest him. No matter how good looking he was.

"All right. I'll go back tomorrow, map out the place, and find somewhere to set up camp on Friday night. I just hope the new owner doesn't mind us tearing the place up."

"I thought you said you think he is part of the racket?"

"No, Henry, I said I hope he's not."

"Poor guy. Sitting on a drug distribution center and he probably doesn't even know it."

"If he is not involved, and I don't really think he is, he is definitely in for a surprise. With any luck, he won't be back this week and we can take care of business without bothering him too much."

"So, he's gone from potential suspect to you not wanting to bother him?"

"Come on, Henry, I just said I have no idea if he is involved but my money is on not. He was just here with his mother."

"His mother? What the hell, Nik, you are supposed to be undercover not introducing yourself around to the locals."

"Relax, Henry. I was hiding out and spying on them, just the way you like me to."

"You're a smart ass, Nikki."

"Who, me?" she replied, sounding innocent but knowing he was right.

"How you've made this far with the DEA I will never know."

"I'm going now, Henry. Goodbye."

"Nikki—"

She ended the call and tossed her phone to the passenger seat. Talking to Henry always made her miss her father. Nikki made a mental note to call him and check on him when she got home.