“I’m sorry, Ididn’t—”
“I know.” I half laughed. None of this was going how I’d pictured it. Then again, I hadn’t exactly planned this thing out. I’d just gone against all of my own rules and helped a stranger. “I’m not great at joking. In person, atleast.”
“Inperson?”
Crap. Wrong thing tosay.
“I uh…spend a lot of timeonline.”
“Oh. Right.” Her feet shuffled on the porch boards. Was she about toleave?
“Would you…” I cleared my throat and ignored the voice of reason screaming at me to shut up. “Would you like acoffee?”
“Oh no, I couldn’t interrupt your work.” She took a stepback.
“You’re not. I mostly work atnight.”
“What is it you d—” If she didn’t ask, I wouldn’t have to lie, so I stoppedher.
“You want something stronger than coffee? I’ve got beer. Not much else.” I lifted the bottom hem of my shirt and wiped the sweat from myforehead.
“Oh, no, I should—” She exhaled with a strange whistling sound. I dropped the shirt and waited for her to finish. “I’d loveto.”
“Come on in.” I said the words, she slid inside, and now it was too late to kick her out, even if I wantedto.
Which I didn’t, though it was clear this was a very badidea.
3
Veronica
“So, what’ll it be?”Zach led the way down a wide hall and into a big, clean, modern kitchen where everything seemed to have a home, and opened up a well-stocked fridge. I set my backpack down in a corner and followedhim.
“I’msorry?”
“Want a beer?” He touched a watch at his wrist and smiled and, like a puppet master, that little tweak of the lips pulled at something inside me. I wanted to make this guy happy, wanted to see how big that smile could get. I wanted him to pick up his shirt again and give me another illicit glimpse of his happy trail. “Way past beero’clock.”
“Sure,” I mumbled. “That soundsgood.”
None of this made sense, especially inside me, where everything had gone haywire. I never got worked up about the way a man smiled. And I liked guys who weren’t a challenge. Guys who were safe. Not strange shut-ins with big, sweaty musclesand—
“My app knows I’m here,” Iblurted.
He stopped twisting open the second beer and turned towardme.
“Who?”
Oh, God, this was stupid. I was stupid. I shouldn’t have come back, I should have accepted the man’s interference for the boon it was and ignored the other crazy stuff going on in mybrain.
“My canvassing app. It shows mylocation.”
He looked puzzled for a second before his features suddenly cleared. “Oh, you mean in case I’m a psychokiller?”
“Yes,” I responded on a nervousgiggle.
“Fair enough.” He put down the beer and pulled a phone from his back pocket. “Got someone youtrust?”
“Trust?”
