He returned his gaze to the trees over her right shoulder and tried to pretend it was his regular barber back home rubbing oddly scented shaving cream into his beard instead of the woman who brought every nerve in his body to attention.
Tough sell.
Once she finished applying the goop to his eyebrows and beard, he set the timer on his watch for an hour. “Now we need to figure out your transformation.”
“I don’t have any way to bleach my hair, and I’m not sure cutting it would help much if it’s the same color. Can I borrow your cap and tuck it all inside?”
“Go for it.” Why did he like seeing her in his clothes so much?
She created a sort of bun at the back of her head and pulled the beanie over her hair, even covering her ears. The look did nothing to hide her magnificent cheekbones or pert nose, but it did slightly change the shape of her face and make her long dark hair less obvious.
“I suppose if you’re with me, and I’m not a redhead, it might be enough.”
It had to be.
CHAPTER SIX
AN HOUR LATER, Lindsey and Todd had a plan. They hadn’t physically moved any closer to Megan, but it felt good to be doingsomethingto aid that goal.
Kneeling in the dirt next to the flat boulder where Todd lay, Lindsey rinsed his hair with boiled-and-cooled stream water, running her fingers through the short, wet strands. His reaction to her touch, both earlier and now, made her want to slide her hands lower.
If she ever got him alone in a shower…
Not happening.
She sighed. Once as much of the sunscreen mixture had been washed out as possible, she let him clean up his own face.
“How do I look?” he said, rising to his knees to rub a towel over his head.
Like a god.
But no longer a red-haired god. The transformation was actually pretty amazing, especially now that his brows were dark enough to frame his blue, blue eyes. His lashes were still pale, but more blond than red. It was unlikely anyone would notice unless they got within a couple feet, and even then only if they were suspicious.
“Different.” She tapped her finger on her lips, drawing his gaze. Her stomach dipped. The taste of his mouth still lingered on her own. Who knew upside-down kisses were so freaking hot? Well, besides Mary Jane and her webbed superhero.Obvs.
Lindsey cleared her throat and dropped her hand. “Like a man with brown hair and a little too much hair gel.” Tilting her head, she said, “Maybe dark auburn hair, but definitely not a redhead.”
“Perfect. Thanks to you. And your friend.” He covered all those distracting muscles with a fresh blue shirt and she could finally take a full breath again. “As if I needed another reason to love coffee.” Handing her a long-sleeved technical tee the color of the surrounding pines, he said, “Let’s stash the fleece for now. Just in case anyone recognized us earlier and reported what we were wearing.”
She sucked in a whole lungful of air and released it in a slow stream. They were about to walk into Pinetop, one of the towns where law enforcement was sure to have gotten the word out about the dangerous fugitives. But if they were going to head back into the mountains, they needed supplies.
And Todd wanted to talk to his boss.
“In case things go south, I need someone to know what really happened,” Todd had said with an apologetic frown. “Plus, he can find someone to help us negotiate our surrender, get Valerie—Steele’s hacker genius—to start digging on JJ, and maybe even send a few guys to help us.”
How wonderful to have a whole team behind him.
Lindsey had a group that she trusted implicitly—her parents, Megan, her volleyball teammates—but they wouldn’t be much use in this situation. As far as she knew, none of them could hack a computer system, and the only lawyer in the bunch practiced entertainment law.
Thank God for Todd and his connections.
All packed up, they took a long route to town, sticking close to the trees, but ultimately paralleling the highway. Ranches dotted the valley, surrounded by low mountains on all sides.
Finally, close to five o’clock, they approached the core of Pinetop, basically a collection of a dozen rustic wooden or corrugated metal buildings centered around the highway crossroads.
“Ninety percent of blending in is looking like you belong,” Todd said as they crunched over a gravel lot toward a building that housed a BBQ joint, a bakery, an outdoor outfitter, and a general store. No sign of any sheriff’s deputies. “We’re tourists, oblivious to the news, with nothing to hide.”
“We need new names.”
