I snorted, having a hard time deciding if I was offended or not, as she stuffed her last bite of scone in her mouth like she was starving. “Does it?”
“You’re in shape and outdoorsy. You carry yourself like you’re either in the military or a cop. When we were walking down the street, you were walking on the outside. Either a true gentleman, which is possible, but you were alert. I’d already figured you for a cop.” She shrugged, like it was the easiest thing in the world to read me.
“You have me all figured out,” I ground out, so irritated I couldn’t stand it.
“Nah, I ran your background while I was in the grocery store,” she said with a wink, leaving me so surprised I almost forgot to be mad. “It hasn’t come back yet, but I’m pretty sure that’s what it’s going to say. So, are you going to let me rent one of your cabins, or are you goingto be weird now?” Her eyes flashed. God, this woman. “It’s obvious you disapprove of my job.”
Ah, she called me right out. She got me there. Shifting uncomfortably in my chair, Fish stood up beneath me, whining a little, alerted by the rising tension. “Yeah, Trouble, you can rent one of the cabins. Do you have the website?”
“I do.” Her chin lifted a little stubbornly. “They look nice. It’d be a good home base for me.” Then tentatively she added. “I’d need one for at least a month. Will that be a problem?”
Part of me was excited about the chance to be around her that long. The other part of me was still confused about how I felt about her so-called job. I always had a strong aversion to the prurient crime scene lookie-loos. There always seemed to be people who got off on other people’s tragedies or who were curious about what was happening to others. Wasn’t that what true-crime was all about? It was too late to ask her. Instead, I blatantly ignored her question about my disapproval, even though I was impressed that she called me out.
“You can reserve one through the website. It’ll give you a remote check-in and a keycode. Sage set it all up. My number is on the site, so you can message me if something doesn’t work.”
“Alright.” She reached down and gave Fish another rub before getting to her feet. Words stuck in my throat whileI watched her. “Thanks for the coffee. This is a cool spot. See you around?”
I cleared my throat. “Sure.”
She gave me a fake sunny smile and pushed her sunglasses back on, pretending that she was unaffected by my asshole behavior. I was pretty sure I’d hurt her feelings. Somehow, I couldn’t bring myself to call her back and fix it. Grinding my teeth, I settled for watching her ass in the jean shorts that looked almost worn through, along with the cowboy boots and the way they curved up her calves. Too bad about the weird hobby.
Waiting until she turned the corner toward the market, I thought about calling Wade to see if he’d heard anything about someone coming into town. But if she was going to rent a cabin on the website, maybe I’d get a little more information. She ran my background, so maybe I’d break my cardinal rule and ask Wade’s friend Rhodes Collins to run her. He owned a security company and could do it off book. Was it crossing a line? Sure, but she did it first. Fish whined a little and pushed into me. “Don’t be so judgy you little traitor.”
CHAPTER 5
Group Chat
Dysfunction Junction
Sage
Kipp just rented out a cabin.
East
That's... good? Isn't that what he built them for?
Sage
To a STRANGER. Well, she’s not a stranger to me anymore.
Wade
Kipp doesn't talk to strangers. He barely talks to us.
Lo Lo
Who is she?
Her name is Hattie. She's here for work.
Phiny
What kind of work?
Podcasting. True-crime or some shit.
Wade
