“I read lips.”
“Sure you do.” Wyatt looked skyward, then said, “Thanks. I appreciate it.”
“And I want you to make it to your date without Daphne Charlene attached to your hip.”
“I would appreciate that even more.”
“What are best friends for?”
Hunter clapped him on the back and moved to the center of the circle of booths, where the chili con-carnage appeared to be the most devastating. Putting his hands to his mouth for amplification, he shouted to the judges, “Once you get the bulk of the trash cleaned up and the surfaces wiped down, I suggest tapping the fire hydrant to power wash the grounds or the chili will become a hardened part of the landscape for the rest of the time we remain here on this Earth.”
Wyatt walked toward his cruiser. Across the clearing, he sought out Valene with a look he hoped no one else noticed. She was helping clean up the area around the Cosmos Café’s chili cook-off station. When he caught her attention, she sent him such a searing gaze of love he almost threw away his casual expression to race across the chili-stained ground and kiss her lips off in public the way he wanted to.
Instead, he tipped his hat in her direction and left before he did something irreparable to his fragile relationship with the love of his life.
Diesel Grey, using every silent ninja skill he possessed, sneaked down the empty hall and through the open doorway to his office. He looked over his shoulder no less than three times in three steps before going into his office. Earlier, he’d left the door ajar so he could get back in without anyone seeing him. He wanted peace, if only for a few minutes. If he could get into his office without anyone knowing he’d returned, he’d have blessed peace to work in for as long as everyone thought he was absent.
He twisted around, about to close the door as silently as possible, when someone said, “Good try, but I’m so sorry to tell you that it didn’t work.”
Diesel tried not to leap into the air at the sound of Axel’s voice behind him. “I don’t believe that.”
“What don’t you believe?”
“That you are at all sorry.”
Axel grinned. “Well, I guess you’ve got me there.”
“Pray tell, why are you here scaring the socks off me?”
“Two things. First is the hardest, so I’m starting with it.”
“Okay. What’s up?”
“Do you know who Valene is dating? In secret, I might add?”
Diesel straightened. Hedidknow. The guy she was secretly dating had asked Diesel’s permission to continue the relationship. Diesel liked Sheriff Wyatt Campbell, but he was a human. Their parents werenevergoing to permit their only daughter to date a human, let alone marry one. He’d been putting it off, hoping Valene would come to her senses, find a nice Alpha man to date and then Diesel wouldn’t have to say anything.
“Yes. I know.”
“You do? What are you going to do about it?”
“Nothing. I’m hoping she might change her mind and find someone acceptable.”
“Good luck with that, Mr. Procrastinator.”
“Don’t call me names. You haven’t said anything, either.”
“True.” Axel shrugged. “I’ll adopt your attitude and hope it resolves itself without an alien intervention.”
“What’s the second thing?”
“The rescheduling of the gulag ship run this month.”
“Rescheduling?”
“Yes.”
