Page 59 of Chasing Kaylee Kringle

“Wait,” Rick said, his eyes narrowing as suspicion snaked up the back of his neck and coiled in his brain. “Would you have actually told me if you said anything bad about me?”

“I don’t know. Depending on whether I wanted to hurt your feelings, I guess I could be trying to spare your ego.”

He didn’t know how he felt about that, and he said, “I hope that no matter what, you’re always honest with me.”

“So don’t spare your feelings, tell you the truth?”

“Yes, one hundred percent. I would rather you not pretend with me.”

“Well, if we’re going to be honest,” she said, closing the distance between them and putting her hand against his chest, over his galloping heart. “Then I feel like I should tell you that I didn’t sleep well last night because I was going to ask you to join me in bed but I didn’t want to make things weird.”

“And why would that make things weird?”

“Because you’re a federal agent on duty, and after what happened between us, you could lose your job.”

Rick smiled, reaching for her. “Technically, I’m on vacation so—”

Kaylee jerked back, wide eyes boring into his. “Wait, what?”

The horrified expression on her face was almost comical, with her bulging eyes and open mouth. “The bureau technically didn’t know I was coming here. I took a vacation when I saw you on the Christmas special, and I came here instead.”

Several moments ticked by, and she didn’t speak, just stared at him, her mouth finally snapping shut.

“Kaylee?”

“I’m sorry,” she said, sounding as if she were speaking through a clenched jaw. “You are not even working right now, and you came here to bring me back? Did they even want you searching for me?”

“We’re always looking for you, yes, but were we actively searching? No.”

Before he could get the rest of it out, Kaylee picked a towel up off the counter and twirled it between her hands. “You need to get out.”

“We were just having a conversation—” The towel snapped against his outstretched hand, and he yelped at the sting. “Kaylee!”

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no!” She pushed past him, snapping the towel at him when he tried to touch her again. “You came here and upheaved my life, all because I gave you the runs. No one forced you.” She picked his duffel off the floor, zipping it up and tossing it at him. “You aren’t getting paid.”

“Well, technically, it’s a paid vacation.”

Kaylee’s expression darkened. “Are you kidding me right now?”

“Plus, it was more than the runs. You poisoned me.”

He used his duffel as a shield when the towel launched at him.

“I gave you MiraLAX.” She chased after him, snapping the towel again, but Rick ducked behind a kitchen chair. “It’s over the counter.” Another attempt to nail him was foiled by his quick reflexes. “You were fine.” She sent two consecutive launches his way, and one caught him on the arm. “I just cleared you out.”

“You dosed me with something. That is illegal.” Rick dropped the duffel on the floor and grabbed the towel from her, tossing it back onto the counter. “And stop trying to get me with the towel!”

“You deserve it! I’m sure that whatever you’re doing here is black and white and not sketchy at all, right?” Kaylee took a few steps toward him, her fists clenched, and he braced himself for the swing, but it never came. Instead, her voice broke, twisted in his guts like a fork twirling spaghetti. “How dare you? You show up here, push yourself into my home, follow me to my book club, have sex with me, and this whole time, you’ve been lying to me. I thought that you were under orders to bring me home, and now I find out they don’t even care about me.”

“That’s not true. They’re still building the case. Your testimony is important; we have to find bodies, though.”

“Like I said, get out,” she said, waving her hand like he was an unwanted animal who’d snuck into her home. “Go home. If I see you, I’m gonna tell Paulette you’re a trespassing louse.”

“She already called my boss, and he told her that I was a federal agent and you were a witness.”

Kaylee herded him toward the door. “But does he know that you pushed your way into my house and basically have been keeping me under surveillance the whole time?”

Not in so many words. “Possibly. He did tell me to keep a close eye on you.”