Page 30 of Chased

Boomer looked confused for a second. “Is that a trick question? Because of course I am. But I’m not perving at the moment.” He gazed at her thoughtfully. “Although you do have good legs.”

That was nice to know, but she was certainly not going to encourage him by saying so. “I’m two seconds from slamming this window on your fingers.”

“Don’t do that. How could I make bombs with smashed fingers?”

“Guess you’d be stuck with gate duty forever.”

“Now that’s just mean.”

He seemed harmless. Harmless-ish, anyway. Madison sighed. “What the hell do you want? I’m getting cold.”

“Oh. Well, I’m thinking about doing this prank on Sanchez, where I booby-trap his front door with fireworks. And you could help me, because I think he has the hots for you, so you could go there and be all seductive and shit, and probably plant the detonator without him suspecting. And as a bonus, you might get laid.”

There was so much to unpack there, it took Madison a minute to arrive at “No.” She added, “First of all, Sanchez was nice to me, and I’m not going to do something mean to him. And also, I’m not going to go to some guy’s cabin who I barely know, and try to drag him into bed just to make you happy. And also also, Sanchez does not have the hots for me.”

Did he? He had almost kissed her yesterday. Probably. The thought of Sanchez having the hots for her made her lady parts shiver. But he was still the scariest man she’d ever met, and the idea of lying helpless while he did whatever he wanted to her…

Whoa. Hot flash.

Boomer said, “Hey, you still there? Because your eyes just glazed over.”

“Oh.” Madison dragged her imagination back from the pictures in her mind. “No deal. If you want to torture Sanchez, you’re on your own. And next time you want to talk to me, try knocking on the front door.”

“I didn’t want to wake you up. I was afraid it would make you mad.”

“As opposed to peering in my window like a psycho stalker?”

“Exactly. Hey, look, the coffee’s done. Can I have some?”

Madison bit her lip, trying to hide a smile. He was absolutely shameless. Still, there was something endearing about Boomer, despite the psycho stalker vibe. And Breanna was friends with him, so he probably was okay.

“You don’t deserve coffee.” But she went to get a mug anyway. “Cream and sugar?” She couldn’t believe she was asking a Peeping Tom about his coffee preferences. This was not what she’d pictured when Sanchez told her to make friends with people.

“Just cream.”

Madison filled the coffee mug, added cream, and started to hand it out the window. Then she pulled it back. “You better return this mug. I only have four.”

“Sure.” He would probably forget, but she handed it over anyway. Sanchez had said nothing was locked on the base—she could always find out where he lived and go steal it back.

Boomer took a sip. “Hey, this coffee is really good. What kind is it?”

“Hawaiian Kona blend. From my suitcase.”

“No wonder you carry it around with you.” He took another sip, and just when she was wondering if he was planning to spend the morning outside her window, he said, “Do you watch Wild Wolf Lake? You should come over to Breanna’s on Saturday. Eat burgers. Binge watch. Find out if Lorelai really got turned into a werewolf in the midseason cliffhanger.”

Wow. She was actually touched—she’d figured she would have to take the initiative on the friend-making thing.

Maybe he wants to jump our bones, Vixen said hopefully. He’s sexy.

But as hot as Boomer was, with his sense of humor and intense green eyes, once again it was Sanchez’s face she saw flash in front of her.

“I’ll think about it.”

“Okay,” Boomer said. “See you later. Thanks for the coffee.” He walked off with a casual wave, sipping from his mug.

Madison closed the window, and also the blinds for good measure. She’d just poured her own coffee when there was another knock on the window.

Sighing, she went and pulled up the blinds. “Geez, Boomer. Now what?”