“It’s my fault,” Quint said, realizing his mistake. “I shouldn’t have snapped at you. To be fair, I didn’t want to talk about it at all. I owe you an apology.”
“Nope. You sure shouldn’t. But I accept,” she agreed. Her lips formed a thin line. “I need to get some air.” She picked up her plate, and then walked right out the door.
Quint sat there, unsure of his next move. They weren’t a couple, and he didn’t owe her any explanations on his personal life. So why did he feel like the biggest jerk on earth? Again, he couldn’t afford the distraction from the case.
He refocused on his plan. Tomorrow, he could dig around in a couple of apps under the guise of trying to figure out what was needed for the restaurant and what wasn’t. If he clicked onto an account he wasn’t supposed to, it could be easily explained as housekeeping. In a day or two, he might be able to slip spyware on the system. It was risky and he needed to make absolutely certain he wouldn’t be found out.
He wrestled with another thought. Could he bug the office without giving himself away? The clutter would make it easy to hide a listening device around the size of a fly. If it was found, though...
Quint opened his email and wrote a brief account of their progress to date before sending it over to Lynn Bjorn, the boss. Bjorn was probably in meeting after meeting and wouldn’t read the email until around midnight. Quint had learned a long time ago to send anything urgent via text. His boss read emails before she logged off her home computer for the night. This didn’t qualify as urgent.
Before he could stand up to check on Ree, he heard male voices outside. Quint raced to secure his “bad” foot in the boot and then slid the other one inside his walking boot. He stopped at the door and listened. There were times to interrupt a fellow agent and times it backfired or caused them to lose momentum in a good conversation.
“I’m not working the lunch shift today, fellas,” she said with a voice that bordered on flirty. She might be playing a part but he didn’t have to like it. He also had no right to dislike it. Officially.
He couldn’t make out a response.
She said, “I doubt my husband would like that.”
His chest flared with jealousy. He tried to write it off as being in character.
Ree could hold her own. Clearly. But that didn’t stop him from wanting to rip open the door and tell those guys off.
“People have to eat,” she said, sounding like she’d rather poke her eyes with needles than be in this conversation. “I’ll catch you guys later.”
A few seconds later, the door opened, hitting him in the face.
“Oh, sorry,” she said when she realized what she’d done.
“No need to apologize. I was just listening to see if you needed your ‘husband’ to come out and back you up.” He made air quotes around the word husband. “The door is on me.”
“Literally,” she said without that trademark sense of humor of hers. However, the spark in her green eyes made him wish he could claim those pink lips again. Part of him had gone into self-preservation mode when it came to Ree. He did what he had to in order to survive.
He couldn’t help but smile at her reaction, though. So he didn’t try to contain his amusement. “Good one, Ree.”
“That’s what happens when you grow up with so many brothers. You develop a sharp tongue,” she said, sticking hers out at him.
Again, he laughed at the silliness of it. She had a way of breaking through his frustration and making him smile when he probably needed to go to the gym for a couple of hours to work off his tension.
Ree possessed magic like he’d never seen before. All she had to do was make one well-timed wisecrack to break him down. Clearly, his tough-guy skills needed some work.
“All right.” He rubbed the spot on his nose that took the worst hit. “Let’s talk about work.”
“Can’t. I have to get ready for my job,” she said.
“I thought the plan was to go into town and get to know the locals,” he stated.
“It was, until Zoey sent me a text out of the blue asking me to switch shifts with her today.” She held up her phone.
“But you just told those guys you weren’t working.” He must’ve shot a look because she wiggled her eyebrows at him.
“Did you think I wanted those Neanderthals on my shift?” she asked with a devious grin.
“You really are a force to reckon with,” he said.
“Darn right,” she quipped. Her smile had a way of shooting straight through a person. No wonder she had a stash of tips bigger than any bootleggers. “And I have to get ready because I don’t have a whole lot of time.”
“Don’t let me stand in your way.” He stepped aside and held his arm out like he was presenting a Ferrari at a car show.
“You couldn’t. I’d never allow it,” she said with more of that spark in her emerald jewels.
“No one would argue that,” he said as she passed by him. “Oh, and I updated our boss. Bjorn is up to date on the progress we’ve made so far.”
“Great.” Ree disappeared into the bathroom, returning ten minutes later looking ready for her shift. He preferred her in a little more clothing if she was going to leave the cabin, but the uniform couldn’t be helped. The white boots uniform showed even more skin, if that was even possible without being a swimsuit.
“You look good,” he said.
“Thanks.” Her eyes perked up at the compliment.
“We’re a newly married couple who has been home far too much since we arrived,” he said. “Since we can’t have lunch in town, why don’t we have dinner out instead?”
“As long as it’s not Greenlight, I’ll take it,” she said. “Don’t get me wrong, the food is amazing, but I don’t want to spend my night off—”
“Don’t worry. I have something much better in mind.” If memory served, there was a honky-tonk, boot-scootin’ bar that was more tourist attraction than authentic country dive within easy driving distance. As much as he’d rather keep her off her feet, and by that he meant like at the movies, they needed to get out and mingle, just like she’d suggested. Newlyweds rarely stayed in on the weekends.
“Is that right?” She walked over to him and grabbed a fistful of his shirt. She locked gazes and for a split second he saw her confidence falter. She recovered by clearing her throat. “How about walking a lady to work?”
“The pleasure would be mine,” he said, not wanting to admit how much he liked their routine.
REE’S SHIFT FLEW by and before she knew it she was refilling ketchup bottles. There should be no surprise there, considering it was Friday. She could only imagine what kind of business the weekends would bring. The money was good. The barmaids had to be bringing in serious cash. Could they be part of the weapons ring? Quint had already confirmed none of them were on payroll.
A man walked in, wearing jeans, boots and a tan shirt with the word Sheriff written down one arm. Gaze intent on the kitchen door, he didn’t say a word to Ree. His intensity said he was on a mission. Law enforcement officers made her nervous while she was undercover. Officers could generally spot each other half a mile away. Clothes didn’t matter. The person need not be in uniform for her to clue in. There was a swagger to their walk and they always held their left arm a little too far from the body, a sign they were used to wearing a holster and accommodating space for a gun. She had to consciously do the opposite in order to untrain some of those habits.
Adrian shot a look and compressed her lips before shrugging and going back to her duties as she closed out her station. Raised voices could be heard from the back as the kitchen staff came through the dining room and then out the front door. Fender lit a smoke. He walked toward the road and away from the others as he pulled out his cell and made a call.
For a split second, Ree debated following them. Her station was closed out and there was no real reason to stick around. She waved bye to Adrian before heading out and to the cabin.
Chef Lorenzo leaned against the building, thumbing through his cell. He barely glanced up as she passed by.
“See you tomorrow,” she said.
He gave her a friendly salute.
At the cabin, Quint was in the middle of a workout session when she walked inside. His shirt was off, and he wore shorts that sat low on his hips. She couldn’t tear her gaze away from a bead of sweat that rolled down his chest as he pulled up into another crunch. Muscles rippled with his movement. The man’s body was made for sinning. She tried not to calculate out how long it had been since the last time she’d had sex. Too long, her body screamed. As tempting as it sounded to have a fling, she’d never been the one-night-stand type. For it to work for her, she had to have an emotional attachment. Different things worked for different people. She had no judgment on how other people conducted their lives. If it wasn’t illegal, immoral or didn’t hurt puppies, she had a live-and-let-live philosophy.
Despite her convictions, she’d never wanted to have sex with a man more than she wanted to have it with Quint in that moment.
He stood up, picked up the towel he’d been on and mumbled an apology.
“No, don’t stop on my account,” she said, stumbling over her words like an awkward teenager. “I need to get out of these clothes anyway. You’re not going to bother me.” The words flew out of her mouth at a surprising pace.
“If you’re sure you don’t mind,” he said with a grin that said he noticed.
“Nope. It’s good to keep in shape. Bodies need exercise.” Well, hadn’t she just handed over all the wisdom? What was she going to say next? The sky is blue? Grass is green?
Before she dug a deeper hole, she fast-walked across the room and to the bathroom where she changed out of her work clothes. She dabbed a little more pink gloss on her lips and blew out her hair. She had no idea what the plans were for tonight or what she needed to wear for them. Rather than interrupt Quint’s workout for the second time, she stayed in the bathroom fixing herself up for their date.
When she could stall no longer in front of the mirror, she changed into a cream-colored minidress that she planned to wear her boots with.
Opening the door to the bathroom gave her quite a shock as Quint stood there, leaning against the wall, toweling off sweat before it dripped off his golden, sun-kissed skin. It had been a long time since anyone rattled her nerves the way he did.
She chalked it up to the stress of the mission and moved past him. “All yours.”
He thanked her before she heard the door close behind her. No way did she intend to look back. Instead, she marched directly to the fridge for a Coke. The fizzle tickled her throat. Ree retrieved her cell phone and then sat at the dining room table, wishing she could have been a fly on the wall next door before her shift ended.
In the heat of the moment earlier, she’d forgotten to tell Quint about what happened at the restaurant. Could be nothing, she reassured herself. She checked the window. The sheriff’s vehicle was gone. Another mistake on her part. She should have stayed focused when she walked through the door instead of getting flustered like a teenager in the same room with a pop star.
Ree checked her cell phone. Shane texted asking if all was well. She suspected her brother was checking up on her since she hadn’t responded to Preston. This was exactly the reason she’d separated out her dating life from her family. Her brothers, especially Shane, hovered enough. The last thing she needed was for them to be in her business 24/7 or receiving information about her from another source. When she was ready to talk, she would.
She sighed. As great as Preston was—and he had a whole lot of wonderful qualities—she wasn’t sure if she was ready to dive back into that pool. And right now wasn’t the time to worry about the man.
Fresh from the shower, Quint emerged from the bathroom. She tried not to stare, or drool, as he pulled a shirt over his head and then shrugged into it.
“I forgot to tell you something when I first got home. The sheriff showed up today at the end of my shift and he didn’t look thrilled. He went straight back to the office without making eye contact with anyone. The kitchen staff emptied out and Fender walked away from the others presumably to light a cigarette but he immediately made a phone call,” she informed.
“Okay, the activity should be on the recording,” he said, moving to the laptop on the coffee table. He took a seat on the couch and raked his fingers through still-wet hair, taming his slight curls. Was he kidding? How on earth could someone be so gorgeous with so little effort?
“I just wish I’d been a fly on the wall when the sheriff confronted his cousin,” she said, still beating herself up over not remembering something so important.
“You and me both.”
She issued a sharp sigh. It must have been loud because he looked up at her.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
She shook her head, not ready to admit how embarrassed she was about his half-naked body distracting her from her job.
“Whatever it is, let it go,” he said.
“Do you?” she shot back.
“No. I can’t say that I do. If it made me a better agent, I wouldn’t be advising you to do the opposite. Since we seem to be cut from the same cloth, I’ll tell you to figure out what works for you and stick to it religiously,” he stated. “And if that doesn’t work, hit the mat and don’t stop working your body until it becomes more tired than your brain.”
“Sounds like good advice,” she said, wondering if that was exactly what he was doing when she walked in. She also saw how ripped the man was and realized the level of his pain must be as intense.
“Works some days better than others,” he quipped, returning his gaze to the screen. Then came, “The sheriff walked inside looking concerned and he left with a scowl on his face. He was inside the restaurant for seven minutes.”
“How about Fender?” she asked.
“He stayed outside on his cell phone for another five minutes,” he stated. “But it’s his body language that interests me. He’s waving his free arm in the air. He inhales the cigarette like there’s no tomorrow.”
“I never have gotten a good vibe from him,” she said. “Any chance he’s facing the camera?”
“I’ll send this part of the video to Grappell for evaluation. See what he can do with it. He can run it through facial recognition. Fender is pacing and when he comes back this way, they might be able to blow this up and read his lips. It’s too grainy for us to make anything out,” he said. His fingers danced across the keyboard. “There. Now the clip is off.” He shifted gears, setting the laptop aside before standing up. “Are you ready to go meet some locals?”
She nodded, hoping they could catch a break while they were out.