“Where did they even come from?” Felicity grudgingly pulled to the side of the road until her right tires rolled over a few clumps of weeds. For a moment, she hoped that the squad car would speed right past her on its way to a different call, but instead it pulled in behind her.
Bennett made a displeased sound. Felicity had never felt such strong agreement with a grunt before.
She unlocked her phone and passed it to him. “Text Callum. See if he can make a call to get us out of this quickly. All these mountain people seem to know one another.”
As she watched a sheriff’s deputy approach in her side mirror, she felt Bennett take her phone. Time ticked away in her mind, and as the distance between them and her skip grew by the second, so did her annoyance with the delay. She rolled down her window, but even the crisp and clean mountain air wasn’t enough to soothe her.
“Afternoon,” drawled the deputy, whose name tag read B. LITCHFIELD. Felicity instantly disliked him. He had a classically handsome face and a body that looked like he spent a lot of time in a gym, but his smirk and condescending tone ruined the whole picture.
Gritting her molars, she forced a smile that probably looked more like a baring of teeth. “Good afternoon, Deputy.”
“Know why I stopped you today?”
Not this nonsense. Felicity resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Sure, let me confess to all my traffic-law-violating sins. “No.”
“Hmm,” the deputy hummed, studying her and then Bennett, who must’ve finished texting Callum, since her phone was nowhere in sight.
Bennett looked back with his best deadpan expression.
“License, registration, and proof of insurance, please.” The deputy looked at Bennett again. “Let’s see your ID too.”
Bennett didn’t move, his gaze still locked on the deputy.
“He’s not the driver, so he’s not required to show you ID,” Felicity said with the same toothy smile as she held out her documents. “Why’d you pull me over?”
Litchfield studied her license intently. “Langston, huh? What are you doing so far from home?”
“Vacationing.” It was getting harder to hold her smile. “Why did you stop me?”
He brought her license even closer to his eyes. “This a fake? You illegal?”
Bennett twitched, and a low growl came from him. Without looking at him, she reached over and squeezed his rock-hard forearm. “That is a real license, and you’re not allowed to ask my status.”
The deputy’s gaze locked on to her, his eyes lighting up as if he had her cornered. Her smile got a little tighter as any hope of catching up to Clint and Dino slipped away. “That sounded like a confession.”
Felicity sighed deeply, tired now that the adrenaline rush of the chase had faded. Before she could respond, Bennett spoke. “That was nothing even close to a confession, and you need to stop before you get sued and fired.”
The deputy’s head jerked at Bennett’s words, and he took a step back before catching himself. “I’m legally allowed—no, obligated—to investigate suspicious behavior. No one’s ever on this road except for—”
His eyes widened slightly as he caught himself, and a seed of suspicion took root in Felicity’s mind. She briefly met Bennett’s gaze, and from his knowing gaze, he was thinking exactly what she was.
After the smallest hesitation, the deputy carefully rephrased. “No one’s ever on this road except for locals. When I see strangers—city strangers—slinking around the back roads, it’s my duty to investigate.”
“Mm-hmm.” Felicity only had time to make the skeptical sound before the deputy’s cell phone rang. He glanced at the screen and grimaced before stepping away from her door.
“Stay put,” he said. “I’m going to check for warrants.” He answered his phone as he hurried toward his squad car. “Hey, Sheriff. Can I call you back in a few? I’m in the middle of a traffic stop.” He paused to listen, and when he spoke again, his voice was muted. “Yes, ma’am.”
Felicity kept her window down, trying to overhear more of the deputy’s side of his call with his boss, but he got in his squad and closed his door. Turning to Bennett, she raised an eyebrow. “On the militia’s payroll, don’t you think?”
“Yep.” He passed her back her cell phone, and she glanced at the screen to see a two-word text from Callum: On it.
“Good. I was hoping the sheriff’s interruption was…” She trailed off as she watched a second sheriff’s department car roll up behind Litchfield’s. “Seriously? More of them? They’re going to have the SWAT team here in another minute.”
“Think that’s one of your soldiers,” Bennett said, looking over his shoulder.
“Oh?” She couldn’t see very well in the rearview mirror with Litchfield’s squad car in the way, so she stuck her head out the window and craned her neck to see it was indeed Daisy’s husband walking toward Litchfield’s squad.
After a short conversation that was voiced too quietly for Felicity to overhear but that left Litchfield scowling, Chris made his way to Felicity’s window.
“Deputy Chris,” she said, very happy to see a—hopefully—sympathetic face. “Could you remind your coworker that he can’t deport me?”
Chris blinked. “Aren’t you Hawai‘ian?”
“Half. How’d you know that?” Before he could answer beyond a slight wince, she’d already figured it out. “Ah, background check.” She couldn’t blame him, since she would’ve done the same if some stranger had wandered into her town and recruited her wife to her bounty-hunting army. Besides, she was feeling almost giddy that a reasonable person had arrived on scene, so it was hard to work up any righteous indignation. “Maybe he wants to send me back to Hawai‘i? Because I wouldn’t mind that.”
He grinned and also winced. “Sorry about this. Boaz is new to the department and has some…unfortunate ideas. He’ll have to learn, or the sheriff’ll cut him loose.”
“Hmm.” Felicity watched as Litchfield got out of his squad and started their way. Lowering her voice, she quietly said, “You might want to check his loyalties.”
Chris’s eyes widened, but he shot a look at the approaching deputy and didn’t ask any questions. Instead he gave her a tight nod.
Litchfield grudgingly passed back her license and cards. “No warrants, but you still shouldn’t be wandering around this area.” When Chris stiffened, Litchfield shot him a sideways look and added, “Lots of dangerous things out here—rockslides, bears—nothing city folk like you two want to get involved with.”
“Thanks for the warning,” she said sarcastically, putting her cards away.
With a scowl and abrupt nod, Litchfield stalked back to his squad car and peeled around them, sending a spray of gravel to ping off Felicity’s car.
“Ass.” Chris frowned at the departing deputy before turning back to Felicity. “What do you know?”
A pickup truck approached from behind, carefully skirting Chris’s squad car and Felicity’s sedan, the driver’s gaze fixed on the road ahead while the passenger turned his face away from the window. Felicity watched, her mouth open with shock, as the faded blue pickup passed them and continued down the dirt road. She met Bennett’s eyes and saw an answering gleam of excitement.
“Oop!” Felicity made a squeaky sound of excitement. “Gotta go, Deputy! That’s my guy! Thanks for the intervention, and we’ll get together soon to talk about your lovely coworker. I’ll text you! Stay safe! See you!” Even as she was still talking, she was shifting into drive, pulling away from the shoulder as soon as a baffled-looking Chris stepped away from her window. She waved at him out her open window without looking back, her gaze fixed at the rear of the pickup already far ahead of them.
Wind whipped through the car, and she retracted her waving arm and closed her window. She didn’t want to take her eyes off the distant truck in case it disappeared like a mirage, but she had to risk a quick glance at Bennett. When she saw he was full-out grinning at her, she could barely tear her eyes away.
“Can you believe it?” she asked, her voice awed. After all, they’d just witnessed a miracle.
“They were still on the compound drive.”
She felt a grin take over her face. The awful Deputy Litchfield had actually done them a favor. “The bounty-hunting gods are with us today, Mr. Bennett Xavier Green.”
“Yes, they are, Ms. Felicity Florence Pax.”
Her nose wrinkled, but even her middle name—which she hated almost as much as her sisters’ nickname for her—couldn’t dampen her exuberant joy. “Now we just wait for them to get where they’re going, and Dino is as good as tackled.”
“They both must have bladders of steel,” Felicity complained from the passenger seat over ten hours later.
“Or they’re going in a bottle.”
“Gross.”
Except for quick, infrequent stops for gas, Clint and Dino had pushed the old pickup hard as the sun went down. They drove through the night, making it more difficult for Felicity and Bennett to keep the truck in sight without sitting right on their tail. Somehow, they’d managed it so far, taking lightning-fast pee breaks and swapping drivers during those few gas stops.
“They have to be going to Vegas, right?” Felicity asked. Ever since they’d gotten onto I-15, the signs for Vegas with ever-shrinking mileage had gotten more and more frequent.
Bennett passed an SUV as he shrugged. “Or Los Angeles.”
With a groan, Felicity let the back of her head bump the seat. “Oh, please no. You’re a very pleasant road trip companion—especially compared to Charlie—but I’d love to stop and shower and sleep in a real bed and eat something that’s not half the protein bar I’d forgotten in the glove compartment months ago.” When he shot her a strange look, she mirrored it back at him. “What?” she asked.
“Charlie?”
“Charlotte, my sister?” She smirked at him. “Didn’t get to nicknames when you did your background check, did you?”
“No.” He made the face that she knew meant he was making a mental amendment to his notes.
“Speaking of nicknames, I never asked if you prefer Ben to Bennett.”
“No,” he said quickly. “Bennett’s fine.”
“Yes, he is,” Felicity couldn’t resist muttering under her breath.
“What?” he asked.
“Nothing. So no nicknames for you? Even when you were a kid?”
He paused long enough to catch her attention, and she studied his profile, eerily lit by the dash lights. “My mom called me Benny sometimes.”
“That’s adorable.” She smiled at the thought of a tiny Bennett but sobered when she remembered that his only parent had died when he’d been just a teenager. “What was she like?”
His silence seemed thoughtful this time. “She was a little flustered and overwhelmed by life, but she tried hard. I knew she loved me, although we never said the words to each other. When she got sick…” He swallowed and trailed off, staying silent long enough that Felicity started thinking of conversational segues. “When she got sick,” he said again abruptly enough to make her jump, “it was fast. She hated doctors, didn’t go in until things were…advanced. She was fine, then she wasn’t, then she was gone.”
“I’m sorry,” Felicity said, hating how useless the trite phrase was but not knowing what else to say. “What were your foster parents like?”
He smiled a little at the question, and she felt like she’d won something. “They’re great. I was—am—really lucky.”
“What are their names again?” she asked, eager to know more about Bennett, especially now that she was out of the earlier emotional minefield.
“Zena and Dean Roman. They’re still in Fort Collins.”
“So you get to see them a lot,” she said approvingly.
He dipped his chin in a nod.
“I’m always a little envious of people with good parents,” she admitted, the darkness of the car and her overtired brain allowing her to be more open than usual.
“I know your mom isn’t the best,” he said, obviously picking his words carefully and making Felicity snort at the understatement, “but what’s your dad like?”
It was her turn to consider the question. “Lono’s a good guy,” she finally said, “as long as he’s not around Jane. He loved her too much, and she’s very charismatic when she wants to be. Now that he’s back in Hawai‘i with his kind new wife and two little girls, he’s great. It’s just too bad he’s so far away now.”
He grunted as he took in the information. “They were married twice?”
“Yeah,” she answered. “Jane’s first and fourth marriages. Molly and I are full sisters, even though she’s the oldest and I’m the youngest.” Although Felicity knew that he’d found all this out in his background check on Jane, she still enjoyed sharing bits of herself with him.
“Do you… Hang on.”
Whatever he’d been about to ask was forgotten as the pickup carrying Clint and Dino exited off the interstate. Felicity cheered. Even Bennett gave one of his little half smiles, so she knew he was also ecstatic they’d get to stop soon. He accelerated down the exit ramp, getting a bit closer to their quarry before the pickup merged into traffic.
“Things are really hopping for three in the morning,” she said, leaning against her window. There was so much to look at, and everything was lit up like it was the middle of the day. All the visual stimulation was overwhelming.
“Vegas.” Bennett’s grunt had a whole heap of resignation in it, making Felicity laugh.
“I’ve been here a few times,” she admitted, “but never for long, and I’ve never been to the Strip. It’s…a lot.”
“They’re turning.”
Felicity refocused on the old pickup as it took a right to stop in front of a slightly shabby-looking hotel. Bennett kept driving. Although she expected him to circle around, he continued for a couple of miles and pulled in front of a casino. A valet rushed to open her door, and she paused long enough to give Bennett a look before allowing the valet to help her out. Her joints and muscles complained about the long stretch in her car, although her ankle seemed to have improved a bit from the long rest. She wondered how Bennett—who was about two and a half of her—managed the drive without bursting out of the car in western Colorado and refusing to get back inside.
She stretched surreptitiously while looking at the entrance to the casino, trying to hide her awe at the grandeur of the place. From Bennett’s arched brow, she didn’t succeed very well.
“Everything’s just so sparkly,” she muttered under her breath, leaning toward him so only he would hear.
One corner of his mouth twitched up, and the look he directed at her was so soft and affectionate that her breath caught. She shook her head, dismissing the idea. Her Bennett-reading skills were just glitchy. That had to be it.
Two people in uniform opened the doors, and Bennett rested his hand on her lower back to usher her inside. Her stomach fizzed with excitement, and her heart beat faster, two things that usually only happened when she was close to bringing in a skip. She bit the inside of her lower lip, trying to bring back her reason and common sense. When that didn’t work and a thrill still swept through her at the warm press of his palm on her back, she decided it was lack of sleep that was making her irrational. Once she got a good night’s rest, her brain would reset, and all these ridiculous feelings would disappear.
“Is Ronan around?” Bennett asked after they passed through the sumptuous lobby to reach the desk.
“I’ll check,” the woman behind the desk said. “And your name?”
“PI Green.”
As the woman stepped away, Felicity faced Bennett. “Any reason we didn’t circle around and tackle Dino at that other hotel? We could’ve been back in Simpson by midafternoon.”
“You need food and a real bed,” he said.
She did, but it felt wrong to leave the skip they’d just trailed for half a day through four states. “What if they leave? Vegas is huge. We’ll never find them.”
He shrugged. “Doubt they’re going anywhere tonight. They’ve got to be as tired as we are. Besides, we’re running on fumes. No sense in coming all this way and then fumbling the takedown.”
As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. Her ankle was better but still not a hundred percent, she was stiff from the car ride, and her blood sugar had to be bottoming out. “Okay. Sure you don’t want to stay at the same hotel as Clint and Dino though? That way, we can keep an eye on them.”
He looked like he smelled something bad. “That place is a pit.”
As tired as she was, Felicity still had to laugh. “You’re a terrible snob.”
“I am not.” Despite his words, the way he lifted his chin and looked down his nose at her in the most offended way just proved her accusation to be true. He was one step away from clutching his pearls. Her laugh gained strength, and she had to take a few deep breaths in order to keep from losing it in a complete belly-hurting, pig-snorting, exhaustion-fueled bout of laughter.
“Green!” a male voice called from across the lobby. A tall, urbane man in a gorgeous suit with flaming red hair and neatly trimmed beard strode over to Bennett, his hand extended. “Good to see you! I thought you’d never take me up on my offer.”
Bennett shook the other man’s hand, and although he didn’t smile, Felicity had a feeling that Bennett liked the man she assumed was Ronan.
“And who is this beauty?” Ronan asked, taking her hand and holding it gently, like it was a precious baby bird, rather than shaking it.
“Felicity Pax,” Bennett said, moving a little closer to her. “Ronan Fitzgerald.”
“Felicity Pax,” Ronan repeated, turning her name into a purr. Although she was pretty sure his greeting would’ve melted the panties off most women, Felicity just wanted to snort-laugh again.
Keeping a straight face with a great deal of effort, she nodded at Ronan and retrieved her hand. “Nice to meet you.”
Ronan didn’t look put off by her polite brush-off. In fact, his eyes lit up with gleeful interest. “I’m so happy for you, Green, that you’ve found such a delightful partner.”
Bennett just answered with one of his neutral, could-mean-anything grunts, and Felicity felt for a moment that she should correct Ronan’s misinterpretation of their relationship, but she was tired. Dead tired. The thought of explaining that she was his superior officer in their bounty-hunting army and that she was the daughter of Bennett’s target was just exhausting and confusing, even to her, so she simply smiled.
“You have a room?” Bennett asked. He didn’t seem annoyed, so Felicity assumed he was leaving out more words than usual because of exhaustion.
“For you, my favorite private investigator,” Ronan said, sweeping his arms out in a grand gesture, “only the best.” He moved to have a quiet conversation with the woman behind the counter, and Felicity took the opportunity to give Bennett a sideways look.
“I thought your background check reported that you didn’t have friends.”
“Not a friend,” he muttered, too low for anyone but her to hear. “Did some work for him. That’s all.”
“Seems pretty friendly for a not-friend.”
Bennett actually looked flustered. “He’s like that with everyone. I found out who was stealing from the casino, so he’s just grateful.”
“Mm-hmm.” She had a feeling that he had a lot of not-friends out there who considered themselves to be his actual friends, even if Bennett thought he was alone in the world. Before she could say anything else, Ronan brandished two key cards with a huge smile.
“If my hotel was gauche enough to have a honeymoon suite, this would be it,” Ronan said, looking quite proud of himself as he held out the cards. “Room 1842. Enjoy, my old friend and my new friend.”
Felicity cleared her throat, regretting her decision not to correct him about her and Bennett’s relationship earlier. Now it would be even more awkward to attempt an explanation, so she reached for one of the cards with a glance at Bennett. He, she saw, was looking straight ahead, avoiding any eye contact with her. He’d also gone completely silent, so she dredged up a smile for Ronan.
“Thank you,” she said with honest gratitude. It didn’t matter if the bed was a honeymoon bed used to all sorts of just-married sex. It was guaranteed to be more comfortable than trying to catch a few minutes’ rest in a car. “This is very kind of you.”
Ronan waved his hand dismissively. “Like I said, only the best for Green.” He slapped Bennett on the shoulder.
Bennett, although he’d also accepted a key card, still stared straight ahead as if he was frozen in a block of awkwardness, unable to move a muscle.
A suited older man hovered behind Ronan. “Excuse me, Mr. Fitzgerald? There’s a minor situation on the floor that needs your attention.”
“I’ll be right there, Timothy.” Ronan offered them an apologetic grimace before giving Bennett a quick, back-slapping hug and then kissing each of Felicity’s cheeks. She’d always hated the double-cheek kiss, since she worried about going the wrong direction and ending up with full lip action with a near stranger, so she just stood still and let Ronan do his thing. “Very nice to see you, Green, and wonderful to meet you, Felicity Pax. Come see me if you need anything.”
With a final wave, Ronan left the lobby with a stressed-looking Timothy, leaving Felicity feeling a bit shell-shocked and more tired than she’d ever been in her life. She didn’t even know if she’d make it to the elevator.
“I feel like asking a bellhop if they can push me to our room on a luggage rack,” she said wistfully, thinking of all the lucky luggage that got a wheeled ride to the hotel room.
Bennett gave a choke of laughter that sounded a bit strangled, but Felicity figured he was still working on coming out of his awkwardness paralysis. Dredging up all her last energy reserves, she turned toward the elevators, catching his hand on the way.
“C’mon.” She tugged until his feet unstuck from the floor. “Let’s go before I curl up under the reception counter and sleep there.”
“Waste of a hon—uh…waste of a bed.”
Bennett’s utter mortification made her laugh huskily as she hauled him onto the elevator just opening its door. She stabbed the button for the eighteenth floor and then leaned back against the elevator wall.
“Everything here is gorgeous and lavish and worth goggling over,” she sighed, her eyes closing of their own volition. “I just can’t do it right now though. Too tired. We’ll have to come back sometime we’re not chasing a skip across the country.”
Bennett’s grunt had a surprised overtone, and Felicity opened one eye to look at him.
“Oh sorry.” For a second, she’d forgotten that they weren’t dating, weren’t even friends really—even less than Bennett and Ronan were not-friends. “Didn’t mean to imply…whatever I just implied.” Honestly, she was too tired to be tactful.
He gave a tight shake of his head, which could mean anything, so Felicity took it as forgiveness for her—as Ronan put it—gaucheness and closed her eyes again.
“Felicity.” His deep voice brought her out of her daze. “Wake up. We’re almost to the room.”
Drowsily, she followed him off the elevator and into what was much too fancy to be called a hallway. A foyer, maybe? It was Bennett’s turn to grab her hand and tow her to a door. He touched his key card to the reader, opening the door when a green light flashed.
The final bit of consciousness still functioning in Felicity’s brain was awed by the suite. It was enormous and open, the sitting and sleeping areas defined by the furniture rather than walls. The high ceiling arched above them, giving the room cathedral vibes. Everything was beautiful and lush and screamed expensive taste, making her small suitcase someone had brought up along with Bennett’s look a bit tattered. The bed was overwhelming because there was only one of it, but it was so oversize Felicity felt fairly confident they could both sleep in it without ever making contact that might lead to awkwardness.
“Shower,” Bennett said in an abrupt way that she would’ve taken as an insult to her state of personal hygiene if she hadn’t known him. “I’ll order room service. Want anything special?”
“Get me anything with lean protein and lots of veggies, and I’ll love you forever.”
Ignoring the fact that her comment had refrozen Bennett in his block of awkwardness, she grabbed a tank and shorts from her suitcase to use for pajamas and hurried into the bathroom. It was bigger than the bedroom she shared with Molly at home and had the same feel of over-the-top opulence the main section of the suite had. It took her a few minutes to figure out the controls for the multiple showerheads, but soon she was sighing with relief as hot water pounded down on her shoulders and head.
She could’ve easily fallen asleep standing up in the steamy warmth, but she forced herself to wash up efficiently. The knowledge that food was coming was a great motivator too. Even though she moved quickly, the food had already been brought to their room by the time she emerged from the bathroom.
“Want to clean up before we eat?” she asked, although her starved gaze was fixed on the food.
With a huff of laughter, he said, “No. Eat.”
“Okay, Tarzan.” When she saw he’d gotten her a salad with chicken that looked amazing, she had to resist the urge to hug him in gratitude. The thought of how he’d gone stiff at the mere mention of a honeymoon suite made her reconsider. A hug might leave him frozen for days. She downgraded to a simple “Thank you.”
He ate his pasta with efficient quickness, finishing well before her and disappearing into the bathroom. The food revived her slightly, but she firmly kept her mind off the night—or early morning, more accurately—ahead on that plush, honeymoon-esque bed.
Bennett emerged soon after she’d finished her salad, shirtless and damp in a cloud of steam. Felicity made a small sound that she really hoped he hadn’t heard. It wasn’t her fault though. His chest was a work of art—not chiseled like a body builder’s but strong and bulging with muscle under his chest hair. Those arms though… She swallowed and forced her eyes down to her empty plate, and she started stacking the dirty dishes with more care than was strictly necessary.
Using the excuse to turn away from his distractingly gorgeous bare torso, she carried the tray toward the door. Her plan backfired, because Bennett followed to open the door for her, which required him to lean close enough that she was immersed in his clean, masculine scent.
Clearing her throat, she placed the tray on the floor outside the door and then retreated back into the suite, carefully keeping her eyes on things that weren’t so tempting—like the bed.
No! Don’t look at the bed! It was too late. Scenes rolled through her head like a movie, the two of them, naked, kissing, touching…
“Ack!” she squawked, finally ripping her gaze from the bed. “Just going to…ah, get ready for”—don’t say bed, don’t say bed—“bed.” Damn it.
He didn’t respond, but for once she didn’t check his face for nonverbal clues about what he was thinking. Instead, she hurried back to the bathroom and closed herself inside. Leaning back against the door, she breathed in that warm, clean smell, that addictive scent that was distinctively Bennett. She huffed out a semihysterical laugh. Apparently, there’d be no escape from the temptation that was PI B. Green.
As she brushed her teeth and got ready for bed, fully appreciating the indoor plumbing, her exhaustion returned with a vengeance. By the time she left the bathroom, all worries about awkwardness or resisting temptation had fled her mind, leaving only the desire to sleep.
She didn’t even look around the suite to see where Bennett was. Instead, she made a straight line to the bed, her eyes open only enough to keep her from walking into walls. Her knees hit the side of the bed, and she let herself fall forward, anticipating the soft give of an expensive mattress underneath her. When she landed, however, it was disappointingly hard and strangely lumpy.
It also let out a grunt.
“Did I just land on you?” she asked, not able to move despite the potential for enormous embarrassment.
“Yeah.”
“Oh. Sorry.” The Bennett mattress wasn’t as uncomfortable as she’d first thought. In fact, once it adjusted to the points and curves of her shape, he almost felt as if he’d been contoured to fit against her body. Her eyes began to sink closed.
Bennett shifted underneath her, but instead of rolling her off onto the other side of the bed, he just moved her up so she could tuck her head beneath his chin, which, she found, was extraordinarily comfortable. Nestling closer and letting out a hum of contentment, she fell asleep.