Page 10 of Solid as Steele
She’d always been good at reading people and didn’t like him for the sociopath vibe, but she wasn’t always right. She had her gun, and hopefully, Ryan would be there tonight for added protection.
She faced the driver. “I need to stop at the nearest grocery store. I only need a few things, and I’ll pay extra for you to wait.”
“Sure thing.” The young woman fixed her attention on merging into traffic and soon pulled into a small mom-and-pop grocery store.
The older store was clean, and the mouthwatering scent of freshly baked bread drifted down the aisles. The smell urged Mackenzie to grab a loaf for dinner, but she’d brought a nice whole wheat loaf that her gran had baked for the trip so resisted the urge. The loaf was supposed to last Mackenzie the whole week but probably wouldn’t make it through a day with Owen and Ryan eating with her.
She jerked a small cart free from a stack, the metal grinding and clanging as the back dropped down. She started for the baking aisle and felt Owen’s attention on her for the trip through the store.
“I might not know much,” he said. “But my Spidey sense tells me you’re going to be baking something.”
She grabbed a bag of coconut and squeezed it to confirm freshness. “A cake for Ryan Maddox, the guy who’ll be guiding us tomorrow. That’s his payment.”
An eyebrow went up. “Not much of a payment.”
“You haven’t tasted my cake.” She laughed.
Owen cracked a smile.
“I’m also going to grab food for a meal tonight and breakfast for the three of us, and Ryan will bring supplies for on the trail. Anything else you want while we’re here?”
“I’m good with whatever you have.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“Do what?”
“Think you’re putting me out so much. You’re not. Really. I like to help. And if I were in your shoes I would hope someone would do this for me. Jesus would, you know.”
“Yeah. Guess I’m not good at accepting help.”
“Hey, this is a good thing.” She smiled at him. “You’ve learned something about yourself.”
He frowned. “Might be better if it was a positive thing, but yeah. Guess I know myself better now.”
Please let this guy figure out who he is. And please, please, let him be one of the good guys.
3
Mackenzie swirled a knife through the cream cheese, butter, and powdered sugar mixture she’d dropped by spoonfuls into the chocolate fudge cake batter. Satisfied it was incorporated, she sprinkled a layer of chocolate chips on the top then inserted the sweet-smelling cake into the oven and set a timer.
Her phone chimed from the counter, and she looked at the text from Ryan.We’re a go. See you at six.
Thank you!Cake’s in the oven,she replied.
The timer set, she had to go to the guest house to tell Owen when to arrive for dinner. He would’ve had plenty of time to shower and change by now. They’d made a final stop at a clothing store, and she’d bought him clean clothes so he could bag the ones he was wearing in case they needed them for evidence collection. He’d argued the whole time about her paying, but she promised to keep receipts for him to repay her if he could.
His natural behavior seemed to be that of an honest man who didn’t want to take advantage of her, but she couldn’t be sure she wasn’t letting her physical attraction to him get in the way of her judgment. She’d never had such an intense reaction to a guy before, and it was hard to separate that from anything else she felt about him.
Forget that. Try to act like the detective you once were and keep an open mind. And your eyes open.
She stepped outside into the brisk wind and tugged her fleece closed as she crossed the dusty soil littered with tufts of dried grass to the one-bedroom log cabin. The rental listing said this was the original building on the property and was constructed in 1920. The current owner had restored it and built the main cabin and other outbuildings.
She knocked on the rustic door and stood back. She’d been renting this property every year since leaving college. All but last year when she’d started working at the company and couldn’t take the time off.
It was her place to be alone with her thoughts and with God. To recharge. When she’d been a state trooper, she hadn’t been able to recharge on a daily basis. By the end of her duty, she’d lost her joy in so many things and was heading toward burn out. But then, for some reason, when she’d left the force, she’d started a podcast on faith in her daily life, and it had restored her faith and joy. She was just now starting to fully live and embrace life again.
The door opened, and Owen appeared as he pulled together the front of a button-down shirt. He got it closed, but not before she spotted massive bruises on a firm torso. He fastened a button.
