Page 21 of Wrecked With You

He’d made decent money during his years at Deliverance, but he’d spent most of it in his search for The Serpent. Contrary to what the movies suggested, being in the business of vendettas didn’t pay particularly well. And ever since Deliverance had shuttered, he’d been financing his quest with the occasional odd job.

With luck, he was nearing the end of that epic journey.

“Let me guess,” she said. “The limo was Stark’s idea.”

“I think it’s a peace offering to you.”

“Yeah? Well, I might have overreacted, too.” Her eyes flashed with mischief. “Not that I’ll turn this down.”

“Good. We may as well travel in style.”

“Indeed.” She held up her glass, and he clicked his against it. Then she took a long sip before moving a bit to get comfortable.

He watched, enjoying her pleasure as she settled back against the supple leather upholstery. After a moment, though, her smile faded and she turned to him. “So, we’re cool, right? You’re not wondering where you stand, I’m not supposed to apologize, and you’re not in anguish from a case of blue balls?”

He kept his face completely blank as he reached behind him to push the button to raise the privacy screen. “Care to explain what you’re talking about?”

She glanced forward, then nodded at the screen. “You know damn well what I’m talking about. You were expecting to get laid last night, and I sent you home with your tail between your legs.”

He sipped his mimosa as he considered his reply. “First of all, my tail was not between my legs. Second of all, yeah, considering where we’re heading and the fact that this game needs to look real, I don’t think my expectation was unreasonable. And,” he added, tugging on the shirt with its Eat Me message, “you don’t think so, either.”

“No, you’re right. I don’t. Frankly, I think we would have had a blast. That’s a plus for the mission, don’t you think? At the very least, we won’t have to play Go Fish during our down time.”

“Depends on what we’re fishing for,” he said, with just the hint of a leer.

As he hoped, she laughed. “Yeah, well, I am sorry. I had some shit happen last night and I needed to deal with it. Thus, the brush off.”

“You didn’t get a call. Did a text come in?” He hadn’t noticed, but he’d been relaxed with her. His guard surprisingly down considering he didn’t yet know her that well. It’s possible she’d glanced at her phone, and he’d missed it.

“Yeah,” she said, and though it was probably only paranoia, he had the strangest feeling that she was lying.

“So what happened?”

She dragged her fingers through her hair, lifting it, then letting it fall around her shoulders. It shouldn’t have hit him so hard, but damn, that move was sexy. “You really don’t want to get drawn into my bullshit,” she said.

“If we’re working together, I think it’s inevitable. But if you’d rather talk about politics or religion, then go for it.”

“Funny.”

“Not really, but it was the best I could come up with on the spur of the moment.”

“Well, since you tried so hard…” She shifted on the bench seat, until she could face him better, then reached behind her to take the mimosa she’d secured in a holder on the door. “I had a disagreement with a former partner last night. Some intel came in. I went to take care of it. He says I should let it go.”

She finished off the glass, then held it out to him for a refill.

“That’s all of it,” she said. “Sorry I kicked you out yesterday for such a thin reason. And I’m sorry it’s weighing me down today. You didn’t sign up to work with an emotional amateur.”

“So the intel’s related to a cold case?”

“Something like that.”

“And he was okay with not acting on the intel?”

She tilted her head back and forth, frowning slightly as if she was weighing options. “Yeah. I suppose that’s a fair way of putting it.”

“Huh.”

Her brow furrowed. “Care to elaborate? What exactly does huh mean?”