Page 4 of Haystacks and Hoaxes

She forced a smile through her gritted teeth. “There are lots of people in the world who share my initials, Councilman Kingston.”

“So help me, Mila, whatever you’re up to…” His expression twisted into a frown as he started to turn away from her. Then he swung back in her direction. “If you’ve somehow bamboozled Rock Hefner into interviewing you, the answer is no.”

“He called me!” Her temper flared closer to the snapping point. “Not the other way around.” All she’d done was submit an online application.

Decker’s expression grew stony. “We don’t have any openings for makeup artists. Even if we did, the answer would still be no. Lonestar Security is no place for your drama.”

“Ouch!” Her face heated with mortification.Tell me how you really feel.“I have multiple certifications, thank you very much!” This wasn’t at all how she’d pictured him finding out.

“Unless one of those certifications happens to be in forensic art,” he shot back, “there’s no point in being here.”

“As a matter of fact, it is.” The ensuing surprise and consternation that stained his features was downright satisfying. “I went back to school.” She gave a little twirl and extended her hands in a ta-da pose. “You’re looking at a fully certified forensic artist.” Albeit an unemployed one, but she was doing everything she could to change that.

“Which you would know,” she reminded in a taunting voice, “if you hadn’t skipped every important milestone in my life since I arrived in town.”

A vein in his neck ticked. He was silent for a moment. “Listen. I’m sorry about missing your wedding.” He didn’t offer any lame excuses, which was oddly comforting. Just a simple apology with no window dressing.

“Almost wedding,” she corrected, wishing the floor would open and swallow her up. “It was a complete disaster. You didn’t miss much.” There was no way he hadn’t heard. Evidence of her misery had gone viral online. Photosand video clips of her mad dash from the altar were forever etched into the digital landscape.

Looking unexpectedly sympathetic, Decker rubbed a hand over the lower half of his face. “If it makes you feel any better, I was glad to hear you didn’t go through with it. Your ex is a Class A dirtbag.”

“I can’t argue with that.” Mila wished her mother could see that. Carla Kingston had been so busy salivating over an alliance with the filthy rich Bentleys that she’d initially tried to brush off their playboy son’s indiscretions as a simple misunderstanding.

Decker nodded uncomfortably. “How about I clear my schedule for the next hour so we can go on a long-overdue coffee break?”

As badly as she wanted to say yes, he seemed to have forgotten about her forthcoming interview. Or he was deliberately ignoring it. She swallowed a sigh. “Is there any chance your offer will still be good after my interview?” An interview he probably had the power to cancel on the spot.Please, please don’t!

“Sure.” His hard mouth twisted with supreme annoyance. “Or you could just save everyone the trouble and come with me now.”

She bristled at his not-so-subtle insistence that she didn’t stand a chance of getting hired. “It was nice seeing you, Deck.” She lifted her chin. “Say hi to Chanel for me.” She stalked around him, resisting the urge to kick him in the shins.

“How about you come over to the house and tell her yourself?” he retorted.

She kept walking. “Because I’ve never been invited to the Taj Mahal.” Not even for Chanel’s baby shower. Her mother had been invited, but Mila’s name had been notablyabsent from the invitation. Since it was before she’d moved out of her parents’ house, she could only assume she’d been deliberately excluded from the pinkies-up event.

“I just invited you,” her stepbrother called after her, ignoring her insulting reference to the mansion he lived in.

She didn’t say anything. She wasn’t ignoring his invitation; she simply didn’t know how to respond to it. Was he even being serious?

“If you won’t do it for me, do it for Gwen. She deserves to know her aunt.” His words were accusing, as if he blamed Mila for the distance that had always been between them.

It felt like such a low blow that she paused outside the door of Rock’s office, fighting tears. “I’ll do it for both of you.” It was all she could do to speak in a normal voice. She truly wanted to be a part of both his and his daughter’s lives.If your snobby wife will allow it.It sort of killed Mila that they lived in the same town and almost never saw each other.

Applying for a job at Lonestar Security was the first step in her plan to change that situation. She was tired of feeling like she was the only person in their blended family who didn’t measure up. She was even more tired of her stepbrother acting like she plain old didn’t exist. It would be a little harder to do that after she started working for him.Ifwas probably the better choice of words.Ifhe allowed it to happen.

“Good.” Triumph edged his voice, as if he’d just scored a point or something. “Assuming you make it for dinner this evening, you can also be one of the first people to meet the two Golden Doodles I adopted this afternoon.”

Her head whipped in his direction. “You seriously brought a pair of furry flea magnets to theTaj Mahal?” She knocked on Rock’s door, smirking. “Does your wife know about them?”

Her stepbrother scowled at her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Come in,” Rock called.

You dish it out. I dish it back.Trading insults was what siblings were supposed to do, right? She twisted the door handle open and stepped into Rock’s office, leaving it ajar. If Deck wanted to eavesdrop on them, so be it. In some ways, she hoped he would. He might learn a thing or two — like the fact that the pesky younger stepsister he’d never wanted had a few dreams and goals of her own.You’re not the only one going places, mister!

Her frustration with his attitude evaporated the moment her attention zoomed in on the man seated behind the desk in front of her. He was younger than she’d been expecting. And a lot better looking.

“Hi. I’m Mila.” She moved his way with her hand outstretched.Whew!It wasn’t every day that a girl got to meet a guy who looked like he could star in an action thriller.

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