Page 36 of Frosted and Sliced

He scowled in her direction, though she didn’t think the scowl was meant for her. “She treated you like yesterday’s kitty litter.”

Georgie chortled. “You thought my grape to cantaloupe analogy was flawed, and that’s what you come up with? Used kitty litter?” Even though she teased him, inside she fluttered with pleasure. No one had ever taken her side against Jenna before. Even Brody had acted like Jenna’s rudeness was a fact of life Georgie would have to live with, the high cost of small town life.

Burke, though.

Burke made her wonder if everyone had undervalued her, herself included. Maybe sometimes it took an outsider to see things from a different perspective and shake up the status quo. If that were the case, what did Burke need Georgie to see about him?

“Why are you staring at me?” he asked.

“I’m trying to find your hidden gifts,” she admitted.

“Impossible. They’re too numerous to quantify,” he said, totally deadpan.

Georgie clutched her stomach and giggled.

“What? I’m being serious,” he said.

“I know you are. That’s what makes it funnier,” she said, wiping her streaming eyes.

“Why is that funny?” he asked, perplexed.

“Because most people play down their gifts and talents. They’re self-deprecating and modest.”

“I’m not being cocky; I’m being realistic. I happen to be very good at a large number of things,” he said.

“So far that seems true,” she said. He was both a spy and a carpenter, two very different skill sets. “Do you really think Jenna could be up to something on her family’s maple farm, just because she was a mean girl in high school?”

He turned serious eyes on her. “Georgie, if there is one thing I’ve learned through years of espionage, it’s that people don’t necessarily get better just because they get older. You have no idea what could be taking place behind closed doors.”

She shivered, pushing away the eerie feeling. “I don’t like that. I prefer to think everyone is nice, until proven otherwise. Even Jenna, I guess.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t take you with me on this. I can come back.” He put his hand on the ignition.

She rested hers on top of it. “No, it’s fine. I can do it.”

“I don’t want you to know the things I know, to see the things I’ve seen,” he said in the most earnest tone she’d ever heard from him.

“Why not?”

“Because then you wouldn’t be you, and, maybe it’s selfish, but I count on you to be you,” he said.

She studied him, trying to figure out what he meant by that. She knew, in the general sense, but he seemed so emphatic. Could her continued innocence really mean that much to him? It was a tender thought, and she didn’t much feel like tenderness at the moment, not when she was high on adventure and intrigue.

“What if you’re the mastermind and you’re doing all this to throw me off the scent?” She quirked a brow at him.

“Ha,” he laughed, that peculiar one word exclamation that qualified as amusement. He leaned closer and whispered, “If I were, you’d never find out.”

With that, Burke faced forward, Georgie still gaping at him, not certain if she felt amused or disturbed. Maybe an odd mixture of both.

CHAPTER 16

They drove for a while before she realized they weren’t headed home.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“Another stop.”

“You know, if you told me these things, I wouldn’t have to ask,” she said.

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