Page 33 of Sniper's Pride

But with every step he took away from her, he had to force himself not to look back.

Nine

“I’m Everly,” the redheaded woman said, smiling. “And Caradine says you’re in some trouble.”

“I would say Iwasin some trouble, but have recently relocated so that someone else can handle it,” Mariah replied, not sure why this woman—who’d been sitting over at the counter all this time, messing around with images on her laptop—had come to talk to her. “Someone far better equipped for trouble than me.”

“I also heard that you and Caradine went out drinking last night.” Everly snuck a look over her shoulder. Caradine was banging pots around in the tiny kitchen where she worked her magic, all scowl and fury. “She won’t admit it, but I think she’s hung over.”

“It’s all a blur to me,” Mariah said sweetly.

Too sweetly, she realized, when Everly’s gaze swung back to hers.

“I hate when that happens,” Everly murmured.

And they gazed at each other in a moment of perfect communion.

“Such a shame,” Mariah agreed brightly. “I’ve heard all manner of salacious reports on my behavior, but I can’t confirm or deny a thing.”

And this time, when they smiled at each other, it was a lot more real.

“I’m obsessed with the hot springs here,” Everly told her, her grin bringing out the freckles across her nose. Mariah couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen freckles on a woman her own age. Everyone she knew went to obscene lengths to remove them or hide them, as if they were evidence of a crime. “I was going to head over there, if you want to come. I don’t know if you’re supposed to be doing things with the guys.”

“‘The guys’...?”

“Alaska Force. But every time I say that I feel like I should be in a comic book.”

“I think ‘the guys’ have left me to my own devices,” Mariah said. Carefully, in case this was some kind of trap. “They’re ‘identifying and isolating the threat,’ if I remember right.”

“My suggestion is you let them do that. They’re good at it. You can spend the afternoon soaking with me. And Caradine, too, assuming she’s not pretending she hates hot water this week.”

There was another crashing sound from the kitchen.

“You know I can hear you, right?” came Caradine’s voice a moment later, floating out from behind the wall.

“We’re thinking about an afternoon in the hot springs,” Everly sang out. “Want to come?”

There was a snort from the kitchen. “I would obviously rather die.”

Everly rolled her eyes. “You say that about everything. It’s really losing all its dramatic effect.”

Caradine came out of the kitchen wiping her hands on the black half apron she wore tied around her waist. “I don’t think a bath should be a social occasion. Call me crazy.”

Mariah considered that. “It’s a communal bath?”

“They’re natural hot springs, and they’re glorious,” Everly retorted. “And yes, they’re open to the public, though there are also women-only hours.”

“It’s a bunch of people getting naked, together, and then sitting in their own filth while pretending it’s a privilege,” Caradine said flatly. “Also together.”

Everly shook her head at Mariah this time. “She acts like she’s never been in the hot springs when I can tell you that’s a lie.”

“I go when no one else is there, in a bathing suit like a normal person, and leave the moment anyone else shows up.” Caradine shook her head. “And I don’t like either of you. Certainly not enough to run around and do group activities.”

She wheeled around as if to prove it, barking out a greeting to the old man who shuffled in the door. Meaning she ordered him to sit down. Then she stomped back into her kitchen and started banging pots around again.

“I can’t say for sure,” Everly said over the noise, “but I’m pretty sure that’s her love language.”

Mariah lifted her hands from her lap, only then realizing she’d been clenching them there for what seemed like forever.

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