Page 27 of Through the Fire
Jules’s amused and baffled gaze met Kit’s, and Kit couldn’t help but grin back. With all the effervescent bubbles rising in her chest, she felt like she was about to float off her chair with excitement. Stop being silly, she ordered herself. You’ve only met the guy twice, both for very short periods of time. You need to calm down.
“If we can’t help you with anything, why are you here?” Theo asked.
“I’d like to talk to Officer Jernigan.”
Kit pushed back her chair and stood up. “Of course. What did you need to talk to me about?”
He didn’t answer. Kit took that to be him indicating that he didn’t want to talk about whatever it was in front of an audience, which piqued her interest. What information could he have that he didn’t want to share with anyone but her?
“How’d you two meet?” Hugh asked, looking back and forth between them.
Kit inwardly winced, resigned to admitting that she’d made a trip to the tower yesterday, but Wes spoke before she could.
“I helped her back up her trailer.”
The guys exchanged looks.
“Is that a euphemism?” Hugh asked, and Kit hurried to round the table and usher Wes away.
“Should we head to the entry?” she suggested. “That’s probably the closest private spot, unless we use one of the interview rooms at the station.”
“The entry is acceptable.”
Kit struggled to hide her smile. There was no reason why she should like the way he talked so much, but she really did. “The entry it is. After you.” She waved him ahead of her.
The stares and whispers grew worse as they made their way through the diner, and Kit felt her irritation grow at how they were treating one of their own. It also made her wonder if she’d ever fit into this insular town. After all, Wes had been living here for years, and everyone was still treating him like a suspicious stranger. Glancing back at the silent table, she saw that even Jules and the other three cops were watching curiously.
What’s that about? Hugh mouthed, and Kit responded with a shrug. She wasn’t sure why Wes wanted to talk to her alone. Hugh’s curiosity would just have to wait.
She followed Wes through the doorway and into the entry. He turned to face her but didn’t say anything, his gaze fixed on her.
“Did you remember something about the fire?” she prompted after the silence stretched uncomfortably.
“No. Nothing that would assist in your investigation.”
She smiled. A good part of his charm was that the way he looked didn’t match the way he sometimes talked. His rugged lumberjack appearance made her expect him to communicate in grunts and short phrases, in a backwoods Tarzan sort of way, but there were times when his vocabulary rivaled hers when she got flustered. She liked that they shared that trait. Even though they’d just met, she felt a connection with him, a sort of awkward-nerd bond. Shaking off the wayward thought, she asked, “What did you need to talk to me about, then?”
“I’ve made a decision.”
“About?” she prompted.
“What we discussed yesterday.”
Confused, she mentally ran through the topics they’d covered during the short, strange interview the day before. “To which discussion are you referring?” Inwardly, she rolled her eyes at herself for how quickly she’d fallen into his nervous speech patterns.
“The one where we talked about which name I prefer: Wes or Wesley.”
“Oh.” That was not what she’d expected. “Okay. Which would you prefer?”
“Wes.”
“Wes.”
He smiled slightly. “Yes. It sounds right coming from you. Wes sounds more…intimate.” The skin right above his beard reddened. “I mean, Wes sounds more casual, not as formal.”
The hint of panic in his voice made her want to smile. If he knew how increasingly interested she was in becoming more intimate, his face would probably catch fire from the heat of his blush. “I like it. So…Wes.”
“Yes?” He tipped his upper body just slightly closer to hers, and she smelled his wonderful pine and woodsmoke scent. With him this close, he seemed even broader and stronger, and the butterflies swirled in her stomach. She took a step forward, drawn to his heat and marvelous weirdness.
