Page 2 of In Her Sights
Of course he didn’t wander away. She should’ve known better. John Carmondy was as hard to get rid of as head lice—and twice as irksome. The fact that her pulse did a weird skittery hop of excitement every time she saw him just annoyed her more. Shooting an irritated glance his way, she saw he was gazing across the street at the ice cream shop, the corner of his mouth tucked in as if he was trying to hold back a grin. He wasn’t fooling anyone, though. The deep crease of his dimple gave him away.
Her sigh sounded more like a groan. “Did you want something, or do you have some kind of daily annoyance quota you need to fill?”
When he laughed, she couldn’t help but dart another quick look in his direction. The harsh lines of his face—the square jaw and dark, intense eyes and bumpy nose that had obviously been the target of a fist or two in the past—were softened by his full lips, the lush sweep of his long eyelashes, and that stupidly appealing dimple. Someone that attractive shouldn’t be so incredibly irritating, but that was John Carmondy in a nutshell: ridiculously pretty and just as ridiculously obnoxious.
“Oh, Pax…such a jokester.” He continued before she could protest that she was completely serious. “What’s happening in your life? It’s been a while since we last got together, and I want to know everything. That’s what good friends do. They share thoughts and ideas and feelings with each other. So share, my good friend. Whatcha up to?” He turned toward her, slinging his arm over the back of the bench so that his enormous hand rested behind her. Although she tried to ignore it, she couldn’t help but shiver. She tried to tell herself it was her imagination, but it felt like the heat from his arm was burning the skin of her back like a brand.
“First of all,” she started, even as the adult in her brain told her not to encourage him, to just ignore him until he gave up and left, “I saw you only three days ago, when I grabbed that bail jumper from the hardware store.”
“The one I tracked down? The one you stole while I was in the bathroom? That bail jumper?”
Ignoring his—accurate—comment, she continued. “Second, we’re not friends, so there will be no sharing of any kind. Third, please go away.”
She did her best to keep her gaze forward, but it was like her eyes had a mind of their own. In her peripheral vision, she saw him clutch at his chest dramatically. “How can you say we’re not friends? We share all the time. Skips, jokes…we’re even sharing a park bench right now. We’re sharers, Pax. That’s what we do.”
“No, that’s not what we do.” Quit encouraging him, the smart part of her brain warned.
“We should share an office,” he continued, proving she shouldn’t have said anything. “I don’t know why you’re fighting this so hard. We would be incredible together. A dream team, you might say.”
Losing the battle over her self-control, she turned her head to look. Instantly, she regretted it when her brain went blank at the sight of him. As annoying as he could be, even she had to admit that he was a beautiful, beautiful man. Tearing her gaze from his amused face, she scowled hard at the ice cream shop across the street, trying to regain her composure—and her ability to speak. “One of us would be dead within a week. The other would be in jail for murder.”
“But think how much fun that first week would be. Totally worth it.” His chuckle was low, with a growly undertone that made her shiver. Don’t be stupid, that practical portion of her brain warned. This talk about killing each other and stealing skips and their mutual antagonism wasn’t some weird, twisted version of flirting. He might enjoy riling her up, and he was most likely sincere about wanting her to work for him—she and her sisters were very good at what they did, after all—but he wasn’t interested in her like that. He was just a very, very attractive guy who was used to getting what he wanted. When she refused his job offers and stole his skips and responded to his teasing with snark rather than utter adoration, he wanted her even more.
Heat rushed to her belly, even as she hurried to correct the thought. Wants me to work for him, not wants me in any other way.
Wrestling her mind away from that line of thinking before she could get even more flustered, she focused on the playground. A toddler who’d been playing on the base of the slide was swept up by her mom, and the two walked toward the ice cream shop. Even though it was the middle of the day, the place seemed to be doing a brisk business. An older couple entered the shop while a young woman in running clothes peered through the front window, as if tempted by the thought of a cone.
John chuckled and shifted on the bench, drawing her attention once again. “Has it only been three days since we saw each other last? It feels longer, probably because I missed this.” From the corner of her eye, she saw him gesture back and forth between the two of them, and she had to swallow an amused snort. He was persistent, she’d give him that. When she didn’t respond, he turned to follow her gaze, although his arm remained stretched behind her. “So…? Who are you hunting these days?”
And there it was…his true motivation. While she’d been dithering about whether he was actually flirting with her, he’d been focused on stealing her latest job. She gave herself a mental shake. When would she learn that John Carmondy was only interested in what benefited John Carmondy? “Who says I’m working? Why couldn’t I just be walking my dog on a beautiful day?” Even as she spoke, she scolded herself for encouraging him. John was the human manifestation of give an inch, take a mile.
He laughed again in that low, husky way that she refused to think of as sexy. “Because you have that look you get when you’re on the trail of a skip. You’re a bloodhound, Miss Molly Pax, and you don’t lift your nose from the ground until you find your target.”
Sighing in a deeply exaggerated way, she stood, and he immediately followed suit. Of course it was too much to ask that she could lose him that easily. She was going to have to get creative. “As much as I would love to stay and listen to you compare me to a dog, Warrant and I have things to do.”
Although Warrant got to his feet reluctantly, he perked up as she headed toward the dog park and walked willingly at her side.
“When are you going to come work for me, Pax?” John asked, catching up easily.
“Never ever.” She paused and then added for good measure, “Ever.”
“I offer a really good health insurance plan,” he said in the tone of someone dangling candy in front of a toddler. The sad thing was that Molly would’ve been tempted by that…if this were anyone but John. She enjoyed being a bail recovery agent more than she’d ever expected, but the paperwork involved in owning a business was much less fun. There was no way she’d ever accept a job from John, though. Forget a week—she’d murder him before she completed her first day.
“Good for you.” As they drew closer to the dog park’s gate, Warrant trotted in front of her, eager to get inside. Molly’s phone buzzed in her pocket, and she pulled it out to glance at the text. Showtime. Get over here. She held back a smile at the perfect timing. Sometimes things really did work out beautifully, even when John was sticking his nose where it didn’t belong. “Here. Hold him a second.”
She tossed the end of the leash to John, and he caught it automatically. Turning, she jogged toward the road. In front of the ice cream shop, the runner who’d been peering wistfully through the window now looked to be flirting with a scruffy-looking white guy in his midthirties.
As Molly paused by the side of the road to let a car pass, she typed Donald Cooper, ice cream shop on Walnut St. NOW and sent the text before glancing behind her. She couldn’t hold back a smirk. John was trying to follow her, but Warrant had put on the brakes. He’d plopped his fluffy hundred-pound butt down in front of the dog park entrance and braced his front legs, refusing to move. That’s right, baby, she thought gleefully. Earn your expensive dog food.
“Don’t you want to go with your mama?” The distance between them made his voice faint, but Molly could still hear John’s cajoling words. “I bet there’s some bacon over there. Wouldn’t you like some bacon? Mmm…salty and meaty?”
A laugh escaped Molly as she glanced at the text that had popped up on her phone.
On our way from Clayton and Fifth. ETA four minutes.
Four minutes is doable, she thought, jogging across the road while adopting her game face. “Felicity!” she said, the last syllable rising in a well-practiced squeal as she trotted over to the runner to give her an exuberant hug. “I thought that was you.” Keeping an arm around Felicity’s back, she turned toward the man who was not even trying to hide the way he was checking her out. She gave him a small smile that he returned with a leer.
“Are you two twins?” he asked.
