Page 31 of The Scenic Route
“Well, sure,” Felicity said. “But now I’m annoyed.”
Bennett gave a snort of laughter but sobered quickly when he saw he’d drawn everyone’s attention.
“Why don’t—” Lou cut herself off as the door opened andan enormous bear of a bearded man walked into the shop. The guy was even bigger than Bennett, and Bennett was huge.
Felicity looked at Lou, expecting a repeat of her creepy, customer-repelling look, but instead she was smiling. Mila gave a happy shriek—the first loud noise Felicity had heard from her—and wiggled to get down. Once Callum placed her on the floor, she toddled over to the newcomer, her arms outstretched in welcome.
The big man scooped up Mila and crossed the room to give Ellie a kiss. From this, Felicity deducted that this must be George.
“George!” Lou called, confirming Felicity’s assumption. “You have to meet Bennett Green. We all think he’s your long-lost brother you never knew about.”
George blinked impassively at this, one arm holding his baby and his other hand resting on the back of Ellie’s neck.
Felicity studied him, her head cocked to the side. Big, burly, silent, most likely socially awkward… “I can see it.” She felt Bennett’s gaze on the side of her face, so she turned to see him raising his eyebrows at her. Felicity just shrugged. “I’m not saying you’re twins separated at birth, but I’m notnotsaying it.”
Lou laughed with delight. “I knew the first time I met you, Felicity Pax, that you’d fit right in around here.”
I’m not sure if that’s a good thing, Felicity thought, looking around at the quirky denizens of this weird, sometimes creepy little town. She had to admit, though, that she indeed felt like she belonged here.
Eight
When their impromptu progress meeting broke up soon after George’s arrival, Felicity made a beeline to Daisy, walking as fast as her sore ankle allowed.
“Can I ask a favor?” Felicity said once she’d caught up with Daisy by the front door.
Daisy nodded.
“Could we use the showers at your gym?” Felicity gestured at her rumpled self. “It’s been a rough night.”
“Of course.” Pulling out her phone, Daisy shot off a text. “There. I’m stopping by the station to see Chris, but my manager knows you’re coming. Just give your names to the guy at the front desk, and he’ll show you where everything is.”
“Thank you.” Felicity’s relief wasn’t feigned. Although it’d only been a little over a day, she felt like it’d been months since her last shower. Besides, she had tech to retrieve so she didn’t hear about it from her sister. Since their mom had committed a felony and taken off, money had been tight.
She waited while Bennett dropped his SUV at Donnie’s Auto Shop and talked briefly with the sleepy-eyed mechanic, whom Felicity assumed was Donnie.
As Bennett climbed into the passenger seat of her car, Felicity asked, “Will he be able to get your windshield replaced soon?”
Bennett dipped his chin. “Three days.”
Patting the steering wheel, she said, “We’ll have to take good care of my baby then. Keep her away from flying bullets and sledgehammers.”
“Sledgehammers?” The corner of Bennett’s mouth lifted in a half smile that was more intriguing than it should’ve been.
“Who knows around here?” So far, the town had surprised them several times—in both good and not so good ways.
Bennett made a sound of agreement as Felicity turned the car in the direction of the gym.
The burly guy at the front desk was quiet but helpful, leading them to the doors of the locker rooms and pointing to a shelf piled with clean towels. Felicity watched him walk back toward the front desk, wondering if something in the mountain air made the guys around here so big and silent.
A nudge on her shoulder pulled her out of her thoughts, and she turned to see Bennett’s scowling face.
“What?” she asked, looking around to see what had put him in a bad mood.
Instead of answering, he shoved through the door into the men’s locker room. With a mental shrug, she grabbed a towel and headed into the women’s.
The shower stung scrapes and abrasions she hadn’t evenknown she’d acquired over the past twenty-four hours, but the hot water still felt amazing. Although the motel owner kicking them out had seemed like terrible luck when it happened, showering in the roomy and sparkling new gym facilities was an improvement over the mildewed ancient bathroom at the Black Bear Inn. Sleeping with Bennett—despite the unpleasant early-morning hail of bullets—had been pleasant too. She paused, her hands stilling in her hair as the water pounded against her head and back.Pleasantdidn’t seem like a strong enough descriptor.Nice? Cozy? Safe? Addictive?
She abruptly shut down her musing, scrubbing at her scalp as if she could physically wash away her thoughts. “Head in the game,” she warned herself, knowing that what was turning into a pretty sizeable crush on her stalker turned partner would end badly. “You barely know him.”
