Page 47 of Take a Hike
Charlie could almost hear her sister’s exasperated sigh through the text.Ohhh, right,she thought, before texting,Ohhh, right.
“We’re meeting Fifi and her husband-stalker at our hotel in Rosehill.”
“Okay,” he grunted, not saying anything else, even though she waited for him to ask the usual question.
“Don’t you want to know why that’s Bennett’s nickname?”
“I’m a firefighter.” Kieran guided the truck around another curve so tight and fast that the truck juddered and hopped before smoothing out on the straightaway.
Charlie blinked at him. She wasn’t accustomed to beingthrown off her game. Usually,shewas the one who discombobulated people, not the other way around. When it was clear he wasn’t about to elaborate on the relevance, she asked, “What does that have to do with anything? Or do you just like announcing the firefighter thing to gain hotness points?”Not that he needs any more of those.
Despite the tricky driving conditions, he slid her a sideways look. “Hotness points?”
“Sure, you know.” When it became clear that he, in fact, didnotknow, she made up a little example. “Say you go to a bar, looking for a hookup.”
That got her another side-eye, but she ignored the incredulity in it and pressed on.
“You see a beautiful woman at the bar, so you sit down next to her.” Charlie had to consciously stop grinding her teeth, weirdly jealous of this imaginary person.Why did I have to make her so gorgeous?“She glances at you, rates you about a four or five on the hookup-able scale, and turns back to her chocolate martini.”
He makes a sound in the back of his throat—a choke or possibly a gag. “Chocolate martini?”
A gag then.“Not important—also, don’t yuck other people’s yum. Let her enjoy her chocolate martini without feeling like you have to make a negative comment. Anyway, moving on. In order to up your score, you introduce yourself.” She lowered her voice to as much of a growl as she could manage. “Hey, beautiful. I’m Kieran Crabbypants Byrne. I’m a firefighter.”
“Sullivan.”
“What?”
“My middle name.”
“Gotcha.” She dropped to that low register again. “Hey, beautiful. I’m Kieran Sullivan Crabbypants Byrne. I’m a firefighter.” She smacked her hands together. “Bam! Suddenly, you’re a solid five and a half on the hookup-able scale. It’s like magic.”
The two-track road they were on ended in a T intersection, and Kieran slowed the truck just a hair before turning left onto the new gravel road. The tires slid, rocks pinging against the undercarriage, but then they managed to grab the road and propel the truck forward. Turning around in her seat, Charlie squinted into the darkness behind them.
“I can’t see anyone following, but that could just be because it’s dark. There aren’t a whole lot of streetlights out here in the middle of nowhere.” Turning back around to face front again, she felt her body being pressed back against the seat as Kieran stomped on the accelerator, blasting them forward. “Not that I don’t love going fast, but Fifi did warn me that a few of the more dickish deputies like to speed trap this road, and being pulled over will not help our main goal of, you know, getting away.”
Although he made a grumbly noise, he slowed down. “I don’t sound like that.”
Apparently, the grumpy sound he’d made had been due to her impression of him, not her request to reduce his speed. “Of course it’s just a reenactment, since I wasn’t there at the bar, but I have a feeling I was pretty spot on.”
“I don’t…I—it would never happen.” He sounded flusteredenough to make Charlie grin. Now it was her turn to throw him off his game. The universe had righted itself. He huffed. “Besides, that’s not what I meant. I wasn’t looking for…hotness points.”
“Mm-hmm…” She purposefully made the sound as skeptical as she possibly could, loving that she had him fumbling for words. Talking with Kieran was always stimulating, but this was an extra side of fun.
“I wasn’t,” he grumped, sending her such a glare that it buzzed through her, waking her nerve endings. The adrenaline hadn’t subsided yet, so her whole body vibrated with the thrill of Kieran and the break-in they’d just done. She wouldn’t have been surprised if she was lit up like a sparkler. “I just meant I already know the whole story about your sister and Green.”
She cocked her head at him, honestly not making the connection.
“Firefighters gossip, remember?” he said. “Not much happens around here—”
She interrupted him with a barked laugh. “Except for lots of murder-y crime-ing.”
He waved a hand as if dismissing the incredibly felonious recent history of the town as irrelevant. “Not much has happenedlately, so the story of a bounty hunter and PI chasing a skip and getting kidnapped was the main topic of conversation—still is the main topic. So I don’t use the firefighter thing as a hookup tool.” He curled his lip, as if the last two words tasted gross.
Feeling fizzy with all sorts of energy, she wanted to poke thegrumpy bear. “What do you use then?”
“What?”
“What’s your hookup tool?”
