Page 18 of Wild Fires

“Hey Kim, can I get the check please? And a to-go box. Something came up.”

I knew she'd assume that something had to do with work. No one needed to know how I'd been benched just for doing my job.

“Sure thing.”

True to her word, she dropped over the check and a box before moving on to another customer.

I didn't even bother going up to the cash register, I just dropped enough cash to cover the bill plus a tip on the table, packed up my food, and left.

Before I even reached the door, Ryan was there.

“Lunch break over and time to get back to work?” he asked.

When I turned to face him, his careful mask was back in place. His smile was warm and friendly, but this time the swirl in his eyes told me a different story.

Yup, there was far more to this man than anyone knew, but I suspected if I let myself fall prey to him, I'd be hit with emotional whiplash. Still, the challenge of unmasking him was far more tempting than I cared to admit. And I never backed down from a challenge.

I smiled sweetly. “If you're ready, let's go.”

Motioning to the passenger door of my Jeep, I jumped into the driver's seat and waited for him.

Despite my efforts to avoid becoming the topic of town gossip, my need to feed this unspoken challenge got the better of me. Ryan was just climbing into my Jeep when Novaleigh Caldwell pulled up. She sat there in her car openly gawking at the two of us.

I groaned.

“What's wrong?”

I nodded towards Novaleigh and gave her a little wave.

“She's going to start gossiping about us being seen together,” he said.

“I have no doubt. Nothing we can do about it now.”

He scowled. “So you should have just joined me for lunch and not been so damn stubborn.”

I sighed. “This is work, and I'll set her straight on it.”

“Lunches can be business too. I eat with people all the time. No one would have thought anything of it.”

“They would, because I don't eat with people all the time,” I confessed.

I turned on the Jeep and shifted into reverse to pull out of the parking spot and then into drive as I sped away, kicking up dust in my wake.

A sly smile tipped my lips as he grabbed hold of whatever he could find to steady himself.

Without speaking, I drove us to the next site, parked, and jumped out.

“Are you coming?” I asked sweetly over my shoulder.

He was cursing under his breath as he followed. I took a bit of sick pleasure knowing that I was already rattling him. I didn't let that show though as we got right down to work.

It was fascinating to watch him go from perfectly cultivated, to rattled, to fully focused and serious about the task before us as he studied the site carefully.

About ten yards away, he triumphantly picked up a black feather and held it up into the air.

I rolled my eyes.

“Don't even,” he said. “That's three for three. It's possibly a calling card. He doesn't want to give himself up and knows that tracking down the identity of a feather is nearly impossible, but he wants us to know he's one of us. I think that disturbs me more than anything.”

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