Page 30 of Fire Peak

And then the door opened. She stepped back in shock, but not quickly enough to avoid being pulled inside.

There she was, face to face with Nick Perini, his hand wrapped around her forearm, his other hand firmly closing the door behind her.

Cornered.

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She lifted her chin. She might be trapped, but she still had her dignity. “Hello, Nick? Are you looking for a fishing rod?”

“Nope. I just caught what I’m looking for. I saw you running out the back and ducked in here because it seemed like the perfect hiding place.” His eyes were dark and warm, not at all like a predator who’d just caught up with his prey. He smelled good, like expensive aftershave from Italy mingled with pure mountain forest. He had long eyelashes, she noticed, randomly. And a smile lurking behind them. The same smile curved his lips.

“It took you long enough. I was sure you’d given up, or gotten fired.”

“I did get fired,” he admitted. “One of the very few times I didn’t complete a mission.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have agreed to work for those jerks.”

“You could be right. I’m still wondering why they were after you.” He made it sound like a question, one she didn’t feel like answering.

“They don’t tell you that kind of thing?”

“They left it up to my imagination.”

She blinked at him innocently. “Sorry to disappoint, but I couldn’t even guess why someone would go to so much trouble. I’m just a girl from Indiana.”

He snorted, then gave a rueful laugh. “You’re telling me I got bested by ‘just a girl from Indiana’?”

“Sorry for the blow to your male ego. How’s Hector?”

He flinched, his head brushing against a snowshoe hanging from the ceiling. “He was recently released back into the wild. They said I saved his life. Please don’t tell me you still think I hurt him myself.”

If he had, that would put him into psychopath territory and she should probably try to knock him out with a fishing reel or something.

“It sure was a conveniently timed injury.”

“I’ve always had a soft spot for wounded wildlife. I saved a baby robin once after it fell out of its nest before it knew how to fly. Did the whole eyedropper routine. Cried when it flew away to be a wild bird again.”

“You cried?” Charlie narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. “I thought you were some hard-boiled detective dude. Or an undercover operative.”

“An undercover operative for who?”

“I don’t know! I’m just a girl from Indiana.”

Nick threw his head back and laughed, once again hitting that snowshoe. “You’re not just a girl from Indiana, but I will admit that I don’t know what exactly you are. Cards on the table, okay?”

She folded her arms across her chest. “I’m listening.”

He reached for her face. She flinched backwards, not sure what he was up to. After a pause, he said gently, “You seem to have…maybe an olive bit? … on your cheek.”

She whipped her hand to her face and wiped away the oily mess. Then she realized that she was still wearing that damn hair net. She ripped that off too, and her hair came tumbling down. What was that she’d been thinking about dignity?

Her lips twitched. So did his, though she could tell he was trying hard not to laugh. When she gave in, so did he, and they both burst into a gale of giggles—with a hefty dose of relief mixed in.

She didn’t get the impression that Nick was about to haul her off to the authorities.

When they’d gotten that out of their systems, the atmosphere in the little gear shed felt much more relaxed. “Cards on the table, I was more than a little freaked out when I saw you walk through the door,” she told him.

“I can tell. But listen, I’m no longer on the Charlie Santa Lucia beat. I’m on vacation with my daughter.”

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