A shiver ran down her spine. “I doubt there’ll be much talking going on.”

“Damn, Shay! I’m hard as a rock here just thinking about it. You’d best go – you don’t want to keep Alexis waiting. I’m goingto have to rearrange myself – or go stand in the freezer for a while before anyone sees me.”

She had to laugh. “Sorry.”

“I’m not.”

Her phone buzzed with a text. “She just messaged me. I’d better go.”

“Okay. Be safe. I’ll see ya later.”

“See ya later, Ty.”

~ ~ ~

After the call ended, Ty finished his prep for dinner before going out to the back porch of the lodge. He liked to come out here in his downtime. The guests didn’t have access to this area, so he usually had the place to himself.

He sat down in one of the wooden rocking chairs and took his phone out again. He was glad that Shay had called him. He loved the sound of her voice, and even though it wasn’t as good as talking to her, he could hear her in his head when he reread her messages.

He jumped when his phone rang in his hand. For a second he hoped it was her again, but it was Cash’s name on the screen.

“Hey,” he answered.

“Hey, Ty. Have you heard anything from your girl?”

“Just talked to her a little while ago. Do you have anything on this asshole?”

“Amelia thinks she might – but she’s asked if Shayna will send him another message. Amelia can get a better bead on him with more recent data.”

Ty scowled. “Does she have to?”

Cash laughed. “Of course not. But it might help. Unless – do you reckon she’d give you her login so that we can do the messaging? That’d be better, if she will. That way she doesn’t have to engage with him, and we can control the exchange – learn more about him.”

“I’ll ask her and get right back to you.”

“Maybe ask her and give her a bit of time first?”

“Why?”

“Think about it – she might have been talking to other guys before she talked to you. She might want some time to delete stuff before she gives you her login.”

Ty gripped his phone tighter. “She said she hadn’t talked to anyone else.”

“And I’m not saying she did. Don’t get all wound up about it, squirt. I was thinking out loud, that’s all.”

“Yeah. Sorry.”

“That’s okay. It says a lot that it bothers you.”

“Does it tell you that I’m a jerk?”

Cash laughed. “No! It tells me that you care. You need to chill a bit. Give her a call. Ask if she’ll give you her login. If she doesn’t want to, there is another option but I don’t think you’d like it.”

“No. Tell Amelia that she can’t hack Shay’s account, Cash. I don’t … that’d … just no … all right?”

“Received loud and clear. And for what it’s worth – I’m glad. I’ll go tell Amelia now before she gets it into her head that …”

“Yeah, you do that. And do you know what time you’ll be here tomorrow?”