Page 15 of Fast Kill

No way she was admitting any of that to him. He probably already saw her as uptight and socially awkward, no need to prove him right. “I don’t know, a lot of things.”

He raised a dark auburn eyebrow. “Such as?”

The elevator dinged as they reached the lobby. Come on, hurry up, she urged the elevator doors, wanting to get out of there. “I like spending time with my friends.” One or two at a time, for a few hours at a time. Not usually a problem, because she only had a few friends anyhow, although she mostly hung out with Charlie.

“Doing what?” He followed her out of the elevator.

She didn’t know why he was even interested in this, but since it would be rude to rush ahead when he was still trying to talk to her, she stayed only a step in front of him as they walked to the building’s front doors.

Deciding it was easiest just to go with it, she rattled off a few things that wouldn’t make her seem like the anti-social hermit she was. “Going out to eat, working on a project together, relaxing in front of a movie. A bit of shopping.”

Emphasis on a bit, because some days it was just too damn people-y out there at the stores. And it was high time to shift the focus off her and onto him. “What about you?”

“Outdoor stuff. Hiking, skiing, snowshoeing, canoeing, kayaking. Stuff like that.” He caught up to her at the front door, reached past her with one long arm to push it open.

All things that didn’t appeal to her in the slightest. “Thank you,” she murmured, anxious to get going.

This conversation only proved how impossibly opposite they were, and that he would find the real her completely boring. Most people didn’t understand her innate need for solitude, but it made her happy and she was sick of defending herself, so she didn’t bring it up.

“Ever gone white water rafting?” he asked, hurrying to come up next to her.

She slowed a little, feeling bad. “No.”

“It’s fun. A total rush. I bet you’d like it.”

It sounded awful to her. Stuck in a rubber boat bouncing down some river, drenched and cold for hours until it was finally over? No thanks.

She wrinkled her nose. “I doubt it.”

“How do you know if you’ve never tried it? You could try a really tame river to start. It’s not like you have to take on class five rapids right out of the gate, you know.”

Whatever. “Maybe one day. We’ll see.”No way in hell.

“Okay, then tell me one thing you love. Something you couldn’t live without.”

She paused at her vehicle and made herself face him. Big mistake.

Looking up into that rugged, masculine face, the bottom of her stomach fell out. In a good way. A really good way.

He kept watching her, waiting for an answer. He seemed truly interested in getting to know her better, though she couldn’t imagine why.

You are worthy. Worthy, dammit.“Ice cream,” she blurted.

He blinked. “Ice cream?”

She nodded. “Yeah.”

The slow grin he gave her made her insides flutter, even as she got the sense he was amused by her. For some reason, that didn’t irritate her as much as it normally would have. “Huh, okay. What flavor?”

“Most flavors. Except pistachio. I hate pistachio.” When he kept staring at her, she flushed and started babbling to fill the gap in conversation. “I didn’t get ice cream very often as a kid. I guess I’ve always seen it as a luxury item, so now that I can afford it, I get a small carton pretty much every time I do a big grocery shop.”

As soon as she said it she felt like a giant dork, but rather than the dreaded pity she braced for on his face, his grin only widened.

“So you’re an ice cream hoarder,” he murmured, and she couldn’t help but smile because it was such a weird thing to hoard. “I knew there was something about you.”

“Yes.” And she had a chest freezer full of ice cream in her garage to prove it. “You?”

“I like ice cream, but apparently not as much as you. I’m more of a peanut butter guy. Any shape or form, I don’t care, love it all.”

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