Page 36 of Wild Justice

“If she doesn’t have room service, she’s not going. But I wouldn’t mind trying ziplining. Have you ever been?”

“No, but I think it would be fun. There’s just one little problem, though,” Lulu said. “I’m afraid of heights. Not just a little either. I’m terrified. A friend did it though, and she’s scared, too. She told me she just didn’t look down.”

“Interesting advice. Don’t look down. I’m not afraid of heights.”

“Then you should go,” Lulu urged. “Take a chance.”

“You make it sound so easy,” Kai replied, a wistful tone in his voice. “But when you’ve been raised to never do that… It simply doesn’t come naturally. I find myself looking back at situations wondering what would have happened if I’d followed that little voice in my head.”

“It depends. What does that voice say? Knock over a bank? Or just take the road less traveled?”

“It’s never told me to rob a bank, but it has told me to step forward. Go on that cross-country road trip with my buddies, take that job that sounds interesting but isn’t prestigious, kiss that girl in the moonlight.”

Lulu didn’t want to think about Kai kissing other women under the moon or any other place. The thought of him kissing her had her cheeks growing warm along with a few other places farther south. She shifted on the cushion to hide her reaction and tried to change the subject. Quickly.

“Being spontaneous isn’t everything, I can assure you,” she said. “There are many other wonderful qualities that I’m sure you possess.”

Personally, she’d like to be a tad less impulsive. She was better about it these days, but now and then… Funny how she’d like to be more like Kai, and he wanted to be more like her.

“Well, I am extremely organized,” Kai responded. “That’s always been a plus for school and then my career. I’m also good with people and tough negotiations.”

“I’ll take you with me when I buy my next car,” Lulu said. “Wait, I think I have an idea. How would you like to help me put together my murder board? I could use someone with your organizational skills.”

Once again, she wanted to slap herself on the forehead. Why was she inviting Kai even more into this investigation?

Because you want him here. Admit it.

“I don’t know what that is, but it sounds like something I want to be a part of. Count me in. When? I can free up my schedule tomorrow.”

“Kai, what are you doing tonight?”

If she was going to be spontaneous and stupid, she might as well get it over with quickly.

9

Lulu was full of surprises, and his enthusiastic acceptance of her invitation had surprised him as well. If he was going to be spontaneous, there was no better time than now to do it. He was glad he’d said yes.

They’d thanked Chase for dinner and headed back to Lulu’s apartment over the sheriff’s station. Henry had made a lame excuse about going to see a friend, and he’d be back later. Kai had a feeling the guy wanted to give him and Lulu some time alone. He didn’t need to, though. It wasn’t like that with Lulu.

Admit it. You’ve thought about kissing her. When you mentioned kissing a girl in the moonlight, you were thinking about her.

The fact was, the more time Kai spent with Lulu, the more he was attracted to her. It wasn’t just that she was gorgeous - which she was - it was more. She was more. More funny, more intelligent, more friendly, more kind, more intuitive, more enjoyable.

As a child, he’d only known her one way. She was the slightly out-of-control Lulu Reilly who never backed down from a dare. All grown up, she was still unpredictable, but not in a dangerous sort of way.

He hadn’t come back to Harper intending to fall for anyone. He wasn’t against the idea, but he had a great deal of work ahead of him to make the newspaper viable. He’d assumed that he’d concentrate on that goal before possibly adding a romantic relationship to his life.

Here I go again. Overthinking situations. Maybe I should sit back and see what happens.

She’d poured each of them a glass of ginger ale, ruefully explaining that she tried not to drink when she was going to be on duty the next day. He’d agreed that was a good plan and that he was fine with a soft drink.

“My dad had this whiteboard in the storage room,” Lulu said, propping it on the arms of an overstuffed chair. “I don’t know if he forgot about it, or that maybe he just wasn’t a visual person. But I am, so I dragged it up here. I just didn’t realize that I’d need it so soon. It’s magnetic, so I ordered some of these magnets that will hold pictures and things up on the board.”

She also had three different colors of markers - green for things that they were sure about, blue for not so sure, and red for not sure at all or known lies.

It looks like Lulu was organized, too.

“I’m going to put Dana’s photo right here in the middle,” Lulu said, placing the picture in the center of the board. “Now, who do we have as possible suspects? Even if I haven’t talked to them yet. I’m going to be busy tomorrow with more interviews.”

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