Page 55 of Spark
“Funny, you’re not the first person to tell me that today,” Chloe said.
Tyler’s curiosity stood at full attention.“Seriously?”
“Don’t get too cocky.”She arched a coppery brow, which probably would’ve had more of an impact if her smile wasn’t sneaking through.“Esme said you’re pretty okay ‘for a grown-up’.”
“Wow,” he said, although yep, he was laughing.“That’s one tough kid.”
“Yeah.”Chloe’s expression grew serious.“I just wish I could do more to help her.”
His boots came up short on the pavement.“Youarehelping her, Chloe.”
“I’m there for her, and I know she’s starting to trust me,” Chloe said, just as wide open with her feelings as ever, and something in the vicinity of Tyler’s chest lurched.“But everyone else is such an active part of the investigation.You, with Nat’s team.Addison and all the Intelligence detectives.I’m not saying I want to jump into anything dangerous or interfere.I get how stupid that would be.”She paused for a self-deprecating tilt of her head.“But Esme was so reassured when you leveled with her about the fire and explained the details.She even asked me about it again today.”
“She did?”Tyler asked, surprised, and Chloe nodded.
“Like you said, she’s tough.I think knowing the score, even when the facts are scary, helps her process, and to be honest, I get that.I’m the same way.No surprises, everything on the table.”
Well, that explained why Esme had been so pissed off when she’d been kept out of the loop, along with why Chloe had fought so hard to tell her exactly what was happening.Knowledge was power, and right now, getting it was the only thing either of them could control.
The idea sparking in Tyler’s head went directly to his mouth, out before it had even fully formed.
“We could go to the lab.”
Chloe’s brows lifted high enough to breach the top of the sunglasses she’d slid into place when they’d hit the parking lot a few dozen paces ago.“Non-sequitur much?”
Tyler shook his head, rolling back his thoughts.“Esme wants full disclosure to feel safer, right?Maybe if I walk you through the fire scene so you can see the whole thing first-hand, we can give her another update together.Then she’ll know what we know, just like when the fire happened.”
“Wait, that’sallowed?”she asked, and okay, he really needed to stop letting his fucking feelings take control of his mouth when he was around this woman.Still, what harm could going to a cleared fire scene do?Especially if it would help both Chloe and Esme.
“We’d have to ask to be completely sure.”The dead last thing he wanted was to put Chloe in potential danger, followed closely by screwing up an active arson investigation.“But both the Arson Investigation Unit and the RPD have already processed the scene.Even though there’s a lot of damage to the building, none of it is structural, and I’d be with you the whole time.We’d still have to be careful, of course, but?—”
“Yes,” Chloe said, her vigorous nod an exclamation point.“Yes, I want to go.Like now, if at all possible.”
And that was how, after a phone call to Nat and another to Sergeant Sinclair, Tyler found himself with Chloe in the passenger seat of his Mustang as they made their way to a crime scene.
“So, you’re making some headway with Esme,” he said.On the surface, he knew that opening up a conversation with her that would surely involve a bunch of emotions might not win any best-idea-ever awards.But it wouldn’t be the first, and anyway, he’d done a lot more personal things with her in the past couple of days without the earth falling off its damn axis.As long as they kept sticking toherfeelings, they’d be fine.
She nodded, a wisp of hair slipping out of her low ponytail to frame her face as she turned to look at him.“She’ll be at the party for a while on Saturday, which feels like a win.She’s still keeping me at arm’s length on the big stuff, but I’m not entirely surprised about that.I do, however, know her favorite band, that she likes pepperoni pizza and chocolate-chip cookies, and that she hates English class with a piping-hot passion.”
“Progress,” Tyler agreed, then added, “Is hating English class a teacher thing?”
“I don’t think so.She said she’s struggling with the content.They’re readingPride and Prejudice,so I can’t say I blame her.”
He put a hand over his heart, feigning injury.“First of all, I’m not sure we can be friends anymore if you’re going to hate on Jane Austen.Secondly, I might be able to help.”
“Youlike Pride and Prejudice?”Chloe asked, her doubt clear in both her tone and her expression.
Tyler scoffed.“I’m more of aPersuasionguy, personally, but yeah.I can get down withPride and Prejudice.” He let Chloe goggle for a full three seconds—yeah, it was a tiny bit mean, but her WTAF face was so cute—before having mercy on her.
“My mother taught English lit for twenty-seven years, remember?She’d take it as a personal affront if I didn’t like Jane Austen.Anyway, if Esme needs a tutor, I bet my mom would be willing to work with her.”
Chloe’s smile gave him no less than six separate very bad ideas.“Do you think so?”
Mom, mom, think of your mom before you end up with a fucking unicorn in your pants, you idiot.“Sure,” he said, but only after clearing his throat.“She’ll be at the party, too, so you can ask her then.But since you’ve got the guest list memorized—probably alphabetically—I’m guessing you knew that.”
Ryan and Addison had insisted on the first few hours of their bachelor and bachelorette party being an all-ages affair so not only all their friends’ kids could have some fun, but Lou and Carleen would be sure to ditch their “too old for that” argument.Of course, they’d insisted Tyler’s mom make a solidarity appearance.
Which, as Tyler had suspected, Chloehadknown, if the flush on her cheeks was anything to go on.Not that she was going to give Tyler the satisfaction of admitting it out loud.
