Page 13 of Mountain Defender

I know you’re not going to run because you want to return to that crime scene too much.

Seconds later, the sound of something heavy being dragged across a floor brought her head around to see Tripp limping her way.

She adopted her sweetest tone that was really the fakest sugar—the kind created in labs and not nature. “Your leg’s really hurting, isn’t it?”

“I’ll be all right,” he grated out in his best man-in-pain voice.

ChapterFour

Even with a feigned limp, Tripp reached the Humvee before Alexia. “I want to drive.”

She darted an arm around him and settled her hand on the door handle. “I can’t let you do that. Government vehicle.”

He twitched his jaw toward the MT Ops SUV parked beside hers. “You realize that I was driving a government vehicle too.”

“And what is going to happen to your vehicle if you leave with me?”

“One of my teammates will come for it.”

She eyed him with a question in her eyes. The woman would look a hell of a lot prettier without that scowl on her face, but he knew better than to speak his mind about a woman’s looks. Especiallythiswoman.

He dropped his go-bag in the back of the Humvee and crowded closer to her, blocking her between the door and his body. “Let me drive. I know where we’re going.”

“Me too. GPS exists and—oh my god!—women actually know how to use it!” She inserted herself more firmly between him and the door in a crack that most women couldn’t fit in. When she tipped her pointy, stubborn jaw up at him that way, he could almost feel the tension zapping between them.

He glared down at her. “Do you know how to use GPS in these parts? Roads close for extreme weather.”

“Pretty sure GPS finds alternative routes if that happens.” She smiled but the fake effect didn’t do her appearance any favors. He only liked her freckles right now. And her lipstick.

“I have more experience driving in the mountains,” he argued.

“I have more experience driving.”

He started to laugh.

She set a hand on her hip. “Are you certified to drive any class of vehicle? Because I am—from big rigs to motorcycles.”

His brain stumbled over the thought of Alexia decked out in black leather and straddling all that horsepower.

“No, but I’ve flown a few choppers and a fighter jet. Pretty sure I can handle this thing.” He waved at the Humvee that her back was molded against.

“It’s my vehicle so I’m driving. Get in.” Her bossy tone stunned him witless for a split second, long enough for her to yank open the door and wiggle into the small crevice she made.

She slipped behind the wheel and started the engine.

With a gusty sigh, Tripp circled the front—he didn’t trust her not to back over him—and climbed into the passenger seat. Once he was settled, he reached for the seatbelt.

“I still don’t think it’s a good idea for you to drive.”

She whipped the Humvee out of the parking spot. When she threw him a grin, he grunted. “I guess you can back up all right for a girl.”

She barked a laugh. “Oh, and I bet a skilled tough guy like you can do it better?”

“You know that statistically most accidents are caused by women.” He made a show of massaging his leg.

“I’m not most women.” She drove out of the parking lot and onto the main road.

“How many years of experience do you have?”

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