he pulled out of the parking lot and headed back toward the highway.
“Okay,” Ellie was saying. “Tell me more about your sis—”
“He’s gone—we can move out.”
“Wha—? Okay.”
From the second Sarge had started explaining this plan to him, Brett had known it wasn’t going to be easy, but he’d expected the difficulty to come from Ellie being uncooperative and stubborn. He hadn’t expected it to come from her wanting to talk to him—or, rather, wanting to talk about him.
It was hard to focus on anything else when she looked at him like that, like she was actually interested in what he had to say. It was even harder to focus when she walked ahead of him in those damn shoes.
“Hey, Ponch?”
“Hmm?”
“If we’re going to be going on more pretend dates, next time can we pretend to go to Starbucks or Timmy’s instead?”
“Why, was your tea pretty bad?”
“Bad? I don’t know what you were drinking, but I swear the stuff in my cup was nothing more than dishwater they’d dragged a tea bag through. Am I driving?”
“Yeah,” he sighed. “I guess, but can you try to keep it under ninety?”
“Sure, if you can try to keep the yelling to a dull roar.”
This time he took the shoes from her and left them lying on his lap. The way she drove they’d get tossed around on the floor, and he didn’t want them getting damaged because then she’d never wear them again. And that would be a shame.
They headed north up the highway to the far end of town, looped around by the landfill, then down the back road past the cemetery and the landing strip people around here called an airport. All the while, Brett alternated between reminding her to slow down and explaining a bit more about his discussion with Sarge.
“So you’re going to be undercover?”
“Not exactly. Given our relationship—relax, that was Sarge’s word, not mine—he can’t let me take the lead on this, so I’m just going to stand in as the new guy in your life. Another RCMP member’s going to run the investigation.”
Shockingly, from the second she hit the school zone until the second it ended, she held her speed to thirty on the button.
“So your job for the next little while is to, what, act as my arm candy? How happy do you think the taxpayers are going to be about that?”
“They pay me to do a job, and that’s what I’m doing. When I’m on my normal shift, I’ll be doing the exact same things I always do, but off shift, unless you’ve got a better idea that we can put into play right now, I’ll be the new great love of your life.”
Her silence indicated that she didn’t. They drove past all the hotels, but there was no sign of Kurt or the black Civic, and as it was starting to get dark, he had Ellie turn the truck toward home. Leaving it running, she took a moment to move the seat back while Brett hopped out and came around to the driver’s side.
“You’re gonna need to trust me on this, Ell,” he said, keeping his voice low enough that none of the neighbors could hear him. “We’ll keep you safe.”
“It’s not that.” Holding the open truck door for support, she used her free hand to work her shoes back on. “Okay, maybe it’s a little bit that, but this doesn’t make sense. You can’t give up your personal life for me. I can see you doing it for almost anyone else, but not me.”
“I’m not giving anything up. It’s part of the job, and I’ll be paid for it….” He paused when Ellie’s expression froze. “What?”
Keeping her frightened eyes straight on his, she swallowed slowly and licked her lips.
“He’s behind the tree on the far side of Dickie’s yard.”
“You sure?”
“Mm-hmm.”
Brett’s brain shot into overdrive; the truck was running because he was just going to drop Ellie off and go home, but that was before he knew they had company. If they were really seeing each other, is that what they’d do? It was fairly early on a Friday night—there’s no way in hell that’s what they’d do….
Fear turned to uncertainty as she inhaled slowly and appeared to brace herself. “I’m really sorry about this.”
In what seemed like slow motion, her hand slid over his jaw, pulling him closer until…holy shit…she kissed him. Not just a good-night peck, but a lean-in, openmouthed, soft, slow, body-melding kiss.
This wasn’t in the plan…his hands on her waist…not in