Feral (Wolf Ranch #3) - Renee Rose Page 0,37
out of Jett’s driveway and onto the dirt road. I pulled over to the side. The sun hadn’t set yet, but it was behind the mountains, and the evening sky was soft and muted. Crickets chirped through the open car window. The perfect Montana evening, and I was alone in a car on the side of a rural road.
I was such a fuckup. Behind me was the case that I’d probably blown. Vaughn had okayed the job because I matched the real Natalie Shefield but also because I could become friendly with Jett. Get on his property. Get close. Get him.
I grabbed my cell.
“Vaughn.”
“Small problem,” I said, staring out the windshield at a falcon circling high overhead on an updraft.
“What?”
“I’m not Markle’s type.”
I heard his sigh. “You’ve got to be shitting me. You’re pretending. It’s not the dating game. Fake it.”
“I did. He’s not interested.” I wasn’t telling him the reason why. What I did with Rob was none of his business. Vaughn was single. Who he fucked wasn’t anything I wanted to know.
“I’m going to watch the place again later. We have the lead on the animal hauler.”
“Canadian customs confirmed the eighteen wheeler you spotted passed the border crossing north of Shelby. There are a lot of rules for live animals headed to Canada, words like breeder cow and brucellosis came up in the report.” He sighed again. “All I know is the transport happened as you suspected. Find a repeat.”
“Yes, sir.” I wasn’t going to argue. He was technically complimenting me in a bassackwards sort of way.
He hung up. It was my turn to sigh as I headed toward my house. Natalie’s house. The case was going to hell. At least I didn’t have to kiss Markle again. As for Rob, I had no answers there. I wanted to be with him, to see him smile. To make him smile because I knew I could do it, and I had a feeling it was a rare thing.
As if my thoughts had conjured him, Rob was on the porch, leaning against the rail as I pulled up. I couldn’t help a smile of my own at the sight of him. A crisp pair of jeans and a white t-shirt. A simple, but lethal, combination.
He took his hat off as he came down the steps and met me.
“Hi,” I said, going up on tiptoes and kissing him. “I didn’t expect you.”
He didn’t kiss back, only sniffed. Once, then again. “You left this at my place.” He held up my earbuds for my phone. “I thought I’d return them.” There was no smile on his face. “You were with Markle again.”
Markle had confronted me about the same thing only minutes before. With him, I’d been a little worried I might get shot. With Rob, I was worried I might get my heart torn out. I wasn’t sure which would be more painful.
He looked down at my hand.
“With wine.”
Shit.
“What happened? He fuck you and forget about it?”
Okay, that pissed me off.
I wasn’t a slut and two guys just accused me of being one.
“That’s unfair,” I snapped.
“You were riding my dick, at my house, a short while ago. I wasn’t enough for you?” His jaw was clenched, every muscle in his body taut. It didn’t matter whether I’d fucked Jett Markle six ways to Sunday or not. Rob thought I did. It looked like I did.
The way Rob had sniffed when I’d gotten close, I smelled like I did.
“It wasn’t a date. I went there as a neighbor,” I said, trying to smooth things over.
“With wine.”
“Nothing happened. He didn’t even invite me in.”
“I told you, I don’t like the guy. I don’t think he’s safe. I wouldn’t let Audrey or Marina near him.”
I was glad to hear that.
“I told you I can handle myself.”
“Right.” He stared at me, then shook his head. “Okay. You do that.”
He didn’t say anything else, only cut across the field that separated our land.
Shit.
I wanted to tell him the truth. That I wanted nothing to do with Markle, but I had a job to do. Rob might hate the guy, but I wanted him behind bars. We were on the same side.
It didn’t matter. I couldn’t tell him. I’d already fucked up the case enough. It would be blown wide open if Rob knew. I’d be on the next flight to Phoenix to clean out my desk, and Markle’d be on the next flight to a country without extradition to the US.
While something inside of me ached for