Mine - HelenKay Dimon Page 0,17
something to focus on besides her, and God knew he wanted to look at her.
“It was an innocent question,” she said with that soft southern lilt.
Sexy-sounding or not, he somehow doubted that. “Uh-huh.”
This woman thrived on intel gathering. She knew how to drill down, ask the right question. Set someone off and test his patience. He didn’t think she’d turn those skills off in her private life, which totally sucked for him. He’d been interrogated, soft and hard, and didn’t need a repeat of either.
Thwack.
“Are you immune to the cold or something?” she asked.
He stopped before he could lift the maul for another swing. “No.”
“Ah, we’re back to curt responses.”
“Never left them.” He made the mistake of looking at her then. Forget yelling at her to get back inside. She stood there, leaning against a post, wearing his thick down jacket and wrapped in two blankets with an oversized hat plopped on her head. Only pink cheeks and those big eyes peeked out. “I’m not a big talker.”
But he was a fucking goner. One quick glance in her direction and his common sense fizzled. He couldn’t even see skin, and what few brain cells he had left blinked out as images of her, under him, over him, filled his head.
“You must be a joy on a stakeout.”
She seemed a little confused about the difference between an Army sniper and a detective. No way she made that mistake except on purpose, which meant she’d carefully crafted the questions to get at something else.
He balanced the head against the chopping block and leaned against the handle. “I don’t really do those.”
Her head fell to the side and that soft blond hair, now dry, slipped over her shoulder. “What do you do?”
“Now?” He followed the direction of the question but couldn’t figure out where it led.
“Other than swing that axe, I mean.” She pointed at the handle as her gaze wandered across his shoulders and down to his stomach.
“Maul. And I think you know the general gist of my job.” Not that he could or would explain more. His clients deserved confidentiality. He extended it to her just as he did all the others.
She made an exaggerated show of dropping her head forward and sighing. “Honestly, this is going to be the longest few days of—”
“Weeks.”
“I’m ignoring that.” She pinned him with a serious glare. “Can’t really imagine not killing you if we stay up here for weeks and don’t say or do anything.”
She’d basically summed up the reason he stood outside in the frigid weather chopping wood when they already had piles of it stacked up under tarps in the dry shed. Not that they had a lot of choices for activities that didn’t include the bed or the outdoors. Other than a pile of mysteries with torn covers, a deck of cards and an old laptop loaded with a few movies and nothing more, they were on their own for entertainment. Next time he picked a safe house, he’d pick one with Internet service. “You want to go to a movie?”
“What?”
She clearly missed the sarcasm. “This is about keeping you safe.” When she continued with the narrow-eyed frown, he skipped right to the point. The one he thought he’d made when he dragged her under that shower spray. “Hell, I don’t even want you outside.”
Instead of getting the hint and heading back in, she pushed away from the post. Took a few steps then started down the stairs. “I’m assuming you set up a perimeter.”
Now that was insulting. As if this was his first damn day on the job. “Of course.”
“Don’t you think you should tell me where in case I accidentally walk into it? While you’re at it, I need the locations of those two emergency drop sites. Just in case.”
A trained operative turned handler turned administrator. While he intended to fill her in and would, he couldn’t quite see her racing around without a care. “There’s less chance of any trouble if you stay inside.”
She stopped on the bottom step. Didn’t venture into the snow this time. “I’m not someone who just sits around.”
“I can appreciate that.” Neither was he. He worked hard and played even harder. He didn’t hover or sit around watching one game after another in a recliner until his ass fell asleep. He got up and did things.
She shrugged. “Then entertain me.”
His mind went blank. Totally fucking blank.
“Oh my God.” She burst out laughing. “You should see your face.”
The sound echoed around him, wiping out