“You mean search and rescue guys searching for tourists and rescuing them?” I snorted and Janey whipped out her camera, ignoring my sarcasm.
“Exactly.” She smiled and snapped a few photos. “I was hoping to get a few shots of you all dirty and rugged, looking like hot hometown heroes. The ladies buying these calendars will eat these photos up and, hopefully, buy a few more as gifts for their friends and family.” I was bothered by how giddy she was as she knelt down and snapped me and Preston from several angles. “Would it be pressing my luck to ask you guys to step outside for some photos in better lighting?” Her raven brows arched hopefully.
“Absolutely, it would,” I told her.
At the same time, Preston answered,
“Anything to help, Janey.” His smile widened when I glared in his direction.
“Hope your food is still here when you get back,” I told him. Not that I minded helping restore Tulip’s Tribute or being a Hometown Hero, but I was tired and filthy and hungry, and in no damn mood to brood for the camera.
“Come on, Nate. This is too good to pass up,” she pressed, waving at my dirty clothes and dirt-smudged face—we’d both skipped showering in the locker room before leaving work, more eager to be gone than to be clean.
“Your concern is overwhelming,” I told her in a deadpan which she once again ignored.
She waved off the words like they were no big deal. “There was never any doubt that you two would save the idiots and return to us, safe and sound.” Her confidence was sweet, but Janey always had an angle when it came to helping out and doing good, and I wasn’t swayed so easily. “Besides, you’ve been avoiding me, Callahan.”
“Yep,” I admitted because I had been ducking out of rooms and backyards for weeks whenever Janey showed up, armed with her expensive camera. “What kind of torture session do you have lined up for me?” I’d heard the horror stories from Preston and my brother, Ry, and even Antonio. They weren’t that bad, but each and every hero before had only said they survived.
She smiled, slow and mischievous. “None, yet. I just wanted you to know that you’re next on my list. Expect details soon, and don’t even think about trying to get out of it because I will find you.” She pointed her index and middle fingers from her eyes to mine and back. “That’s a promise, big guy.”
I nodded slowly. Reluctantly. “Consider me warned.”
“Good,” she said seriously, her green gaze bouncing from me and then to Preston, who stood beside her. A smile spread as she wrapped her arms around Preston’s waist and then my shoulders. “I’m glad you lug heads are all right.” Then, she was off, requests for outdoor photos totally forgotten.
Preston sat, looking as confused as I felt. “Well,” he said as if it were the start of a thought, but he never finished it, instead taking a long swig from the coffee mug Ginger sat in front of him. “Where’s Mikki been lately? I haven’t seen her anywhere.” Preston nodded towards the door and I turned just as she slid up to the counter with a stiff smile for Big Mama.
“No idea. Not her keeper.” She’d made her feelings about me pretty clear and even if she hadn’t, her absence from nearly all social events spoke volumes.
She looked great, the way she always did, but her skin was pale and those hazel eyes looked worried, even from across the diner. I was on edge right away, wondering what was going on with her. She was usually dressed like she was going to a party, in a pretty flirty dress with heels that made a man think about stripping her down to nothing but those sexy little shoes. Today, though, she had on a jeans and a t-shirt—and that, combined with her pale skin, was enough to have me on my feet and walking towards her despite the furious shake of her head.
“Mikki, what’s wrong?” I grabbed her arm to get her to turn around and look at me, but she yanked out of my grasp and turned with a glare.
“Nothing.” Glancing back to Big Mama with a sigh, she placed an order. “I’ll have a grilled cheese with tomato soup. Make that two.”
Two? Did she have a date? “Mikki.” I don’t know what in the hell possessed me to keep pushing—maybe it was exhaustion from the last day