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“No problem.”
By the time Jim had showered and changed, Scarlett had pulled up to the cabin. He charged outside before she could get into conversation with Dax. He didn’t want her telling his brother about their mission.
As she greeted Dax, Jim tried to catch her eye, but she ignored him.
“Is that one of the bikes you’re going to take?”
Dax stood up, shoving the rag in his back pocket. “If I can get it running. Why are you taking my brother to the rez?”
“My grandmother wanted to meet him after I told her he rescued me from the fire.”
Jim let out a measured breath. He didn’t have to worry about Scarlett.
“Yeah, that’s our J.T.” Dax pounded Jim on the back. “Hero material.”
“I hope you’re not being sarcastic, because he really was heroic when he barged through that fire to get to me.”
“I totally mean it. He was always the good brother—” Dax quirked his eyebrows up and down “—and I was the bad boy.”
“You didn’t have to be, Dax. You let Slick influence you too much.”
He squeezed the back of Jim’s neck in a vise. “Some of us are just born that way.”
“We’d better get going.” Jim shrugged him off.
“Are you sure you’re okay with washing my car?”
“It’ll be the best damned car wash you ever had.” Dax winked. “Have fun, you two.”
Jim wheeled his bike toward the road, away from Dax. He handed her the helmet and swung his leg over the bike, straddling it.
As Scarlett pulled the helmet on her head, she asked, “Did you get anything out of him today?”
“Nope. That’s why I’m glad you didn’t say anything to him about why we were going to see your grandmother.” Jim started the engine of the Harley. “If he’s not going to be straight with me, I’m not going to be straight with him—not until I know what he’s doing here.”
“I agree. Did you tell him about the painting?”
“Yeah, and it rattled him, as much as anything can rattle Dax.”
“But he didn’t say anything about it?”
“He made jokes about it.”
She puffed out a breath. “Has Dax seen the other guy, yet? Chewy?”
“I don’t think so, but I don’t expect him to tell me about it.”
Scarlett climbed onto the bike behind him, and her arms around his waist gave him a thrill like he hadn’t felt for a woman in a long time.
He liked Scarlett. He’d always liked her, even way back in high school. She’d been different from the other teenage girls—always had a purpose. But just because their attraction seemed mutual, it didn’t mean he had to act on that attraction. He wasn’t ready for a relationship, and Scarlett wasn’t the type of woman you loved and left.
He drove north to the Quileute reservation, following a road that meandered next to a river, bordered by lush forest on either side. The reservation came into view, the small houses dotting the landscape, the roadside vendors selling their wares.
When his bike came into view of an old woman and a young girl on the side of the road, the girl jumped up and down and waved. Jim held up his hand.
Slowing down, he steered his motorcycle onto the Quileute land until Scarlett tapped his arm. He pulled up to a small, brown-and-green house.
When he cut the engine, Scarlett said, “Thanks for waving to Prudence back there. You probably made her day.”
“Prudence? The girl with the old woman?”
Scarlett took off the helmet and handed it to him. “She goes to the reservation school but wants to transfer to the public school next year. I’m trying to make that happen by convincing her grandmother that Pru will blossom in the public school environment.”
“You did.”
She jerked her head to the side and her hair fell over one eye. “I don’t know about that. It did introduce me to Mrs. Rooney, my art teacher, and she’s the one who encouraged me to go to art school instead of regular college.”
He nodded. “Blossomed.”
A little smile lifted one corner of her mouth as she pointed to the low-slung brown-and-green house that looked like it grew up out of the forest. “Granny really does want to meet you. I wasn’t lying to Dax about that.”
