Page 40

“It might be late.”

“I don’t care.” She turns to face me after getting her door open and flipping on the light inside. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to sleep without knowing that you found her.”

“All right, baby, I’ll call,” I assure her, and her face softens.

“Thanks.” She rests her hand against my chest and leans up on her tiptoes to touch her lips to the underside of my jaw. The kiss is sweet, but it’s not enough. Wrapping my hand around the back of her neck when she starts to pull away, I drag her toward me and drop my mouth down to hers, kissing her thoroughly before tugging my mouth from hers.

“Try to get some sleep, baby.”

“I’ll try,” she says breathlessly, and I smile, letting her go, then watch her focus on Storm and pat his head. “Good luck, buddy.”

“Night, babe.”

“Night.”

“Lock up,” I order over my shoulder as I head down the steps with Storm running ahead of me and jumping into the back. When I reach my truck, I stop next to him, and he gets up, wagging his tail. “You ready?” I ask him, and he lets out an excited bark before disappearing into his crate. He might not fully understand what’s happening, but he’s smart enough to know that he’s dressed for work and is going to be able to play his favorite game, which includes hunting down whatever scent he’s given.

After locking him in his crate, I get in behind the wheel and look at the house in front of me, where I see Genevieve watching through the window next to the door. Seeing her standing there, something warm settles in my gut as I put the engine in reverse and back out of her driveway.

Chapter 14:

Deliberately Obtuse

Genevieve

“So Wyatt just dropped you at home after you guys got back into town last night?” Mom asks while I pretend to sift through my email so I can avoid looking at her.

You’d think that after years of dealing with her way of slowly whittling down to whatever information she’s after I’d be quicker on my feet, but apparently, I’m in need of practice.

“Umm . . . well, we were both hungry, so we ordered food, but then he had to leave to go find that girl.” And he did find her, or more accurately, Storm found her. Apparently, she had gone down the wrong trail, and by the time she realized what had happened, it was too late—she was lost and her phone had died. Wyatt told me that when the sun began to set, she decided that the smartest thing she could do was stay put until either someone found her or the sun was back up in the morning, so she made herself a small shelter under a tree. I can only imagine how scared she was being out in the woods all alone, especially at night, and how relieved she was when Storm finally tracked her down. I know I wanted to cry for her when Wyatt called me at two o’clock in the morning to fill me in.

“So you were having dinner together?” Mom asks, dragging me from my thoughts, and I inwardly groan.

“We were going to eat dinner at the same time in the same place. I don’t know if that means that we were having dinner together.”

“Genevieve.” She sighs.

“Mom.” I sigh right back.

“You have to give me something.”

“There is nothing to give you.” I lie through my teeth and thank my lucky stars that Shauna didn’t see Wyatt and me kiss. If that had happened, I would never, ever hear the end of it.

“How are my two favorite girls?” Dad asks, walking into the office with his arms filled with packages.

“Your daughter is being deliberately obtuse,” Mom tells him, and he frowns at me.

“She is just trying to get me to tell her that there is something going on between Wyatt and me.”

“Is there something going on between you two?” Dad asks.

“He’s my client,” I tell him with a straight face, and he stares at me for longer than he should before he looks at Mom and raises a brow.

Whatever. I don’t have time to deal with either of them. Getting up, I grab my coat off the back of my chair. “I need to run over to Jessica and Liam’s house and put the key box on their door and change out the ‘Coming Soon’ sign.”

“You didn’t tell me what they said about their neighbor,” Dad says as I put on my coat.

“They just said that they have been dealing with her since she moved in and all the people on their block know she’s a little off and just ignore her for the most part. They also said that they doubt her husband even knows what is going on, because most of the time she pulls that kind of stuff when he is out of town for work. And”—I roll my eyes—“apparently the neighbor who agreed to let her tie on to his fence had that conversation with her the day he and his wife moved in, before they had a chance to get to know her, and they regret agreeing to it now.”