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“Don’t give me too many ideas. But she’s awesome, and maybe if you made an effort to speak to her about things other than this investigation, you’d realize that.”
He laughed, throwing his head back. “You don’t know Adele. I’ve tried. Trust me. She went through a breakup last year. I tried to be supportive. Barely left that conversation with my testicles intact. You think I’m a surly asshole? My sister can shoot lasers out of her eyes if she wants to.”
“We all can,” I said sarcastically. “Haven’t you heard? When we get our periods, we develop killer laser eyes.”
He kept his focus on the road rather than engaging. “And that’s why I’m single,” he muttered under his breath.
He was so rigid, so repressed. I wanted to smack him. Tell him to unclench that round, muscular ass and broaden his horizons a bit.
But this was clearly not the moment to get into that. Tension radiated off him. His knuckles were white, and those stupidly delicious forearms were almost as rigid as his jaw.
While I could certainly stand to be a bit neater, I was under no misconception that the reasoning behind his outburst had anything to do with me.
On second thought, maybe it had everything to do with me. He was impossible to understand. Either way, the fear in his eyes was real. And that was what kept me going. Because hypervigilance took a toll, and this family had been through more danger than most.
After ten minutes of tense silence, we pulled up in front of Henri and Alice’s large timber-frame house. It was beautiful and fit in seamlessly with the mountain backdrop.
I wasn’t sure I’d ever get tired of the views up here or the cold mountain air. I’d always thought I was an ocean girl. I loved the salty smell of the sea, but I was beginning to love these gorgeous forests and mountains too.
Even stuck in a car with a grumpy lumberjack, I could appreciate the natural beauty of my home state. I would only be here for a few weeks, so I was going to make the most of it.
I got out of the car and let the cool breeze coming off the mountains ground me. The air was crisp, and my cheeks flushed. Remy and Hazel were headed up the hill and waved hello.
“You brought the fuzz?” Remy asked, his eyes bright.
Hazel elbowed him. “She’s ex-fuzz.”
Draping an arm around his wife’s shoulders, he pulled her in tight and kissed the top of her head. “My wife is a genius,” he said, beaming with pride.
“She wants to understand the lifestyle,” Paz muttered, ignoring their greetings.
I gave them a friendly smile. “Please excuse my fake boyfriend. He’s in a mood.”
Paz shot me a look, and I stuck my tongue out, then leaned toward Remy and Hazel.
“I made a mess in his house, and he’s very upset about it.”
Remy laughed. “The fortress of solitude? Oh yes, that’s a major crime.”
Paz glared at him. “My fake girlfriend is a human hurricane who leaves empty cans and bras in her wake.”
“Bras?”
I shrugged. “They’re awful.”
Hazel offered me a high five. “Amen, sister. The undergarments of Satan.”
“Exactly,” I said as Alice approached. “He’s either offended by their existence or by the sight of them. I can’t tell which.”
“What did I walk into?” Alice asked with a friendly smile. The woman radiated happiness, and each time I saw her, my desire to befriend her for real got stronger.
“Nothing,” Paz said, placing his hand on the small of my back and leading me around the house.
“This is where we train,” he said, guiding me to a clearing near the tree line.
There was a small shed with a padlock on it, stacks and stacks of logs, and several pieces of equipment I didn’t recognize.
“You’re talking to me again?” I asked, hands on my hips.
