"Mom, a man isn't going to solve all my problems."
"Well, of course not, silly. But he'll sure help you forget about them. Just think about it. Call me once in a while."
Kylie sighed, shoved her phone away, and went back to work. Problem was, now she was short the wood she needed for her table, her hand hurt like a bitch, and she couldn't stop thinking about the fact that though Joe had agreed to partner with her on this, he apparently planned to work his way down her list.
Without her.
She knew that was just his usual lone wolf mentality, but it felt a little bit like he'd told her that she wasn't wanted. She'd hired him and he'd taken over, and it was yet another rejection.
Man, she was really on a roll.
But she wasn't going to be set aside that easily. She'd been texting with Molly. Nothing happened at Hunt Investigations that Molly didn't know about, and according to her, the guys were all up to their eyeballs in work at the moment. Topping things off, they'd gone out on an unexpected big bond bounty hunt that needed to be handled today due to a court deadline.
Which meant that Joe wouldn't even think about starting on her list until he was back. The hours crawled by until late afternoon when Molly texted a heads-up that the team was coming back into the office.
"Is there anything else I need to know?" Joe had asked.
Yeah, but not that she planned on telling him about. Or anyone. She turned off the planer she'd been using and quickly cleaned up. Vinnie tried to help by picking up wood scraps and spreading them everywhere under her feet so that she kept tripping. Trying to distract him, she tossed him one of his own toys. "Fetch," she said.
He gave a bark of pure joy, went after the toy, and . . . took it back to his bed. She sighed and continued to close up. She'd just finished and grabbed Vinnie to go when Gib poked his head in and smiled.
"Hey," he said. "Everything okay?"
"Sure," she said. "Even though right about now would be a really great time for someone to tell me that I'm Princess of Genovia."
"Who?"
"Never mind. What's up?"
"I thought maybe we'd do dinner," he said.
She froze. Was he asking her out? She actually wasn't sure. "The kind of dinner where we've both been working late and you're hungry so I go get us takeout?" she asked, which they'd done a million times and definitely wasn't a date.
"No," he said. "The kind of dinner where I take you to a restaurant." He smiled and ran a hand over the sexy scruff on his jaw. "I think it's about time, don't you?"
She waited for the burst of excitement to hit, but . . . it didn't. She wasn't exactly sure when or where or how, but the painful crush she'd had on him forever now didn't seem quite as painful. Suddenly, wanting Gib felt like the safe option.
And for whatever reason, safe was no longer what she craved. "I'm sorry," she said, "but I can't tonight. I've got plans."
"With Joe?"
"Yes, but it's not what you think." Instead of using the carrier, she tucked Vinnie into the large pouch of her hoodie sweatshirt-his favorite place to be-and rose to go, but Gib grabbed her hand.
"I really am sorry about the party last night," he said. "I honestly didn't know Rena would be there."
"It's okay. It doesn't matter."
"No, I think it does." He reeled her in closer and bent a little to look into her eyes. "I've made some mistakes with you, Ky. I'm trying to fix them."
"What kind of mistakes?" she asked curiously.
"For starters, the kind of mistake that had me letting you leave last night."
She stared up at him, into the eyes of the man who'd been the only one she'd wanted for as long as she could remember-aside from Justin Timberlake. "Why?"
He looked confused at the question. "Why?"
"Yeah, why were you hoping I'd stay when we haven't really seen much of each other outside work?"
"Because I realized something." Holding her gaze, he pulled her in to him. "That I wanted to do this." Then he leaned in, lowered his head, and brushed his mouth over hers. His lips were warm and very nice, and though she froze at the contact, her brain didn't.
Gib was kissing her!
She was still stunned when he pulled back and smiled at her. "Think about it," he said.
And then he walked away, leaving her staring after him. Hell had frozen over. The fat lady had sung.
Because Gib had just made a very real pass at her.
She should be doing cartwheels. Why wasn't she doing cartwheels? She locked up and left, more confused than ever. She'd planned to sit on a bench at the fountain in the courtyard where she could see to the second floor and the entrance of Hunt Investigations. She'd thought to lie in wait for Joe to leave his office, and then waylay him. But five minutes into her wait, Molly sent a text.
He's delayed thirty minutes by a meeting with Archer.
Great. Head still spinning, Kylie headed into the pub for a drink. She stepped up to the bar next to Sadie.
Sadie smiled distractedly, but didn't say anything.
"You okay?" Kylie asked.
"Good question," Sean said from the other side of the bar. "I just asked her the same thing."
"And?" Kylie asked.
Sean slid Sadie a look. "She told me not to mistake her silence for weakness, that no one plans a murder out loud."
Kylie laughed.
Sadie didn't.
"Okay, so . . . whose murder are we planning?" Kylie asked her when Sean moved off.
"Still up for debate," Sadie said, reaching over to pet Vinnie's head. He'd stuck it out of Kylie's sweatshirt pocket. "I'm having a late lunch and thinking it over."
"What is that you're having?"
"Fruit salad."
"That's funny," Kylie said, "cuz it looks like a sangria."
"Huh. Weird." Sadie sipped her "fruit salad."
Kylie laughed. "Okay, so you had a bad day too." She sighed. "Adulting never looked so hard from the other side."
"It's not our fault," Sadie said. "Monopoly gave us all these false expectations. Like, why can't I buy property? Where's my get out of jail free card? Or my two hundred bucks for passing Go?" She fed Vinnie a pretzel. Vinnie loved pretzels. Actually, Vinnie loved all food. Well, except for pickles, which Kylie had discovered by accident when he'd eaten her lunch the other day, every single bite except for the pickles that he'd so thoughtfully left on the floor for her to step on.
A guy walked into the pub, his phone to his ear. He was long, lean, wearing a really great suit, and looking like a million bucks. Kylie knew his name. Caleb. He was Spence's business partner who also sometimes dealt with Hunt Investigations. He always seemed very serious, but beyond that all she knew about him was that he was very nice to look at.
"Relax, Susan," he said into his cell phone as he came up to the bar. "I won't be late. I'm in my car right now, on my way."
"No, he's not, Susan!" Sadie yelled toward his phone. "He's in a bar!"
Caleb sent her a long look.
"Sorry, Suits," she said unapologetically as she casually sipped her lunch. "No one lies to Susan in front of me."
Caleb narrowed his eyes. Sadie smiled without showing teeth. In response, he pointed at her and then moved away from them.
"‘Suits'?" Kylie asked Sadie.
Sadie shrugged. "He wears more money on his broad shoulders than I make all year. It's annoying."
"There's a story here," Kylie guessed. "I think I want to hear it."
"He's just too uptight."
"You two a thing?"
"He's too uptight," Sadie repeated. "Plus, I actually like being single. I get to be selfish with my time and personal space. I can leave the top off the toothpaste and sleep like a starfish."
All true.
When Molly finally texted her that Joe was preparing to leave, Kylie exited the pub. She made her way to the parking lot where Joe kept his truck. She was leaning against it when he strolled up five minutes later. He was in work gear, which never failed to trip her pulse. Dark cargos, a long-sleeved T-shirt that fit him like it'd been made for him and God knew how many weapons she couldn't see. He had a duffle bag hanging off one broad shoulder and his phone to his ear.
He wore dark aviator sunglasses, but she knew he was looking at her as he finished up his call before slipping his cell into one of his million pockets. "What happened to your hand?" he asked.
She looked down at the gauze wrapped around her palm. "Splinter."
"You get it out?"
"Haley did."
"You clean it good?"
"Again, Haley."
He nodded and studied her. "So . . ."
"So . . ." She bit her lower lip.
He raised a brow. "So what are you doing here, Kylie?"
"Catching a ride." She wished she had a pair of sunglasses that made her look even half as badass cool as he did.