Page 5 of Touchdown
“I'm happy to answer any and all of your questions,” he said gently. “But we really should keep moving. Nobody's helped if we just stand here waiting to be bagged like out-of-season ducks.”
Don't be distracted by beautiful eyes and an honest face. Don't be distracted by a sudden pulse of compassion.
Firming my mouth into a stern frown, I said, “Don't play me, Noah, because I won't be played.”
“I'm not playing you.”
“Tell me what you're walking me into. I need to know.”
He didn't back down. He only spread his open palms a little further from his body. A gesture of surrender.
“I swear to you, Slate. I'm not walking you into anything. You don't have to believe me. Believe the logic.” His eyes glowed with fierce intensity. “If we're on an island, we'll need a boat. If we're not on an island, we can hike out. Either way, we need to make a circuit of the place, figure out what we're dealing with.”
“You're walking me to beach level. That's what you're saying.”
“I am. Whatever you think of me, we need to get down to the water. That's the logical thing to do. We need information. We're not going to get it standing here fighting each other.” His smile was wobbly. “There could already be a boat hidden down there somewhere already.”
With that, he turned around and began to walk on.
Bad move, Noah. What's more rage-inducing than turning your back on a guy?
Or was it such a bad move? Instead of rage, I felt only resignation. Standing here wouldn't get us home.
I watched him hike away at a pace chosen to invite me to follow—not give chase.
He was stepping slowly and carefully—as slowly as he'd stepped when we were first getting used to barefoot hiking.
The only reason he moved so slowly now to was to make it clear he wasn't trying to escape. He wanted me to catch up.
“I should kick your ass,” I said as I fell in behind him. Where was my God-given instinct to tackle and slam him to the ground?
Chapter 4
“You probably should kick my ass.” Noah's chuckle was soft but sexy. “Trouble is, I might enjoy it too much. And we ain't got time for that.”
We hiked along in silence for a while. Noah was letting me simmer down. That too can be enraging, but... well... he was cute, and he probably did have logic on his side, and the exercise of hiking downhill was burning off some of my excess energy.
Also, did I mention he was cute?
“OK,” I finally said. “You're still got some explaining to do.” I may have growled a little. No need to let him think he was going to get off that easy.
“No problem.” He sounded too cheerful. Too forgiven.
You insist on wrapping me around your little finger, don't you?
Taking a deep breath, I reminded myself to be the bigger man. After all, I was the bigger man.
“So we agree they stashed us in a short-term rental they haven't used before,” I said after a minute. “I guess that's pretty smart.”
“Sure,” Noah said. “It's safer than keeping somebody prisoner in your own place. It puts another layer of distance between us and the bad guys.”
“So who are these unseen bad guys? Any ideas?”
“Nothing's changed since the last time you asked, Slate. Your guess is as good as mine.”
“I doubt it.” My growl wasn't a tactic this time. It was a sincere gesture of frustration. “You have to know more because you're the target. You've got to have some idea why.”
“Maybe I was the target at one time, but...” When Noah shrugged, the toga shifted more than it had earlier. Maybe I'd accidentally loosened his knot when I was futzing around with him back at the house.
