Page 10 of A Rebel's Shot
Sure, she hadn’t met everyone, and Alaska had the third highest suicide rate in the nation, so they couldn’tall be content. Yet there was an ease with a lot of them, an acceptance of their circumstances and making the most of them. She’d seen it in so many of the orphans and refugees over the years, too.
Joy despite the pain.
So why, when she had the world at her fingertips, was she so miserable?
A cold sea breeze hit her face the instant she stepped outside and snaked its way down her collar, knocking her to her senses. There wasn’t time to be melodramatic. She had an empire to run and a murder to solve. Whining about her lack of joy was pointless.
Tiikâan sauntered to a hideous hatchback that looked like an eggplant with rust. A giggle escaped before she could swallow it. Biting her lip to keep her grin contained, she opened the passenger door and almost lost it.
Someone had taken a Bedazzler and gone to town. Settling into her seat, she couldn’t help but scan the decorations.
“I know. It’s an assault on masculine pride.” Tiikâan shrugged his shoulder. “Guess it’s a good thing mine is overinflated.”
He shot her a smile and a wink. She laughed and shook her head. This was by far the strangest interview she’d ever conducted.
Granted, she hadn’t done many, but she doubted future employees flirted with their employers. Though he wouldn’t really be an employee. As a contractor, he’d just be a fellow entrepreneur.
Which meant he was totally fair game.
She looked at him out of the corner of her eye as he backed down the drive. Good-looking didn’t begin to describe him. Ruggedly handsome? Closer.
Something about his dark beard, toned body that she bet was honed in the mountains, and calm dark gray-blue eyes that reminded her of the ocean out her office window when the sky was clear gave her the impression he could handle himself in any situation. Even being demeaned by spoiled socialites.
She cleared her throat. “I’d like to apologize again for Rachel’s behavior. I wish I could say it’s because of Dad’s death that she acted that way, but she’s always been...”
How do you describe someone who put the TV and movie caricatures of rich brats to shame?
“An odious little monster?” He glanced at her with a lift of an eyebrow, then turned back to the road with a shake of his head. “Sorry. I just kind of felt like Epimetheus for a moment back there.”
Her breath hitched, and a smile stretched across her lips. “You’ve read Hawthorne’sTanglewood Tales?”
“Guilty.” He tipped his head to the side. “My mom read it aloud to us when I was around nine. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve thumbed through my copy just to read a story over again. Anyway, we’d always joked that kids throwing tantrums were odious little monsters, but I shouldn’t have said that about your sister.”
“Stepsister and it correctly describes her.”
In fact, Pandora’s box was the perfect analogy for Merritt’s life. More than one ugly Trouble swarmed her. Though she doubted Hope was left in the box.
FIVE
“Hello. Hello!” A smiling older Asian woman came out from the kitchen as Tiikâan led Merritt through Sam and Lee’s Restaurant.
He waved at the friendly woman. Man, did it feel good to be out of the Mansion of Mayhem and back in the land of normal people. Tiikâan breathed in the amazing smell of fried food, picked a booth in the back corner, and sat so he faced the door.
He tipped his head as he peered across the table at Merritt who sat ramrod straight in the vinyl booth. Well, mostly normal. His ruling on her was still out.
After dropping food off at a table, the cheerful woman came over. “Welcome to Sam and Lee’s. I’m Kim. Can I get you something to drink?”
“Pepsi, please.” He smiled back at her.
Kim wagged her finger at him, her forehead scrunching over her eyes. “I know you. How do Iknow you?”
His smile broadened. That was Alaska for you. Small community spread over lots of land.
“I haven’t been lucky enough to come up here before.” He shrugged. “Have you made it over to Tok?”
Her face lit up. “You’re Sunny’s brother. Tiikâan, the bush pilot, yes?”
He shrugged and laughed. “Guilty.”
