“Gonna get yourself good and pickled, huh? That’s what I’d do too.”
“Nope.”
Dewey tipped his head in question.
“He means he’s gonna love on his dog,” Dixie called from the kitchen.
Noah couldn’t hold back a humorless chuckle at her stealth. It was probably the last one that would escape him for the rest of the week.
Reeling yet somewhat numb,Hailey shoved a stray hair behind her ear with trembling fingers. What kind of inspector was she that she couldn’t keep her hair under control? Then again, what kind of inspector was she,period? Would she seriously have let her attraction to Noah get in the way of shutting him down for the pest violation?
Don’t answer that.
She should never have let herself come under the emerald-eyed spell of a bar owner. It was a conflict of interest. It was bad business. But it was alsoNoah, a man who had her wanting to break rules.
They were in Cliff’s car, headed toward Ridgway, back in Ouray County for the day’s final inspection. Not only was the guy all over the place, but she still couldn’t puzzle out why he was leading three inspections in the first place. This was her typical day—in a much straighter line, of course—but it wasn’t his.
He slid her a look. “Good thing I got that tip. I wonder how many people I saved from being sick. Those mice werenestingin there. I’m sorry I wasn’t in time to keep you from being sick, though.”
“But I wasn’t sick.” This time her declaration was halfhearted at best. He wasn’t going to believe her, no matter how many times she repeated herself.
She tried a different tack. “You know, Cliff, that place has been in their family since it was built in the eighteen hundreds. They take a lot of pride in their establishment.”
“TMI, Hailey. Your interest in this is way too personal,” he warned.
The thing that had been niggling at her came to the fore. “Don’t you think it’s suspicious that we found a few stiff mice—in only one location—and no droppings anywhere? If they were nesting, there would have been more evidence. Shredded bits of stuff for nests, feces, the smell of urine. Plus, they looked like immature domestic mice, not the typical deer mice we get around here.”
“Give it up, Hailey, or I’ll close the place permanently.”
When she took in his expression, she swallowed the ball of distaste wedged in her throat, along with the words dancing on her tongue … words that reminded him his threat was not only improper but borderline illegal. He’d demonstrated he didn’t really care about legality, and her job could be on tenterhooks.
He softened his tone in a way that made the hairs on her neck stand up. “You do realize we won’t be clocking out at five today.”
Boy, did she ever. The lateness didn’t bother her—she was used to it—but spending it withhimdid. How could she get out of dinner at the Grand Majestic?
“I do, yes. Will these be the only inspections in this area?”Please say yes.
“Yeah, why?”
“I was thinking we could head on back to Montrose after we’re done. If you take me back to Fall River, I’ll get my car and we can skip the fancy dinner and save the taxpayers’ money.”
He grunted an incomprehensible response.
“What’s that?”
“Isaidthat restaurant’s closed right now,” he gritted out. “They’re only open on Friday and Saturday nights this time of year. We’ll find someplace else.” What the hell was eatinghim?
As soon as they reached their next target, a pizzeria in a strip mall, she put the question out of her mind, losing herself in the routine of the final inspection, once more flying solo while Cliff did Cliff things. She drew a modicum of comfort from hiding behind the familiar facade of her profession, as though she hunkered behind the wall of a sturdy stone fortress. Yet part of her yearned to climb to the top of that safe wall and race back to the Miners Tavern and explain everything to Noah, right before tucking her tail between her legs and putting Fall River in her rearview mirror. But explanations weren’t going to wipe away what went down, were they? Noah would still look at her as though she was no better than the dead vermin Cliff had bagged up.
They clambered back intothe Ford SUV at a few minutes past six under a pitch-black sky. The bright lights of the pizza joint reflected off the windshield, bathing the vehicle’s interior in reds and oranges. As Cliff started the engine, she pushed out a breath and sank into her seat. In a half hour, she’d be back in Fall River. Cliff would return to his own world and leave her to wallow in hers. Did she dare reach out to Noah, or would he simply dismiss her with a stinging rebuke before she could explain?
Cliff backed out of the parking spot, only to stop at the outer edge of the strip mall’s lot where the light didn’t reach. She stared out her window for long minutes, debating whether to text Noah and what to say and how to say it. In her window’s reflection, she watched as Cliff scrolled through his phone, wondering vaguely what was keeping him from going.
The SUV continued idling, and when it didn’t move, she swiveled her head toward him. “Is everything okay?”
He lifted his eyes to hers and smiled in a way that caused a bolt of fear to flip her stomach. Cliff had been all shades of creepy, but he’d never scared her before. Maybe the dashboard’s gauges or the light illuminating his phone screen was casting a weird glow on the hard planes of his face, lending him a maniacal look.
He leaned across the console, invading her space, purring, “Everything’s great.” She shrank away from him until she was plastered against the car door.
