“Like what?”
“Happy. Passionate.You.”
Her expression softened, and she wound her arms around his neck. “I feel like myself again.”
Bear couldn’t resist any longer. He dipped his head, capturing her lips in a kiss that started gentle but quickly deepened. Joy melted against him, rising onto her toes to press closer. He could taste coffee and sweetness on her lips, could feel the rapid flutter of her heartbeat where his palm rested against her neck.
When they finally broke apart, they were both breathing harder. Joy kept her arms looped around his neck, a mischievous glint in her eyes.
“If that’s my reward for a successful launch day, I should open food trucks more often.”
“I’ve got other rewards planned,” Bear promised, his voice low. “Once we get home.”
“I like the sound of?—”
Bear’s phone buzzed in his pocket, interrupting whatever Joy had been about to say. He reluctantly released her to check the message, though he kept one hand at her waist.
“It’s from Lincoln,” he said, frowning at the screen.
“Everything okay?”
The stolen items are being used to construct an obstacle course. Similar to the one at Linear Tactical last summer, though less professionally executed. -Lincoln
Bear rolled his eyes that his cousin—a certified technological genius—had signed his text. But signed or not, that info was definitely very interesting.
“An obstacle course?” Joy peered at the message over his shoulder. “How does he know?”
He shrugged. “It’s Lincoln. How does he know anything? That giant brain of his puts together things everyone else thinks are inconsequential. Sees patterns no one else sees.”
And he was rarely wrong.
Bear considered the inventory of missing items: ladder, tires, wooden pallets, metal pipes, rope, plastic barrels. “Makes sense, actually. Those are exactly the kinds of things you’d need.”
“But who would—” Joy paused, her brow furrowing. “Oh! I just remembered something. When I was working the service window, I noticed Aaron and Kyle Johnson watching you. They kept whispering and nudging each other.”
“The Johnson boys?” Bear pictured the teenagers—athletic, always moving, with that restless energy of youth. “I saw them at the Jackalope Fair too, hovering around the edges. Didn’t think much of it at the time. Aaron had talked to me about a job, and I wondered if he was getting up the nerve to formally apply.”
“Weren’t they on the high school track team? The one that set all those records last spring?”
Bear nodded slowly, pieces clicking into place. “They’re into that obstacle course racing. Mud runs and stuff. Their mom mentions it every time she brings her car in for service.”
“They’d definitely be fast enough to outrun you in the woods,” Joy said, lips quirking. “No offense.”
“Hey, I almost caught them.” Bear couldn’t help but grin. “But you might be right. Damn, I got outrun by teenagers.”
“The horror.”
“So much for my fearsome reputation.” He shook his head, a mixture of relief and amusement washing over him. “All this time, I was suspecting Daniel.”
“The hiker?”
“Yeah. Something about him struck me as off.”
Joy smirked. “Maybe he just annoyed you by talking to me.”
“That’s…entirely possible,” Bear admitted.
“You’re cute when you’re jealous.”
