twenty-nine-year-old science
major, name of Frank Hinton. The relationship had lasted eight months. At
twenty she’d been recruited by T-FLAC. She’d worked in the research
department in Montana for eight years.
Alex adjusted the visor to ward off the blinding sunlight bouncing off the
snow on either side of the road. He slid his gaze over to her gray,
assessing eyes. “Reading someone’s personnel file is against the rules.
Isn’t it?”
“It is. But that’s never stopped you before.”
Alex put a hand over his heart. “Alexis. You wound me.”
“You are so ful of crap.” She looked out of her side window. “There’s
some great desert hiking here. I’d—”
“No.”
He heard her teeth grind. “I was about to say I’d like to come back here
sometime on my own, and do some hiking through the Bandelier National
Monument wilderness area. I love hiking, how about you?”
“I like to read about hiking,” he said, just because getting her goat was so
freaking entertaining. He enjoyed anything to do with the outdoors,
although it had been awhile since he’d done anything like that just for the
fun of it. When he was hiking, it was somewhere inhospitable as hel with
jagged razor-sharp rocks or deadly snakes, and usual y with bad guys on
his ass, chasing him, guns blazing. Fun where he could get it.
“You don’t like communing with nature?”
“I like communing with a cold Coors and a hot redhead.” Forget the beer.
He had decidedly warm feelings toward a tall, cool-eyed blonde, with a
luscious, kissable mouth.
“I thought gentlemen preferred blondes.”
She was table dancing in dangerous territory. “I’m no gentleman.” He shot
her a quick glance as he turned down a side street heading west. “Is that
why you went blond?”
“Absolutely,” she told him cheerful y. “Blond hair is like catnip to guys. I
have to beat them off with a stick.”
He knew she was kidding. But for some reason the idea that guys were all
over Lexi pissed him off. Lover number two had been three years ago. An
ex-jock, and a clerk in T-FLAC’s legal division. That relationship lasted
eighteen months. Rumor had it Mike Love had wanted to marry her. Bad.
50
Night Shadow
She’d declined. Somehow they remained friends. Alex couldn’t begin to
imagine that having slept with Lexi, they’d be friends if they ever “broke
up.”
“T-FLAC’s a close-knit community,” he said, sounding a lot like her pastor,
and feeling a lot savage thinking about her with another man. “You
shouldn’t pee in your own pond.”
“That’s a disgusting analogy. And I don’t date people I work with.”
Apparently six foot six, black, ex-football player Mike Love didn’t count.
“Then who do you date?”
“None of your damned business. Isn’t that Daklin waving his arms like a
looney-bird over there?”
Yeah. It was Daklin all right and he didn’t look happy. The warehouse was
beyond a row of rental storage units about three hundred yards ahead.
Alex slowed the car, and shot Lexi an amused glance. “Is a looney-bird a
real bird?”
“Certainly,” she said straight-faced. “The looney-bird is found exclusively
on the Galápagos Islands. They’re from the order Sphenisciformes, family
Spheniscidae. It’s twenty-six inches tall, and similar in shape to a female
penguin. Most of them are mild mannered, even docile. But the white-
winged looney-birds are very bad-tempered.”
Alex laughed as he stopped the car. “You just made that up.”
This was the first time Lexi had seen him really laugh. God. He was
already irresistible, but when he threw his head back and roared with
amusement, her heart did more than just calisthenics, it prepped for the
Olympics. She kept her thoughts off her face. “Are you sure?”
“That’s the problem. I’m not sure.” Stil grinning, he rol ed his window
down as Daklin jogged up beside the car. A blast of frigid air swirled
around the
major, name of Frank Hinton. The relationship had lasted eight months. At
twenty she’d been recruited by T-FLAC. She’d worked in the research
department in Montana for eight years.
Alex adjusted the visor to ward off the blinding sunlight bouncing off the
snow on either side of the road. He slid his gaze over to her gray,
assessing eyes. “Reading someone’s personnel file is against the rules.
Isn’t it?”
“It is. But that’s never stopped you before.”
Alex put a hand over his heart. “Alexis. You wound me.”
“You are so ful of crap.” She looked out of her side window. “There’s
some great desert hiking here. I’d—”
“No.”
He heard her teeth grind. “I was about to say I’d like to come back here
sometime on my own, and do some hiking through the Bandelier National
Monument wilderness area. I love hiking, how about you?”
“I like to read about hiking,” he said, just because getting her goat was so
freaking entertaining. He enjoyed anything to do with the outdoors,
although it had been awhile since he’d done anything like that just for the
fun of it. When he was hiking, it was somewhere inhospitable as hel with
jagged razor-sharp rocks or deadly snakes, and usual y with bad guys on
his ass, chasing him, guns blazing. Fun where he could get it.
“You don’t like communing with nature?”
“I like communing with a cold Coors and a hot redhead.” Forget the beer.
He had decidedly warm feelings toward a tall, cool-eyed blonde, with a
luscious, kissable mouth.
“I thought gentlemen preferred blondes.”
She was table dancing in dangerous territory. “I’m no gentleman.” He shot
her a quick glance as he turned down a side street heading west. “Is that
why you went blond?”
“Absolutely,” she told him cheerful y. “Blond hair is like catnip to guys. I
have to beat them off with a stick.”
He knew she was kidding. But for some reason the idea that guys were all
over Lexi pissed him off. Lover number two had been three years ago. An
ex-jock, and a clerk in T-FLAC’s legal division. That relationship lasted
eighteen months. Rumor had it Mike Love had wanted to marry her. Bad.
50
Night Shadow
She’d declined. Somehow they remained friends. Alex couldn’t begin to
imagine that having slept with Lexi, they’d be friends if they ever “broke
up.”
“T-FLAC’s a close-knit community,” he said, sounding a lot like her pastor,
and feeling a lot savage thinking about her with another man. “You
shouldn’t pee in your own pond.”
“That’s a disgusting analogy. And I don’t date people I work with.”
Apparently six foot six, black, ex-football player Mike Love didn’t count.
“Then who do you date?”
“None of your damned business. Isn’t that Daklin waving his arms like a
looney-bird over there?”
Yeah. It was Daklin all right and he didn’t look happy. The warehouse was
beyond a row of rental storage units about three hundred yards ahead.
Alex slowed the car, and shot Lexi an amused glance. “Is a looney-bird a
real bird?”
“Certainly,” she said straight-faced. “The looney-bird is found exclusively
on the Galápagos Islands. They’re from the order Sphenisciformes, family
Spheniscidae. It’s twenty-six inches tall, and similar in shape to a female
penguin. Most of them are mild mannered, even docile. But the white-
winged looney-birds are very bad-tempered.”
Alex laughed as he stopped the car. “You just made that up.”
This was the first time Lexi had seen him really laugh. God. He was
already irresistible, but when he threw his head back and roared with
amusement, her heart did more than just calisthenics, it prepped for the
Olympics. She kept her thoughts off her face. “Are you sure?”
“That’s the problem. I’m not sure.” Stil grinning, he rol ed his window
down as Daklin jogged up beside the car. A blast of frigid air swirled
around the
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