* * *
JODI HAD TO ADMIT, it was sort of fun shocking the locals...and grabbing the attention of Mr. Quiet and Watchful. She’d uncovered the identities of most of the residents in the minuscule town—a town that had seemed perfect for her to experiment with nice and normal, everyday life for the nice and normal, everyday woman.
Somehow this dude had slipped under her radar. Weird, because he wasn’t the kind of person she’d normally overlook.
When he went silent and suspicious, she blew out a breath. Seriously, was she that scary? Not that she’d mind... Scary was good in some situations. But now? Everyday life for the everyday woman. She kept repeating it to herself. If she did that often enough, she felt sure she could reprogram her automatic responses.
After all, she hadn’t started out this way.
Casting him another look, she saw his set features, the grim mouth and blatant suspicion, and she almost laughed. “Okay, don’t choke. I won’t pry if you don’t.”
Oddly, that didn’t ease him at all.
Trying again, she said, “So, yeah, my name is Jodi.” She stuck out her hand, determined to be as normal as possible. “Nice to meet you.”
He looked at her as if she might be setting a trap. Pretty funny, considering he was so much bigger than her. Like, topping six-feet big. With linebacker shoulders and seriously nice biceps.
Definitely not a local, but hey, now that she’d decided to live an uneventful life, it was sort of fun to meet other people trying to do the same.
Trying...because this man might think he was managing it, but she’d picked up on his nuances right away. Nothing alarming. Nothing...sinister. Just cagey.
She knew some cagey guys. Really good guys, so she didn’t hold that against her new acquaintance.
Leaning a tiny bit closer, she said, “I won’t bite.” His dark blue eyes narrowed at her. “No? Maybe a high five, then?”
Finally loosening up in an effort to reclaim his manners, he clasped her hand. “I’m sorry.” He gave a congenial smile to go with the warm clasp of his large hand engulfing hers. “You just surprised me since you clearly didn’t want to touch Worth.”
Wrinkling her nose, she confided, “He’s oily, right? Not his skin, but his character. I don’t like him, and no, I don’t touch things I don’t like.”
Ending the handshake, and wearing another confounded expression, the big guy said, “Hunter Osborn, and yes, Worth is oily.”
Pointing back and forth between their chests, Jodi said, “We both know it, proving we’re both astute.” They had that in common.
“Anyone who has more than a thirty-second conversation with Worth knows it, so don’t think that you’re graduating at the top of the class.”
Jodi laughed. “You’re quick. And correct.” She glanced back at Worth, who watched them with ill intent. “He’s such a creep.”
“A dangerous creep, so maybe you shouldn’t provoke him.”
Huh. He wanted to...protect her? Funny, but in the time she’d been here doing her best to fit in, she’d met a lot of nice people. People without a clue. She liked them. They fit her agenda for the status quo. No close friends, she couldn’t claim that yet, but casual acquaintances, people she’d waved to, maybe asked routine stuff. How’s it going? How’s your day? That sort of thing.
But with this man, well, he felt like a kindred spirit. How weird was that? She’d come here so she wouldn’t be around people like her, so she could learn another way of life, but finding someone who’d really get it put her more at ease. Jodi knew that no one was ever really safe. She felt certain that Hunter did as well, and much as she’d wanted it otherwise, there was a measure of comfort in finding a like-minded soul.
When she just stood there, lost in introspection, Hunter made another grab for conventional conversation. “Nice mower.”
Right. She had to do her part if she really wanted anything to change—and she did. She wanted that a lot. It was her big, shining goal. It’d not only make her happy but it’d please others, too. Win-win.
Smiling, Jodi turned back to her pride and joy, the key to making the future work. “Isn’t it a beauty?” Once she’d shown an affinity for outdoor lawn work, the mower had been given to her as a gift, along with everything else she’d need to start up in a different place, as a different woman with a different outlook on life.
She was coming to grips with the generosity, but sometimes it still leveled her. With happiness, gratitude and a zest to make the most of her opportunities.
“So this is what you do?” he asked. “Lawn work?”
“I’d accuse you of being nosy, but I guess that much is obvious, huh? Why else would I have the mower and all the lawn equipment in the truck?”
“So a safe assumption.” He smiled with her.
Such a nice smile he had, too, with straight white teeth and notable lips... That thought stalled in her brain. Why the heck was she noticing his lips? “Yeah.” She cleared her throat and glanced up at the bright blue sky. “I love the sunshine and fresh air.” From now until the end of her days, she’d prefer it to being cooped up inside. “It’s pretty much the perfect job for me.”
Idly, as if it didn’t matter, he asked, “Been at it long?”
So that was a little nosier, but hey, she rolled with it. “Not really.”
He waited for her to expound on that, she stayed silent just to see what he’d do, and after a few awkward seconds, he gave her a crooked grin. “You handle the mower like a pro, so you must be a natural.”
“Right? That’s what I figured.” Would he do a search? Try to figure out her background, what she’d done before lawn work, where she’d come from—and why she’d moved?
It’s what she would have done in his position, what she’d planned to do as soon as she had time to research him. Yet she realized that wasn’t the norm for everyone. Most people didn’t suspect every person they met. Most, she knew, went about their daily lives oblivious to danger and how easily things could change.
It wasn’t that she suspected Hunter of anything nefarious. Overall, he had a positive vibe. Still, it was good to be suspicious... No. That’s why she’d moved here, right? To shake off those instincts?
Right. Might as well try to shake off her past, too. Not possible.
She decided she could be cautious without going overboard, as any sensible woman would.
Leaning against the truck, she asked, “How about you?”
“Sorry, you took so long thinking there, I’ve lost track of the conversation. How about me what?”