Hot as Heller (Aster Valley 3)

Finn turned to me. “Lookie-loos?”

I shot him a glare. “Fine. Idiot groupies with nothing better to do than stalk random people. Is that better?”

“I’m not sure anyone would call Crystobell Edmund a ‘random’ person,” he said with a smirk. “Tell me you wouldn’t sleep with her if she crooked her finger.”

I turned to him at a stoplight and said it straight up. “I would not sleep with her if she crooked her finger.”

The prisoner piped up. “Well, shit. You broken? Even I would sleep with the woman, and I don’t swing that way. Did you even see Party of Two? The hot tub scene? Jesus on a jump rope, that woman can steam the pants off anyone.”

I glanced at her in the rearview mirror. “I don’t swing that way either.”

Even though I didn’t want it to be so, I had all of my antennae focused on Finn’s reaction to my declaration.

He turned to look out the passenger-side window as if it was no big deal, but I noticed his grip on his phone turned white-knuckled. “Same,” he said casually.

I didn’t admit to already knowing about his sexuality. It was still my plan to not give him the satisfaction of thinking I knew anything about him.

“Great,” the woman said from the back. “I can’t even make up a sexual assault complaint with a couple of gays up in here.”

I couldn’t hold back a laugh. “That and there’s two cameras in here.”

She grinned wide at me in the mirror. “I’m just teasing. You seem nice. Too bad I didn’t get the bust-up in Rockley instead of Summit. I woulda liked seeing you again in court.”

Finn chuckled at that and began asking her what she’d been busted for. His questions were so casual, the prisoner had no idea she was confessing to crimes after she’d not only been read her rights but also after it had been clearly disclosed to her she was on camera.

I glanced over at him and caught his eye.

He winked at me.

I bit back another laugh and looked in the rearview mirror again. “Ma’am, you might be seeing me in court after all.”

This time, it was Finn who had to bite back the laugh. I tried hard not to feel like the two of us were in on a secret together, but it was hard.

I didn’t want to like Finn Heller. But that was hard, too.

Step one, I needed to stop palling around with this guy.

6

Finn

Riding along with Sheriff Stone was easier than I’d anticipated. I’d expected him to be harsh, annoyed, and stuck-up. He’d seemed to make a flash first impression of me that put me squarely in the “spoiled brat” category.

But today was different. He’d been kinder than I’d expected, and more patient in general. At least, at first.

After dropping the woman off in Silverthorne, Declan pulled into a sandwich shop so we could grab a late lunch. I asked him lots of questions about police procedure, but the minute I threw in a personal question about why he’d gone into law enforcement, his easygoing manner shut down.

“We should probably get back,” he said, balling up the wax paper from his sandwich and shoving back his chair to stand up. “You have your dinner thing.”

I looked down at my half-eaten salad. It wasn’t very good anyway, so I went ahead and threw it out before following Declan to the SUV. When we were back on the road, I tried again.

“Are you from here?”

He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye before answering. “No.”

“Oh.” That wasn’t a question people usually answered with only one word. “Where did you—”

He interrupted me to point out an elk off the side of the highway. “Quick, look over there. See the antlers?”

I stared in awe at the big animal, who stood frozen in a stand of trees. After spending my entire life in the city, it was almost unbelievable to think the elk was real and wild, not part of a zoo exhibit or something.

“Wow,” I whispered as I craned my neck to look at it as long as I could before we were too far past it. “That’s amazing.”

“I often wonder if I’ll ever get used to it,” he said, almost to himself.

I kept eagle eyes on the edges of the highway after that, trying as hard as I could to spot more wildlife. The closest I came was seeing some kind of hawk fly over the trees.

“I can see the appeal of living here,” I said after a while. “The people are friendly, and the area of Aster Valley is stunning. It’s just as sunny here as in LA, but it’s fresh and clean.”

“So, you do your own stunts, you said?” Declan asked, turning the conversation away from himself again.

I opened my mouth to give my usual PR response about taking pride in doing my own stunts, but for some reason, I didn’t feel like lying to him. “Technically? I mean, that’s what we say. Most of the time, I do my own climbing stunts which is the bulk of what my career has consisted of so far. But when you mentioned Nolan’s plan to use actual explosives in the avalanche scene…” I looked out the window at the rolling hills to my right. “Well, let’s just say I hope he has some specialists who can show me what to do safely.”