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It wasn’t like I’d expected him to sweep me off my feet in front of half the town or anything, but a part of me had wondered if maybe... just maybe... that kiss had affected him the way it had me. But apparently, it hadn’t. Not enough to want to do it again, anyway.
Tucker nodded, but his eyes were hard to read—guarded, like he was processing everything I’d just said. “Right. Of course,” he murmured. “Just a fling.”
The silence stretched between us, and for a moment, I wondered if I’d said the wrong thing. Maybe I’d misjudged him, but then again, maybe he was just playing it safe, keeping his distance like he always did. That was part of the deal, right? No strings, no promises.
Still, I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that I’d missed something. The way his gaze lingered just a second too long, the subtle tension in his posture—was he disappointed? Or was that just wishful thinking on my part?
Get it together, Dakota.
I forced a smile back onto my face. “Anyway, just wanted to make sure we were on the same page.”
Tucker’s lips twitched slightly—almost like he wanted to smile but couldn’t quite manage it. “Yeah. We’re on the same page.”
I nodded, feeling the awkwardness settle between us. But before I could figure out how to move the conversation forward, Tucker shifted, his gaze darting away from mine for a second before he cleared his throat. I could tell there was something else he wanted to talk about, something other than the kiss or whatever awkward tension still lingered between us. And as much as I wanted to stay in the bubble of denial I’d just created, part of me wanted to know what was on his mind.
Gesturing to the porch swing, I eased the door closed behind me and led him over there. We took a seat, and the nearness of him threatened to make me forget all about whatever it was I’d been curious about seconds before.
“I wanted to give you a heads-up,” he said, bringing me back as his voice took on that serious, business-like tone I’d gotten used to when he was switching gears into investigator mode. “The case... It’s going to take longer than I thought.”
“Oh?” I raised an eyebrow, wrapping my hands around the coffee cup like it could somehow keep me grounded. “Why? Did something new come up?”
He nodded, his eyes narrowing slightly as he stared down at the ground. “Yeah. Hope let Colt and me check out the upstairs at her place, and we did another run-through of the basement. We still haven’t found the treasure, and with no way to know what that key unlocks or where whatever it is might be hidden, that part of the investigation is at a standstill.”
“So... what’s the plan now?” I asked, my voice careful.
Tucker glanced down at me, his jaw tightening. “We’ve been looking into Syd Wharton’s disappearance. So far, we’re coming up empty, but if we can figure out what happened to him, it might give us a lead on the treasure.”
I blinked, surprised by the shift in focus. Syd Wharton... the treasure... the disappearance. It all felt like one tangled mystery, and now we were diving even deeper into it. But there wassomething else Tucker wasn’t saying, something that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
“And there’s something else,” he added, confirming my suspicions in such a perfectly timed way I almost yelled, “I knew it!”
But I didn’t. I bit my tongue, keeping my cool, and nodded for him to go on.
“My client... the one who hired us back in Colorado and sent us out here in the first place… he came to town.”
I froze. “Wait... what? When?”
“I saw him right after the town square incident. The truck backfiring.”
“Your client was here that day? You didn’t tell me that.”
“To be fair, I’m not sure why you think I would,” Tucker said, then quickly lifted a hand in a placating gesture. “If you’ll remember, I didn’t want you anywhere near this case from the start. It took you a minute to wear me down, Wildcard.”
I snorted, rising from the swing and pacing a few steps away. “Just what I’ve always wanted… the ability to wear a man down.”
He bristled at that, but remained calmly seated. “I didn’t mean that the way I think you’re taking it.”
“’Kay. So, what did he want?”
“He was just checking in, trying to rush the process along. I told him right away that wasn’t how I liked to conduct business, and I was pretty proud of myself for not sticking my boot up his—” He cleared his throat, shaking his head. “Not the point. I hate being micromanaged.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “I’m shocked.”
There was a moment of lightness between us, but then I simply stared at him, trying to process everything he’d just shared. His client. The man who’d hired him to find this treasure. The man who stood to gain a lot from this, whether or not it was tied to Syd Wharton’s disappearance.
“Wait...” I frowned, the pieces clicking into place in my head. I lowered my voice to a near-whisper. “Could he have been the one who shot you?”
Tucker’s lips twitched, amusement flickering in his eyes despite the seriousness of the situation. “You’re starting to get good at this PI thing, Wildcard.”
