“It’s sort of like truth or dare without the dare part. Or strip poker, without the stripping.” Hannah cut the deck of playing cards she’d talked Riley into picking up at the service station where they’d stopped for gas and a couple of deli sandwiches. “My brothers Jake and Gabe made it up. Come to think of it, there might have been a dare aspect to it early on, but I think Mom ended that after the tree-house incident.”
He looked at her skeptically as he gathered up the remains of their lunch and set them aside to drop in the trash can later. “Why do you call it popsmack?”
She grinned. “I’m pretty sure it’s because my brothers ended up in a huge punching match by the end of every game. They’re cretins.” She lightened the insult with affection; her brothers, for all the irritation they’d been over the years, were good guys, and she loved them all dearly.
“Couldn’t we just play strip poker instead?” Riley flashed her a leering grin, but she saw the nervousness behind his eyes. He was clearly a private kind of guy, and what she was asking him to do had to be pretty daunting.
“It’s just a getting to know you kind of thing,” she assured him, dealing half the cards to him atop the weathered picnic table, dealing the other half to herself.
They’d arrived early in Pavillion, since they hadn’t stopped to eat in town, so they had a couple of hours to pass before they could head toward Jackson to recreate the events leading up to the event. Talk had been sparse during the drive, Riley sinking into a sort of contemplative silence for most of the way. No doubt going over all the facts of the cases he was investigating. He was nothing if not single-minded.
But their discussion about Jack and his relative trustworthiness had convinced Hannah that she and Riley needed to get their stories straight if they were going to spend much more time in Jack’s company. Riley’s brother- in-law was good-natured and mostly benign, but he wasn’t stupid. They had to be convincing as lovers, and that included knowing a little more about each other than just their names. She’d hoped popsmack would prove a fun way to make that happen.
“It’s very simple-you play your cards one at a time. The person with the highest card wins.”
“Which means?”
“Which means the winner gets to ask any question he or she wants, and the other person has to answer that question honestly.”
The wary look in his eyes deepened. “What if it’s a really personal question?”
“Jack thinks we’re sleeping together. I think that means we should know a few really personal things about each other.”
His shoulders squared and the muscles in his jaw twitched tight. “Okay, let’s go.”
She picked up her half of the deck and dealt the top card. A three of clubs.
Across the table, Riley smiled. When he dealt a ten of hearts, his smile widened. “So, I can ask you anything?”
Hannah’s stomach tightened. He looked entirely too pleased with the idea. “Yeah, anything.”
He thought for a minute. “What’s your favorite color?”
“Blue,” she answered quickly, torn between relief and disappointment. If they both got cold feet about asking the hard questions, this game would go nowhere.
She dealt another card. Queen of spades. He dealt a five of clubs and gave her a narrow-eyed look.
“What made you decide to be a policeman?” she asked.
His expression eased. “I didn’t want to be a rancher, and Joe was my best friend. So when he decided to become a police officer, I thought it sounded like my kind of adventure.”
“And was it?”
He quirked an eyebrow. “I don’t remember follow-up questions being part of the game rules.”
As he started to deal another card, she put her hand over his. “Seriously. Do you like being a cop?”
He looked down at her hand on his. She started to pull it away, but he reached out and trapped it with his other hand. “If we’re supposed to be lovers, I think we should probably get used to touching each other.”
Her heart turned an erratic little flip. He was right, of course, but her mind hadn’t stopped with just holding hands. Would Jack expect to see them embrace? Even kiss?
“Should we be playing spin the bottle instead?” she muttered nervously.
His grip on her hand softened into something alarmingly like a caress. His thumb moved slowly over the back of her hand. “Probably.”
“I do like being a cop,” he said before she could deal her next card, his blue-eyed gaze direct. “I haven’t been in a position to enjoy the investigative aspect of the job that much in a place like Canyon Creek, but I like being one of the goto guys in town. People trust me to protect them. Make sure justice is done. I like being useful.”
She smiled. “You sound like my brother, Aaron. He’s a deputy sheriff back home.”
“What about your older brother-the one who lost his wife?”
She toyed with the stack of cards in front of her. “He was in the Navy awhile-he worked in ship maintenance. When he left the service, he came back to the marina to help my parents run the place. They’d been wanting to offer on-site service to our slip renters, and now J.D. does that full-time. He likes tinkering with things, making them work.”
Riley flipped the top card of his stack on to the table face up. “Five of spades.”
She dealt a card. “Nine of diamonds.”
He smiled slightly. “Your turn.”
She was beginning to wish she’d never started this game. The more she learned about him, the more she liked, and she had a feeling he’d be a lot easier to resist if she didn’t like him quite so much.
“What’s your favorite food?” she asked finally.
His mouth quirked. “Lost your nerve?”
“It’s better than ‘what’s your favorite color?’” she shot back with a roll of her eyes.
“Fair enough.” He rubbed his chin as if giving her question some thought. “Would steak and potatoes be too much of a cliche?”
“Not if it’s the truth.”
He smiled. “I do like a good steak, but I guess my favorite food is barbecue ribs.”
“My brother Jake makes the best ribs,” she said, her mouth watering at the thought. “Slow cooked, slathered with his homemade sauce-yum. He cooked some for Labor Day.”
“I make my own barbecue sauce, too,” he said. “Actually, it’s Emily’s recipe-”
The air between them grew immediately colder. Riley sat back from the table, his fingers tapping the stack of undealt cards in front of him, moving them forward toward her.
“I wish I could have met her,” Hannah said. She immediately regretted her words when she saw the flash of pain cross Riley’s face.
“We should probably get on the road.” He looked away.
She scooped up the cards and put them back in the pack. “Okay.” She scooted off the picnic-table bench and started toward the Ford Taurus Riley had borrowed from the used-car lot.
He caught her halfway there, his hand encircling her elbow. “You should drive from here on. I’ll get you to the starting point, then you can take it from there.”
She took the keys he held out and unlocked the Taurus’s driver door. She adjusted the seat and buckled herself in while he climbed in the passenger side.
“Just head northeast on this road and you’ll come to Highway 287.”
Hannah pulled the Taurus out of the rest area and back onto the main road, stealing a glance at Riley. He’d donned a pair of sunglasses and was gazing forward at the road, although he wore a slight smile that made her own lips curve in response.
A moment later, he cleared his throat. “I think Emily would have liked you.”
Her smile faded. Forcing herself not to analyze that statement, she headed for Highway 287.
HE HAD TO STOP LETTING the mention of Emily’s name paralyze him, he thought as he watched Hannah drive west on Highway 287. If not for himself, then for Emily. She’d be horrified to know he was trapped in her memory like a bug in amber. He’d never known a woman more alive, who’d found more joy in just living, than Emily, and she would hate what he’d become, almost as much as she’d loved him in life.
