“But you have thought about it?” Stefanie’s eyes were firmly on the road but she began to tap a finger on the steering wheel.
“If anyone assumes, we’ll just say we met at a conference and I used the internship as an excuse to get close to you. Put it on me. Tell them you just thought I was being nice and you put up walls when you figured out what was going on. That’ll keep you out of hot water.”
Stefanie smiled. “Are you always that generous at taking the blame in your relationships?” As soon as the words were out, Stefanie wished she could take them back. Or the ground would swallow her whole. She was flexible.
Joey, to his credit, kept his cool. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen someone. But yeah, I don’t like it when couples snipe at each other over every little thing. I’ll own it if I make a mistake.” He looked out of the passenger’s side window. “How about you? It wasn’t in your file, but, I mean, I should know if you have a boyfriend, girlfriend, or are dating so I can change my backup story.”
“No significant others.” Stefanie turned onto the highway. “I prefer the company of men. Man! Just one. At a time.” Her face flushed. “What I mean to say is, I’ve had a hard time finding the right guy. Not everyone wants to date someone who wants to be the boss. Or they think they do, but then have second thoughts when they find out I make more money than they do.”
Joey shook his head. “Their loss.” The moment hung in the air, heavy between them. Then Joey cleared his throat. “So. When we get to the range, I’ll probably let you set up, show me how you shoot, then we’ll start timing it and see how you do under pressure.”
Stefanie managed to hold back a smile. No one had told Joey about her family. Or maybe they did, but he didn’t believe it. To be fair, not every scientist had a protective dad who wanted to make sure his daughters could kick ass and take names if the need arose. Joey had been polite and concerned this evening, which would make it a little less satisfying than if he’d been rude about it. Still, this was going to be fun.
When they finally reached the shooting range far enough out of town to satisfy the CIA operative in her passenger’s seat, Stefanie was ready. On their way in the door, Joey’s fingers brushed her own. A little shock of electricity ran up her arm, and she turned to him, surprised. He stilled for a moment, then she felt him slip a little card into her hand. She glanced down. It was a new ID. She checked in first, showing her weapon. The clerk scanned the new ID into his electronic system and she put it in her back pocket when he gave it, and her gun, back.
On the way to their lane, Stefanie whispered, “Rita Lewis? Did you have that made special for me? Do I need to remember that?”
Joey leaned in conspiratorially. “Actually, we had it on hand from one of your sister’s operations. The FBI sent it to me just in case.” Joey glanced up at the numbered booth. “I think this is our lane.” The range had predefined areas for each person to stand in, and Joey joined her. “Ladies first?”
Stefanie shook her head, getting back in the zone. “No, I’m rusty. You go.”
Joey shrugged and pulled out his weapon. Stefanie took a step back and watched him shift from playful to serious. Stefanie’s cheeks warmed at the shift. Whoa. Where had that come from? Stefanie cleared her throat. Joey turned to face her. “You okay?”
Stefanie rubbed the back of her neck. “Yep. Just fine.”
Joey grinned and her cheeks warmed further. Fortunately, he turned around to aim at the target. A minute later, his target had a respectable grouping around the X. What was she planning to do again? Oh, yes. She was planning to show him what she was made of. Stefanie placed a new target, then gave Joey a cheeky smile. She only saw a puzzled look for a second before she focused on the target and began taking her shots. Her grouping was nearly as good as his. See? She was fine not being the best. She just wanted to give him a run for his money.
She turned around to see his reaction. Instead of annoyance over her competence, however, Joey met her with a raised hand for a high five, admiration on his face. “Nice work. Where’d you learn to do that? From the Army dad?”
Stefanie slapped his hand and shrugged. “Yeah. And Ree’s into it too. I can’t exactly let my big sister show me up.”
“So, you come out to the gun range, on a regular basis, for the sole purpose of making sure you can still shoot better than your sister?” Joey snorted.
Stefanie grinned. “You say that like it’s a bad thing. Want to go a few more rounds?”
Joey smiled and his eyes crinkled at the corners. “Yeah, actually. I really do.”
She met his eyes and for a moment, he didn’t move. He swallowed and a shiver ran up her spine. Nope. Nope, nope, nope. They were here to work, and that was it. She put her hands on her hips. “Well, you better get ready, then. Because I was just warming up.” Stefanie placed another target and took aim.
On the way home from their impromptu team-building event, Stefanie took a slight detour to get milkshakes at a cute roadside food truck advertising everything a weary traveler could want in any combination. Fortunately, they were open late. Stefanie took a sip of her non-dairy vanilla bean “milk” shake and stared at Joey. “The only reason, and I mean the only reason, you beat me on the last round is because I
