Even though they’d had a trying day — all Hannah could think about with any zest was crawling into bed and taking a nap — she mustered a legitimate smile. “Of course. You’re the man. You should do the talking.”
He scowled. “That’s not why I want to do the talking and you know it.”
Hannah barreled forward as if she hadn’t heard him. “I mean ... what do I have to offer the conversation? I’m just the one who has taken out not one but two of these things. Clearly I’m out of my depth.”
He leaned back and pinched the bridge of his nose. “You’re going to turn this into a thing, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Fine.” He threw up his hands. “I can’t stop you from doing what you’re going to do. I don’t even know if I should want to. It’s just ... I don’t want you getting hurt.” He kept his eyes forward so he didn’t risk getting lost in the blue of her eyes. “I failed you earlier. You had to put yourself at risk to keep Tyler and me safe.”
She arched a challenging eyebrow. “Do you think I regret that?”
“No, but ... I’m head of security. It’s my job to keep you safe.”
The simplistic answer made Hannah laugh. “Oh, you’re so funny.” She poked his side as she leaned over and kissed his cheek. “It’s not as if there’s a handbook on how to deal with this. We can only do what we can do.”
“Yeah, but you’ve done everything so far.”
And, Hannah found, she was proud of that fact. That didn’t mean she wanted to keep risking it just so she could be designated the Casper Creek hero. “Cooper, what happened with Frank was ... unfortunate. Personally, though, I’m glad we got him out of the way so early. I think these creatures are going to start working together, which is going to make the battles that much harder going forward.
“The things we’re going to be dealing with aren’t going to be easy, no matter how we would like to believe otherwise,” she continued. “Personally, I can’t think of a way for sloth to attack without us being able to take him. It’s a mistake to allow that sort of egocentric thinking in, though.
“What happens if his power is to make it so we don’t want to get up from the couch? What if he attacks and we don’t care because we’re watching reruns of The Golden Girls or something? I mean ... is that what you want your obituary to read?”
Even though he was determined to keep the pity train going, Cooper had to admit there was a point buried under the lame attempts at humor. “I get what you’re saying,” he said after a beat. “I even agree with what you’re saying. I still feel as if I let you down.”
“You didn’t. You’re alive. Tyler is alive, too. You also have that rugged ‘I’ve been in a fight and won’ thing going for you,” she teased, her fingers lightly feathering over what she knew would be a bruise in two hours. “You did the best you could. I did the best I could. We came out the other side. What’s not to like about that?”
Cooper scowled. “You did a lot better than I did.”
“I didn’t realize we were in a competition.”
“Ugh.” He rubbed his forehead to ward off what he was certain would turn into a righteous headache. “I know you’re right. I’m just not ready to admit it yet. Can’t you just let me wallow for another hour or so?”
She smiled but shook her head. “No. We’re about to take on Astra. That means both of us need to be on top of our games.”
“Fine.” He pocketed his keys and exhaled heavily. Interacting with Astra always got his dander up, although he recognized it was a necessary evil today. “I guess we should get this over with.”
“We should.”
“Once we’re done, though, I want to head back to town and worship you as my hero for the rest of the day.”
She pressed her lips together to keep from smiling, but it was a wasted effort. He always knew exactly what to say to make her feel better. “I think that sounds like a nice night ... even though we’ll have an FBI agent watching our every move.”
The statement was enough to have Cooper scowling again. “Yeah, that’s going to be obnoxious. Do you get the feeling he just wants to stay at the town because it means he’ll have a free room at his disposal?”
Hannah shrugged. She honestly hadn’t considered it. “I think it’s more that he doesn’t trust us. He thinks we’re hiding something. The fact that he walked into the saloon and we were administering first aid to you guys couldn’t have been a good look.”
“No, but he barely noticed.”
“Or he pretended to buy the lame story about the horses. I think he wants to see if we do weird stuff when we think nobody is looking.”
“Like what?”
She held out her hands and shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess we’ll find out tonight.”
“The only thing we’re doing tonight is locking ourselves in your apartment and watching television in bed while eating ice cream.”
She cocked a challenging eyebrow. “The only thing?”
“Well, to start,” he hedged. “I’m tired, although I’m betting I’ll rally.”
She chuckled as she climbed out of the truck. “I’m betting you’ll rally, too.”
ASTRA WAS IN THE MAIN STOREFRONT when they walked through the front door. She looked to be in a foul mood, and that didn’t improve when she caught sight of her guests.
“Oh, geez.” She rolled her neck and glared at the woman behind the counter, as if it was her fault that Hannah and Cooper had decided to stop in. “Why does the Goddess hate me today?”
“It’s probably karma,” Cooper answered dryly. “We need to talk.”
Astra pasted a flirty smile on her face and focused her full attention
