Page 8 of Bennett

That might explain it.

Bennett lifted one shoulder in a slow shrug. “I like knowing things.”

So did she. It was a hunger, never satisfied, always yearning for more. That’s why she constantly had her head in a book during downtime. Even now, she had one in her apron to continue reading on break. It was full of the history of great escape artists and how they pulled it off, the psychology behind why people hesitate to leave when they want to, and much more. It fed her love of quirky trivia.

But she didn’t want to escape now. No, she wanted more.

Laurel narrowed her eyes at the intriguing man, her lips twitching. “Okay, let’s test that.” She tapped the pencil against her chin. “What’s the only muscle in the body that never tires?”

Silence.

Her pulse picked up pace. Had she actually stumped him?

She watched Bennett tilt his head slightly as if considering. After a few seconds, he shook it once. “I’ve got no clue.”

Yes! I win.

Grinning, Laurel slapped the order pad against her palm and pointed at him. “Good. Cute and clueless looks better on you.”

With that, she spun on her heel and walked off to put in their order, barely making it three steps before she heard raucous laughter behind her.

“Damn, Vaughn,” Cooper choked out between chuckles. “You were on a roll, too.”

“She set you up, man,” Matthew added. “Brutal.”

Bennett’s response was too low for her to hear, but whatever he said just made them laugh harder, and her smile widen.

Shaking her head, Laurel slipped into the kitchen, silently praising herself for the way she’d handled the situation.

The unmistakable sound of male laughter and light-hearted razzing drifted into the kitchen. She didn’t need to peek through the order up window to know Bennett was on the receiving end of it.

Good.

She smirked and slid the order onto the kitchen’s spinning rack for Pete, the cook, to grab.

Bennett was far too composed and way too good-looking.

The kind of strong, broody, quiet that made a woman forget all common sense. She’d been down that road before—and crashed. Spectacularly.

She didn’t need another tall, mysterious distraction in her life. Especially not one who looked like he was built for trouble and carried it so damn well.

But then he had to go and be smart too.

She hadn’t expected that.

The guys had been easy to fall into banter with. Cooper was naturally ridiculous, Matthew had a sharp, amused edge, and even Mac, who was clearly the no-nonsense leader type, had an air of tolerance about him, similar to the sheriff. But Bennett?

He’d watched her. Measured. Waited.

And then he’d answered two out of three trivia questions correctly, like he was reading her mind.

Unacceptable.

Laurel inwardly huffed as she grabbed a fresh pot of coffee, her reflection staring back at her in the stainless-steel warmer. Bennett was supposed to be aloof and unreadable, not the kind of man who casually rattled off trivia like it was just another skill in his arsenal. Worse, he’d done it with calm, effortless confidence, like he wasn’t even trying.

She scowled at the coffee pot in the kitchen. There was an identical one out behind the counter in the dining room. “Don’t look at me like that. I wasn’t impressed.”

The pot, naturally, had no response.