Page 18 of High Side

“I bet.” Lupe was totally the mom here. Liz was the stern boss.

“Well, I won’t keep you any longer, honey. Go and find Kylie and pick her brains.” Lupe winked over at her. “Have fun.”

“I will.” She waved before heading out, saving half her brownie as a peace offering. Though why she had to offer peace she wasn’t sure. Maybe more as a bribe to get Kylie to tell her what was going on.

“You looking for Ky?” Joe asked as she headed back into the storage sheds.

“I am.”

“She’s loading oars on rack.”

“Thanks.” Okay, so she was obvious. Maybe that was why Kylie was all of a sudden quiet. People were noticing, and Jilly said she didn’t do that.

In fact, that seemed more logical than anything else, to be honest. Kylie was the senior guide. She had to keep her shit together a little bit. So Brit would ask, but if Kylie turned her down flat, well…

She had no idea what she would do.

Brittany chuckled. She played a lot fast and loose in her life.

“Hey. Want a bite of my brownie?” she asked when she saw Kylie.

Kylie’s lips parted, then she snapped them shut. “Is that a euphemism?”

“Nope.” Brittany held out the piece of brownie she’d saved. “Lupe gave it to me.”

“It is an edible?”

“No.” She laughed. “I did sniff it, though, just to be sure.”

“Smart girl.”

“Lupe seems like the type.” Not so much Liz, but Lupe would totally hand out hash brownies.

“Oh my God, you have to try her caramels at some point.”

“Yay.” Brittany gave it over, then started putting oars on racks. “Are we okay?”

“Huh? Sure we are. Why?”

“You’ve been avoiding me.”

Kylie gave her a sideways glance. “Have I?”

“It feels like it, yeah. I mean, maybe it’s just me, but you’ve been running pretty hard.”

Kylie sighed. “You’re too damn tempting, honey. I mean, really bad. And I’m afraid that will affect my judgment as your supervisor.”

“So put me on Joe’s trips.”

“Yeah? I can do that. Most of the time, really.” Kylie’s slow grin said she’d never even thought of that.

“I’m down. I would rather explore…the kind of fun we can have off the river. You and me.”

Kylie nodded slowly, then nipped off a bite of brownie. “Okay. In that case, how do you feel about enchiladas? I have a pan of them at my place ready to go into the oven.”

“I’m a fan.” In fact, she would have agreed to eat anything but liver if it got her to Kylie’s place.

She hated liver.