“Hi, I’m Cody, it’s nice to meet you,” Cody managed to choke out as he shook her hand.
As they turned to head into Susan’s house, Sydney grabbed her sister by the arm, holding her back and whispered, “I think you were wrong about the Captain America lookalike. That man is most definitely more of a Thor.”
“What in the world are you two women talking about?” Jake eyeballed them suspiciously.
“Oh, just an actor we think would make a great Marvel character.” Tess glanced at Sydney as they both broke out laughing.
Both Jake and Cody looked at each other and then back at the two sisters, who looked oddly guilty and pretty proud of themselves. “Marvel?” the two said in unison.
“Sure, who doesn’t love Marvel movies? Have you seen the men that play those characters? Yum,” Tess said, wiggling her eyebrows in a teasing fashion at her soon-to-be husband.
Jake pulled Tess tight against him and with a sly grin asked, “should I be jealous?”
“Most definitely,” Tessa teased as she kissed her man then turned to knock on the door.
*****
A couple of hours later, satisfied with the dinner choices, the four of them headed out of the caterer’s house, thanking her as they left. As they stepped out of the door onto the front step, Tessa turned to her sister. “Syd,” she drawled, “do you mind if I just ride home with Jake? That way we don’t have to take two vehicles there. You can take Cody and drop him back at the station to get his truck. It just makes sense.” Tess grinned devilishly at her sister. Somehow Sydney was pretty sure that had been the plan all along.
“Sure, anything for you, sis.”
“You don’t mind, do you, Cody? I promise, as old as that truck is, it still runs like a beast. Syd here keeps it in tip-top shape.” Tess batted her eyes at Cody, making it impossible for him to say no. She was very good at getting what she wanted. Even as a kid, Tess would argue till Mom and Dad couldn’t stand it anymore and just give in. Luckily, Tess was also a good kid and they didn’t have to worry about her much. Which was probably the real reason they eventually gave in. Sydney used to think Tessa would make an exceptional lawyer, because nobody could plead and win a case like she could.
“Of course not. Besides I would love to see that truck in action. If it runs as well as it looks, then I have got to check it out,” Cody said as he glanced first at the truck then back at Sydney. When he caught her gaze, he could see those eyes full of fire, and mischief.
“Oh, she runs, all right. Her looks are nice, but there is nothing artificial about that truck. She is even better under the hood. If you really want to see her run, we could head out to a place I know outside of town just a ways.”
Tess squealed with excitement. “Awesome, it’s all set, then. You two have a great time.” Blowing a kiss to her sister and waving goodbye to Cody, she grabbed Jake by the hand and headed to his truck.
“Subtle,” Jake whispered to his soon-to-be wife and laughed as he smacked her on the butt while she was climbing into the passenger seat.
Tess blew a kiss to him and just grinned.
Watching her sister and soon-to-be brother-in-law drive off, Sydney looked over at Cody. “Well, she’s sweet and stubborn, but subtlety was never one of her strong suits. I can just take you back to the station if you want, really.”
“No, not with all this talk about how nice your truck is. You have me way too curious to back out now,” Cody said as they headed to the truck.
“Perfect, I have been wanting to take a trip out there anyway. This gives me a great excuse.”
The thirty-minute drive went by quickly as they made small talk. To Sydney’s surprise, she didn’t feel uncomfortable at all. Something about this man just put her at ease; maybe it was the fact that he was a detective. There was also something familiar about him. Helena was not that big; there was a good chance she had seen him around town and just never paid much attention. She found it hard to believe that if she had ever seen him that she would not have taken notice. Something was nagging at her that she had met him before. What woman in her right mind would forget meeting this man?
She spent a good portion of the drive trying her damnedest not to stare at him. With his striking blue eyes that really stood out against his dark brown hair, shorter at the sides but a little longer on top. Not perfectly styled, but the sexiest kind of messy that turned a girl inside out. His scruffy facial hair, not quite a beard, but well past a five o’clock shadow. She had a hell of a time at the food tasting not gawking at his well-built body, very tall, probably six foot three or four, and toned, oh so toned. She could tell that he took very good care of his body. He was not the meathead muscle-building type, but definitely the athletic and fit type. She figured he could probably even keep up with her on a run. Not that something like that was ever going to happen, but looking didn’t hurt anything. Just because she has sworn off men for the time being didn’t mean she wasn’t a thriving female with eyes.
Turning off the paved road onto a long narrow dirt road heading up the mountain, Sydney smiled at Cody. “Ready?” she asked him.
“Let’s see what all this hype is about,” Cody replied.
Sydney reach up on the dash, pushed a few buttons on a small screen attached to the dashboard, and then put her foot to the floor. The pickup’s engine came screaming to life as the tires peeled out then grabbed traction and took off. Bombing her way down the narrow road, the adrenaline rushed through her veins, making her feel so alive. For some reason, this was one of her favorite things to do. Coming to the top of the mountain and what appeared to be the end of the road followed up directly by a very large drop-off, she glanced at Cody and could see his fingers tightening their hold on the oh shit bar in the truck. As she neared the end of the road, she hit the brakes, sending the truck into a long slide on the gravel. Cranking the wheel, the back end slid sideways just before her trusty good ol’ truck came to a stop. She looked at the edge of the mountain. “See, at least twenty feet to spare,” she said, laughing.
“You’re kind of crazy, you know that?”
“Yes, yes, I do know that. But you are safe and sound, and look at this view. There is not another view that is better.”
“I take it you do this a lot. You must have a hell of a bill at the tire shop, and in paint repairs, for that matter.” Cody chuckled, as he realized he still had a death grip on the handle. As casually as he could, he pried his hand off, hoping she wouldn’t notice his tight hold.
Sydney just giggled. “Actually, no, I don’t do that very often. There have been a few times, yes, mostly when I need to let out some frustrations, or rather, a lot of frustrations. I probably over sold her a little on power, but she runs clean, has a booming stereo and four-wheel drive. That’s all I need. Well, and a small performance chip my Dad and I installed. That is good enough. I really do treat her with kid gloves most of the time, she means too much to me to be hard on her, but if you don’t burn the carbon out occasionally, she starts running like crap. Really, I do it to preserve the engine.”
“Well, that should have burned out any built-up carbon, that’s for sure,” Cody said, smiling at the woman next to him.
“Come on, you have to check out this view,” Sydney said as she opened her door and climbed out of the truck. Cody followed suit and in short order was standing next to her. Breathing in his masculine scent mixed with a little cologne had her mind thinking things it had no business thinking. For heaven’s sake, Syd, you don’t even know this guy and you are not, I repeat not, falling for anyone. Period, Sydney silently scolded herself.
As they walked to the edge of the mountain side, the city below came into full view. “Oh wow, you were absolutely right. This view is incredible,” Cody said in awe. “It’s no wonder