Deep Trouble: A MacKenzie Family Novella (The MacKenzie Family) by Kimberly Kincaid Read Free Book Online Page A

ran out of cash, and that’s how I ended up in Montana.”
    Devon’s head buzzed with so many questions that choosing one to put to words was a tall order. “California’s huge. Losing your job sucks, but how is it that you couldn’t find another one nearby?” There had to be hundreds of restaurant gigs, even in Cali’s smaller cities and towns.
    Kylie laughed, although there was zero humor in the soft huff of her breath. “Let’s just say when you’re a better cook than your ‘chef’ boyfriend”—she paused to pin the word with an air quote/eye roll combo—“and your interview for the open kitchen position at the café where you both work puts that fact on display? Egos get bruised like summer fruit.”
    “That explains the breakup.” Well, that and the fact that her ex sounded like a gold star member of the Dickhead of the Month club. “But if you were a better cook, how come you didn’t get the job?” Devon asked.
    “Because my ex was better in the bedroom than the kitchen. He seduced the restaurant manager and convinced her I was power hungry and that I’d be a tyrant in the kitchen. She fired me, and restaurant circles are more like rumor mills. My resume was pretty much Swiss cheese at that point anyway, so…”
    “You took off.” Something else she’d said tugged at the back of Devon’s mind, and before he could haul the question back, he asked, “You said you got as far as Montana. Where were you headed?”
    Kylie paused, although her expression remained tough. “I haven’t been to the East Coast in a while. I thought it might be cool to go see Kellan.”
    “See him? Or live in NC?”
    “Whichever,” she said, but the word came out with way less indifference than he’d bet she intended to stick to it.
    “Why didn’t you tell your brother you wanted to move to North Carolina?” Hell, he’d bet Kellan would’ve moved a mountain range to bring Kylie closer to him if he’d known that was what she wanted. Devon would do the same for his own sister Cat in a nanosecond.
    “Because I’m a big girl,” she said, just as matter-of-factly as if she were telling him she had blue eyes or that the earth was round and not flat as a two-by-four. “I was stuck in California of my own doing, and that’s exactly how I was going to get out. I might move around a bunch, and sometimes I fly by the seat of my pants, but I can still take care of myself.” Her gaze shot out the window as she tacked on, “Most of the time, anyway.”
    Devon opened his mouth to tell her she didn’t have to be so tough. The last thing either of them needed was for her to pull another stunt like the Maglite stickup she’d tried last night in the motel parking lot, and just because Kylie was fierce didn’t mean she was bulletproof. But then she turned to grab her sunglasses out of her purse, and the look on her face slapped him right in the solar plexus.
    She might rather stick a pin in her eye than admit it, but she was barely hanging on. Which meant they needed to stop and get some supplies and shuteye ASAP.
    Because not only had Devon been in those exact same shoes four years ago, but if he didn’t regroup and get his shit together, he was liable to do something galacticly stupid.
    Like tell Kylie he knew just how she felt.
     

Chapter Five
    Kylie split her gaze between the navy blue baseball hat in her lap and the mom-and-pop drugstore to her right, unsure which one she liked less. The hat Devon had pulled out of his glove box was sure to be an obvious cover-up, and that was if she could actually cram all her hair under the thing. Then again, the store was a fixed place, an unknown place, and despite the cheerily painted sign and the trio of wide, sparkling windows gracing the front, Kylie knew all too well that the worst sort of bad might still be lurking inside.
    “We’re going to be fine,” Devon said, sliding his gun into the holster beneath his rib cage before covering it seamlessly with his leather