“There are signs?”
He was going to have to explain and hope he didn’t sound like a complete asshole. Kyle should know that this was a setup going in. He still wasn’t completely sure which of them was the target. He’d had all day Sunday to wonder why Charlotte would think he needed a girlfriend—besides the obvious lack of companionship, lack of motivation, lack of dishes in his brand-new house. “This is a case Big Tag took strictly because he knows this chick’s dad. He’s some sheriff in a town where there’s more gators than people. He’s probably one of those people who thinks his baby girl will immediately be murdered when she steps foot in a city.”
“I have known the type,” Kyle allowed. “But that doesn’t necessarily rule out a serious problem. He can be both paranoid and right. I’ve known that type, too.”
Kyle kind of was that type. But he didn’t understand Charlotte Taggart’s hobbies. “Look, there’s a reason we’re on this case.”
“Yes, you’re here because it involves some high-tech stuff, and I’m good at not letting the people around me die,” Kyle replied as they moved forward again.
“We’re also single, and apparently this young lady is looking for a husband.” He wasn’t sure Noelle LaVigne knew Charlotte was setting her up, but it was smart to go into the situation thinking everyone else was in on it.
A brow rose over Kyle’s eyes. “Seriously?”
At least he now had the man’s attention. “Come on, man. You have to know Charlotte likes to play matchmaker.”
“She does that at the club,” Kyle replied. “She wouldn’t do it in her professional world.”
“Who do you think set up Michael and Tessa?”
Tessa was on the bodyguard team, so Kyle should know her pretty well. “Seriously? She thought Michael and Tess would suit each other? They’re too alike. She needs someone…I don’t know, lighter than Malone. I was actually thinking of introducing her to my brother.”
He would never in a million years have thought that Kyle freaking Hawthorne was the kind of dude who would set up his own brother. “My point is this whole case is a setup. For one of us. I’m not sure which.”
“She’s pretty and smart. I can think of worse things,” Kyle said. “Although I’m not in a good place for a relationship.”
“You and me both.” There was light at the end of the tunnel. Four more people and he could hop on that elevator and get his coffee, get to his meeting, and hopefully shut Charlotte’s plans down. “I do not need to be set up with a small-town princess who probably caused this whole problem by leaving her laptop where she shouldn’t. I do not need some paranoid sheriff begging me to date his daughter.”
“My dad doesn’t beg, I assure you,” a feminine voice said. “And I keep my laptop close. He wasn’t always a small-town sheriff. He was a detective in New Orleans. I spent most of my childhood there. But Dallas is a scary place for a hick like me.”
Hutch felt his whole body flush.
And he also saw the first genuine smile he’d ever seen on Kyle Hawthorne’s face. “Hutch, meet Noelle. She got here right as I did, so naturally I let her go ahead of me. I’m a gentleman. She brought lemon poppyseed muffins because she heard the big guy likes lemons.”
“You’re a massive asshole,” Hutch said under his breath.
“Oh, I’m not the one who looks like an ass,” Kyle shot back before focusing on Noelle, who was way prettier than her picture.
Her picture didn’t show the way her eyes sparkled or the generosity of those lips of hers. In the picture the sun wasn’t shining on her hair, bringing out the red and gold that threaded through the lush brown.
“Noelle likes to bake,” Kyle added. “What do you say?”
“Baking is just chemistry but with a sweeter product at the end,” Noelle replied. “And I did not realize everyone thought this was some kind of joke. I assure you I can handle it on my own.”
Oh, he was going to get his ass kicked. Hard. By multiple people. “I’m sorry. It was pointed out to me that my boss might be trying to set us up. Or Kyle here.”
She turned and moved forward. That was when he noticed the cane. She moved with it as she carried her tote bag that was full of what could have been his breakfast if only he’d kept his damn mouth shut. “Oh, yes, well that was part of the process. I got a big book to look through and pick my possible husband. I’ll let Charlotte know she should send psych evals with the beefcake pics.”
She smiled at the security guard and handed him her bag.
“Is she joking?” Hutch asked. “She’s joking, right?” Because he was pretty sure he hadn’t posed for pictures, but there were definitely nights that it could have happened.