Beautiful Sacrifice (Maddox Brothers #3)(35)

“I walk a lot of miles when I’m on the job, and I’m f*cking tired. What’s up with that?”

I looked up, squinting from the sun overhead. Beads of sweat had just begun to fall from the nape of my neck down to the top seam of my tank top. “I don’t think you’re tired. I think you’re relaxed.”

“Maybe so. All I wanna do is take a nap.”

“That’s because you were up all night, doing my laundry.”

“Not all night. I slept. You drool by the way.”

“Oh, that’s why you didn’t make the moves on me. I thought maybe I snored.”

“No. You might actually be the cutest sleeper ever.”

I made a face. “Like you’ve spent a whole night with someone before.”

He thought about it. “True.”

“So, tell me something I don’t know about you,” I said, trying not to sound too eager. This was the precarious part. It was the make-or-break moment where I would get information I needed without seeming like I was getting information.

His brows pulled together. “Like what?”

I crossed my arms and shrugged.

He patted the empty space next to him. “My birthday is January first.”

“That’s kind of cool.” I sat next to him, stretching my legs out in front of me. I hadn’t realized how tired I was until I sat down. “It’s always a big party, huh?”

“I guess.”

“I figured you’d talk about your job.”

“It’s a job. When’s your birthday?” Taylor asked.

“Oh, are we doing Twenty Questions?”

He feigned exasperation. “A form of it, I guess.”

“It’s not just a job. You save lives, homes, entire towns.”

He waited for me to answer, unfazed.

“My birthday isn’t on a holiday.”

He waited.

I rolled my eyes. “May thirteenth.”

“Do you have any siblings?”

“Nope.”

“Your parents’ only child hates them. That sucks.”

“Yep.”

“Wow. I thought you were going to deny hating them. Do you really hate them?”

“I think so.” The irony wasn’t lost on me that I had answered almost immediately with no thinking at all.

“Can I ask why?”

I sighed. The other part of the game I’d started long before Twenty Questions was not to give too much away while still seeming to play along. “I guess you had the perfect childhood.”

“Not at all.”

“Enough love for your mom to tattoo her name on your arm.”

“My brother wanted to, so I had to, too.”

“And why is that?”

“We have the same tattoos.”

“Like the exact same ones? All of you?”

“Just my brother Tyler and me.”

I snorted. “Taylor and Tyler.”

He laughed, too. “Thomas, Trenton, and Travis, too.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Seriously? You’re not serious.”

He shrugged. “She liked Ts.”

“Clearly. So … your parents are still in Eakins?”

“Yep.”

“What’s Illinois like?”

He blinked, unhappy for some reason. “I don’t know. Eakins is pretty suburban, I guess.”

“Like here?”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “It’s really, really small. We have only one grocery store, a few restaurants, and a couple of bars.”

“And a tattoo parlor?”

“Yeah. My brother works there—Trenton. He’s really good.”

“Does he do all of yours?”

“All but one.” Taylor held out his arm and pointed to the tattoo that read Diane.

“Why not that one?”

Taylor stood up. “That’s more than twenty.”

He held out his hand to help me up. I pulled on him and then brushed off my pants.

“I don’t think so, but we should head back if you want to see other touristy stuff.”

He looked around and then shook his head. “No. I’m good with just hiking this trail. Unless you’re hungry or something?”

I looked at Taylor. He was a little too sweet, somewhat courteous, and even thoughtful at times, all safely hidden away behind his smart mouth and his tough tattooed exterior.