“Is it bad I might enjoy that?”

“Yes, because it’s my job to dive after you.”

River gave a playful sigh. “And we were never heard from again. At least it was good while it lasted.”

“We’ll always have the police station,” he agreed placidly.

“And the weird bucket sink that’s not a sink but is totally a sink.”

Silence, then Easton looked over at her. “They aren’t coming, are they?”

“They’re probably running from Officer Jonah as we speak.”

Easton checked the website on his phone. “They were last seen in—” He paused midsentence, scanning the thread. “The resort lobby.”

“That’s not creepy at all. Where am I?”

A flush reddened his forehead. “Flirting with me in the park across from Dirty Joe’s Coffee Woes.”

She twisted the cup in her hand. “Is that what DJCW stands for?”

“He’s not that dirty,” Easton assured her.

“But he is or at some point has been dirty. Enough to have earned the nickname Dirty Joe.”

His mouth twitched upward again.

Suddenly, the coffee in her cup was far less appealing. “Your town is the weirdest town, you know that, right?”

“We do our best. You need to call your people, but you and I can go over most of this together now. That’ll cut the least into their filming time. And running from Jonah time.”

There really was no arguing with his logic. She had no choice but to agree.

When River made the call, at first she only got hard pushback. They’d found the perfect place to hide on the resort grounds and had set up the tripod. Tearing down now would only cause more work than they’d scheduled time for that day. Bree, carefree as always, was more than willing to adjust plans, but Jessie made his normal fuss. Finally, River managed to lure Jessie in with agreeing to buy everyone dinner afterward but not without a few well-honed barbs on his end about River’s pain in the ass new boyfriend.

“Well, that was unpleasant.” She hung up the phone, joining Easton at the pile of gear they’d pulled from her vehicle and spread on the ground.

“I could hear him from all the way over here.” Easton picked up one of their tents. “That guy’s got a pair of lungs on him.”

“And I was accused of being dramatic. Speaking of, you have the face.”

“What face?”

“The face you had when I asked you to agree to be filmed. What’s wrong?”

He lifted up the lightweight tent in one hand. “This is a single-walled tent.”

Easton frowned at the matching tents in her crew’s equipment piles. She didn’t know why. Of all their gear, the brand-new tents were the best part.

“Yeah, we got a great price on them too. I haggled.”

“Successfully?”

“Oh definitely. They never saw us coming. I haggled them down and then hit them with a group coupon. Not only was the price fabulous, they’re four-season tents and weigh under two pounds.” River mimicked an explosion with her hand, then wriggled her fingertips at Easton. “Boom.”

He smacked an open palm down on the tent fabric. “I hate to break it to you, but a single-walled tent up there is going to turn into a condensation factory. The moisture will coat the inside of your tent, refreeze, and fall on your head. You don’t want to sleep in that; it’ll be a nightmare.”

“They were the best tents that didn’t require a small mortgage to buy,” River countered.

Easton shook his head. “You want to cut corners, do it somewhere else. Not in your gear, and not on a climb like this.”

“I could always pay you less and get the better tents.” The option had appeal, but Easton only stared at her. She stared back. His eyes narrowed. Hers narrowed a lot more. The beard took on a stubborn set, bristling out. River didn’t have a beard, so she pushed out her chin and pretended.

“What are you doing?” he asked, sounding concerned.

“Intimidating you.”

“Are you sure that’s what you’re doing?”

“Definitely.”

Unlike most, he didn’t even flinch under her stare. The man was immovable, and the sparkle in his eyes only grew the farther she lifted her chin.

“I’m not letting my clients turn into Popsicles. Get better tents,” he told her.

“Fine,” River sighed. “I’ll figure it out.”

• • •

If looks could kill, Easton would be bleeding out with an ice pick wedged into his own crevasse.

Compromise didn’t seem like her forte, and Easton knew a determined woman when he saw one. When faced with someone who didn’t play well with others, the best thing to do was know what motivated them. As Easton and River continued to sort through their gear, Easton decided to pry a little.

“Why the shift from acting to filming?” he asked her.

“Do you want the on the record answer or the off the record answer? Because one is a whole lot sweeter than the other.”

“I never needed much sugarcoating. Tell me the real reason.”

“Men suck. I’m planning on destroying them all.”

At her dead serious tone, Easton found himself smiling. “See? My first instincts were right about you. You’re a threat.”

“And don’t you forget it.” River flashed him a quick grin. Just like that, she wasn’t ready to kill him anymore. The woman was quicksilver, and normally, that wasn’t his thing.

But, man. He liked how she kept him on his toes.

“I’m not one for standing around and watching things go to crap.” River’s voice firmed. “It was time to find something new. Being in front of the camera hasn’t been working out too well lately, so it’s time to try being behind it.”

After a moment, she arched an eyebrow at him. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Are you a threat?”

By the humorous look on her face, he could tell she wasn’t talking about a threat to herself. With a low chuckle, Easton said, “Only to the fish I catch for dinner or the mountains I try to summit.”

“Do you normally climb Mount Veil? Denali’s the tallest on the continent.”

She’d done her homework. Easton nodded. “Most of my climbs are on Denali. I’d rather go up the Old Man, but most people don’t come all this way to climb a fourteener.”