He looked her right in the eye and lied, “She’s a waitress.”
“Oh.” A wrinkle appeared between Hope’s brows as she sat on the arm of the couch.
“Now tell me if you’re recovered from the oysters.”
“Barely. If someone had told me that there were people who actually ate those things, I wouldn’t have believed them. It’s just too bizarre.”
At least when she talked about it now, she wasn’t screeching and pale and looking like she was about to vomit. In fact, a smile threatened the corners of her lips. Dylan liked her smile. He liked the sound of her laughter, too, feminine and sort of breathy. He liked it so much, he opened his mouth and told her the second biggest secret he knew. The secret so embarrassing no one in his family talked about. Not even at Thanksgiving, when they all got together and got hammered. “If you think that’s bizarre, then you should meet my cousin, Frank. He can hypnotize chickens.”
Hope’s brows rose and she looked at him like he was crazy. “How?”
Dylan raised his right hand. “He holds them down and makes them concentrate on his finger.”
She laughed. “You’re full of it.”
If his mother found out he’d spilled the beans about Cousin Frank, she’d kill him. She didn’t want anyone to know those kind of genes warped their DNA, but hearing Hope’s laughter just might be worth getting killed. “I swear it’s true.”
She shook her head and her hair fell forward and brushed her right cheek. “Why would anyone hypnotize a chicken?”
“ ‘Cause he can, I guess.”
“What does he hypnotize them to do? Go up on stage and act like people?”
He chuckled and moved toward her. “They just lie there, looking dead.” He pushed her shiny hair behind her ear, and the backs of his knuckles brushed her smooth cheek. “My aunt, Kay, seriously thinks he’s gifted.”
“You are seriously demented.”
Her hair tangling around his fingers was cool to the touch, and very soft. “You don’t believe me?”
“No.”
The brief contact twisted his belly into a knot, and he lowered his hand. “I told you the truth about the Rocky Mountain oysters.”
“You also told me you ate a lizard.”
“No, I never said I ate lizard.”
“You let me think you did.”
“Yeah, but that’s not a lie.”
“Maybe not technically, but you wanted me to believe something about you that wasn’t true.”
His gaze slid from her cheek to the bow of her top lip. “Well, then, I guess that makes us even.”
“You think I lie to you?”
He looked into her clear blue eyes, gone all wide and innocent. “Since the day you drove into town.”
She drew her brows together. “You could always do a check on me.”
“I could, but I don’t check a person’s background unless they give me a reason. It’s against department policy.” He paused before he asked, “Do I have a reason?”
“No.”
“Break any laws recently?”
“Not that I’m aware of.”