Enzo cocked his head. “He wasn’t worried about truth serum. He was afraid I might be some sort of reprobate where women were concerned.”
That was even worse. “Oh. Sorry about that. I’m sure you’re not.” She could feel herself coloring.
His head was still cocked. “Why would your mind go to truth serum first?”
She swallowed. “You just don’t look like a reprobate to me.” That sounded wrong. “Not that I’ve had a lot of experience in that area. I mean, I’m not the sort of person who…” This explanation wasn’t getting any better. “I don’t usually talk to a lot of guys. I guess that’s painfully obvious right now, isn’t it?”
He laughed, and his eyes rested on her. “I don’t blame Milo for being protective. It’s a brother’s job to look after his little sister.” Enzo spread a little more feed on the ground. “Is truth serum really something people have to worry about out here?”
All of her father’s warnings were right. It was too easy to mess up and say things she shouldn’t. She tried for casualness. “You know how it is. Although maybe coming from the city, you don’t. Out here, all the government does is hassle us and make us pay more taxes to fund whatever it’s doing.” Hunting Empowereds, for example.
Enzo hooked another chicken and pulled the bird to his chest. “Hopefully what the government is doing is fighting the raiders, slavers, and breakaway states. But yes, Kansas City also has hassles and taxes.”
She considered him. “I hear city life is pretty easy. They say you can find anything you want in the stores.”
“As long as you have very limited wants.”
She lifted an eyebrow. The city stores seemed so big, and they were heated in the winter and air conditioned in the summer.
“You can find a lot of things,” he amended, “if you look hard enough and are willing to pay the price. However, there’s one thing in particular we have a shortage of.”
“What’s that?”
He gave her a dazzling smile. “Beautiful country girls. Those are in short commodity, and I’ve just realized what a shame that is.”
He was flirting with her. She felt a moment of triumph. At least he wasn’t aloof like most people from the city. “Well, if you like country girls, you’ve come to the right place.”
His smile grew. “I hope so.”
Oh, there was no hoping about it. He’d come to the right place.
They caught the rest of the chickens quickly enough. Bless the chickens’ love of grain and small brains. Talking with Enzo was easy. He was so nice.
After they finished the task, Milo fetched Enzo to load kitchen supplies. Charity wished she could spend more time with him, but there was no rush. She’d see him again. If not today, then tomorrow.
Her life, she knew, was about to get so much better.
9
Enzo went with Milo and Gregor back up the slope toward the vehicles. He should’ve been mad at them for not telling him how to catch a chicken, but all in all, things hadn’t turned out badly. Now he was on a first-name basis with one of the possible telekinetic suspects.
His first impression of Charity Huntington had been right. She was sweet and kind, and judging by the way her brothers protected her, probably naive too. A far cry from most of the jaded women he met in the city.
It was hard to imagine her being a telekinetic who killed a bunch of slavers, but even the gentlest people did extraordinary things to protect their families. Still, right now, his money was on Milo.
“So,” Enzo said to Milo and Gregor, “are you going to give me boxes to pack with, or just stand back and laugh while I stack dishes into a pile that flies off as soon as the truck moves?”
“We wouldn’t do that,” Gregor slowed to let Enzo catch up. “That would ruin too many good dishes.”
Milo patted Enzo on the shoulder. “Don’t take your stint as chicken-catcher the wrong way. We were checking out yourproblem-solving skills. You managed to overpower one small, flightless bird. Not bad for your first day.”
Gregor adjusted his hat. “The first thing you’ve got to learn about farm work is that if you don’t know what you’re doing, you better ask someone how to do it correctly.”
Great. The two were a bunch of alpha males bent on showing him his place in the hierarchy. “Sorry,” Enzo said. “I just figured you would tell me the right way to do things to begin with. Lesson learned.”
“Good,” Milo said, not remorseful.
Were all the harvester men this cocky? Enzo wouldn’t mind busting Milo at all.