Kodiak's Claim Read Free

no other means it seems at the moment of reaching your town or company, other than the obvious. By truck. A truck route, I might add, that I was sent out here to investigate. So unless you have something to hide—”
    “Of course not.”
    “Then I don’t see the problem. You’re already going to Kodiak Point. I need to get there and observe your business at work. Seems like a win-win situation to me.”
    Apparently he didn’t perceive it in the same light. “I need to call my boss.”
    “Going to warn him? Maybe call off plans to have this truck mysteriously, ” she added finger quotes for emphasis, “disappear.”
    “Are you calling me a thief?” His brows soared with incredulity.
    She shrugged. “I don’t know yet. That’s what I’m here to find out. But your arguments are making you look pretty suspicious.”
    “And I’m beginning to think you’re nuts, lady.”
    Familiar words. “Join the crowd. So, what’s it going to be? Are you taking me, or am I calling my boss at head office and letting them know that your company is impeding my investigation?” Please let him agree. She didn’t need him calling her bluff. Her boss had no idea of the troubles she was having, and she preferred it stayed that way lest he think she was complaining. She had her eye on a position opening up that would entail better cases and more money. If she could succeed in proving fraud and preventing a payout, it would earn her some major brownie points.
    The guy scrubbed a hand through his hair, making it stand on end. “I guess I’m taking you with me. But I warn you, there’s no pit stops on the way. If you’ve got to pee, then you’re doing it in a cup, and if you’re hungry, you’d better have food. Once we hit the road, we don’t stop until we get there.”
    An almost eight hour drive. Double ugh. “Don’t worry about me. I’ve got the bladder of a camel.”
    “And the boss has the temper of a bear,” the young guy mumbled as he wandered away, logbook in hand to perform his circle check on the truck.
    Tammy didn’t release her sigh of relief until the guy rounded the corner of the truck, checking things off his list. She’d not been sure her ploy would work. Sure, it seemed like the best plan at the time, but when it came to actually implementing it, she’d harbored some misgivings.
    The idea of riding with a stranger admittedly worried her a touch. When she’d told her mother this morning as she packed her toiletries before checking out of the motel, phone tucked between her ear and shoulder, her mother had done her best to plant all kinds of doubt.
    “You’re going to be alone with this man for how long in that truck? Are you out of your mind, Tamara Sophie Roberts! God only knows how long since he’s seen a woman.”
    “Probably not as long since I’ve been with a man,” she muttered, shoving a pair of brand-new woolly socks into an open crevice. Since her flaming breakup, she’d stayed away from the opposite sex, not out of depression or heartache, but more because she was tired of dealing with the bullshit.
    She’d really thought Asshat, her last boyfriend, was the one. Or at least she tolerated him well enough to try and live with him. However, it was as if that closeness was the trigger that turned him from all right boyfriend into douchebag. It didn’t take long once he moved in before the snide remarks about her eating habits began. Then came the hints, which got less and less subtle, about her needing to lose weight and exercise more. But, for the sake of trying to make things work, she’d tolerated his annoying litany—until she caught him cheating.
    Speaking of annoying, her mother wasn’t done.
    “The situation isn’t funny, Tammy. A young lady shouldn’t travel alone with a stranger. What if he decides to take advantage of you? Or the truck slides off the road? I’ve been watching that ice trucking show with your father. Do you know how dangerous it is?”
    “First off, Mom,