He gave her half a smile, then put the new cigarette to his lips. He inhaled slowly, and after a moment the end glowed red and burned. A fresh burst of nicotine hit the air. Then he pulled it out of his mouth and held it out to her.

Quinn stared despite herself. “Gross.”

And somehow a little sexy, but she’d put his gun to her head before admitting that.

He cocked an eyebrow. “You were sitting next to a Dumpster last night, and now you’re afraid of a little spit. Jesus. You want it or not?”

His voice was full of derision, but challenge, too. Scared of me, baby girl?

She took the cigarette out of his hand and put it to her lips. For a second she was worried she’d do the moronic thing and explode with coughing, but she inhaled slowly, letting the warmth travel into her lungs. She expected it to taste nasty, but it didn’t.

“Why are you out here with a gun?” she asked, easing the smoke out. “Isn’t that against some law?”

He looked vaguely affronted. “I have a permit, and I’m protecting my property. No, it’s not against some law.”

“This strip mall is yours. Seriously. And you have all this money and nothing better to do than wander around dark parking lots pointing guns at petty thieves? Yeah, okay.”

“This strip mall belongs to my parents,” he said, taking another long inhale on his cigarette. Smoke curled away from him into the night sky. “And we’ve been having a problem with vandals, so I’ve been hanging out the last few nights.”

“Gee, I’m so sorry for you.”

“You’ve kinda got a chip on your shoulder, huh?”

Yeah, the size of Rhode Island. Quinn flicked ash from the end of her cigarette and didn’t respond. She hadn’t inhaled again, and it was just burning away between her fingers.

“What were you dancing to?” he asked.

The question took her by surprise, but his voice was challenging again, so she fired up the song on her iPod and held out an earbud.

He listened for a long moment, then nodded and handed the cord back. “Nice.”

This was so bizarre. “Glad it meets with your approval.” “Why were you dancing in the woods?”

“I’m helping a friend get a scholarship.”

“Oh, yeah? Why aren’t you getting a scholarship?”

“I don’t think that’s really any of your business.”

He shrugged and backed up to lean against the steel beam supporting a roof over the walkway. He took another drag and blew out smoke rings. “My sister was a dancer.”

His sister. Nick had told her Tyler’s sister had died in the rock quarry years ago.

“A singer, too,” said Tyler. “She was always on my parents to let her move to New York after graduation.”