Semua Bab Pelican Bay Security: Bab 101 - Bab 110

It does no good. By the time I'm able to pull open her jaws and look inside her mouth, the bar of soap is gone."Oh no. No, no, no." I jog to the bathroom off the master bedroom. "No, no, no."I rip the curtain back. A few rings come loose, so it sags in the middle. There, on the edge of the tub, where my rather expensive, homemade, all-organic soap normally sits, is an empty space. It's cute little porcelain dish empty, the dish unbroken but laying sideways on the bathroom mat."Oh, Frankie."A few seconds pass while I mourn the loss of my favorite oatmeal soap. The heavenly bar is only available during the summer farmer markets every Thursday in downtown Pelican Bay. Every fall, I buy two bars. It's enough to get me through the winter months. Thankfully, Frankie caught me at the tail end of my first bar, so she didn't ingest an entire thing.Still, organic soap or not, it can't be good for dogs.Frankie nudges the back of my leg with her nose. She looks the same, but I ca

"Spencer here?" The older gentleman wraps his thick, dark brown trench coat around his body and leans closer, trying to see inside the house.I instinctively lean back to keep my distance, and so the smell of stale cigars doesn't suffocate me. Frankie growls, then circles once around my feet and stops, sitting directly in front of me, working as a blocker. The old man peers nervously down at her, both his hands clutching the trench coat."No."His eyes slither up and down my body. I cross my arms to cover up my chest, failing to ease the dirty feeling his gaze creates. "You the girl with him when he found the body?"This damn town and its gossip. "Yeah.""Tell Spencer to stay out of our business, or you'll both and up like Kevin." He turns, slinking to the side, his boots crunching on the light covering of snow over my walkway.I step out the door after him, stopping at the end of my front porch. The snow seeps through my socks and freezes my toes. "Who is Kevin? What happe

I twist my head back to see his face. "What?" Hundreds—no thousands—of horrible things a man could say after that phrase compete for space in my brain. I'd rather not hear any of them. A ball of dread grows in my stomach, and I bite my lip with worry."I swear I'm not feeding you a line, but I don't have any condoms in the apartment." He raises my hand from his hip, placing it on the bed. "I'll pick some up in the morning, and we can do this all over again tomorrow.""Really?" If his next line is some attempt to get me to have sex without a condom, I'm out of here.Or worse, maybe he doesn't want to have sex with me at all."I wasn't prepared for this.""You don't keep condoms in the house?" I ask, my eyes narrowing on his ridiculously handsome face.He laughs, but it's a nervous sound that makes me believe this isn't a line at all. "I haven't been here long. There haven't been a lot of opportunities to meet ladies."I stare at him for a minute longer with one eye more cl

The scent of cinnamon and baked goods fills the air as I sit down in a wooden teal chair in Anessa's bakery. I've lived in Pelican Bay my entire life, and I've seen this little corner building as many shops over the years, but her cute, pink bakery is, by far, my favorite. The adorable and tasteful Christmas decorations she's strewn about the place only help. There's garland over the fireplace, mistletoe in all the windows, a big wreath on the front door, and Christmas music piping from a speaker.The one item completely out of place in the little, girly bakery is the group of large, imposing men taking up a considerable amount of space in front of the large window. Anessa's bakery has become the local hangout and meeting place for Ridge's security firm, even though he owns a state-of-the-art building a few streets over."Here's your coffee. One cream, one sugar, and a kiss." Spencer leans over and gives me a quick peck on the lips, just enough to leave me dazed. "Mistletoe," he sa

Spencer's headlights flash over my large front window as he pulls into the driveway. I drop the curtain before the glare catches on my face. Frankie barks, probably startled by the first bit of movement I've done for the last hour."Yes, yes, your daddy is home." I step away from the large bay window I've used as a perch tonight. Frankie doesn't follow until I stop and slap my knee twice. "Well, come on. We can't let him know how crazy we are."Hudson refused to leave until Spencer gave him the okay, and he called me ridiculous for spending our evening waiting for Spencer's return. But he was sitting here watching me watch a window, so which one of us is worse?As a woman concerned about her guy going out to fight some unknown criminal element, I think I had every right to spend three hours staring out my front window, waiting for him to return.It's perfectly normal in my opinion.Expected even.But I'm not sure how the big, strong, tough guy I was waiting up for would fee