Light spills from overhead, illuminating a small section of the dirt cellar. It doesn't help."Have fun, sweetheart," Jimmy says, dropping the door over the tiny opening and plunging me into total blackness."Help!" I scream.Jumping as high as possible with my arms stretched out, I push on the door. It barely budges. My efforts allow a small streak of light to shine through the opening then nothing as the door drops again. "Shit."I try a second time with no more success. My feet make contact with the dirt floor unevenly, and I'm forced to step forward. Wet, cold dirt smears over my fingers."Ewww." I hope it's only dirt.Thoughts of screaming continue to float in and out of my mind, but it won't do any good. There's no one around to hear me but bad guys. Quickly, the silence settles around my feet like a thick fog as I do my best not to move. The adrenaline from my kidnapping and being thrown in a dirt hole fades as my imminent demise is no longer staring me in the face i
"Drop your weapon!" The same voice yells, and I slowly realize it's not Pete. "Drop the weapon!"I freeze. This is beyond a high-intense situation of delivering a baby or working in the ER. This time, my life is on the line, and I'm not sure which weapon I should drop in order to save it since I'm not carrying one."Damn it, Rodgers. Drop your fucking gun, or I will shoot you." An out-of-breath, no-longer-mysterious voice screams from behind."Spencer?"I'm pushed forward, the palms of my hands receiving fresh scrapes from the rocky ground. Big, strong arms wrap around me from behind, pulling me up and twisting me around until we're chest to chest. I do my best to beat on my attacker's chest and kick at his shins, doing anything I can to get away."Shhh. It's okay, baby. I've got you." His arms tighten around my shoulders, stopping my onslaught.I finally take the time to look up and find myself locked with Spencer's deep brown eyes. "Spencer?" His name squeaks out, and I b
"There's ten minutes left on the oven timer, then we can leave."The clock ticks down another minute. Remarkably, Spencer doesn't appear stressed at all over the fact he'll be meeting my parents for the first time when my green bean casserole comes out of the oven.At Christmas dinner.With my whole family.It's a situation that requires one be nervous, but since Spencer doesn't seem fit to care, I've worked up enough worry for the both of us."If he tries to intimidate you with his shotgun, don't worry—it's not normally loaded.""Not normally, huh?" He laughs like this is all fun and games and I'm kidding.I'm totally not kidding."Spencer! This is serious." I can deliver a preterm baby in the hallway of the hospital during a blackout caused by Snowmageddon, but putting my Dad in the same room with someone I like is terrifying.Even with my advanced warning, Spencer doesn't ruffle. Sitting on the couch less than twenty four hours after rescuing me, his checkered L.L.
VOLUME FOUR: SWEETEST RISKNo one knows what a day will hold in Pelican Bay.I tap the thick stack of papers on the big wooden desk for the tenth time since punching into work five minutes ago. A rogue piece glides against my thumb and slices through the skin. Why is it the littlest pricks are always the most painful?"Ouch." What a wonderful way to start a day of work. Not.Dwight, nephew to the owner of the bed-and-breakfast and manager of the night shift, raises his head from the second stack of papers he's been finalizing before handing over the keys. Wonderful. The only thing worse than a paper cut so early in the morning is drawing attention to myself when he's here. What would it take to get one morning without seeing Dwight so early? Any price would be worth it.His eyes lock on to my finger as I wave it in the air praying it won't bleed. "Are you okay, Tara?"I force a smile, trying to be polite. "Yeah, it's just a paper cut.""Do you want me to stick it in my mo
Of course, in my dreams I own the bed-and-breakfast, but after getting my degree in hospitality management, this is the next best step. Until I can save up enough money to buy one of my own. A haunted one with Victorian era details. One I can work to fix up and restore to its previous glory.I arrived in Pelican Bay during the middle of the summer, when the temperatures were beautiful and I could spend my off time walking around the beach, and eating ice cream from the little shop on the shore. The weather conditions have changed drastically in the last six months. The summer breezes which cooled the place off, making the temperature wonderful, are now freezing cold. 6:30 in the morning it's more often than not a negative temperature. Like below zero. Who in the hell believed temperatures went that low? I had to wear gloves this morning. It should be illegal to be so cold.Frostbite aside, Pelican Bay has been gorgeous. I'm not ready to be fired and forced to leave so soon."Did
"Are you going to eat that?" Cammie asks as she removes the golden-brown roll from my lunch tray.I mourn my favorite food in the world as it passes under my nose and lands on her plate. "No, you can have it."Cammie shakes her head in dismay but wastes no time splitting the roll in two and slathering butter on one side. "How long do you think this no carb thing of yours is going to last?""I'm eating carbs." You can't give up carbs all the way even if you wanted. I'm pretty sure carbs waft around in the air waiting to be consumed when I breathe."Tara, twelve net carbs a day is not enough carbs for a small mouse.""It'll be worth it during swimsuit season." At least I hope it will be because I miss bread. Bagels. Sandwiches. Bananas. Who in the hell knew bananas were loaded with carbs? It's not fair. I'm sure last night I had a dream where Mr. GQ fed me a piece of whole wheat bread with bananas and peanut butter, and it was the sexiest thing I've ever dreamed."At least th
"What?" Cammie sticks her hand over her ear and looks into the hallway with wide frantic eyes. "I'll be right there."I reach out to grab her but she dashes by making her way out the door and leaving me alone with only my red hands and one pissed off looking GQ model who is definitely a spy."Um, it's not what it looks like." I hold my hands up letting him see I didn't take anything, but it doesn't make Graham's face soften.His lips form a straight line only broken when he speaks. "That's interesting, because it looks to me like breaking and entering."Bile tumbles around in my stomach, threatening to come up and land on the floor next to the broken bottle of shaving cream. "I swear it's not that. There was a suspected water leak on the radio and I came in to check, but then Cammie left. Now you're here and there's no shaving cream on the floor so that's good. Carpet is expensive."As the words tumble out of me in a jumbled mess, he closes the door behind him without turning
"Thank you." His easy compliment fills me with a little more hope. You don't compliment someone you're about to kill. Would you? And also, I like the praise. It's wrong on so many levels, but he's just so cute. It's a girl thing. When a cute guy compliments you, it's thrilling. That and I need therapy.The whole situation is so epically wrong.The two of us stare at one another, neither speaking until I'm sure I'm going to go insane. How does someone sit at a table so quiet? If he is a secret government agent, that must be his superpower."So, tell me about yourself."Graham chuckles. "Contrary to popular rumors, I am not a spy. I'm here on a short-term assignment helping Ridge Jefferson," he mentions the town's leading security specialists. They have signs all over saying they'll install your home security system, but most town residents are sure they're a group of secret government operatives, so admitting this isn't helping his defense of not a secret government like job.