Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 147733 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 739(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147733 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 739(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
I yank both leashes.
“Guys, stop!” I’ve never been so annoyed with them, but I want to know what the hell is going on, and I can’t have my dogs knocking down a total stranger.
Thankfully, they back down.
Coffee hangs his big black head and Cream lets out a soft whine.
“I hope this isn’t a bad time?” The platinum-blonde shuts the door behind her with a smile that seems too wide for her face. “You seem to have your hands full.”
“If he sent you, tell him it can wait until tomorrow.” I give her a tense smile. “He should know me better by now.”
Coffee’s nose drops to the sidewalk.
All of a sudden, he’s very interested in sniffing the ground, ambling as close as I allow to the mystery woman’s shoes.
A second later, his head whips back and he looks at me with big brown eyes.
It’s an alert face, his ears pinned back.
He yawns loudly, warning me he’s stressed.
But why?
It’s like he knows better than to break into an all-out warning growl, but feels like he should.
Cream shuffles in front of me with the same blank face, the white hair on her neck raised.
God, what’s gotten into them?
The stranger just raises a hand. I notice a long, thin vape pen hanging out of it. She brings it to her lips and lets out a puff of minty smoke as casually as if we’re in a hookah bar.
“I sincerely don’t know who ‘he’ is. I assure you I’m my own woman,” she says, her voice like steel.
But as soon as she blows a puff of smoke, Coffee’s lips peel back and he growls.
“Coffee!” I pull the leash firmly.
Behave, boy, before you wind up with animal control.
It takes a few seconds as I struggle to move him behind me and Cream, where he finally melts into a sit with one more grumble.
“I’m so sorry. He doesn’t usually growl.” I stop, wondering if it’s the vape machine weirding them out. He’s never seen one before.
“Dogs will be dogs. I’m here to talk about your newly acquired property.”
The inn? But if she isn’t with Miles...
I don’t understand.
What kind of hyper-aggressive realtor follows you on the street?
She takes another drag off her vape pen before she says, “I have a keen interest in that beautiful space of yours. I’m terribly sorry to barge in on you like this, but I just missed you before you left and figured I’d just wait for you. I also owe you another apology, Miss Landers.”
“For what?” I ask.
Maybe the dogs are right. This whole thing feels weird.
“I allowed my realty firm to make the initial offer a little while ago when I should have paid you a visit in person,” she says. “I also regret allowing them to send you a lowball offer.”
Realty firm? Offer?
Oh, the letter in the mailbox. So she’s with them?
“I’m sure such an impersonal offer—and perhaps the amount—was an insult to a cherished Pinnacle Pointe institution. I’ve come to remedy that today.” She reaches into the black leather designer purse hanging from one shoulder, pulls out a cream envelope, and passes it to me. “Go ahead. Kindly have a look.”
I open it, and my jaw drops.
When I look up to see if this is a joke, she’s smiling, but her face is as blank as a wall.
“Take your time. I’m sure you’ll want time to consider it with a lawyer, but I’ll be ready for your call. To be clear, I wouldn’t ever dream of flipping The Bee Harbor Inn or turning it into a corporate creation. My card is inside. I trust you’ll be in touch.”
I’m speechless.
If it wasn’t for the dogs standing defensively as she turns her back, I might just fall over.
She climbs back into her car and the driver pulls away the instant the door shuts.
Coffee lets out a repressed woof!
“...she was intense, huh?”
He tries to pull me the way we came and Cream trots after him. I have to steer them around quickly, ignoring their sad black eyes and whines as their tails wag.
“Not right now, guys. We’re not going back to the park. I need some time to think.”
But when my eyes land on a second black car, I know I might as well wish for a unicorn while I’m at it.
Because Miles Cromwell steps out and marches toward me, his face set like granite.
It wasn’t the park or the woman that set them off after all.
It was the most annoying man alive, and whether I like it or not, he’s about to complicate my world for the thousandth time.
12
No Bad Blood (Miles)
The stink of that mint-tinged smoke clings to the air like sulfur trailing a demon.
I knew I came back early for a reason. I just didn’t expect to find a monster whispering God only knows what in Jenn’s ear.
If Simone was ten seconds later stepping back in her car, I would’ve ended this shit right here.