Page 13 of Bobbing for Bodies

Chapter 7

Acold autumn night like this one usually requires a cup of cider or two to warm my bones, but the sight of Noah Fox two-timing me with some leggy redhead has my blood boiling enough to thaw the poles and cause apocalyptic devastation.

Mom chatters on behind me, and soon she’s dragging that wagon we filled with pumpkins and gourds of every shape and size toward the cashier. I’m just about to join her when Noah looks my way and does a double take. He sidesteps away from the cackling hussy so fast you would think she were an official carrier of an airborne STD.

“Lottie!” he shouts with a wave, and I pretend not to see him as I scuttle my way to my mother. It’s murky out. The purple sky has darkened to a rich shade of navy, and the stars spray out overhead in their brilliant multitude.

Mom is busy chatting away with Ken McMurry, and I land shoulder to shoulder with her just as Ken offers to load our haul into the back of my mother’s car.

“Lottie.” Noah jogs up, out of breath. His cheeks look piqued as if he had exerted himself, but we both know it’s because he’s morbidly embarrassed because he wascaught. “What are you doing here?” He sheds an easy grin, and it only makes me angrier.

How dare he be unaffected by the fact I saw him pawing over some redhead, even if she was the one doing the pawing. It matters not. He allowed it.

“I’m here with my mother. We were picking out pumpkins for the B&B. What areyoudoing here?” I tip my head his way, good and ready to listen in on whatever he has to say. I’m curious if this two-timer is also a liar. Most are.

“Thanks to Captain Turner, Detective Fairbanks invited me to help out with the investigation. You know, nothing official, but she thought it would be beneficial to exchange information.”

My heart sinks because that’s exactly what I was hoping to do with him. “And? Did you get anything useful?” My bruised ego has quickly taken a back seat to my need to have my curiosity quenched. “Do you know why Hunter needed a loan?”

“Hunter needed a loan?” He leans in, and the heady scent of his cologne makes me feel dizzy. Just thinking about those kisses we’ve exchanged so freely has my head spinning and not in a good way. I feel like such a fool. I had no idea I was in some kind of an open relationship—some cheap fling that involved a lot of heavy kissing. Not that I minded the heavy kissing. That was sort of my favorite part.

“I don’t know.” I decide to play coy. “Did he?” I lift a brow his way. I am so not above playing these head games right along with him.

Mom bounces over breathless from the trek to her car. “Oh my goodness, we meet again, Detective Fox. Has Lottie mentioned the double date yet? Saturday night works for us. I just checked with Wallace.” Her shoulders do that annoying shimmy thing again. Note to self: Buy this woman a lead coat for Christmas—and amuzzle. “Anyway, I have to run.” She wrinkles her nose my way. “I just realized I’ll need to ask one of my strong boarders to help carry all of these pumpkins out of my car. The last thing I need is my interior ruined. I’ve seen the way those things liquefy seemingly overnight.” She presses a quick peck to my cheek. “Let me know what you decide. The two of you can pick the time and the place!” She wiggles her fingers at us as she’s swallowed up by the night.

“Are we going on a double date?” Noah is back to sporting that crooked grin once again. There’s an innate cockiness about him that’s just too smug for me to handle at the moment, and I’m half-tempted to jump into my mother’s trunk myself.

“I am. I don’t know about you.” I pluck my scarf out of my purse and wrap it around my neck. “So, were you enjoying clinking your cider with Detective Fairbanks?” I don’t see why we should ignore the redheaded elephant at the pumpkin patch.

The scent of a floral perfume envelops us, and I turn to find Detective Ivy Fairbanks, stone-faced and staring me down.

“Carlotta Lemon.” There’s a smugness in her voice when she says my formal name. Funny, smugness seems to be catching these days. “I might be by your bakery sometime soon. I have a few questions we need to go over.” She looks to Noah, equally as bored, and now I’m shocked he got her to laugh at all. “I’ll see you in the morning, Fox. We’ll start back here first thing.” She takes off, and neither of us says anything. I might be a little smug myself at the thought that Noah didn’t even bother saying goodnight to her, but then someone as confident, and let’s not forget intimidating, as Ivy isn’t insecure enough to let the absence of a goodbye mean a single thing. I wonder if Noah has been smooching with her, too, and as much as I don’t want to go there, I can feel the word vomit ratcheting up my throat.

“Have the two of you kissed yet? You looked mighty friendly.” Stupid, stupid me. I hate that I let my insecurities get the better of me. But I’m not surprised. It’s practically my MO. No wonder all of my exes cheat on me. They can’t get away from me fast enough to break things off properly.

Noah rumbles with a dark laugh as he swoops me into his arms and gently lands his lips to mine for a good ten seconds. Those soft, delicious lips sealed to mine feel like heaven. It feels like bliss with Noah, his mouth warming mine, his body solid against my own. Everything about him is pushing me over the edge. It takes all of my self-control not to dive my fingers into his thick hair.

He pulls back just enough for hisivygreen eyes to glow my way, and I can’t help but smile despite all of my lunacy.

“I save all of my kisses for you, Lottie Lemon.”

My insides disintegrate, and every last cell in my body is swooning hard for the handsome fox with his arms wrapped securely around me right now.

His dark brows do a quick waggle. “Did I score an invite to that double date?”

“Maybe.” I shrug. “I guess it depends if you’re up for exchanging a little info on the case.” It comes out hopeful. “I just have to clear Bear’s name and get to the bottom of whoever killed Hunter. It feels like it’s killing me as much as it’s killed him.”

Noah stiffens as he glances in the direction of the parking lot. “I can’t, Lottie. I’m sorry. I promised Detective Fairbanks that I wouldn’t share any details from the case. That was the deciding factor in allowing me to work with her. She doesn’t want anything or anyone tainting the case. I get it. And”—he winces—“I know we already talked about this, but I want you safe. And if you’re investigating this case, then I won’t be able to stop worrying about you. There is a very real killer out there with a gun, and he or she is not afraid to use it.”

I can’t help but frown as I gently remove his arms from my person. “I get it.” I shrug as I head over to the cider booth. I certainly don’t need a man to make all of my cider dreams come true. Before I can toss a dollar into the basket, Noah beats me to it.

“It’s on me.” He sheds a pained smile. “Just like dinner will be Saturday night.”

“Fine, but just know that I’m thoroughly annoyed that you’re so unwilling to share details about something that’s so important to me. How would you like it if a good friend of yours was gunned down right in the back of your own bakery on the night of its grand opening no less? You wouldn’t.” I don’t hesitate answering for him. “You would resent the fact that I chose to keep Everett as my confidant instead of trusting your abilities to keep things quiet.”

“Everett?” He balks with a laugh. “I don’t think my former stepbrother would be too interested investigating a homicide.” He pulls me in again gently with his arms. “You’re not involving Everett, are you?” He’s right back to wincing as if the idea pained him. I happen to know firsthand that Everett is an easy way to push his buttons. In that sense, it wasn’t fair of me to go there.

“Not yet.” I shudder just thinking about the fact he threatened to interrogate me over a dead squirrel no less!