Page 11 of Kiss of Deceit

“Kole, I’m sorry,” she burst out, pushing past me to come into the house. “I let my assistant deal with the housing details this year, and your name wasn’t even supposed to be on the list—” She abruptly stopped talking when she caught sight of the girl. “Who is this?”

I frowned. “That’s the person who is overstaying her welcome in my house.”

Fiona fidgeted with her notepad, quickly swiping through pages as she tried figuring out what happened before looking into the kitchen. “What’s your name?”

The girl hesitated, shooting me a glare. “Dani. Dani Henderson.”

“Okay, that makes sense.” Fiona gave her an apologetic smile. “We have you marked as a male. With your name, it was just an oversight.”

“It still doesn’t make sense,” I snapped. “No one should be in my house, Fiona. How did she even get a code to get inside?”

“These locks can have two access codes,” Harry answered, coming through the doorway. “We had the security company come through and set all the houses with a second code a few days ago.”

I bristled with annoyance. “Security company? It’s a one-man business. Why the fuck would Kyle mess with my house lock without telling me?”

“He was supposed to leave a note on the door.” Harry waved his hand dismissively. “You know how forgetful he is.”

Fiona was deeply engrossed in her tablet, ignoring the conversation. Her strawberry blonde hair was cut short and was sticking up every which way instead of her sleek style she usually went for. My gaze drifted to Dani. She had finally set the knife on the counter, but her brows were pinched as she followed the conversation.

Harry was wearing his official sheriff uniform which was a flannel shirt, jeans and work boots. The police department here consisted of three men, and some administration employees. Harry had been sheriff for nearly as long as I’d lived here, which was shocking because he really didn’t give a shit about anything. He worked when he wanted and had the other two men carry most of the workload.

Right now, he was glaring at me like it was my fault I made him actually do his job. His graying hair circled the bald spot on the top of his head, and his beard nearly fell to his chest.Wrinkles from decades of smoking lined his face, making him look older than he was.

“Can we just fix this so I can move to another place?” Dani muttered, keeping her eyes on Fiona.

“There’s a slight problem.” Fiona’s blue eyes darted between me and Dani. “We have a specific amount of money allocated for housing, and since we have more interns this year than we’re used to, there isn’t any other housing available at the moment.”

My stomach churned at the realization that Dani might be here to stay. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

“There are other female interns. Maybe I could room with one of them?”

Fiona shook her head. “In the contract, you are all promised your own room. Unless you specifically know someone who wouldn’t mind sharing with you?”

Dani bit her lip. “No. I haven’t really made friends with anyone.”

“There’s a few other places for rent around town, but you’d need to pay for it yourself,” Fiona said, her face brightening at the idea.

“I can’t afford that,” Dani mumbled.

“I’ll try to figure something out,” Fiona promised, giving me a pleading look. “But for now, you can stay here.”

“Fiona,” I growled. “I didn’t agree to this.”

“You want me to stay with a random guy?” Dani blurted out at the same time.

“I’ve known Kole for years. He’s a bit rough around the edges but he’s a good guy,” Fiona reassured her, despite my protests. “I’m sure with your differing work schedules, you two will barely see each other anyway.”

“No, you need to fix this. Now,” I demanded. “I like my own space.”

“What are you going to do, Kole?” Harry asked, tilting his head. “Throw the poor girl onto the street without a place to go?”

I shot him a glare. “No. Which is why the little program you both run needs to make this right?—”

“And we will,” Harry cut me off. “But it’s late, and we’re all tired. You have an extra room, so what’s the harm in letting her stay until this gets figured out?”

They must have taken my silence for an answer, because they both began creeping toward the door.

“I’m so sorry,” Fiona said again as she tucked the notebook in her bag. “This kind of mix up has never happened before. I’ll look into it more tomorrow.”