Etienne (The Shifters of Shotgun Row Book 1)(15)

“I came to bake some rolls for dinner tonight.” And shake her down for information, or at least give her a what for about leaving me in the dark about far too much.

“Company comin’.” It wasn’t a question, given the smirk on her translucent face.

“Yeah, something like that.” I added my flour to the bowl, looking forward to when I could beat, I meant knead my dough and let out the frustrations of the day—make that the week. “I’ve got some bones to pick with you, Meemaw. You’ve been layin’ low lately, which I’m guessing means you know I met that dead little girl. You wanna tell me about that?”

“Not particularly.” She said it as if we were simply discussing the weather and not a little girl whose life not only ended much too soon, but also ended in a way that seemed to have kept her trapped here.

“How about the dead guy at the station?” I focused all of my attention on Meemaw’s face, needing to see if she knew more than she was going to let on. “Says it was a bear.” She flinched—barely. Oh yeah, she knew something about him all right. “A freckin’ bear. I should’ve bought a gun. That is good to know info, you know.”

“He’s not at the station.” Because that answered nothing. “He’s attached to Bruno, and you don’t need no gun.”

“I’ll be the decider on that one.” Bears and gators and who knew what else equated with guns and done.

“Speaking of rolls, who you bringin’ round?”

My eyes rolled of their own accord. Good old Meemaw’s ignore-and-distract tactics weren’t going to work, not this time.

“We were not speaking of rolls. We were discussing all the dead people in this town.” I went back to my dough, adding the final ingredients and taking out my aggression on the mixture. Yeast dough was great for that.

“I’m still stuck on the rolls.”

I kept at my dough, taking deep breaths as I did so.

“What time is Etienne coming?”

I stopped dead in my tracks, looking up to where she was, only to be startled as I found her far closer than she was only a second beforehand. That was one thing I never got used to with ghosts. “I never said it was him.”

“You didn’t have to, especially with the way you’re blushing right now.”

It was my least endearing trait, if you asked me.

“It’s just hot in here,” I lied, hearing her laugh slightly as I did. “Fine.” My exacerbation seeped into my words. “Yes, I’m making dinner for Etienne.”

I grabbed a tea towel to cover the rising dough. The bakery had a proof box, but I didn’t want to bother with it. I wanted this dinner to be cheat-free and homemade, not commercial, which was all kinds of dumb since it was my bakery and not purchased pre-made. Yet it seemed important to do that for him. Arggggg, the man had me in knots.

“He’s a good one, that man.”

“Is there any such thing?” I growled back like a stupid teenager. My brain told me you couldn’t judge all men by one, but my heart…was an entirely different story. It wasn’t as if I still loved him or ever truly did, but the betrayal was so horrific and life-altering it still stung.

“Don’t let one horrible excuse for a human being ruin your chance at happiness.”

“And Etienne is my happiness? Please. We just met.”

“And he might or might not be the one for you, but if you shut him out from the get-go, how are you ever going to know?”

“Arrrg, Meemaw.” I hip-checked the drawer the towel had been in closed before loosely covering the bowl. If I left now, I could do my grocery shopping in time to come back and form my rolls. “Why did you have to go and logic me like that?”

Because, once again, she was right. Etienne wasn’t him. He was as far from it as you could get. He was rough and sexy and yet a gentleman, and could he kiss. There was magic stored in his lips. I was sure of it.

“Dill.” Meemaw interrupted my naughty wanderings.

“What?”

“Put a little dill in the rolls. Trust me.” And she disappeared.

I uncovered the bowl and added some dill before setting it aside to rise and making a run to the store.





Etienne

All of them were laughing at me. Justice was doubled over. Scratch that. Loic was stoic as always.

I knew I should’ve brought my shit to the station and gotten dressed there, but Bruno would have a thousand questions I wasn’t willing to give answers on—yet.

In between the shower and buttoning up my shirt, I’d decided on my purpose for accepting an invitation to her house. I wanted to know what made this female tick. There was more than the dresses and the cakes—something inside her was restless. At first, I thought it might be an oppressed shifter, but I would smell that, especially on a female.

Tansy had secrets, and I intended to have her whisper them to me.

“Shut the fuck up, Just.”

He was still bent over, waving his hands in the air like the sight of me was just too much to take standing up.

“I said knock it the fuck off before I shove my boot so far up your ass, you’ll be cleaning your colon out of your gums with a toothpick.” My gator added a growl for good measure.

That straightened him out quick.