Etienne (The Shifters of Shotgun Row Book 1)(18)

It always felt like her head was in two places.

The jealous bastard inside me wanted all of her attention focused on us.

Mate. Need her.

“I’m sure whatever you did is great. Thanks again for this meal.”

“You’re welcome.”

I chuckled. “Why is it you look so damned surprised every time I say something nice? Do I come off as that big of a bastard?”

I probably did. Before Tansy, it was something I actually prided myself on.

“No, not at all. I expected it, to be honest. You’re this big mutha of a man and yet, I find you sincere.”

“I am sincere about you, Tansy.”

Something in her demeanor instantly changed. I could feel the betrayal and almost anger that slipped into my nose and felt like the burn of jalapenos.





Tansy

My fingers traced my lips as the memory of the evening before washed over me once again. The evening that concluded with a heart-stopping, steal-your-breath-away, never-want-it-to-end kind of kiss. The evening I botched up the very last moment.

Everything was beyond perfect. Etienne was a gentleman but held onto his gruffness. He wasn’t playing the part of a gentleman, he was just being Etienne with a side of extra politeness. Darn it was smexy.

And then she came.

I was good and done with the ghosts of this flippin’ town. The woman I assumed died in a car accident given her mutilated face, arms, and partial legs, meandered in long enough to startle me, and that was the beginning of the end. She was gone before he even left, but by then he had probably moved on to someone who didn’t turn stiff as a board mid-kiss for zero reason whatsoever. At least zero to the person not seeing the dead chick.

So, like a sane person, after finishing the morning baking, I made my way to town to see a different dead chick. Or, more precisely, a dead child. I felt called to her, to help her any way I could, and now that I had a bug-eating roommate, I had a built-in excuse to head on over.

“Another early day off.” It was Bruno the Creepy, as I now called him in my head. I needed to start taking a car instead of walking. First, I ran into a gator and now Bruno. Not sure which was worse. Only a few doors from where I needed to be, too.

“I start my day before the sun, Officer.” Why I felt the need to justify myself to him was beyond me. Something about him thinking me lazy had me on edge. Meemaw never said anything bad about him, but she also didn’t say anything kind the time I mentioned him. Maybe it was time to bring him up again.

“Any king-nuts left today?” He took the remaining steps between us. Not. Okay. Creeper.

I instinctively took another step toward my destination, glad it was daylight. Shouldn’t I feel safe with the police, not like I was walking in the wrong part of a big city, alone, at three am?

“I didn’t check before I left, Officer.” I figured using his formal title might keep him at bay, but he took my speaking to him at all as an excuse to once again invade my space, walking beside me close enough his hand brushed my thigh more than once. “I imagine not. They are the most popular item.”

Only one more storefront to pass, and I’d be at my destination. If he followed me in there, I knew my spider senses were correct. If not, I could blame it on the ghost I saw with him the other day. Twice. How sad was it I sent a prayer up it was a feckin’ ghost.

“I guess I will have to stop by, tomorrow morning, early.” His hand accidentally brushed my ass as he turned to look behind him at nothing at all. Jerkhead. “Hopefully, I will see you there.”

Ewww. I so hoped not.

Over Bruno’s shoulder, just as I reached the door, I spied his ghost, who began shaking his head furiously once he noticed me eyeing him. He appeared to be mouthing, “Nope. Nope. Nope.” And popping the Ps just loud enough for me to hear them. Not that I needed his advice, but if the dead dude following you was warning people away, there was a good chance they had a reason.

“I tend to be baking then, but the girls up front can hook ya up with a king-nut.” I reached for the door handle, thankful to finally be getting away from Bruno. “This is me. I need some food for my gator.”

I opened the door before meeting the ghost’s eyes and saying, “I’ll talk to you later.” Before closing the door behind me. I hoped I managed to send the ghost the desired message without encouraging Bruno. The last thing I wanted to do was garner even more of his attention.

“You’re back. How’s Curtis?” Star called from behind the counter.

“He’s doing well. I need to stock up on some more bugs for the guy. He eats a ton.”

I tried to be nonchalant as I looked around the store for her sister, but failed miserably as I tripped over a pile of dog toys.

“Sorry, I’ll pick it up.” I ducked down, piling the stuffed bones back into the basket. Just as I was about to put the last one in, the largest spider known to mankind caught the corner of my vision. As any rational human being would do, I let out a bloodcurdling scream as I got as far away from that terror as possible. Where was a blowtorch when ya needed one?

“You okay?” Star called to me as she came running, probably under the assumption someone was stabbing me. I wasn’t even sure if that was better or worse than having that monstrosity near me again.

“There’s a spider the size of—get the feckin’ sledgehammer or something.”