Page 15 of To Steal a Heart

Arden frowned. “You should’ve taken Talon’s speedboat. You can use it anytime.”

“Nah,” Olivia said offhandedly. “We didn’t want to put Talon out. Besides, Ryan enjoyed riding on the ferry.” Ryan was Olivia’s four-year-old son from a previous relationship. Flynn had taken Ryan in as his own son, which was great to see—not only for Olivia and Flynn’s sake but also for Ryan, whose own father had been killed before Ryan was born.

Her thoughts returned to the speedboat. No matter how often Arden insisted that Olivia take it back and forth from Summerhaven, where she and Flynn lived to her art gallery on Honeysuckle Island, Olivia wouldn’t do it. Arden had considered purchasing a speedboat for Olivia to make her commute to the gallery less of a hassle. Olivia worked at the gallery, and Flynn was a cop on Honeysuckle Island. Having access to a speedboat would make their life so much easier.

“Arden,” the girl at the counter announced.

“I’ve gotta go. My food is ready.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize you were at a restaurant.”

“Yep, you know me. I don’t cook unless I absolutely have to.” She rose from her seat. “I’ll touch base with you in a few days. Love you.”

“Love you too,” Olivia said as they ended the call.

Arden took her bag of food and left the restaurant. As she walked up the sidewalk to her car, she thought about her book as she tried to absorb the sights and smells around her. It shouldn’t be too hard to relate to the heroine—she really needed to come up with a name for the woman. She would feel isolated, lonely. Arden planned to follow the lines of Olivia’s story as close as possible but switch things up so that it wouldn’t be obvious that it was Olivia. For instance, she would make the heroine have a young daughter rather than a son. Her current boyfriend would be a firefighter. The heroine had lost her first love—a firefighter—when he died in the line of duty. She was hesitant about falling in love with another firefighter, but as rotten luck would have it, that’s exactly what happened.

Arden thought of Olivia and the state of mind she would have been in during her stay in Carmel. She would’ve been missing Ryan and Flynn. A pang tugged at Arden. She could certainly relate as she was missing something, although she couldn’t put her finger on what that something was. She really was better off without Hector. She refused to be with a man who wanted her only for her wealth and family name. Also, Hector was a dud. Her jaw worked as she tried to make sense of her feelings. What she missed the most was Hector’s companionship. Even though they’d had a long-distance relationship, going to visit Hector and talking to him regularly had given Arden something to look forward to. Writing was a solitary endeavor. She would often get stuck so deep in her head that she felt disconnected from the people around her. Olivia was the exception. Arden was supremely grateful for her friendship. However, now that she was married, Arden couldn’t exactly count on Olivia being there for her on a daily basis. Their phone conversations had shifted from nearly every day to an average of two or three times a week.

Arden thought of her siblings. She was closer to Talon than she was to Forge and Charlie. Perhaps it was because Forge and Charlie were twins and had always been so tight with each other that Arden felt like the third wheel when she was with them. It would be nice to spend a week with the family in the Hamptons. Arden could use that time to strengthen her relationship with her younger siblings. Forge was always so busy, jetting around the world to film his YouTube videos, and Charlie was consumed with her schooling. Who wouldn’t be? Charlie was attending Harvard, where she was one of the top-ranked students in her major. When it came to academics, Charlie was the high achiever in the family. She’d gotten all A’s in high school and a near-perfect score on her ACT. She had a 4.0 in college, and it didn’t look like she had any intention of slowing down anytime soon.

She pushed out a long breath before turning her attention to her surroundings. Now that dusk was settling in, the sidewalks had thinned out considerably. A cozy glow emanated from the windows of several shops. The breeze that rustled her hair carried the aromatic smell of the restaurant. Arden’s stomach growled again as she quickened her pace, eager to get to her car so she could go to her place and eat dinner. Maybe she’d find a movie on Netflix to watch. Tomorrow, she’d get up early and go for a jog through the neighborhood. Then, she’d try to set up appointments with Zachary and Ingrid before rolling up her sleeves and getting to work on her research. Her goal was to at least have the book somewhat plotted out by the end of the week.

As she neared the car, her heart lurched. The driver’s door was open, and a guy was sitting behind the wheel. Tightening her hold on the bag, she quickened her pace to a jog. “What’re you doing?” she demanded. The guy looked up wide-eyed before looking down to resume whatever task he’d been doing before she came on the scene. She assumed it was hot-wiring because a second later, her car sputtered to life. He pulled the car door shut and threw the car into Reverse. As the car was going backward, she dropped the bag of food and threw open the door.

“What da heck!” he yelped as he slammed on the brakes, causing her to fall into him. “Lady, you’re crazy!”

Rage fired through her veins as she grabbed his t-shirt. “GET—OUT—OF—MY—CAR!”

He beat at her arms, but she held on tight, practically lying on top of him. The wiry guy looked to be part Asian and part Hawaiian with his jet-black, floppy hair.

“What’s going on?” A hand touched her shoulder. On reflex, she threw back her elbow and felt it connect with a person’s face. She turned, shocked to see Crew. It went through her mind that she’d knocked his glasses off.

“Easy,” he cautioned, holding up his hands.

“She’s crazy, brah!” the thief howled. “She full-on attacked me.”

“I’m crazy?” she screamed as she turned back to the guy. “You were trying to steal my car.”

“Turn off the engine,” Crew commanded. A dangerous edge slipped into his voice. “Now!”

To her amazement, the weasel complied.

Crew caught hold of her arm and pulled her out of the car and off the guy. Fury coursed a river of fire through Arden as her chest heaved up and down. She wanted to rip the guy apart, limb by limb. In a flash, Crew wrenched the thief out of the car.

“Hey, brah. I don’t want no trouble,” the guy said.

“Should’ve thought about that before you tried to steal a car,” Crew growled as he punched him in the jaw. The weasel went down but jumped right back up and sprinted away. Crew winced as he flexed his hand.

Arden jumped into action. “Are you okay? You hurt your hand.”

“Nothing that a little ice won’t solve.” He gave her a solicitous look as he enunciated every word. “Are—you—okay?”

She hugged her arms, offering a weak smile. “Yeah.” Now that the adrenaline had worn off, she was shaky. She looked down at the bag of food on the pavement. It was smashed flat. She spotted Crew’s glasses near the curb. “Your glasses.”

He bent over to retrieve them. When he picked them up, she realized that one of the lenses was cracked.

“I’m so sorry. I knocked them off your face with my elbow.” Her brain was still trying to process everything that had happened.

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