Page 50 of Hot for the Jerk

Raina leaned her elbow against the door, propping her head in her hand.She used the sleeve of her long-sleeve shirt to wipe at her eye.“I like Lenora.I feel bad for her not having anybody this Christmas.”

“Did she say where her kids are going to be?”I asked.

“Busy.One son is going to Mexico with his wife and kids, another son is with his in-laws on the East Coast, and the daughter is a cop in Vermont and has to work.”

I frowned as the sign for the marina appeared up ahead and I took the next left.“Does she at least have guests staying over Christmas?”

“She did say her reservation book is full over the holidays.So hopefully that helps.”

I slid my gaze to Raina as an idea started to take shape in my brain.“Did you get any more information out of her about her husband?”

“Who?Walt the Womanizer?Walt the Wanderer?Walt the Worst Man in the World?”

I snorted.“Yeah, that one.”

“Just that he’s a piece of shit who moved in with Little Miss New Hip on the other side of the island.She owns Sea Breeze Cabins.”

As if the fates were trying to tell us something, a sign for Sea Breeze Cabins appeared almost out of thin air, instructing us to turn right at the next fork in the road.“Well, Lenoradidcall me the devil.Maybe we should—”

“Do it,” she said, before I could even finish my sentence.“I don’t have any nails in here though.I have scissors.An X-Acto knife, and maybe a steak knife.”

“Damn, Elsa, I love how your twisted little mind works.”Then I glanced at her, grinning, but also confused.“Wait, why do you have a steak knife?”

“In case I randomly feel like a steak and the restaurant has dull knives, duh!”

Something about the way her eyes narrowed when she said it told me there was way more to why she had a singular steak knife in her vehicle, than in case she was overrun with a spontaneous hankering for a slab of beef and the knives at the restaurant weren’t up to par.

I hung a hard right at the next fork and followed all the signs until we reached the biggest sign of them all for Sea Breeze Cabins.We parked on the road rather than drive onto the property, then we bailed out.Raina opened up the hatch of her Honda and brought out the solitary steak knife—which yes, I will admit I checked for blood—not that I was a forensic specialist or anything—along with a pair of very sharp scissors and an X-Acto knife.

“We really doing this?”she asked as we both pulled up the hoods of our jackets even though the rain was more of a drizzle.

“For Lenora,” I said with an affirmative nod.

She met my gaze with conviction and nodded as well.“For Lenora.”

Keeping our eyes peeled for signs of life, as well as security cameras, we headed down onto the property, past the six A-frame cabins, to the main house at the bottom closest to the beach.A champagne-colored Mercedes SUV and a red Dodge Ram pickup sat in front of the house.The license plate on the Ram even said “WALT.”Once again, it seemed the fates were shining down on us, because all the drapes were shut.There wasn’t any BEWARE OF DOG sign posted either.

Gripping the steak knife in my hand, I crouched down and snuck up behind the truck, stabbing the side of the left rear tire with the pointed end as hard as I could.There was a bit of resistance at first, but eventually I got it in.A satisfying slowhissof air filled the otherwise quiet atmosphere around us.

Staying at a low crouch, I went around to the other rear tire and did the same thing, then went to go help Raina, but she surprised me.

“All right, I got the homewrecker’s tires.Let’s get out of here.”She jerked her head toward the road and started to book it back to where we came from.

“You got her tires?”I asked, chasing after her.

“Yeah, all four.Easy peasy with the scissors.Did you get his tires too?”

I blinked a few times through the raindrops on my glasses.“Uh, just the rear.”

She huffed and shook her head.“Oh well.It’s better than nothing, I suppose.Let’s go before they catch us.”

Chuckling, we ran the rest of the way to the road and climbed back into the car, grinning like idiots.Yanking off our hoods, we smiled across the CRV at each other.

“For Lenora,” I said.

“For Lenora.”

Damn, she looked fucking kissable right now.With her spiked lashes from the misty rain, and the bright, expressive eyes, and that smile.So fucking radiant and beautiful.My cold, stiff fingers ached to touch her.To pull her to me.To hold her until I left finger marks on her skin and got the pleasure of kissing the bruises away in the morning.I craved the feeling of her teeth on my skin.Biting me and leaving teeth marks.

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