Page 59 of The Sweet Life

“Just say the word if you want to keep walking. I don’t mind. It’s a nice night.”

She needed to be more careful around him, or a much betteractress. Maybe Cami could give her some tips. “No. I’m good, thanks.”

“You sure? You sounded disappointed.”

“It’s just that I really wanted to try one of those smoked-bacon-wrapped Oreos the woman behind us was eating.” It was as good a cover for her disappointment as she could come up with on short notice. And they had looked really good. She smiled, remembering his reaction to her moaning.

“Sure. I’ll run ahead and get you some. I’ll meet you at the car.”

Sage sighed as he took off across the beach. It was as if he couldn’t wait to get away from her. She decided he must have picked up on her romantic feelings and vowed to do a better job keeping them in check, reminding herself why romance and men sucked as she walked back to the car.

Okay, so Jake didn’t suck, she thought as she sat in the car, watching him walk toward her fifteen minutes later. He’d stood in the long line with the hot sun beating down on him while she waited in the air-conditioned car.

“Thanks,” she said when he tossed her the bag.

“You’re welcome. They said they were one of Alice’s favorites.” He smiled as he put on his seat belt.

She held one up. “Do you want one?”

“Sure. I’ll save it for when we get home, though,” he said as he pulled back onto the road and headed in the direction of the farm.

Sage bit into the bacon-wrapped Oreo. It was so good that she’d describe it as orgasmic, and that’s exactly what her moan sounded like. She smiled around the cookie. And this time she only had an audience of one.

Jake swore, jerking the wheel. “Sage, you almost made me drive off the road.”

“How? All I’m doing is eating my cookie.” She wiped crumbs from her chest. “I finished mine. Can I have yours?”

“No.”

Chapter Nineteen

Sage glanced at Jake as he drove up the road to the farm. It was narrow and winding but that didn’t really explain why he seemed to be on high alert. Then again, they were surrounded by dense forest, which meant that a deer, coyote, or fox could dart onto the road at any moment. Her mind traveled to the woodland trail where Alice’s body had been found almost three weeks before.

It was about a mile and half from where they were. Jake had made a small stone memorial for Alice there. More apropos than the roadside memorial, she thought, wondering if she would one day be able to make that long walk to where Alice had died.

Jake pulled into the driveway. “Stay in the car for a minute. I want to check something out.”

She looked around. “Why? What do you see that I don’t?”

He scrubbed his hand along his jaw, the scratch of his beard on his palm audible. It shouldn’t have been sexy, but for some reason, it turned her on. Or maybe it was Jake and his protective instincts, the knowledge that he could kick the assof whoever was out there. No, that couldn’t be it. She was a Rosetti. They’d been raised to look after themselves. The Oreo cookies and her orgasmic moaning must have put her in the mood.

“A light where there shouldn’t be one. I saw it through the trees as I made the last turn.” He got out of the car, shaking his head when she followed suit. “I don’t believe you.”

“Did you really think you could pull that…” She lowered her voice several octaves. “Stay in the car, woman, while I catch the bad guy? I took self-defense classes, you know. I bet I could—” Something hissed, and then a raccoon appeared out of the shadows, lunging in her direction. She screamed and jumped back into the car, closing the door and locking it. She crossed her arms, refusing to give Jake the satisfaction of meeting his amused gaze.

She heard him laughing as he rounded the farmhouse. She could handle his laughter. It was better than him mocking her with a reenactment of her performance.

In the distance, a coyote howled.Maybe it wasn’t that far away, she thought when the raccoon ran past the car and down the road with its babies, big babies, chasing after her. Good to know it had a reason to be overly aggressive that didn’t involve rabies.

At the sound of a text, she glanced at her phone. It was from Jake. It’s safe to get out of the car. I’m at the store. Dots came and went. Unless you’re still afraid of the scary raccoons.

“Ass,” she muttered and went to open the passenger-side door. In case the raccoons had left some of their friends behind in their hidey hole, she crawled over the console and got out the driver-side door.

Fast-walking around the farmhouse while watching for signs of wildlife, she hurried to the shed—also known as the store—as fast as her heels would allow, which wasn’t fast at all. But she refused to walk barefoot through the lavender fields on account of the meadow voles. She shuddered at the thought of the rodents and the raccoons and every other mammal, reptile, and insect that the farm seemed to attract.

Jake turned, lighting the way for her with his flashlight. Then he stepped back, and she saw the outer wall of the shed. Its dull gray, wooden exterior had been replaced with a painted field of vibrant lavender, swaying on a gentle breeze. In the middle of the field, a beautiful silver-haired woman wearing a familiar straw sun hat and carrying a basket of lavender on her arm smiled at something in the field. Sage followed the direction of her gaze and spotted a black tabby cat hiding among the lavender.

“It’s Alice and Max,” she whispered, reaching out with the tips of her fingers, pulling back before she touched her old friend’s face and smeared the paint. “It looks so real.”

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