Page 41 of Spotted at Lighthouse Bay
Rick hung up and looked for his charge. Addy sat at the picnic table outside of the tea shop, her computer in front of her, her hair blowing in the wind. She paused for a moment, raising a hand to rub her forehead.
Instinctively, he wanted to look away, as though she might catch him staring.
That was his job, though.
She put her hands back on her keyboard and resumed typing.
He was allowed to look at her, even if she was a beautiful woman. Rick had to remind himself of that.
There was more to Addy than beauty, anyway. She had that in spades – but then there was her laugh, her confidence, the way she walked like she was floating…
She seemed to have little notice of the effect she had on men…or she was too polite to use it to her advantage.
Addy looked up and caught his eye. “Hey.”
His heart thudded against his ribs.
“Hey,” he said, walking over and taking a seat at the table.
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “Beautiful today, isn’t it?”
Rick stared at her. “It’s beautiful every day.”
She laughed. “So it is.”
“I’ve got some bad news,” he continued. “My buddy got back to me about Flex Knock.”
“Let me guess. He couldn’t find anything.”
“Sort of. They’re a shell company, owned by no one, some LLC registered offshore.” He paused. So far, no reaction. “He’s pretty good at this, though, and managed to track down the next link, but it was just another offshore LLC.”
Addy closed her eyes again. “My mom’s money was deposited into an account in the Cayman Islands, wasn’t it?”
“Probably.”
She shut her laptop and focused her cool gray eyes on him. “You seem like you have more bad news to tell me.”
He jerked backward slightly, like she’d snapped her fingers in front of him. “I do?”
“Go ahead, spit it out. I can handle it.”
He’d wanted to find the right way to say this, the right amount of information to tell her. It felt like he could tell her anything, but why did she deserve to be burdened with his problems?
“There is one more thing.” Rick scratched the back of his neck.
She tilted her head slightly. “Yes?”
“They’re going to have to send a guy out here to be my temporary replacement.”
Her eyes widened. “Did I do something to offend you?”
“No, of course not. It’s nothing like that. I have a personal event I need to attend. It’ll be no more than twenty-four hours.”
Ask me. Ask what it is. I’ll tell you.
“Oh,” she said. “Of course. Whatever you need, Rick.”
“I hate to do this, but I’ll get the guy caught up on everything and make sure you’re safe.”
