Page 40 of Love vs The Ooze Monster!
“Of course I like you.” She busied herself smoothing an imaginary wrinkle from her pretty skirt. “I’ve gone through a lot of trouble for you, you know.”
“Have you?”
“Yes! If anyone else had been in charge of the docks, I could have just killed them and taken over. But I couldn’t very well do that with you. Not when you might be…” She trailed off and chewed her lower lip.
“Iam.” He corrected firmly, filling in the blanks to what she’d been about to say. “Not ‘might be.’ IamThe One.”
Mabel met his gaze. “You do scare me, though.” She admitted out of nowhere.
He stifled a wince. “I wouldneverhurt you. I swear it on my life.”
“No!” She made a face, as if he was being silly. “Not scare me likethat. You scare me because… I feel things around you.”
His heart melted, his tension easing.
Mabel studied him closely. “That’s why I didn’t tell you about who I really was, when you hired me. Because, I knew there would be no going back. No control of the situation. With you and me, it will always beeverything.”
“Yep.” He held her gaze steadily.
“And that doesn’t scare you? You usually hide half of yourself, Boyd. I watch you do it. Your charm is there, but there’s so much more to you that you don’t show most people. You’re not concerned, now that you’ve let me all the way in?”
“Nope.”
She sighed in exasperation. “You’re such a difficult man.”
Boyd’s mouth curved. “Wait until I tell you we’re getting married on Tuesday, just as soon as the courthouse opens. Then, you’rereallygonna get spooked.”
She blinked. “I never said I’d marry you.”
“You don’t have much of a choice. I’m sleeping with you in,” he checked the clock, “five hours. I’ve got a reputation to consider. You think I’m gonna get into bed with a girl who’s got dishonorable intentions towards me?”
“I think I should have just whacked you myself and taken over the docks.” She grumbled. “Anyway, we don’t have time for your nonsense. Now that I’ve got my inheritance, we need to ensure that we keep it. We can’t let the ooze monster destroy everything that you and I have built.” She gestured to the library books, piled around his chair. “Have you found anything useful, yet?”
Boyd weighed his options. If this was a blackjack game, he’d be holding a nineteen. Aggressive play wasn’t the smart move here. He was gonna stand with what he had and let the dealer bust. If he gave Mabel time, she’d see where she belonged, all on her own. So, he’d give her some time. Plenty of time. Lots of time.
She had exactly four hours and fifty-eight minutes.
“I found out that jellyfish are ninety-five percent water.” Boyd said easily, waiting her out. He held up a tome on aquatic animals, so she could see the pen-and-ink drawing. “Not sure how that helps us, though.”
Her brows tugged together. “Maybe salt would shrivel the ooze monster?”
“A lot of jellyfish live in saltwater.”
Her frown got deeper at that conundrum. “Well, there must be a way to…” The phone rang. “Hang on.” She grabbed the receiver. “Cassiday residence. Oh, hello, Charlie.” She held out the phone for Boyd. “It’s Charlie.”
Boyd got to his feet to take the call. “You find Rico, yet?”
“Not yet, boss.” Charlie was always calm, which was another reason Boyd usually assigned the old-timer the task of watching Mabel. The change of management in the town’s bootlegging operations didn’t faze him. Neither did the mysterious deaths at the speakeasy or rumors of a monster prowling the streets. Charlie just did his job and the rest was none of his never mind. “I delivered that baking soda to Miss Mabel’s boardinghouse, though.”
“The what?”
“Sacks of baking soda? She said it was for some new hooch recipe. It occurs to me that I shoulda brought it to your house, though. ‘Cause now she’s staying there.”
Boyd shot Mabel a long-suffering look. “Why did you tell Charlie to get that damn baking soda?”
“Oh!” She blinked. “That was yesterday. I was very mad at you, so I decided to take my severance pay.”
Boyd rolled his eyes.
