Seaside Heartbeats: A Sweet Romance (The Seaside Hunters Book 2)

by Stacy Claflin

  Brayden leaned across his bed and found his phone. He found Jake's number and pressed call, hoping it wasn't too early.

  "Hey, Brayden."

  "I didn't wake you, did I?"

  "Nope. Just at the shop. Must be a weekend for you." Jake laughed. "The rest of the world is up and bustling. Hold on, Brayden." There were rustling noises on the other end of the phone followed by Jake's muffled voice. "They're down that aisle and to the left." He spoke into the phone again. "Sorry about that. Did you need something? The shop's getting busy."

  "I'd like to have a double date with you and Tiffany for lunch if possible. I know it's short notice. I should have called you earlier. I just—"

  "No problem. We'd love to. Where do you want to meet?"

  Brayden's mind rushed. Nothing in Kittle Falls was good enough for Lana. He wanted something really special.

  "Are you still there?" Jake asked.

  "I'm just thinking."

  "There's a crowd headed for the register. Want to call me when you figure something out?"

  "Yeah, sure. Thanks." Brayden ended the call and lay back down, pulling the covers close. He needed to turn the AC down a bit. It was especially cold for some reason. Or maybe it was stress. He wanted to give Lana the best, but it wasn't in town. Sure, there were good places to eat. Fun places.

  Everything in Kittle Falls was about having fun or encouraging family. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't classy. Brayden pictured a place that sparkled with gold and silver, overlooking the ocean. There were plenty of great views, but surprisingly little with class.

  Perhaps what they needed was something closer to the hospital, but would Jake and Tiffany be able to get away from the shop long enough for that? On such short notice, it was unlikely.

  There were several restaurants that met his standards twenty or thirty minutes away—and his car was a mess. It had turned into a depository for random things that he'd been too busy to put away. If he was going to take her anywhere, he would need to not only clean it out, but vacuum it as well.

  He rolled over and looked at the time. If they were going to have lunch, he needed to get up. Brayden stretched, and then got up, slipping on his slippers and robe. Then he went out to the living room to check the AC. For some reason, it was a full ten degrees colder than normal.

  Brayden fixed the temperature and then went into the kitchen for a quick breakfast. It was a cold cereal kind of morning since he had so much to do. Shivering, he wished he had time for a big bowl of plain oatmeal. He tightened the robe and then poured bran flakes into the largest clean bowl he could find. Then he poured in skim milk and sat to eat, never one to eat on the go. It just wasn't good for the body.

  He looked out through his sliding glass door. It looked like it would be another hot, summer day. For once, he would appreciate it. His fingers felt like ice. A hot shower would fix that.

  Brayden emptied the bowl and then headed back for the kitchen. He froze mid-step looking at his living room. Books lay on the floor and other things on his shelves were strewn around the room.

  Goose bumps formed down his back that had nothing to do with the cold condo. He set the empty bowl on the table, walking to the living room. His remote controls were out of order and medical magazines were on the floor instead of the coffee table.

  His head whipped to the front door. Everything looked as it should. It didn't look broken into. Walking over to it, he examined it. He went to unlock the deadbolt, but it wasn't locked. Neither was the knob.

  Brayden opened the door and looked into the hall. Some kids ran past, squealing. Nothing looked out of place. He turned around and looked at the outside of his door. It all looked at as it should, but what had he expected? Axe marks? No, whoever came in had used some kind of lock-pick—or had a key.

  His breathing grew heavy as anger set in. Brayden went back inside, grabbed a baseball bat from the front closet, and looked around in all of the rooms. The cabinet doors in the bathroom were open, and some of his stuff had been knocked over.

  Brayden clutched the bat so tightly that his knuckles turned white. How dare someone go into his condo and rifle through his things? Who would do that? Crime was so low in town he couldn't remember the last time anything had been broken into.

  Sure, there were petty thefts. People swiping things from stores. It happened in his parents' shop on a fairly regular basis. That was just part of running a store like that no matter where it's located. It's common practice to budget for a certain amount of loss.

  But breaking into someone's home. That was a completely different level of crime. Anger continued to build as he went through everything again, double-checking that no one remained. Despite his Hippocratic oath to always help others medically, he'd be more than happy to send someone to the hospital with a few minor injuries over this. But whoever had done this had left long ago, adding insult to injury by making it so cold.

  He went back into his room and grabbed his phone. A missed call from Jake. He'd have to call his brother back later. Brayden dialed nine-one-one.

  "Nine-one-one. What's your emergency?" asked a nasally female voice.

  "Someone has broken into my condo."

  Brayden told the lady his address.

  "Is the perpetrator there now?"

  "No."

  "Okay. Please stay on the line with me. I'm sending officers over now. In the meantime, please answer my questions."

  Brayden took a deep breath. Even though he knew he was alone, he couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. Probably because he'd been looked at while sleeping in the safety of his own home.

  He answered the dispatcher's questions, pacing through the condo until there was a strong knock on the door.

  "They're here," Brayden said into the phone.

  "Please stay on the line until the officers come inside."

  Was she worried the intruders had come back in the middle of the day? Unlikely. Also, Brayden could take them. He was taller than average—a full head taller than any of his brothers—and they were all fairly tall themselves.

  He opened the door and three policemen stood at his door. Brayden pulled open the door and stepped back, giving them room to get inside. "They're here. You sent more than enough."

  She finally let him disconnect, and then he turned to the officers, thanking them. He gave them the grand tour, showing everything that had been disturbed.

  "Anything disturbed in here?" asked Officer Williams, a skinny, jumpy-looking man. He indicated toward the living room.

  "I hate to admit that mess is mine." His condo was where he gave himself some freedom to just be…human.

  "Why don't you stand by the front door while we look around ourselves?" asked Williams.

  "Sure." Brayden tightened the sash around his robe and went to the front door. He strained to hear their hushed conversation. Clicks sounded as they took pictures with cell phones.

  Brayden hated having strangers going through his home, but even more, he hated the thought of uninvited strangers going through his things as he slept. He never thought he'd need a security system—most in town didn't. It wasn't a place where these things happened.

  His phone rang in his hand, and Brayden silenced it. It was Jake calling again. Brayden sent him a text.

  Something came up. I'll call you when I can.

  Is everything okay?

  I'll call you when I can.

  Do you need anything?

  The police have it handled.

  What?

  Don't worry. I'll talk to you soon.

  If you say so. You know where to reach me.

  Brayden didn't respond to that one. He wanted to focus on the officers. They must have been trained in speaking so low that no one could make out a word.

  The officers finally came over.

  "Is anything missing?" Williams asked.

  "Not that I could tell. I didn't check my safe."

  "Let's have a look."

  Brayden went to his room, followed by the
entourage. His closet was already open, so he got down on his knees and moved aside the things covering the safe and typed in the code quickly, hoping the police were giving him the privacy he needed. Brayden pulled out important paperwork and some expensive watches he almost never wore.

  "Everything looks good here." And now he would have to find a new hiding place for his little safe and change the code.

  "Okay. We have some more questions, and then paperwork to fill out. Would the dining room table be a good place to do that?"

  Brayden sighed. "Why not?" He put everything back into the safe and locked it back up. Looking at the time, he knew there wouldn't be time to clean his car before having lunch with Lana. He would probably end up taking her to a diner—the furthest thing from classy.

  Fourteen

  Lana sat at the booth next to Brayden, across from his brother Jake and his sister-in-law, Tiffany. They both seemed really nice, though overly chatty. Maybe it was a small-town thing.

  She looked over at Brayden, who looked to be in his own world. Lana could have waved her hand in front of his face, and he probably wouldn't have noticed.

  When there was a lull in Jake and Tiffany's conversation, Lana said, "I really like this diner. It's cute. We don't have anything like that back home."

  "Where's home?" asked Tiffany, looking genuinely interested.

  "Seattle."

  "Really?" Tiffany's eyes lit up. "Me, too. Kittle Falls is about as opposite as you can get from there."

  Lana smiled. "Except for the water and woods. You don't have to drive very far to find either one."

  "That's true. If it wasn't for the beach, I'd miss our lake house like crazy."

  "Did you live on the lake?" Lana asked.

  "My grandpa has a place at Lake Goodwin."

  "Oh, fun. I have relatives near there." Lana glanced over at Brayden again. Had she done something to upset him? Maybe she should have called in between this date and the last one. She had sent him some cute texts, not wanting to disturb him while working or sleeping. She knew how busy he was—just as busy as she had been the last nine years. The last thing she wanted to be was a bother. He could have taken that as a lack of interest.

  The food came and Lana hoped that would bring Brayden out of his shell. The longer he was quiet, the more worried she grew. Now that Jake and Tiffany were eating instead of talking so much, she wondered if they had been trying to distract her.

  She watched a pile of shrimp spill out from Jake's sandwich. Lana raised an eyebrow. "Shrimp on a sandwich?"

  Jake nodded and then swallowed. "You really should try the Oceanic sometime. It's divine. Sprouts, avocado sauce, cheese. Mmm." He took another bite, spilling more onto his plate.

  Tiffany shrugged. "He swears it's delicious, but I refuse to try. I'm afraid of shrimp on a sandwich."

  Jake wiped his face. "You guys don't know what you're missing."

  "We'll keep it that way." Tiffany bit into her meatball sub.

  "More for me." Jake smiled at Lana.

  Lana looked back over at Brayden, who had barely touched his food. She couldn't take it anymore. "Is everything okay?"

  He blinked a couple times and then looked at her. "I'm sorry, Lana. I'm being a terrible date."

  She almost disagreed, but couldn't. "I don't mind you being quiet. It's just unlike you."

  "I don't want to be a downer, but my condo was broken into this morning. I had to deal with that from the time I woke up until just before I got here. I wanted to take you somewhere nice, but there wasn't time to plan anything. I should've figured this all out yesterday."

  "Broken into? When? Are you okay?" Lana stared at him, concerned but also relieved that she hadn't done anything wrong.

  "While I slept. Nothing was taken, so they might have had the wrong place." He shrugged and then took a bite of his salad.

  Lana's eyes widened. "While you were there?"

  Brayden nodded, picking at a tomato. "If they try it again, I now have an alarm system that will wake everyone within a two block radius."

  "Have there been other break-ins?" Lana asked.

  He shook his head. "First all year according to the cops."

  "Crazy. I'm so sorry."

  "It's weird," Jake said, "because that almost never happens around here. It makes me angry that it happened to my family."

  "We're getting a security system, too," Tiffany said. She and Jake exchanged a look like they had a big secret.

  "What?" Brayden asked, sounding more curious than despondent.

  Tiffany and Jake exchanged the look again, and then Jake looked at Brayden. "You can't say anything to anyone else. We're going to announce it at the family dinner on Sunday."

  "What?" Brayden asked.

  Tiffany squealed. "We're going to have a baby."

  "Congratulations," Lana said, trying to get excited.

  "Wow," Brayden said. "Yeah, congratulations."

  "Sorry to spring this on you today of all days," Tiffany said.

  "Don't be," Brayden said. "I'm glad for some good news. Now it's time to celebrate." He called over the waitress and ordered pies all around, and then mentioned the entire check was on him.

  "Brayden," Jake said. "You don't have to—"

  "I know I don't. I want to. My baby brother is having a baby."

  Jake scowled. "I'm not a baby."

  "Obviously," Brayden said, and then laughed. "Mom and Dad are going to be thrilled."

  Lana relaxed as the conversation—and Brayden—became full of excitement and joy. After the meal and desserts had been eaten, Jake and Tiffany took off to check on the shop.

  "Do you want to walk to the beach?" Brayden asked. He looked at his phone. "I have a couple hours before I have to get back and meet the security installers."

  "A walk sounds nice. I guess we don't have time to go back to the museum. I just can't get the mystery out of my mind."

  "I'll tell you what. On my next day off, we'll go there and then have dinner at a nice restaurant just outside of town."

  "I'd really like that. Maybe we could plan that outing in the woods?"

  "Sure. Maybe we'll have something to go on by then."

  "Hopefully." Lana finished her iced tea. "I've searched everything online. I think if we're going to find any real clues, they're going to be here in town, or maybe out by the caves."

  The waitress brought back the bill with Brayden's card. He put the card in his wallet and then signed the receipt. Then he stood and held his hand out.

  Lana took it, noticing that his skin was cool. His nerves were probably on edge after having his home broken into. She took her other hand and rubbed her hands around his, trying to warm them.

  "We should walk in the sun," she said. "You need to warm up."

  "That I do. I've been cold all day. The burglars cranked my AC."

  "Why? That's weird."

  "Who knows? Why didn't they take anything? I have a brand new laptop as well as expensive paintings on the walls." He shrugged. "Obviously, they weren't after that stuff." They walked to the door, and he held it open for her.

  Lana took his other hand and tried to warm it also. They remained on the sidewalk, heading for the beach. She leaned against him, noticing that his whole arm was just as chilly as his hands.

  Even though he appeared strong on the outside, it was obvious he was rattled by the whole experience.

  "I can't imagine what it must have felt like to wake up and discover someone had been there while you were sleeping."

  "It's unsettling, but it won't happen again. Not with the new security system. A ghost couldn't slip by unnoticed."

  "A ghost, huh? Do you think that's who broke in this time?"

  "If my front door hadn't been unlocked, I might think that."

  Lana squeezed his hand. "Do you want to talk about it?"

  "What's to discuss? Nothing's missing, and it won't happen again."

  She looked up at him. "Talking about it might help."

  "How?" he s
napped.

  Lana let go of his hand, surprised by his tone.

  His face softened. "I'm sorry. I'm not upset with you. Talking won't change anything, and honestly, I'd rather not think about it."

  "Well, then a walk by the water is just what the doctor needs. Patient's orders."

  Brayden cracked a smile. "Yes, ma'am."

  She took his hand and ran her fingers along his cool palm slowly before threading her fingers between his. They walked in a comfortable silence along the path, avoiding children and joggers zigging and zagging faster than them.

  When they got to the beach, they walked around sunbathers and sandcastles while dodging Frisbees and the occasional stray volleyball. The sun beat down from above and the hot sand warmed them from below. Lana was about to break into a sweat but hoped that Brayden was warming up as well as relaxing. From the look on his face, he had felt pretty bad for snapping at her.

  "Do you feel any better?" she asked as they stopped just a few feet from where the water splashed onto the shore.

  "I'm starting to." He squeezed her hand. "The company definitely helps." He looked into her eyes, his hazel eyes darker than usual.

  "Your eyes seem to change color with your mood." Her heart sped up as she reached for his face and ran the back of her fingers along his cheeks.

  Brayden reached for her hand and held her wrist gently. Her fingers remained on his cheek as they continued staring into each other's eyes. He let go and her hands made their way down his face. It was rough with stubble. That was the first day she'd seen him without a smooth face. Clearly, he was shaken up from the break-in.

  "Sorry about not shaving. I didn't want to be late meeting you."

  "I don't mind."

  He pulled her into a hug. "You deserve a better date than this."

  Lana looked up at him again. "I'm just glad I can be here for you. It's been a stressful day, and I hope I've helped to brighten it a little."

  "You have."

  She moved her hands to his shoulders and rubbed. "You're really tense. Sit down and let me try to loosen you up."

  "I won't argue with that." His gaze lingered and then he sat on the sand. Lana lowered herself and went around back. She stared at his back. He was so muscular. Her breath caught before she put her hands on his shoulders again, rubbing softly but pressing harder with each movement.