That Unexpected Kiss

by Tamara Ferguson

  “An assistant, huh?” Dylan was looking at her father quizzically. “Mind if I send a friend over for an interview? I might know someone who’d work out for you.”

  Her father shrugged, looking at Julie. “Fine with me. I’ll probably let Julie do the hiring.”

  Julie nodded her head up and down when Dylan turned her way. “Sure.” She waved at the applications resting on the bar. “These are for waitresses and extra help in the kitchen. We haven’t begun running the ad for an assistant yet.”

  “Cool. I’ll tell her to stop by. It’ll probably be sometime next week,” Dylan answered, giving her a heart stopping smile before turning back to her dad. “Want some company sometime, out on the lake, Mr. Thompson? I could use some advice about electronic minnows?” Dylan picked up his glass of water and began drinking it down.

  Jeff snorted. “I’m not so sure what I think about those minnows son, but I do have an electronic fish finder I’m getting quite a bit of use out of.”

  Julie rolled her eyes. Once her dad began talking fish, it was time to scram. She enjoyed fishing herself, but having any conversation about the silly newfangled equipment coming out for fishermen these days, not to mention the size of the huge fish that everyone else but her father seemed to be catching, always bored her to death.

  After sliding the applications over to her father where he still sat at the bar, she stood up on her feet, ready to walk away.

  “Call me Jeff, by the way,” her father said to Dylan.

  Dylan put down his glass of water. “Alright, Jeff. Hopefully, I’ll be working on a regular schedule someday, and not issuing citations and entering paperwork into the computer for the rest of my life.” Reaching over, he shook her father’s hand.

  Julie smiled at Dylan’s words, beginning to walk away.

  “Julie. Hold up,” Dylan called out, walking towards her as she made her way outside into the parking lot. “I’ve heard you’re here to stay.”

  Julie stared at him sharply. How in the heck did he know that? She hadn’t told anyone but her father, because she’d been wanting to surprise her friends.

  For a moment, she just stared. Once he stood up, she had a moment to size him up. Damn, the man looked sexy dressed in his uniform. He was huge and powerfully built. Every time they’d hung out together with Kate, Julie had done everything in her power to avoid ogling the guy, which had sure been difficult when they’d been out on the lake together, skiing.

  Finally, she answered, “Yes. But I thought my dad was the only one who knew?”

  “Jake Loughlin might’ve mentioned something about it to me.”

  His words made Julie even more curious. “Jake?”

  Dylan looked sheepish. “His wife, Danielle, is head of the school board.”

  Julie was still confused. This information really didn’t answer her question. Why would Jake and Danielle Loughlin be talking to Dylan about her? Rather than puzzle it out, she decided to drop it. What did it matter? “Do me a favor and don’t tell Kate that I’m back for good, or anyone else come to think of it. I want it to be a surprise.”

  Dylan grinned. “No problem.” Lifting a brow, he studied her and sighed heavily. “I suppose I’d better get back to work.” He began walking toward a massive motorcycle.

  “That’s yours?”

  “Sure is.” His grin was definitely mischievous. “Maybe I could take you for a ride sometime?”

  Julie’s jaw dropped. He couldn’t possibly mean that the way it sounded?

  When he started to laugh, Julie stared at him with disapproval. “How could you insinuate something like that, when you’re my best friend’s boyfriend?”

  Dylan looked surprised. “She never told you?”

  “Told me what?” Julie was just as mad at herself as she was at Dylan, for letting his words turn her on.

  Continuing to hold her gaze, he muttered, “So that’s why...”

  Dylan cleared his throat. “That the rumors of Kate and I actually being together as anything more than friends are greatly exaggerated,” he answered softly. Reaching out, he lifted her chin. “That information stays between us for now too. Okay?”

  Julie swallowed, nodding her head.

  Dylan kept staring into her eyes.

  Could he hear the beating of her heart? It was racing like crazy.

  He suddenly smiled. “You just wait. Someday soon, we’re going to be taking that ride.”

  When Julie pulled away with a huff of her breath, Dylan winked.

  Reaching over to his bike, he unhooked his helmet before hesitating.

  Turning back to Julie, his expression suddenly turned serious. “I guarantee it’ll be the ride of our lives, Babe. As long as you’re along with me, anything’s possible.”

  As Dylan put the helmet on over his head, Julie just stood there with her mouth gaped open. Slipping onto the seat, he revved up the engine, lifting his hand in farewell as he sped out from the lot.

  CHAPTER

  FOUR

  When Dylan returned to his cabin later on that night, he walked inside with a smile on his face. His campaign to win over Julie had finally begun.

  But damn was he exhausted after another confusing day working with Jim. Dylan had ended up patrolling the lake this afternoon instead of in the office, so now he was behind on completing the monthly reports.

  “Buster,” he said, staring into the living room. Dylan had been coerced into the no kill shelter here in town by Jake Loughlin’s wife, Danielle, and even though he hadn’t had any intention of adopting an animal, Dylan still ended up walking out of the place with a cat.

  Strolling into the living room and settling beside Buster on the couch, Dylan grinned. Danielle Loughlin was some kind of spokesperson for the causes she believed in, because he’d heard several similar stories from friends here in town.

  He scratched the chubby gray cat behind the ears.

  Emitting a long, frenetic purr, Buster stood up and stretched, rubbing his head affectionately against Dylan’s hand.

  “It looks like you’ve had a nice long nap,” Dylan said, picking up a remote.

  Gazing above the fireplace, he switched on the big screen TV. Pressing another button on the universal remote, the gas fireplace came to life.

  Hitting yet another switch, he activated security around the cabin as he sat watching the local news.

  Dylan sat up attentively, recognizing the name of someone being talked about on TV. Hmm, Dylan mused, wasn’t Jerry Scott the name of the guy who owned the property further down the road? Supposedly, he’d been in an accident while fishing this afternoon. The police suspected he’d fallen out from his boat, after crank starting the motor.

  Dylan grimaced, hearing the man’s arm had been chopped to pieces by the propeller.

  “Geez, Buster,” he muttered to the cat who was now in his lap. “Talk about freakish accidents.”

  “Meeeoww,” answered Buster, continuing to purr.

  “Enough of that,” Dylan said, switching off the TV. Lifting Buster from his lap, Dylan stood up and laid the cat back on the couch. “Time for bed.”

  But as Dylan made his way into the kitchen, Buster prowled after him, sitting and waiting expectantly while Dylan opened the fridge looking for something to eat. Dylan grinned at the cat, noticing Buster’s empty food bowl. Reaching above the fridge, Dylan grabbed the container filled with cat food and poured some into Buster’s bowl.

  “You’re getting fat, Bud,” Dylan said. “I guess I’m going to have to start buying the bigger bag of food though.” Staring into the fridge, Dylan sighed, willing something appetizing to appear. “Which reminds me, I need to do some grocery shopping again.”

  Buster ignored Dylan, greedily chomping down his food as Dylan pulled the makings for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich from the fridge.

  Twenty minutes later, Dylan had already showered and tugged on a pair of sweats. As usual, he was having difficulty falling asleep. His mind was racing through a list of everything he neede
d to do. During the last few months, he’d had Callahan Construction finish the work on the lower level of this cabin and, in the meantime, he’d taken Jake’s advice and updated his office equipment and internet access and added full scale security for his property.

  He’d been able to do his research from home instead of having to slip away to the library out of town or occasionally work beside the security team at Jake Loughlin’s Inn, so Dylan had been able to put together a pretty long list of possible suspects to check out for his father’s murder.

  It’d been twenty-one years this summer that his father had been shot and killed. Dylan Nash Endicott had been a puny little kid growing up, but Matthew Endicott had been determined to show Dylan that it didn’t have to stop him from doing anything he really wanted to do.

  Dylan’s fondest memory of his dad was when he’d decided to teach him to play baseball. God, how awful it’d been growing up without his dad. and at ten years old, Dylan was still being picked on because of his size.

  But after his dad was killed, no one ever messed with him again. His resentment of the world had become enough of a problem that his mom had enrolled Dylan into an afterschool program, where he’d lifted weights and had even learned how to box. And eventually, Dylan grew into his attitude.

  He’d been born into a wealthy family with old money, but no one in his family believed in acting like they had it. Dylan never went to private schools or developed any kind of superior attitude, like a lot of his father’s colleague’s kids had done.

  But Dylan had always been somewhat of a loner. Maybe because everyone in Lake Geneva knew who he was, he’d decided to go into law enforcement and do his training out of state in New York. And likely, it had something to do with the fact that his mother was obsessed with finding her husband’s killer. Dylan had been asked for his input many times through the years, and his mom had never hidden her efforts and progress with the case. In fact, many times the private detectives she’d hired reported to Dylan when she wasn’t available.

  Eventually Dylan had been approached by the FBI. He’d learned he was a crack shot, during sniper training, but wasn’t too keen on doing that kind of work. Besides, using his sniper skills would’ve required him to have laser surgery since Dylan was far sighted, and had needed reading glasses even when he was a kid.

  Instead, Dylan had attended several different colleges for years working undercover, successfully rounding up a drug ring operating on the west coast.

  But he’d been getting a little too old to continue with assignments like that, and when Jake Loughlin had come along and offered him this opportunity in Crystal Rock, Dylan had snatched it up.

  Dylan sighed, thinking about the past. Unfortunately, his life undercover had been grueling, which had left little opportunity to search for Matthew Endicott’s murderer. Truthfully, Dylan had figured his mother would have solved the case years ago because of her dedication.

  His dad had been an investment banker, and head of his own company, when he’d been shot late at night in his office. Whoever it was that’d shot him had disappeared with a shit load of funds.

  Years later, they’d narrowed down the suspect pool to one man, Wallace Brewster, who’d worked as an assistant to his father, and had quit six months before Dylan’s father was murdered. There had been no reason to suspect the man; he was moving on to another job and had asked his dad for references.

  Of course, the man working for his father hadn’t been the real Wallace Brewster, the police had finally discovered, with help from the investigator Dylan’s mother had hired. After background checks on each and every one of the hundreds of employees working for his father, they’d discovered the man had a fake identity, which had been put together professionally, as well as a family he’d left high and dry a couple of months earlier.

  There wasn’t a single doubt in his mind, they would find Matthew Endicott’s murderer. And once they did? Dylan was certain he was ready to move on with his life. But he hoped his mother would be able to do that too. His mom had loved his dad so much, she’d had no other goal in her life except to see her husband’s murderer brought to justice.

  But what would be next for her? Would she be able to go on with her life afterward?

  When Dylan had begun his job as a game warden over two years ago, he’d had no idea that the job would continue for so long. The funny thing about it was, if Jim Dupree wasn’t his boss, Dylan could actually see himself retiring from the FBI and continuing to live in Crystal Rock as a game warden. He loved the location, and that’s why he’d purchased property along Stone Lake after living here for a year.

  Coincidentally it’d been Valentine’s Day the first time he’d seen Julie Thompson, and he’d been determined to find a way to stay in Crystal Rock afterward. Aware of Dylan’s family fortune, Jake Loughlin had been walking him around Crystal Visions, the recently built school for special needs kids, right before Dylan had accepted Jake’s offer. Julie had been sharing her afternoon with a group of kids. To say Dylan had fallen in love at first sight would have been an understatement. The tender expression on her face, the care she’d shown the kids and the smile she’d had for each and every one of them as she’d been helping them address their cards and make decorations to hang in the windows for the holiday; there’d been a light in her eyes that’d simply taken Dylan’s breath away.

  He’d wanted, no he’d needed to have some of that light for himself. When Jake had brought up the possibility of Dylan taking over the assignment for searching out the trafficking ring later that day, Dylan had immediately said yes.

  But he’d discovered that Julie had a boyfriend, and she didn’t even live in Crystal Rock but was home for a visit. He’d met Kate Callahan and they’d gone out for a while, but imagine his surprise to discover Julie was one of her best friends. He and Kate were already over as a couple, but it’d been a little awkward. In fact, he couldn’t believe Kate had never noticed the sparks that were flying between him and Julie whenever they were close. That’s how wrapped up Kate must’ve been with her memories of Michael Murphy, she was still so obviously in love.

  On that thought, Dylan lulled himself into sleep.

  * * *

  Dylan shot out from his bed. It was six in the morning and the warning alert for his alarm system had just been set off. He ran into his office and took a quick glance at the outside camera monitors.

  “What the...?” Dylan growled.

  Stalking through the house and into the kitchen, he shut off the alarm and opened the back door.

  “Brent,” he yelled. “What in the hell are you doing here so early?”

  Brent Bradshaw, Dylan’s realtor, looked sheepish as he slammed shut the door of his Mercedes instead of stepping inside. “I was just taking off. I left something for you at the door. Didn’t realize you added an alarm, or I would’ve never walked up on the porch.”

  “That’s alright,” Dylan muttered, although it really wasn’t. Brent had been the realtor in charge of acquiring his property. Ever since Dylan had mentioned something about investing in rental properties around the lake, Brent seemed to come up with new proposals every month after discovering Dylan had money in the bank. “Come on in. I’ll get some coffee going.”

  As Brent came in through the doorway, he took a sharp look around Dylan’s remodeled kitchen. “The place is looking great.”

  Dylan had a sneaking suspicion Brent was hinting for a tour of the property. But what would a game warden need with the high-tech office that’d just been set up? The last thing Dylan needed was questions from Brent or anyone else around town. From what Dylan could see, Brent and his wife were pretty active in the community, so Brent could be gossiping to just about anyone. Dylan hadn’t been too thrilled to meet Brent’s wife and son, who were just too full of themselves as far as he was concerned. They were both the kind of people Dylan tended to avoid in Lake Geneva.

  Dylan wasn’t too sure about how he felt about Brent now either, since he was beginning to be
come more of a nuisance. Jake had directed him Brent’s way when Dylan had first begun searching out property, and upon first impression, Brent was a likeable guy.

  But maybe he was a little too agreeable and ready to please?

  After pouring some coffee for him and Brent, Dylan rested the cups on the kitchen table.

  Dylan sat down and gulped down his coffee as Brent spread out a map on the table in front of Dylan. There were three spots marked off and after reaching backwards for his glasses that were laying on the kitchen counter, Dylan slipped them on, studying the map carefully.

  “Okay,” Dylan said, pointing at a place on the map along Pebble Lake. “I like this location. What have you got here?”

  Brent smiled. “Good choice. There’s a two-bedroom cabin beside the lake, but it would need to be remodeled. And it’s not winterized. Also, there’s a boathouse built over the water that’s seen better days.”

  Dylan sighed. “Okay. Tell me about these other two?”

  One property was just being put on the market, while the other had been up for sale for a while. Two cabins were on one property and the other was vacant. Brent went on and on, finally giving Dylan the figures for the costs he’d drawn up. Dylan did like the way Brent presented his proposals, giving rough estimates for remodeling and tear downs as well as new construction costs, since he worked in conjunction with a local architect.

  Brent hesitated. “When would you like to take a look at the places?”

  Dylan was interested in all three properties, but he had to be careful. The last thing he needed was to have Brent looking deeper into his background. Dylan was single and over thirty, his cover allowing him just enough money in the bank to make it plausible for him to be interested in investment property.

  “Need any more coffee?” Dylan asked, standing up.

  “Nah, thanks,” Brent answered.

  “I’m definitely interested. But I don’t have a clue what my schedule’s going to be like these next few weeks.” Dylan smiled wryly. “Jim’s been switching me up left and right. It’s really messing with my sleep.”