Best Laid Plans
Page 30
Or letting a kid take the fall for it.
I tapped his shoulder to get his attention as he seemed lost in thought. I mouthed, “Jail or hospital?” Meaning, where would June end up?
Leo shrugged. “All depends on how they charge her, the deal she takes, if she takes a deal, or what the jury decides if she doesn’t.”
We sat in comfortable silence. When another unanswered question came to me, I wagged my finger. One more. Just one more question.
He arched one brow.
I pointed in the park’s direction and made like I was running, then opening a trench coat to flash people.
Leo’s brow furrowed. “You want to go to the park and run?”
I gave him my are-you-serious face. Until now, he’d been right on with all my gestures. Now he was misunderstanding me? I wasn’t buying it.
“Stripper,” I whispered.
He grimaced. “I can’t see you doing it for a living. Privately, sure. One client only, though.” He winked.
I punched him in the shoulder.
“Flasher,” I croaked and made like I was whipping open and closed a pretend trench coat.
Leo looked puzzled. “I’m not speaking from experience here, but typically aren’t bedroom games naughty nurse and sexy UPS man? Or naughty teacher and student?”
I fake gagged at the last one.
Leo laughed. “If you’re asking me to play naughty flasher and cop,”—he looked at his watch— “I’ve got some time before I have to hit the sack. I have an early shift. This would make things kinda awkward between us afterward, but we’d sure have fun in the meantime.” He wagged his brows and awarded me a cocky grin.
Wow, I was flattered, I think. More confused. Was he coming on to me? Only now I forgot what I wanted to know because a vision of Leo in my bedroom was blocking out everything else.
Heat flooded my body, and I resisted the urge to wave my hand or rapidly pull my sweatshirt in and out in an effort to fan myself.
I wasn’t deft enough to come back with something witty. Tomorrow, I’d come up with the most awesome response or zinger. But today, right now, I had nothing but naughty images of Leo filling my brain.
Focus!
I swiped the beer from his hand. “Carson,” I whispered. “Have you caught the flasher, forest stripper?” For added guilt, I clutched my throat and pretended that him forcing me to say all that came at a great and painful cost.
He snatched his beer back. “You can’t seriously think it was Carson that day. And no, we haven’t caught him, but another person was flashed the other day and they described Lyle Pettiford.”
I crossed my arms and shook my head. The guy I’d seen hadn’t been Bart Pettiford. Yeah, Bart was a tall, thin, and had brown hair like Carson but…
Maybe the idea of Carson being alive was playing tricks on me. Not having full closure could do that to a person, I supposed.
Leo said, “You think you could have seen Lyle that day?”
I shrugged and mouthed maybe, then let the idea go.
Leo pointed to a car that had pulled up to the curb. It was Toby.
“I ordered Thai food.”
I clapped my hands in excitement.
Leo said, “I got me the good stuff. I got you soup.”
I frowned, even though he’d ordered wisely.
Toby climbed my stairs, swinging a brown bag. A new felt banana hammock hung from his neck. Lady M’s new pouch.
I pointed to the pouch and asked Toby if she was okay by giving him the thumbs-up then thumbs-down.
He smiled. “She’s good. Took a while to calm her down, but we’ve been listening to Mozart and she’s been cooing.”
He set the bag at Leo’s feet and took the pouch off so I could see inside. Lady M blinked up at me. Thankfully, she didn’t hiss. I gave her a scratch, happy we all came away relatively unscathed.
My phone chimed. A message. I swiped to pull it up. A video from Rachel, and based on the expression on her face, she wasn’t happy. Word must have gotten out. I grimaced and pressed play.
“Samantha,” she screeched like one of those Howlers in the Harry Potter films, the ones where the parents sent a scathing dressing-down in front of all your peers.
But this message wouldn’t shred itself and disappear when it was done.
Rachel vaulted into her rant. “How hard is it for you to stay out of trouble just for four to six months? One small deployment. That’s all I asked.”
Leo and Toby laughed.
“Unreasonable expectations,” Leo said to Toby. “Trouble dogs her every step.”
They bump fists. I rolled my eyes and bit back a smile. If trouble dogged my steps, then I was glad to have these guys by my side.
Ready to read more Samantha True? Sign up for notifications for when the next book is coming out. Click here to be the first to know.
Books by Kristi Rose
Samantha True Mysteries
One Hit Wonder
All Bets Are Off
Best Laid Plans
The Wyoming Matchmaker Series
The Cowboy Takes A Bride
The Cowboy’s Make Believe Bride
The Cowboy’s Runaway Bride
The No Strings Attached Series
The Girl He Knows
The Girl He Needs
The Girl He Wants
The Meryton Brides Series
To Have and To Hold (Book 1)
With This Ring (Book 2)
I Do (Book 3)
Promise Me This (Book 4)
Marry Me, Matchmaker (Book 5)
Honeymoon Postponed (Book 6)
Matchmaker’s Guidebook - FREE
The Second Chance Short Stories can be read alone and go as follows:
Second Chances
Once Again
Reason to Stay
He’s the One
Kiss Me Again
or purchased in a bundle for a better discount.
The Coming Home Series: A Collection of 5 Second Chance Short Stories (Can be purchased individually).
Love Comes Home
Meet Kristi Rose
Hey! I’m Kristi. I write romances that will tug your heartstrings and laugh out loud mysteries. In all my stories you’ll fall in love with the cast of characters, they’ll become old, fun friends. My one hope is that I create stories that satisfy any of your book cravings and take you away from the rut of everyday life (sometimes it's a good rut).
When I’m not writing I’m spinning (riding a stationary bike- I’m obsessed with having smaller calves. Mine Are HUGE- and not in a good way, ya'll), repurposing Happy Planners, or drinking a London Fog (hot tea with frothy milk).
I’m the mom of 2 and a milspouse (retired). We live in the Pacific Northwest and are under-prepared if one of the volcanoes erupts.
Here are 3 things about me:
I lived on the outskirts of an active volcano (Mt.Etna)
A spider bit me and it laid eggs in my arm (my kids don’t know that story yet)
I grew up in Central Florida and have skied in lakes with gators.
I’d love to get to know you better. Join my Read & Relax community and then fire off an email and tell me 3 things about you!
Not ready to join? Email me below or follow me at one of the links below. Thanks for popping by!
You can connect with Kristi at any of the following:
www.kristirose.net
kristi@kristirose.net
Join Kristi’s Read and Relax Society
I hope you enjoy this book. I’d love to connect and share more with you. Be a part of my Read & Relax Society and let’s get to know each other. There, I’ll share all sorts of book information. You’re guaranteed to find an escape. You’ll also be the first to know about my sales and new releases. You’ll have access to giveaways, freebies, and bonus content. Think you might be interested? Give me a try. You can always leave at any time.
If you enjoyed this book I would appreciate if you’d share that with oth
ers. I love when my friends pass along a good read. Here’s some ways you can help.
Lend it , Recommend it , Review it
XO, Kristi