“Well, we can’t have that.”
Jack pulled out his handcuffs and nodded to Corduroy. “Would you like to do the honors on Eric?”
“It would be my pleasure.”
“What the hell is this? You can’t arrest us because we were trying to find someplace safe for the girls to go during the day.”
Jack shook his head at me. “According to Kat, that’s not what was happening. We’ll just take you down to the station until this is all worked out.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Eric spat. “I’ve got a house to start construction on!”
Jack nodded. “I think you’re going to be delayed.”
“This is bullshit,” I spat as Jack yanked my arms behind my back. “You can’t just keep arresting us.”
“Kat, tell him that I wasn’t kidnapping you,” Eric pleaded.
She quirked an eyebrow at him. “Promise me that you won’t ban me from using the stairs, or running, or anything else that’s equally ridiculous.”
“You know I can’t do that,” Eric growled.
She turned to Jack and smiled. “Do what you have to do, Jack.”
“With pleasure.”
“You can’t be serious, quiche-girl!” I shouted over my shoulder as Jack wrenched my arms behind my back. “I brought you pizza!”
“And then you told on me for running!”
I glared at her, trying to be pissed, but honestly, it was pretty hard. “This isn’t over yet.”
“It is for the next few hours,” Jack said as he pushed me down the sidewalk.
Andrew
I sat in the living room looking over the files for my case. But every time I tried to concentrate on what was written, I kept going back to look at the damn woman’s face. Lorelei. God, that name made me hard. She was a real beauty, skinny, average height, but beautiful, dark hair that had me thinking of some very indecent ways to use it to my advantage in the bedroom. I couldn’t afford to think like that. She was a suspected murderer.
Dropping the file, I scrubbed a hand down my face and sighed. I wasn’t getting any shit done just sitting here fantasizing about all the ways I could fuck her. And worse, I was supposed to be looking into her past, her very shady past. Three men in her life had died. That couldn’t be a coincidence. Although, from the research I had done so far, I couldn’t see any way that she had benefited from the first two dying. Then again, maybe she was just testing the waters, trying to get the feel for murder.
Sofia came out of her bedroom, carrying small paint cans and a paintbrush. I immediately jumped up from the couch and rushed over to her. “What are you doing?” I asked, snatching the cans out of her hands.
“Well, I was thinking about adding some color to the living room. I want to be ready for when the baby comes.”
My brows furrowed and I chewed on my lip. “When the baby comes…what are you planning on doing for the crib?”
“Well, I figured that the baby would stay in our room.”
I glanced over at my bedroom door and made a split-second decision. “You should turn my room into the baby’s room.”
Her eyebrows rose in surprise. “What? We couldn’t do that. Where would you sleep?”
“I can find an apartment.”
She pursed her lips at me, crossing her arms over her chest. “Where exactly? There aren’t exactly a bunch of places for rent. We know, because we’ve looked.”
“You have?”
“Well, it was something to look into when we found out we were having a baby. But there’s just not a lot available right now. I mean, there are homes for sale, but we don’t have that kind of money right now.”
“Well…still, I think you should use my room. I can sleep on the couch.”
She snorted in amusement. “I’ve slept on that couch. There’s no way I’ll let you do that. Besides, a baby won’t take up that much space. We’re only getting what we absolutely need, and we already have all the details worked out. We’re going to use a pack n’ play, that way we won’t have a huge crib in the room. And we looked up some shelving units from Ikea that are affordable and will save us space. Really, we don’t want to go crazy.”
“But if you had a room for the baby—“
“It would be a waste of space. Besides, I wasn’t close with my parents, and I want to make sure that this baby has all the love I never got. I want the baby in the room with us, and Joe is fine with that.”
I wasn’t sure I believed her, but I didn’t want to push this on her either. Besides, the longer I stayed, the more rent I could help out with.
“Well, you can’t paint by yourself. Fumes are terrible for pregnant women.”
“I’m just putting a few small samples on the wall.”
“Still, it’s not right. I’ll paint them and then you can tell me what you like. Then I’ll go down to the store and pick up what you’ll need.” I would also be paying for it. I knew for a fact that I brought in more money than Joe. This was the least I could do to help out.
Two hours later, I was pulling into the hardware store parking lot, Sofia in tow. She insisted on coming down with me, even though I told her I could handle it. She wanted to be part of the process. She dragged me over to the paint section and had me help pick out the colors, asking for my advice when she thought one shade of blue was “too blue” or looked more gray than blue. It was exhausting.
“Look, you want this blue,” I said, snatching a color card off the wall. “This is a good color for a baby. Joe would agree with me. You have to keep it masculine, but also something that you like. Trust me, he’ll like this color. And for the living room…woman, you can’t paint the damn living room yellow. I’m sorry to say it, but no man wants to live with yellow walls.”
She chewed her lip as she thought about this. “What about in the kitchen? That’s a woman’s domain.”
“Not in our apartment. Besides, yellow will show all the smoke marks every time you burn something. Go with something else, a neutral color that can easily be painted over year after year.”
She eyed me with a smirk. “And you promise to come back and help me paint the kitchen year after year? Because otherwise, I’ll just go with what I like.”
Damn, I had walked right into that one. If I said no, Joe was going to be subjected to the color yellow for the rest of his life. But if I said yes, I was going to have to make sure that I came back to paint the damn kitchen every year.
Sighing, I nodded. “Yes, I’ll come back and paint for you.”
She smiled and wrapped her arms around my neck, squealing slightly as her small belly pushed against my stomach. “This is so exciting. Who knew picking out paint would be so exciting?”
“Don’t overdo it,” I said, bracing like something terrible was about to happen. “Too much excitement is bad for the baby.”
She rolled her eyes and turned back to the counter, telling the very bored looking store clerk about everything we were getting. While she waited, I took a step away and looked at the shelves behind us where all the paint supplies were, grabbing what I would need.
“I should have asked you for help picking out my colors,” a female voice said from behind me. I spun around, only to come face to face with the one and only femme fatale, Lorelei. I felt like I had swallowed my tongue. She was even more gorgeous in person. Her long, dark hair hung down her back and over her shoulders in silky waves. And those big, brown, gorgeous eyes stared at me like they held all the secrets of the world. I was mesmerized. She had this adorable nose that was so cute and small, but it was her lips that really drew me in. Soft, plump…desirable. Holy fuck, she was my wet dream, standing right here in the flesh. I was sunk.
“Uh…” Finally getting my brain to kick in, I shoved my hand forward and introduced myself. “Andrew.” Then I internally smacked myself. I was investigating her. I couldn’t introduce myself to her. Then she would know who I was. Except, she wouldn’t know who I was because she didn’t know who I was. I was just a guy in the hardwar
e store. Unless she really was a black widow, and she was scoping out her next target. What if I was her next target?
Oh shit, I started to sweat, the beads forming on my forehead and under my pits. It was an unnerving thing to not know if you were the next target or just a rando that she met in the store.
“Is that your wife?”
I glanced back at Sofia and briefly thought of saying yes just to throw her off my scent, but then what if that put Sofia in danger? What if she wanted to do away with her to get me to herself? Fuck.
“No, that’s my brother’s woman. I’m just helping pick out paint for our apartment.”
“Your apartment? You all live together?”
“Well, it saves money. I could move out, but I want to help them out while they get ready for the baby to come.”
I closed my eyes, irritated that I had just let it slip that I had money. Stupid, stupid, stupid!
“That’s so sweet. You’re a very nice brother.”
“Yeah, one of seven.”
“Seven? Wow, your parents must have been either very excited to have kids or—“
“Don’t say it,” I cringed. I had already heard it before, how they were so horny. I didn’t need to hear it again.
“I’m—“
“Lorelei,” I said, before I could think better of it.
Her eyes went wide and wary and she pulled her hand back. “How did you know my name?”
Shit, how did I know her name? Goddamnit, I sucked at this in person investigation stuff. That’s why I stuck to computers. I was good with the virtual world, but I sucked at the in-person investigations. I should have had one of my brothers here. They would know what to do.
“Eric!” I shouted too loudly. “Uh…my brother, Eric, mentioned having a house to renovate for a woman that moved into town. Lorelei,” I chuckled nervously. “And new people in town are few and far between. Wild guess,” I laughed again.
She looked like she wasn’t going to buy it, and my mind started spinning on all the different ways I could get Sofia and I out of the store safely. Did she have a gun on her? Maybe poison? No, that was ridiculous. She would have to offer me a drink first, and then mix in the poison. Plus, she didn’t actually have a drink on her, which meant she would have to buy one. Then she would have to find a way to mix the poison in without me seeing, which could be complicated. Or was it? If she was a black widow, maybe this was second nature to her.
“—doing a great job on the design.”
I shook my head, confused since I missed everything she had just said. “Sorry, what was that?”
“I was saying that I’m glad I found your brother. He’s already doing a great job on the design. My house is in tatters, so there’s a ton of work to do.”
I nodded, way too much for it to be normal. I had to stop myself from nodding. Just stop doing it. Fucking stop! I finally got my head to sit still on my shoulders. She was staring at me now like I was a fucking psycho, and maybe I was. I was standing here looking like a lunatic in front of a gorgeous, yet very deadly woman. Well, that was still up for debate. Shit.
“So, are you doing all the work yourself?” I asked with a croak.
“No,” she laughed. “Remember? I said I hired your brother?”
I smacked myself in the head with a doh. “Right. Gotcha. I bet it’s a great house.”
“It is. I mean, it doesn’t look like much right now, but it’s going to look great when it’s done.”
“I’m sure it will. I’d love to see the before and after.”
“Really?”
Her eyes lit up and I realized that I had just fallen into her trap. Her web. Oh, God, she really was a black widow, and I had just invited myself along to be killed.
“You should come out some time and take a look at it. I would love some input from another male perspective. Your brother is all about making it my own, but I wouldn’t mind a second opinion on some things.”
“You know, I’m not really a design expert or anything.”
“No, but I heard how you helped your sister-in-law make the decision on paint. It was very clear and thoughtful. It made sense. I would love for someone to come out and do that with me. I wouldn’t feel like such an idiot when I talk to your brother.”
“Oh, he’s a good guy. All you have to do is tell him you need help and he’ll do it.”
She took a step toward me, her lithe body moving in such a way that made me feel like prey. I took a step back, but she kept moving forward. “I want a second opinion.”
I swallowed hard as I bumped up against the paint counter, knocking over the jar of pens. I quickly righted them and put the pens back inside, chuckling as she smiled sweetly at me. Too sweetly. Those eyes were drawing me in, luring me in until I got caught in her trap. She reached to my side and I flinched, sure she was about to stab me or something. Instead, she grabbed a pen out of the jar and clicked the end on. Taking my arm, she pushed up the sleeve and wrote down her number and her name. I did my best not to hyperventilate. What if the pen was poisoned? Maybe the ink was laced or something, and as the ink absorbed into my skin, I would die a slow, painful death….But then I remembered that she hadn’t gotten anything from me yet. It wouldn’t do her any good to kill me before she had what she wanted. She needed me for something first.
And that’s when it clicked. I could use her just as much as she was using me. All I had to do was get to know her on a more personal level, find out the type of person she really was, and then I would know if she was a killer. My instincts were rarely wrong. Well, aside from Sofia. I glanced down as she finished scrawling her number on my arm and swallowed hard. I was really going to go through with this.
She looked up at me beneath those thick eyelashes, her eyes boring into me and making me melt into a puddle. She had me in her trap. I knew it, and there was no getting out. I wanted this woman, even if it killed me. And I was fucking terrified.
“Call me sometime,” she smiled, giving me a wink as she turned and walked over to the owners to talk.
“Who was that?” Sofia asked as she stepped up beside me.
I swallowed hard and stared down at the scrawl on my arm. “Black Widow.”
Lorelei
Andrew was quirky and seemed very nervous around women, but it didn’t make any sense. He was hot. Despite the fact that he wore that weird looking hat, I still found him extremely attractive. His dirty blonde hair peeked out from under the beanie, and that only accentuated the blue of his eyes. His sharp cheekbones and angular jaw covered in a few days of scruff appealed to me even more. He had that small town look to him, like he wasn’t trying too hard, and I liked that a lot. Arlen was always dressing to impress, but Andrew just dressed like a normal guy.
I wasn’t lying when I said I wanted to see him again. He was a good-looking guy, and the fact that he was nervous around me would make it easier to draw him in. Maybe he didn’t have a lot of luck with women and that’s why he was nervous. Either way, he was an easy target for me. I needed friends, and he was about to become mine.
The easiest way to blend in when living in a new town was to pretend like you belonged there and wanted to fit in. After chatting up Andrew in the hardware store, I made friends with the wife of the owner, telling her about the house I bought and how I had hired Eric’s company to renovate the house. She had informed me that Eric bought local for a lot of his supplies, which helped keep the town flowing. I was very happy to hear that. I hated when companies went the cheapest route. It put small towns like this out of work.
After leaving the hardware store with the few things I needed, I decided to swing by the bakery. Meeting the locals was the most ideal way to cinch my spot in this town and get them on my side. I needed people to trust in me and think the absolute best of me, and that was exactly what I intended to do. Opening the door to the bakery, I walked inside with a million dollar smile. I had made sure to dress like the locals, leaving all my fancy clothes at Arlen’s estate. The last thing I wanted
was for them to think I was some rich bitch that couldn’t fit in.
“Good morning,” a woman behind the counter beamed. “What can I get for you today?”
I smiled brightly at her and checked out the case. “Wow, I think I need a minute. Everything looks so good.”
“Oh, honey, you’re not going to find better baked goods anywhere you go. Everyone in town loves my food.”
I could imagine. Everything looked so delectable. I wanted to try everything. I tilted my head to the side as an idea came to mind. I wanted to make friends and I could kill two birds with one stone.
“I was wondering if I could put in an order for every morning and have it prepared for me by six-thirty every morning?”
“Of course. How big of an order are we talking?”
I chewed my lip considering this. “Well, it would have to be enough for a construction crew.”
She leaned across the counter, her eyes rapt with attention. “Are you the one that bought the old Granville house?”
“Yes, I did.”
She gasped, her eyes still just as wide. “That place is a legend. It was beautiful back in the day, but it really fell into ruin over the years.”
“What happened to the old owners?”
“Oh, that’s a sad story. Terrence Granville and his wife, Amelia, had three boys. One was killed in a car accident on his twenty-first birthday, and the other two boys decided they didn’t want to stick around this town. They said it was too small for them. Of course, that wasn’t always the case. They used to run around this town with the Cortell brothers, wreaking havoc wherever they went. But after the one brother died, something changed in the family. I think the two brothers just couldn’t stand to be in the town with so many memories. They scattered like mice. Last I heard, the oldest was living in New York City. He became some big shot and was living the high life. The second brother, he didn’t do as well. He tried his hand at several different things, but he eventually went bankrupt. He was too embarrassed to come home and nobody’s heard from him since.”
Tangled Web: A Small Town Romance (The Cortell Brothers Book 6) Page 4