Page 51 of Bargain with the Bachelor
At that moment, the door opened, and Kristal breezed in. “Hello everyone,” she sang out.
As the others returned her too-cheerful greeting, I studied her face. She was smiling and looked…glowy? I wasn’t sure that was a word, but whatever you called it, I didn’t like the expression of elation she wore.
And her lipstick was gone.
Incendiary jealousy exploded inside me as if the room had been filled with invisible, scent-less gas and someone had lit a match.
I rushed to her, getting too close, invading her personal space.
“How was yourdate?” I snarled. “Did you have a nice time?”
Kristal’s happy expression dropped, and her chin lifted in defiance. “As a matter of fact, we had afantastictime.”
I hadn’t missed the pronoun change from singular to plural. So Larson Overstreet had had a good time as well. No, not good—fantastic.
Which meant thathewas the cause of the missing lipstick. My brain and body jolted into Mayday mode.
“Why were you gone for so long? Where did you go? What did you do with him?” The questions came out in rapid fire succession.
“Not that it’s any of your business, but I showed him around Eastport Bay—the Bluff Walk, Brady’s Wharf. We did a mansion tour,” she said. “Afterward we had dinner at Nookie’s Diner since it’s a local institution.”
That was it? Sightseeing and dinner wasn’t so bad. Larson may have given her a goodnight kiss in the car, but he hadn’t gotten any further.
Maybe I’d let him live.
“And then we went back to his beach house.”
Nope. He was a dead man.
“... because he needed to get his bags. He was going straight to the airport after dropping me off.”
And once again, Larson Overstreet had a future.
This woman was giving me whiplash. I’d never experienced higher highs and lower lows than I felt when I was with her.
“Well, good riddance,” I muttered. “Did you ever notice how big his head looks on TV? I mean, it’s like he’s got a watermelon sitting on his shoulders or something.”
Kristal rolled her eyes and headed for the stairs. “Suddenly, I have a headache. I’m going to bed. Goodnight everyone.”
As she stomped up the staircase, I spun away, clenching my fists and letting out an exasperated “Fuuuuuuuuuuck.”
Reid held up his hands. “Don’t look at me. Who knows why they do what they do?”
Coming into the room and scrubbing one hand through his bed-head hair, Tucker looked around, blinking. “What’s going on?”
“Hunter has his panties in a wad because Kristal went on a date,” Hap explained.
“With who? Is he a bad guy or something?” Tuck asked.
“That remains to be seen,” I muttered. “Hap—can you get in touch with that security expert friend of yours? That massive, ripped football player who became a Navy Seal?”
“Wilder Lowe? Sure. Why?”
“I want to hire him to look into someone.”
“A client?” Hap asked.
“Kristal’s new boyfriend,” Josh offered helpfully.
