Page 25 of Faking it with the Green Beret

“Though after you testify against J.R. in court in a few weeks, you’ll be safe with him in jail,” Elizabeth said.

“Thanks for the lessons and the pepper spray. I already feel more empowered.” Ariana gave a confident smile before she headed inside her house.

Wren whistled to Coco, which brought both her and Boss over for some head rubs.

“How’d I do?” He asked Elizabeth once they were alone with Boss.

“Very helpful. Good information without it being an overload or making Ariana feel singled out—other than me making her do the choke hold with you.”

“Sorry. I should have checked before I laid a hand on you. I hadn’t stopped to consider you might not appreciate that either.” He tried to word it diplomatically.

“You caught me by surprise, is all.”

“Really? Then you have excellent self-preservation instincts.”

“Thank you.” She downplayed it.

Since she didn’t volunteer information, he didn’t pry. Whatever had happened to hurt her seemed to be in her rearview mirror. And she was doing all right now.

ChapterFourteen

WE WILL ROCK YOU – Queen

John hadn’t even gottenout of his truck from work before Coco raced over. He petted the dog on the head as Wren approached.

“Those lights went off again last night,” she said through gritted teeth.

“Sorry about that.”

“You sneaking around outside is just as bad since Coco starts barking.”

“I’ve got to do a perimeter check in case it’s J.R. I’ll adjust the angles to see if that eliminates the false alarms.”

“It’d better. You owe me, and I need a favor.”

“Sure.”

“Can we go inside? I don’t want Elizabeth to see or hear us.”

Oh crap. Bushes hid them from view, and he didn’t know what the chances were of Elizabeth wandering over. How did he tactfully get out of this? “Why is that?” He gave his best innocent grin.

“Because we’re planning a surprise party for her birthday, and we could use your help.”

“Okay. Got you. But if you don’t want to arouse suspicion, we should hang right here. Give me a second.” That was innocent enough. He opened the door to Hope Harbor and let Boss out. “How can I help?”

“Elizabeth makes a big deal to celebrate our birthdays with a cake and gift, but she won’t tell anyone her birth date. I had to use one of those ‘what would your historical romance heroine name be’ games to get the month and day. We totally missed it last year, so we’re doing a surprise party. I’ve invited as many of the women who’ve stayed here as we could get in touch with. I thought it would be less suspicious ifyouasked what kind of gifts she might like.”

“When’s the big day?”

“Two weeks from Saturday.”

“Mission accepted. I’ll do my best to get gift suggestions ASAP.”

“Thanks so much. You rock!”

“We will, we will rock you.”

Wren burst into song with him. Even Boss howled along to the familiar tune.

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