Read Online Unbound (Crimson Romance) by Nikkie Locke - Free Book Online Page B

she smiled. “She’s my sister.”
    “Oh, shit,” Payten muttered.
    Smith laughed. “Don’t worry about it. Chief Whitley said he managed to keep our arrival quiet.”
    “I didn’t hear anything about it. Working at the diner, I usually get to hear the rumors at least once before all the facts change.”
    “Small towns,” Smith said. “Gotta love them.”
    “Do you love it?” Payten asked.
    “We’re adjusting. It’s nice. Quiet.”
    Payten nodded. “It is nice.”
    When they fell silent, she had to resist squirming under Smith’s intense scrutiny.
    “Why are you here?” Smith finally asked.
    “Well, that’s straightforward.”
    Smith shrugged. “Devin says it’s rude. I couldn’t think of another way to ask. And if you don’t start talking, you’re going to wind up having to talk in front of everyone.”
    “I don’t mind them knowing. I don’t. I just don’t want them to think I’m being a pansy over nothing,” Payten told her.
    “Straightforward. I like it. You tell me, and we’ll figure it out without telling them unless it’s serious. Sound good?”
    Payten nodded. “It sounds great.”
    “What is it, then?”
    She glanced over her shoulder at the door to the office. It was still closed.
    “I’ve been getting prank calls.”
    “How long?”
    “The past three nights. Last night, they called three times in a row. That’s never happened before.”
    “They say anything?”
    She shook her head. “I can hear them breathing sometimes.”
    “Do you have the number?”
    “I don’t have caller ID. I talked to the phone company this morning, and I’m on my way to buy a phone that uses it. The phone company says I should be able to use it immediately.”
    “That’s a step in the right direction,” Smith told her. “I’ll talk to the phone company. See if I can get any information for you. We’ll keep this between the two of us until then, all right?”
    Relieved, Payten nodded.
    “I’ll come by the diner this afternoon. Let you know what I find.”
    “Thank you.”
    “No problem. Here comes Whitley and that idiot. Ask me something quick,” Smith ordered.
    “Do you like brownies or pie?”
    Smith looked at her weird. “Chocolate,” she answered. “I love chocolate anything.”
    Payten nodded. “Great.”
    “What are you ladies talking about?” Kalvin asked.
    “How to get rid of you,” Smith told him sweetly.
    He put his hand on his chest. “I’m hurt, Smith. Really hurt.”
    “Poor baby,” Payten told him.
    “Are we going dancing tomorrow?” Kalvin asked Payten.
    “She has plans,” Dean told him, surprising Payten. Did she have plans?
    “Says who?” Kalvin asked.
    “She does. She has a date.” Dean’s answer made her grin widely. She had a date.
    “Really?” Kalvin looked at her.
    She nodded still grinning. “I do.”
    Kalvin leaned down and kissed her cheek. “He’s probably not good enough, you know?”
    Payten laughed. Obviously, he hadn’t caught that Dean was her date. “You’re not upset about dancing alone, are you?” She asked Kalvin.
    “I never dance alone,” he told her with a wink.
    “Please, dear God, spare me,” Smith begged.
    “Besides, we’re playing at Smitty’s tomorrow. Chicks love a guy in a band,” Kalvin said with a wink for Payten. “I’ll see you later. If Jonah catches me here again, my ass is grass.”
    “Someone give me this Jonah’s number,” Smith ordered.
    He smiled at her. “Miss you, too, pretty lady.”
    When she flung her stapler at him, he ducked out of the way and kept going for the door.
    “Menace,” Smith muttered.
    “Do you need to do anything else here?” Dean asked Payten.
    She shook her head. “I wanted to meet Officer Smith.”
    “Ready, then?”
    “Sure.”
    “I’ll walk you.”
    She debated for a minute, then agreed. “I have to go to the store first. See you later, Officer Smith.”
    “Bye,” Smith replied.
    As they headed for the door, she heard the door to Chief Whitley’s