Kate unbuttoned her pajama top and opened the edges to the side, keeping her breasts mostly covered but her abdomen visible. Then, she pushed the covers down to her hip bones, slipped her free hand underneath, and snapped a picture. Using a free editing app, she added a heart and a short message—Thinking of you—and sent it to him.
Then, she let her imagination and her fingers run wild before falling into a deep, content sleep.
Chapter Twenty-One
Mad Dog
“Jesus,” Mad Dog said on a breath as he looked at the picture on his phone.
The woman was going to kill him.
His morning shower lasted longer than usual. Also, he needed to stock up on soap if she was going to keep sending him photos like that.
His first thought when he saw the florist’s delivery truck outside the main building was that Smoke or Heff had done something to put themselves in the doghouse. When he entered the kitchen and saw Sam eye-fucking the huge chocolate-dipped fruit bouquet and heart-shaped box of chocolates, he realized his mistake.
“Happy Valentine’s Day,” Sam said, beaming. “Steve got these for me. He’s so thoughtful.”
“What about those?” he asked, pointing to the bouquet of roses sitting off to the side.
“Heff got those for Sandy, but I haven’t seen either of them yet today.” She laughed. “Doubt we will anytime soon either. Sandy warned me they probably wouldn’t make it up for breakfast. She said she was giving Heff his present this morning.”
Mad Dog couldn’t resist. “Oh, yeah? What did she get him?”
“I don’t know for sure, but I know a large package came earlier this week, wrapped in discreet plain brown paper.”
He grinned. Mad Dog strongly suspected that Sandy had discovered Heff’s penchant for adult toys.
“Did you get anything for Kate?” she asked.
“No, but I should have.”
“It’s not too late.”
“Her dad’s having an angioplasty today, and she’s got a lot on her plate. Not sure it’s the right time.”
Sam considered that. “Hmm. Maybe you could do something low-key and thoughtful now and offer a rain check for something more later.”
“Like what?”
“Well, you said she’s got a lot on her plate, right? Do something that’s going to make things easier for her. The most important thing is to let her know you’re thinking about her.”
He nodded. It was sound advice. “Thanks, Sam.”
“Anytime.”
Mad Dog wasn’t the most romantic guy in the world, but he had some ideas he thought Kate might like. He pulled out his phone and got to work in between bites of chocolate chip pancakes and crispy bacon.
First order of business: ordering flowers.
There was only one florist in Sumneyville, so that was who he called. The woman on the other end of the line sounded harried and annoyed, but her attitude changed completely when he told her who the order was for.
“Oh, these are for Kate? Why didn’t you say so?”
It turned out that the florist’s grandmother was on Kate’s Meals on Wheels route. The florist—Penny—told him that her grandmother always looked forward to Kate’s visits because she stayed around to chat and have a cup of tea.
She also told him that Kate wasn’t really a traditional-roses kind of girl and suggested an arrangement of brightly colored flowers instead, assuring him that she had the perfect thing and that they would make it over to Handelmann’s by lunchtime.
The next item on his to-do list was ordering lunch itself. He knew Kate didn’t have time to go out, so he called Andy’s—the place they’d gone on their first date—and arranged for something to be taken over to the store instead.
Then, he snapped a bunch of pictures of the dogs and made each photo into a coupon to be redeemed whenever she wanted.
He was feeling pretty damn proud of himself by the time Cage came in and dropped into a chair. Mama Dog immediately went over to him. She’d really taken a shine to him over the last few days. The feeling was mutual.
“I’ve been doing some research on Kate’s friend Luther Renninger, like you asked.”
Just hearing the guy’s name chapped his ass. “And?”
“And you were right. The guy’s shady as fuck. I’m still looking into it, but it appears as if Renninger’s being investigated by the IRS for tax evasion and unethical accounting practices. They’ve put a hold on his LLC account.”
“No shit?”
“No shit. That could mean bad news for his clients, too. They could be audited and held liable if the IRS finds that he fudged returns. The IRS doesn’t give a shit who did the prep. If you signed the return, it’s your responsibility. From what I could tell, Renninger handles the accounts of most of the local businesses in Sumneyville, including Handelmann’s.”
“I don’t think Kate knows about the investigation.”
“I doubt anyone on his client list does. It’s not something Renninger is going to advertise, is it? And no one else would know unless they went digging.”
Like they had. Most people wouldn’t think to research a business if everyone they knew used that business. Word of mouth and personal recommendations held a lot of sway.
“Kate said he’s a longtime family friend.”
“He’s also a local who, as far as anyone knows, is running an established, reputable family business. People trust him to take care of things.”
“He’s a fucking weasel,” Mad Dog muttered.
“You might want to suggest Kate take a look at the books or at least have someone else look at them.”
Mad Dog ran his hand over his face. “This is the last thing she or her family needs right now.”
“Yeah, the timing sucks.” Cage stood, turned to go, and then said, “Let me do some more poking around and see if any red flags pop up.”
“Thanks, man. I’d appreciate that.”
Cage nodded, leaving Mad Dog feeling even unhappier about Renninger hanging around. But how could he warn Kate without admitting how he knew?
Chapter Twenty-Two
Kate
Kate went through the usual motions. She rang up customers, stocked shelves, and signed for deliveries, but her mind was elsewhere. She checked her phone again, hoping for good news. The last text from her sister had been more than two hours earlier.
Kylie: Still waiting for the cardiologist.
Kate tried to be patient. She knew that doctors’ schedules were fluid. That some things took priority over others. There were plenty of important reasons her father’s angioplasty might be delayed. Perhaps there was an emergency. Maybe there had been complications with one of the patients scheduled to go before him.
She reminded herself that he was safe and in good hands.
Still, she’d breathe easier once the procedure was over and she knew everything had gone okay.
The bell over the door jingled, announcing a new arrival. She looked up to see Penny Hoffmeier carrying a small vase overflowing with colorful flowers. Penny had quite a knack for creating beautiful bouquets. Since Hoffmeier’s Floral was only a few doors down, Kate figured she’d stopped in to ask about her dad on her way to deliver flowers to some lucky recipient.