Tangled Web: A Small Town Romance (The Cortell Brothers Book 6) by Giulia Lagomarsino (an ebook reader txt) 📕

carried the wood up to the side porch where I planned to keep the wood, I decided to dig a little deeper into who he was.

“So, are you dating anyone?”

He shook his head. “I don’t usually date.”

“Booty calls?”

He nodded, but didn’t look at me.

“So, why are you here? You’re looking for a booty call with a widow?”

He stopped and rested his hands on his hips. “You know, I want to get to know you, but there’s something off here.”

“Like what?”

“Like the fact that you’re recently divorced and you just pointed at a map and moved here. You’re fixing up this old house and I know that costs a shitload of money.”

“My finances are none of your business,” I snapped.

“No, they’re not, but you’re living in this town, you don’t seem to care at all that your husband died, yet you put up a good front—“

“Excuse me? Who are you—“

“You’re coming on to me, just weeks after your husband died. That’s fucked up.”

My eyebrows shot up. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize that there was a timeline for grief.”

He grumbled something under his breath, but I didn’t understand him.

“What are you even doing here? I didn’t ask for your help. I didn’t ask you to spend your day helping me.”

“Call me crazy, but I like you,” he snapped. Sighing, he tugged at his beanie and looked like he wanted to yell. “I can’t figure you out. You’re widowed and you should be sad, but you look happy. You buy a house that’s way too fucking big for one person and you have all this money to fix up the whole damn thing. One minute, you’re fixing cars, and the next you’re crocheting an afghan! Who the hell are you?”

It was clear that Andrew was the wrong person to try and get on my side. He was way too smart for his own good. He wasn’t just curious about me, he was digging for information, and that was something I couldn’t afford right now.

“Maybe you should just leave and forget about me. I’m not someone that wants to be figured out.”

I stomped up the steps and into the house, slamming the door behind me. As sad as it was that I was going to have to cut Andrew from my life, I needed a different target, someone that wouldn’t ask so many questions. And I was pretty sure I knew just who to go after.

Andrew

“Fuck!” I shouted as I climbed in my truck. I had played my hand too soon. I had let her know that I was suspicious of her, and now she cut me off. I was out and that would be harder to figure out what her end game was. I knew Barty wanted me to just dig into her past and find the connections, but there had to be more to it. One minute, I was terrified she was going to kill me, and the next, she was fucking crocheting! It didn’t make any sense.

To be honest, I was glad to be leaving. There was a point during the day that I started to get the feeling that she liked to chop wood just a little too much. It was probably my paranoia taking over, but I kept wondering if my head would be on the chopping block next. And then I went and asked her all those fucking questions. I was insane.

A bang on my window had me jumping like a scared little girl. There may have also been a tiny little scream that slipped from my lips. But it was just Eric. I rolled down the window and ignored the grin on his lips.

“What do you want?”

“Maybe I should be asking you that. Did you have a fight with the missus?”

“She’s not my missus.”

“You sure about that?” he laughed. “You’ve been spending a lot of time out here for someone you barely know. I’m beginning to think you’ve found a woman you want to keep around.”

“You’ve got it all wrong.”

And he did. I didn’t want her. Okay, I did want her, but I knew I couldn’t have her because she was a fucking psychopath that killed people.

“Then why were you here all day chopping wood?”

It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him. I really wanted to say something, but I couldn’t. I had already told Kat and that was one person too many. So, instead, I just shook my head.

“She’s hot. I thought she would be an easy lay, but she’s widowed. I’m not interested in the baggage.”

“Then why did you look so upset when you got in your truck?”

“Because my foot hurts.”

His grin stretched across his face. “Right. Okay, fine. Don’t tell me how much you want to kiss her.”

“I don’t.”

“Or how much you’re dying to see what she looks like naked. I can tell. I’ve seen that look before. In fact, it’s the same way I look at Kat.”

“Please don’t start in on this shit.”

He looked off dreamily. “You know, the sex is even better when she’s pregnant. I’m thinking that I’ll need to get her pregnant at least a few more times. Everything is just so heightened.”

I covered my ears, wincing at the words that were literally stripping the insides of my ears. If I started bleeding and had to go to the doctor, I would be sending him the bill.

“You know, I’m gonna leave now. I can’t listen to this anymore.”

I was backing up before he even had time to step away from the truck. He was shouting something at me, but I just ignored him, rolling up the window to get rid of the chill. I headed home, but as I was driving through town, it struck me how stupid I was being. I didn’t need Kat’s perspective on things. I needed a killer’s perspective. I had already passed Josh’s shop, so I drove around the block and turned back toward his garage.

Walking inside, Josh immediately shook his head at me. “I don’t have time to talk