I bit my lips together and placed the phone on my desk with the screen flipped over so Antonio wouldn't see. Was Broadrick following me? I scanned the corners of the office looking for any evidence of a camera? I'd have to do a sweep later, but since I hadn't moved much into the space, there weren't many spots even a tiny camera could hide that I wouldn't see it.

"How is your stray dog situation?" Tony asked as I spun the phone with my finger, thinking of a reasonable response to Broadrick rather than the annoyed emoji I initially wanted to send.

"Brent is not a stray dog. He's a beloved family companion."

Mrs. Coogs wasn't a member of the Bakery Girls club, but I still had to ask if Ridge would let me use his cameras to scan the city. Everyone knew he had ninety-nine percent of it covered by his surveillance. He could give me a few hours in his security room.

"It's a dog, Tabitha."

Ridge never let me use any of his cool spy gear in the past, but possibly he'd change his mind if I kept asking. Better yet, maybe Tony had a stash of cool shit in the back of his truck.

I ignored Tony's discrimination against my current case in favor of borrowing spy gear. "Do you have -"

A persistent knock at the door cut off my question.

"Knock, knock. We're here to visit," Aunt Claire's head shot through the space she created when she pushed the door open. "Oh, we didn't realize you had company. Is this Broadrick?"

My cheeks, which were still pink from being spied on by Broadrick, went red. "No, Auntie Claire, this is Tony."

I left out his career choice for the moment as my aunt shook his hand, doing so over enthusiastically. "It's so nice to meet you. You're so... big." She looked at me. "Isn't he so big?"

"Aunt Claire." Holy cat balls, as if I needed any more reasons to be embarrassed.

Tony didn't seem to mind. He even flexed when my aunt wrapped her hand around his biceps. Then Aunt Claire went to lift his shirt from beneath his jacket, and he showed the first signs of discomfort.

I chuckled. He didn't look so intimidating with my aunt trying to feel his abs. While I'd been gazing at my aunt feeling up Tony, my uncle Richard ignored her antics and made a circle of my office. It didn't take him long. The space was tiny as hell.

He opened an empty filing cabinet and peered back at me, waving a hand at the lack of contents.

"I'm still working on getting a system in place." And cases.

"What are you working on now?" he asked, turning to face me while I answered. My mother's brother took an interest in my cases, so why was it so hard for my mother to feign excitement?

"Oh, the usual. Murder of Jalinda Jones and a missing family member case," the lie about Brent slid right off my tongue.

"I'm sure you'll have it filled in no time. If you need another, I think I have an empty cabinet in the basement you could use."

"Thanks." I beamed. So much support from my extended family.

He stared at the lamp, giving off its meager light even with the better bulb. "A bit dark in here, though. Isn't it?"

"Oh, well... I've only got the one outlet."

"You should get one of those extension plugs that gives you more spaces to plug stuff in. I saw one last week that had nine plugs. Claire says I should get one for the bathroom so she can plug in all of her hair doohickeys."

My aunt and uncle so got me.

He twisted his finger by his head mimicking a curling iron and I laughed, peeking a glance at Claire, who was now measuring where her head hit at Tony's upper arm. Tony smiled, but his lips were tight together in concern.

Aunt Claire finally noticed us staring and turned to her husband, not at all perturbed by him seeing her check out a man in my office. "What about the lost dog case I heard you took?"

"Where did you hear that?" I asked. Damn Pelican Bay.

She flipped her head to the side and rolled her eyes. "The phone tree, obviously."

"Oh, a missing dog case," my uncle chimed in. "That sounds interesting and right up your ally to get a few cases of experience."

"Sure, I'm helping Mrs. Coogs," I said, trying to make the dog thing sound like a favor. "But I also have that murder case I'm advising on. Big things are happening with Vines Investigations."

My uncle wrapped his hand around my shoulder, his fingers biting into the thick sweater I threw on before racing out of the house to meet Tony. "Stick with the dogs. You don't want to get yourself embroiled in with the drug criminals in this town."

I would if someone paid me, but since that hadn't happened. "No, of course not. Ridge has the drug trafficking under control."

Richard snorted.

"You don't like Ridge Jefferson?" Tony asked. He stepped away from my aunt, forcing her hands to fall from his pecs.

She jumped in to answer. "Oh no, we all love Ridge." She glared at my uncle, silently telling him to shut up. I'd seen her use that expression before, but never regarding Ridge.

Did Uncle Richard not like him? He'd said nothing negative about Ridge in the past.

"It just seems that with all the good he does here, crime is definitely on the rise. He's brought the deplorables to the surface." Uncle Richard paced in front of me, speaking with his hands as his voice rose. "Shootings are up ten thousand percent over the last five years. The city had to hire another full-time officer and buy a squad car."

Oh, that explained the bustling experience at the police station.

"Sometimes you have to rustle the grass to bring out the ducks before you pick them off," a deep voice said as Ridge Jefferson and one of his employees Sloan walked into my office.

They'd obviously been listening to my uncle rant, and with the addition of their bodies, the space in my tiny office was obliterated.

My uncle didn't notice the tight constraints. He threw his hands up. "Our citizens' safety is at risk."

"Okay." I clapped my hands together, twice concerned about where the conversation headed. "Everybody out."

The lack of space was throwing my claustrophobia into hyperdrive, and I didn't even know I was claustrophobic. There wasn't enough oxygen for all of us and all their carbon dioxide was ruining my lung capacity. We had to clear out asap.

Not only was there the lack of oxygen, but I had one bounty hunter, two former SEALs, a pissed off uncle, and a handsy aunt in the space. The testosterone level was off the charts.

Aunt Claire made her way to Sloan and had one hand measuring Tony's biceps while her other squeezed around Sloan's. She'd even rolled up the sleeve of Sloan's black polo shirt to get a better measurement and stood between the two men with a smile threatening to split her face.

"Okay, Aunt Claire, I think you've had enough." Her hormones couldn't handle it.

I didn't blame them.

"We need to talk," Ridge said, using his no-nonsense tone as I tried to sweep everyone out into the hallway with a flick of my hands.

I sighed. "Fine, you can stay."

He smirked as everyone made their way out of my office and I closed the door behind them, sulking back to my desk and plopping down in the chair. "What's up?"

Ridge stopped himself in front of my desk and leaned against it with his palms on the surface until barely two inches separated us. His eyes narrowed, and he gritted his teeth like a snarling pitbull. "You need to drop this murder shit right now."