"I thought your name was Tabitha?" he asked, not walking forward.

With my arm still looped through Tony's, we stepped over the threshold and I pulled him into the funeral home. Groups of people buzzed with whispered chatter around us. Most dressed in black, but a few rebels donned dark blue. Pearl would probably make a list of offenders.

"Small misunderstanding. No worries."

He narrowed his eyes at me, but we didn't have time for an explanation.

I scanned the area, wanting to find my target first, which would make it easier to monitor him during the service. Jimmy Jones stood in the middle of a circle in the back of the room. Women clustered around him, chatting wildly as his sorrowful gaze met each face and then bounced to the next. He didn't frown like you'd expect at his wife's funeral, but he wasn't smiling either. From the way his hands twisted together in front of him, he wanted to flee from the room and their attention.

What had Jimmy nervous? The death of his wife? Prying eyes? Or did he simply hate crowds and find being the center of attention a bad thing?

I needed to get closer in order to hear what he shared in the friendship circle they'd created around him. From the eight women at his side, seven of them were over the age of sixty. One was his mother, Mrs. Jones, and the other obvious standout the young twenty-something woman with long blonde hair and bright shining blue eyes.

She looked shockingly like Jimmy's late wife, but his spouse hadn't returned from the dead.

The Jalinda lookalike sniffled into a crumbled Kleenex, and I pulled Tony closer to their area. I had to hear what she and Jimmy were saying to one another every time he leaned his head closer to her ear.

Pretty fucking presumptuous to attend the funeral of the woman you murdered in order to steal her husband.

My feet guided us around a group of people. More than half of them stopped their chatter and turned to stare at Tony. He was the new man in town. A small town. Before lunch, he'd have secured himself a spot on the nightly phone tree. Thankfully, Katy wasn't here or else she'd be snapping pictures and uploading them to the Facebook group.

If I got the chance, I'd have to take some and remedy the mistake by uploading them myself.

One second I had us on a one-way track toward Jimmy and the next my knees buckled. I pitched forward, and the ground raced up to catch my face.

"Whoa," Tony mumbled, using his free hand and the side of his body to block my path with the floor.

I reached out, grabbing the first thing my fingers contacted. His biceps. "What the hell?" I whispered, righting myself quickly so not to draw more attention to us.

I twisted back to scowl at what caused me to trip and found a flipped-up piece of rug. Tony stuck his foot out and flopped it back the right way so no one else would come close to death.

"Thanks."

He nodded. Well, really, he did that head jerky thing, but I figured it counted. "Can't have you messing up that pretty face."

I sucked in a breath. Did he say I had a pretty face? Wow. Um...

The breath ended up stuck in my lungs as I tried to gather a second one. The January air left most of the coast cold, but right then the room had to be ninety degrees. My cheeks heated as I stared at the tattooed man still mostly holding me up.

My cheeks heated? What the fuck.

Vonnie Vines didn't let some stupid compliment get her flustered.

"I'm pretty sure I had it under control," I said, staring at Tony and not Jimmy like I should have been.

He raised an eyebrow, causing crinkles on his forehead. "Did you?"

"Yeah, obviously." I nodded my head for emphasis.

Both sides of his lips tipped up. "Then you can let go of my arm."

"What?" I asked, but my gaze fell to my hand, which I had precariously clutched around Tony's biceps. They were nice biceps. "Oh."

He flexed his muscles, and I let go of him like his skin had become fire. Damn, Aunt Claire was right. Tony had fuckable arms.

The funeral home door opened and closed again, but not before letting in a draft of frozen air. Tony stared at whoever came through the door, and then his gaze found mine. "You're playing with fire if you're trying to make him jealous."

"What?" I forced myself to follow his gaze and landed on Broadrick as he leaned against the wall next to the door. He kicked his legs out in front of him and crossed one over the other. He didn't look at where I stood with Tony but ahead at the open casket on the opposite side of the room.

"Trust me. He isn't jealous of anything." Broadrick dumped me months ago. He wasn't jealous now.

Broadrick did nothing without thinking it through a hundred different ways. He was a Navy SEAL, for Pete's sake. Everything in life was a mission to him and was met with the full brunt of his weight. He didn't regret letting me go. Regardless of what he said, I didn't believe he was in Pelican Bay for me.

Although, something in my words didn't ring truthful even for me, and I was the best at lying to myself. Why was he sitting outside on a bench like he'd been waiting for me? If he wasn't on the coast for me, why was he here? Maybe he really wasn't going back to the military.

But why? Broadrick wanted to join the military since he was a kid. Why give up the dream now?

Tony and I found a spot along the far wall. The position put us far enough away from the growing crowd not to gain attention, but too far from Jimmy to hear what secrets he shared with his ex-girlfriend. The one with the balls swollen enough to attend Jalinda's funeral.

"You want to go see your friend?" Tony asked after a minute of silence passed between us.

"Huh?" My gaze sought Broadrick in the room. He hadn't left his spot.

Tony motioned toward the casket at the front of the room, but his gaze followed mine and landed on Broadrick as well.

"No, I've already seen the dead body."

I dragged my stare to Tony in time to spot his brow furrow.

"Did you even know her?" he asked.

Like I'd come to someone's funeral that I didn't know. Well... actually. I twisted around, giving my back to Broadrick. It made it easier not to stare at him if I couldn't see him. Too bad I felt his gaze even when fifteen feet separated us.

"Of course I knew Jalinda. We were super close."

My new position bumped me against one woman at the back of Jimmy's circle, and I leaned my head back to hear something from their group. It's not that I expected Jimmy or Ashley to confess to Jalinda's murder at her funeral, but just in case, I needed to be prepared.

In front of me a door along the back wall, one we'd been standing next to but I hadn't noticed, opened, and a gentleman in a suit slipped inside, closing the door behind him. I kept my head focused on Tony, but my ears were on the people behind me.

Even with my attention diverted, I didn't miss Tony casually grab a funeral program off the stack of them on a side table within arm's reach.

"Friends, huh?" he asked, flipping the folded piece of paper open. "Where did she go to college?"