"Vonnie..." Broadrick looked up at me, but even with him sitting and me standing, he didn't have to lift his head too high. "Is that a rabbit?"

"No. It's Mr. Jasper," I said, popping out a hip. In all my anger, I'd forgotten about the bunny. "He's a bunny because he's cuter than a rabbit."

Didn't Broadrick see his adorable little nose? Mr. Jasper wiggled it a few more times in his direction to help prove his cute factor.

Broadrick laid his white napkin on the table. "You have to quit cheating on our dog."

I raised an eyebrow. "And here you are eating with another man."

B knew how much I loved food, especially food I didn't have to make. I couldn't believe he'd eat a meal at the bed-and-breakfast and not invite me.

He smiled. "I planned to bring home a chicken salad sandwich when we left."

My eyebrow fell. I supposed then.

"A piece of cheesecake, too. With an extra swoosh of chocolate."

Wait. No.

He wasn't off the hook.

Get it together, Vonnie. He couldn't buy his way out of this trouble by bringing me food. Regardless of how delicious.

"What is all this?" I asked, waving my hand at their table.

Dalton opened his mouth for the first time since I walked up to them, but Broadrick answered before him.

"A new project for Ridge," B said. I'd heard that before, and it wasn't enough anymore. What project for a nosy security firm required bed-and-breakfast chicken?

Dalton cut into his chicken breast and used the meat to soak up gravy from his mashed potatoes. He popped the piece in his mouth and chewed slowly, but I didn't miss the small smirk the corners of his lips formed as he watched us.

"What new project?" I wanted actual answers, and I wasn't leaving until he told me.

"Top secret," Dalton said, wearing a full out smile.

"I don't like this," I said, narrowing my eyes. I crossed my hands over my chest but could barely wrap them around Mr. Jasper. Plus, it just didn't have the same visual effect as a regular arm cross. It wasn't my fault. Hugging an adorable bunny made everything appear less deadly. Even me.

These two were up to something, and I wanted to figure out what. But how did I get the SEALs to give up their secrets? The damn military trained them in secret-keeping tactics. They had an unfair advantage over me.

Food?

No. Broadrick barely ate bacon. He'd gotten better in the last few months, but once we took a cruise and he ate breakfast melons the entire time. They had three flavors of bacon and it didn't tempt once him.

Sex?

Maybe. It had the most potential.

The idea grew on me, and as my smile got wider, Broadrick's fell.

I had to figure out their plan, and then if it involved Broadrick leaving again, I'd find a way to stop it.

Broadrick and I were in a deep stare-off-and I was winning-when Katy approached the table. NB walked beside her and then sat down between us. Katy stood by me and glared at the two men, just for good measure. She was a great best friend like that.

"I hate to say this, Vonnie, because we're doing this cool stare-down thing," she whispered, leaning in close so they couldn't hear. "But you really can't have the bunny in here."

Ugh. So much discrimination toward Mr. Jasper. Did his cute bunny nose mean nothing?

I leaned in closer to whisper back. "You have NB in here."

Katy shrugged and answered without whispering. "He's staff."

"We'll discuss this later," I said to Broadrick and then pointed a finger at Dalton. "Make sure he remembers to get me a chicken salad sandwich and that cheesecake."

Dalton nodded. "I'll make sure Mac gets his girl lunch."

Mac? That was a horrible nickname for Broadrick. It had to be from B's last name, MacGregor. I didn't like it. He'd barely been in town five months. How did he have a nickname already?

I turned around, ignoring his poor name choice for my boyfriend, and walked with Katy out of the dining room. I grabbed NB's leash, and we headed toward home.

Mr. Jasper bounced along against my chest on the walk, and NB took his time to pee on all the bushes. He had no pee left, but it didn't stop him from trying. I gave him points for effort. For a tiny dog, he had twice his size in determination.

"What in the hell?" I said to Jasper and NB as my front porch came into view. "You've got to be kidding me."

Propped up beside my front door, my mother left the black building pieces of a cage. Obviously, Mr. Jasper's house. She hadn't told me his living quarters required assembly. Didn't she say she put it together?

I unlocked the door and searched for a place to keep Mr. Jasper safe. He hadn't pooped yet, but in my imagination, bunnies pooped constantly, so he'd be going soon. I couldn't have that on the carpet. What if NB ate it?

I popped Mr. Jasper in the bathtub and shut the bathroom door. He'd be safe in there until I figured out how to put together his holding cell.

**

Two amazingly frustrating hours later, I'd finally put the finishing piece on Mr. Jasper's cage, eaten the chicken salad sandwich Broadrick brought home, grabbed an iced coffee, and headed into my office to review Mick's files over the cheesecake.

It's crazy how a day could get away from you. Especially when you lived in Pelican Bay.

Thankfully, I'd left Mr. Jasper at home with NB since animals weren't allowed in the Kensington building. The thick aroma of cleaning spray overpowered the delicious scents of my iced coffee as I sucked down the last few sips. My office had to be close to the janitor's closet. Our vents connected or something.

Mick had each case in its own file and then each piece of paper in a standard order. It made searching through his cases easy. I'd gone through half the box and sorted people into hated him a little to hated him a lot. The "a lot" pile was double the size of the other.

Mick might have been shitty with communication and clicked his pen too much, but he kept meticulous notes. I wish he'd shared some of those methods with me because I'd already found a few things I planned to implement in my case files in the future.

I flipped over a page of case notes and three drops of condensation from my iced coffee dribbled on the top of the sheet.

"Shit." I wiped it away with my hand and smeared the first two lines of writing. "Mother effer."

I tossed the empty cup in the trash beside my desk and stuck the current file in the "hated a lot" pile. Mick investigated a doctor for infidelity but also uncovered medical fraud-both with his head nurse. The wife received everything in the divorce after Mick testified in court on her behalf. That sounded like someone who would shoot at Mick while he was in his car. And maybe even follow him to my office and kill him there.

But it didn't take a medical degree to know a bullet in the head killed a man.

I reached into the second box-Eric brought me three cases of files, not just the one his mother promised-and pulled out another bundle of opened envelopes. I'd found a few of these bundles every few case files. Unlike everything else, someone carelessly threw these into the box in random order.

The paper crinkled as I opened it to find another overdue bill notice. I shook my head and added it to the growing third pile, which quickly toppled over. The unpaid bills stack was the largest of them all, and I separated it into two smaller piles to stop any other fault lines.

My phone buzzed, sliding against the wooden desk. I flipped it over to read the text.

BROADRICK: Where is the rabbit?

A picture followed immediately after. Of an empty bunny cage.