He spoke as if everyone on the island knew everyone else. It reminded me of Pelican Bay, and I smiled.

"I think we found everything. Unless you have any suggestions," I said as Harvard rang up the purchases.

Broadrick laid his black credit card on the counter. "I think we're good. You won't get all of this home in your suitcase."

"Yeah, but you had tons of room. I'll just shove it in yours," I explained with a grin. That'd been my plan all along. That's what happened in a committed relationship. We now had joint stuff. It wasn't my fault that he had all the good stuff. Broadrick should have thought of that before he decided to co-stuff with me.

He laughed. "I should have guessed."

Harvard collected all the items into a medium-sized brown bag with the store logo printed on the side. "Are you coming to the Stitch and Bitch fest tonight?"

My eyes widened. "It's called Stitch and Bitch?" That made it even cooler. Now I couldn't wait to get there and hang out. I definitely had to tell Anessa, Tabitha, and Katy about this amazing idea. "I'm definitely going to be there."

Broadrick carried my bag out of the store as I walked beside him, envisioning all the things I'd learn to knit. Once I made mittens, hats, and scarves for all my friends, I'd have to make socks. Then some hats for the little babies at the hospital. After that it was sweaters for sure.

"Okay, now we can go to the beach," I said once we were on the sidewalk with the sun beating down on us.

Things weren't perfect, but I had a bag of knitting supplies, sunshine, and a hot boyfriend. A day in the sun with sand between my toes would do some good.

"Finally," Broadrick said, and his steps picked up. "Let's drop this off in our room and get some sun."

I laughed. It was so different seeing the strait-laced guy let loose a little. If this happened when he spent a day in full sun, I had to get him out more this summer.

**

Eight hours later, with my skin warm and glowing from the sun, Broadrick opened the door to our room at the resort. He knocked over my bag of knitting supplies as he veered off toward the bathroom, and I plopped down on the bed.

Even though we'd done nothing but lounge around on the beach under an enormous umbrella, I still needed a nap. The sun sucked the energy right out of you in these temperatures. The resort had a small area set out for guests on the miles of private beach, and they held back nothing. Drinks delivered right to your chair, pretty umbrellas, lounging chairs. They even had a mister set up that sprinkled you with water as you left the beach. Rich people had everything.

Where did other people get to access water and sand if we moved here?

"Your poor nose," Broadrick said as he approached the bed. He tapped me on the tip of my nose and kissed the edge of my forehead. "It's getting redder."

"Next time, I'll need more sunscreen." The Florida sun seemed to hit differently than the sun in Maine. It packed a harder punch. Even though I used sunscreen and stayed under the umbrella most of the time, I'd still ended up with a touch of sunburn.

We ate room service for dinner while sitting on our loungers, watching the waves crash into the shore. It really was paradise.

Broadrick held out his hand to help me off the bed. "Are you ready to go?"

I took his hand and let him pull me into a sitting position. The display on the in-room microwave showed 6:48. It wasn't a long walk to Stitchin' Stories, but I didn't want to be late. Excitement built up in my stomach. I hoped the other stitch and bitches were cool. "Yes, let's go."

He laughed. "Over your need for a nap?"

"There's no time for a nap. I have mittens to knit." I slipped on my blue flip-flops and grabbed the bag from our visit to the shop that morning. We walked the empty sidewalks toward the small section of town together, hand in hand. The bag of knitting supplies swung at my side.

"I never thought I'd see a downtown area smaller than Pelican Bay," Broadrick said as we reached the main street. A breeze picked up and shoved my hair around my head just like at home, but the wind here carried warmth with it.

I laughed. "You haven't driven many back roads in Maine."

There were small towns everywhere. Sometimes you drove through a town and didn't even realize it. The entire thing was a street corner with four boarded-up and deserted old store fronts. Everyone who lived in Maine had stories about some backwoods town they'd accidentally fallen into, but Broadrick shook his head and groaned a lot when I told him stories like that. I preferred to keep him thinking I led a normal and safe childhood.

Broadrick stepped in front of me to open the door to Stitchin' Stories, but I placed my hand on his arm to stop him. "You can't come in."

"What?" he asked, stepping back from the door.

I shook my head. "It's no boys allowed."

"What?" he asked again as I shrugged. "No one said that, and a man checked us out at the store."

"It's implied. There's nothing I can do about it." I tried to sound empathetic to his exclusion. "Don't you want to meet up with Dalton and learn more about the site here, anyway? You can discuss all the secret stuff I can't hear."

We came to Florida for him to see the new facility, but he spent the entire day with me on the beach rather than doing spy stuff. This was a perfect time for him to talk shop with Dalton and for me to gossip and knit with the ladies of Killdear Island.

Broadrick narrowed his eyes but didn't go for the door again. "I feel like you're up to something."

"Me?" I asked with wide eyes. "Never."

He snorted. "I'll pick you up at nine?"

"Perfect." I stretched out on my tippytoes and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "Have fun with the boys. Well... Dalton."

Who knew how many guys Ridge had set up on the island already? It wasn't an enormous place, but they were rich people, so he'd probably need more than two to keep the place running. Broadrick hadn't told me when they officially started their services on the island.

"Don't get into any trouble," Broadrick said sternly, while holding eye contact.

I held up the bag between us. "Nothing's dangerous about knitting, B. Relax."

Although, now that he said it, I bet you could kill someone with these huge ass needles. That would make quite a murder mystery.

Broadrick turned around, and I waited for him to get a block away before I opened the store's door and walked in. Big comfy chairs that earlier were placed in random spots against the wall now converged in a circle in the middle of the store.

"Hey," the redhead Delila I'd met that morning said. She had her legs crisscrossed under her as she sat in a black leather chair with her phone in her hands. "You can sit by me."

I crossed the room and took the baby blue fabric chair next to her, setting my bag of supplies on the floor. "Thanks."

My stomach tightened with anticipation... or worry. They were so closely linked. Maybe Broadrick was right, and they brought me here to kidnap me. If Snowbird knew I was here, would he send a group of knitting assassins to take me out? He hadn't sent me anything threatening, like a dead bird, in weeks. Maybe he'd forgotten about me. Or... maybe he was waiting to get me here.

Harvard from that afternoon entered the room from a back area. He smiled when he saw me. "You made it. We weren't sure."

"Hey, yeah," I said as my cheeks pinkened.

The door opened and two more women entered, both chattering with one another excitedly. "We get to present first," the shorter of the two called out. They closed the door behind them and twisted the big metal lock, sealing us in.

I gulped. If I ended up kidnapped and Broadrick got to say "I told you so," I was going to be pissed.

"Present?" I looked at Delila for an answer.

She nodded. "Whoever has the best story to tell gets to speak first. It's an unwritten rule."

"Wait." I placed my knitting needles on my lap, taking a quick glance and not seeing anyone else with any instruments of knitting. They didn't even have yarn or bags that might have hidden yarn. B was so going to kill me right after he rescued me from the kidnappers. "There's no knitting?"

She shook her head. "No, we just tell people that so they don't come."

"Hells right," the taller of the two women said as she took the chair across from me. "Only cool people get in on the gossip circle."

"To be fair," the shorter said, sitting beside her in the other chair. "Cady crochets during these meetings sometimes."

"Cady?" I asked, tucking the needles into the bag.

"I'm Saramay," the shorter of the two said and reached out to shake my hand. "I'm in real estate. This is Ragen. She's the smart one, and you've already met Harvard and Delila. Cady owns this shop, but I'm not sure if she'll be here tonight."

I dropped her hand after shaking it. "I'm Vonnie."

"No," Harvard answered for her. He handed a large white platter full of cheese and pretzels to Saramay, who took a few and passed the platter on. "Cady's meeting with her dad. I didn't ask for details."

"Pity," Saramay said and then chucked a pretzel into her mouth. "So, Vonnie, where did you come from, how long are you here, and what gossip do you bring to the table?"

I hesitated for a moment, not sure how to answer, and chose the truth. "Pelican Bay, Maine. Here for two days only while my boyfriend checks out the place, and..." I hesitated about my gossip part. I didn't want to get Broadrick in trouble about the new security team moving in if they didn't already know, but what else did I offer? "I'm not sure on the gossip part, but the lady in the bakery yelled at me this morning."

"Ohhh," Harvard said and clapped his hands. "Did you lean on a table?"

"No, I tried to sit in a chair."

Everyone laughed.

"I'll give you the scoop on Peggy, and then Saramay and Ragen can present their finds," said Delila as she uncrossed her legs. We all leaned forward, ready to hear her story.

Two hours and a few thousand giggles later, someone knocked on the front door of the shop.

Everyone paused, and heads jerked back and forth as we all looked at the person on either side of us.

"Who the hell is interrupting Stitch and Bitch?" Harvard said, glancing at his watch. "Something better be on fire."