"You're the guy, Harvard. You need to answer it," Delila said.

He widened his eyes at her and stuck his hand against his chest. "Excuse me. Ragen is the intimidating one."

The group argued over which unlucky soul had to leave their chair and greet the possible killer. I leaned to the side to see around Harvard and grimaced. A tall, muscular body with "government" posture waited beyond the glass door.

"I think the unwanted visitor belongs to me," I said, becoming super interested in a speck on the floor. Looked like a piece of paper. Hopefully, not from a book.

"Tall, dark, and handsome belongs to you?" Ragen asked, twisting around in her chair to give me a thumbs up.

My cheeks heated as I stood. "Yeah, he's mine."

"Girl, he's definitely yours. You guys should have seen the way he watched her while they were in the store today. Total love," Harvard said.

"Oh, I... I don't know about that." I mean, he dumped me not that long ago. Yes, I was still salty about it. Was it warm in here? The AC must have stopped working. They watched me as I walked to the door with my bag of unused supplies, flipped the lock, pulled it open, and stuck my head out. "You said nine."

"Yeah." Broadrick glanced at his watch. "It's nine."

Ugh. Men.

I twisted back to the room and waved. "Sorry, guys. He's a SEAL, so he can't help himself."

Everyone-including Harvard-swooned.

"You should bring him in to meet the crew," Harvard said, waving us toward them.

Broadrick grinned. "Did you make new friends?"

"Yes, and they would eat you alive." I pushed him toward the sidewalk. "Another time!"

I glanced through the window as Broadrick grabbed my hand and started for the resort. All three women and Harvard had their eyes ogled on Broadrick. Ragen used her finger to point out his ass. I shook my head no with a smile and turned around to listen to Broadrick.

"Did you have a good time?" he asked.

My lips stretched into a deep grin. "Yeah. You wouldn't believe the drama on this small island."

You could write a soap opera from their midweek updates.

He tapped my bag before taking it from me to carry it to the resort. "Did you get a good start on your sweater?"

Oh shit. I couldn't tell him we never even discussed knitting. I didn't think most of them even knew how to knit. My brain fired on all cylinders, coming up with a good excuse for my yarn balls being intact.

"Tonight was mostly instructional, but now I have the basics, I can start it at home."

I'd have to find a YouTube video to teach me how to knit this weekend. Even if I didn't learn tonight, I still had a bunch of yarn and a book. Everyone was still getting mittens, hats, and scarves for Christmas. How hard could knitting be?

"After all the travel and beach time today, I'm exhausted," Broadrick said. "Let's get back to the resort and go to bed."

I followed him up the steps to the big double doors and agreed. "I call first dibs on the bathroom."

We had a standard agreement that I used the bathroom first, but I liked to remind him of it occasionally.

"You've got to be kidding me?" I said to my phone an hour later as Broadrick walked out of the bathroom and tucked himself under the covers in bed beside me.

He glanced over at my screen. "What are you doing?"

"Background checks." And every single person I'd run through the system came out as honest. Names checked out, addresses, previous life stories. Everything was there. Not a liar in the bunch.

Broadrick fluffed his pillow and shook his head. "Why are you doing this?"

"Don't you want to learn if there are any killers on the island? They might be stalking us right now for their dirty pleasure games." If he put down the books on the Roman Empire and picked up a psychological thriller, he'd have a better imagination. Weirdos were everywhere.

"No, I'd rather not." He plugged his phone in and set it on the nightstand. I never understood how he just got into bed and fell asleep. Why didn't he mindlessly scroll on his phone for an hour? "You're obsessed with background checks."

My brow furrowed, narrowing my eyes. He was one to talk. Broadrick semi-worked for Ridge Jefferson, the nosiest person in Pelican Bay besides Anderson. And fine, me. Small towns bred gossip. It's just the way it worked.

"I come from a town where everyone knows everyone else's business. There's no other way to live. These are new people, and I haven't memorized their history."

He moved his head to face me. "Can't you wait to find out through talking to people?"

Eww. No. Stalking Facebook pages was way quicker. "But what if they're killers?"

"You tell me if you find any," he said with a slight smirk and then patted my hip to get me to snuggle.

I never missed the chance, even when he was being weird and unassuming against potential killers. With a flourish for emphasis, I set my phone on the nightstand and maneuvered into position, being Broadrick's little spoon.

We drifted off to sleep. Broadrick with his hand on my hip and my mind running through the other people I'd met on this trip along with when I'd find time to background check them.

**

"You're sure Ridge won't yell about me being in his new office?" I asked as Broadrick held open the plain glass door to the new Pelican Bay-Killdear Island Security Office. They really needed to shorten that name. It would never fit on a polo shirt.

Ridge had strict rules about Katy and me being in his office in Pelican Bay. Sometimes I swear he didn't even let his wife in unless he was right beside her. Normally, I'd jump at the chance to see the inner workings of their new building on the island, but I didn't want to get Broadrick in trouble. At least not yet.

He chuckled and waved me in. "I'm sure."

I hesitated by the threshold but peeked into the space. There wasn't a lot to see. "I'm not allowed past reception in Pelican Bay. Not without an escort."

Broadrick outright laughed. The sound echoed against the gray walls in the empty building as he closed the door behind us. "He mentioned something about not letting you out of my sight."

I bobbed my head in agreement. That sounded more like Ridge.

The first room in the new office was large and... boring. It reminded me of the main room at the Pelican Bay office. Gray. It seemed Ridge and the boys hadn't gone out of their way to liven up the tropical branch.

They had the same gray carpet as Pelican Bay with matching walls and gray fabric-covered chairs lining one wall.

"Do you think they'll at least get a plant or something?" I asked Broadrick as he watched me size up the place.

He shrugged. "Who would water it?"

"The person who sits behind this desk," I said, tapping the top of a big round wooden desk placed in the middle of the room.

The desk was empty, but obviously they'd have a receptionist of some sort there eventually. At least that's how it worked in Maine. Ridge must pay the chick a heap of money because I'd been trying to bribe her for access to the office for years with no luck.

Past the front desk was a long hallway, just like in Pelican Bay. They had to have used the same architect. No two people could be this boring.

I walked toward the hallway with Broadrick right behind me. "Do you want to see my office?"

"What?" I stopped and turned back toward him. "You've already agreed to come?"