Candy Crush (24 page)

It was driving him nuts.

Finally, Gabriella stood and announced she
was going to bed. Brandon leapt off the couch and followed her,
ignoring Emmett’s chuckle, which drifted towards him from the
recliner.

“It’s about damn time,” he grumbled as he
took the stairs two at a time.

“For what? Bed?”

“Yes. We still haven’t had makeup sex.”

Gabriella abruptly stopped and Brandon
barreled into her, causing them both to nearly fall back down the
stairs. Once they’d both regained their balance, Brandon looked at
Gabriella. “What? We’ve made up, haven’t we? It feels like we’ve
made up.”

“Yes, we’ve made up. But we can’t have
makeup sex,” Gabriella whispered.

“Why not?”

“My brother is downstairs.”

“So?”

“I can’t have sex with my brother in the
house.” She hissed the words, clearly afraid Emmett could hear
them, since they were still standing on the stairs.

Brandon stared at her for several
heartbeats, and then he abruptly turned and started back down the
stairs. “Where are you going?”

“To kick your brother out. I’ll give him
directions to my parents’ house. He can sleep in my old room.”

“Brandon, stop!” Gabriella nearly
shouted.

Emmett appeared at the bottom of the stairs.
He had an amused expression on his face. “What are you guys
doing?”

“Gabriella wants you to leave,” Brandon
said.

“I do not!” She glared at Brandon.

“Okay, fine.
I
want you to
leave.”

“Brandon!”

Emmett shook his head and turned back to the
living room, where he picked up the remote control and cranked the
volume on Sports Center.

“See,” Brandon said as they both stepped
into the bathroom to brush their teeth. “He turned the volume up,
to help you relax.”

Gabriella rinsed her mouth and said, “Help
me relax? Now it’s obvious my brother thinks we’re going to have
sex.”

“We
are
going to have sex, Sweet
Pea.” He kissed her on the forehead and left the bathroom.

When she walked into the bedroom a few
minutes later, Brandon was lying on the bed in his boxers. Only the
bedside lamp was on, casting a soft glow across the bed. As soon as
Gabriella walked into the room, he stood up and pulled her into his
arms.

“This makes me really uncomfortable.”

“He won’t hear anything unless you scream.
Save the screaming for Monday. He’s leaving Sunday, right?”

“He’s going to stay with us every weekend
while he’s on this project in Detroit.”

“Well, you just made my night.”

“What’s wrong with my brother?”

“Not a damn thing. It’s what’s wrong with
you when he’s around. I can’t possibly keep my hands off of you
every weekend for the next month.” To accentuate his point, he
dipped his head, caught her lips with a kiss and slipped his hands
under her sweater.

By the time her bra strap was unsnapped,
Brandon was certain she’d forgotten the reason she didn’t want to
have sex that night.

***

Gabriella left a note next to the
coffeemaker, with directions to the DDA office, and invited Emmett
to have lunch with her on Thursday. Brandon had a lunch appointment
and then would be tied up with meetings for the rest of the
afternoon.

Emmett strolled into the DDA office at
twelve-fifteen. A flustered Amanda walked through the door to the
Chamber office and said to Gabriella, “Oh my God, there is a
totally hot guy out here asking for you. Does Brandon know about
this?”

Gabriella rolled her eyes. “That’s my
brother, Emmett.”

“Your brother? Is he single?”

“Last time I asked, he was. He lives in New
Orleans, though.”

“I
love
New Orleans.” She scurried
back through the door to flirt with Emmett.

Emmett drove his rental car to the office,
so he and Gabriella drove out of the historic district to the Coney
Island she and Brandon had lunch at last weekend. Gabriella was
hoping to avoid running into any of Brandon’s family members or any
of the other Main Street merchants.

They slid into a booth in a corner and a
waitress materialized in front of them, smiling ear to ear at
Emmett. They each ordered a Coke and she stepped away. After she
returned and took their lunch orders, Emmett inquired about the
candy store.

“It looks cleaned up and ready to go, other
than the front needs some paint, and the sign needs to be
repaired.”

Gabriella had forgotten about the sign. “I
should still fix the sign, so at least it isn’t an eyesore,” she
said, almost to herself.

“What are you talking about? You make it
sound as if you aren’t planning to open it.”

Gabriella sighed. “There’ve been some…
issues with the candy store. It doesn’t look like it will be
opening any time soon.” She looked sad as she said it.

“How about expounding on that comment?”

“Apparently there is someone in town who
does not want a candy store in the historic district. At least,
that’s the only explanation I can come up with. There have been
some issues, some threats” –

“Threats? What kind of threats? To you?”
Emmett sounded enraged.

The waitress brought their plates and Emmett
paused to give her a winning smile, before he turned back to
Gabriella and scowled.

“Yes, to me, to the candy store. And there
was a body” –

“A body? As in
dead
?”

“Yes.” In between bites, she reviewed
everything that happened in connection to the candy store, since
she came to town.

When she finished, Emmett said, “This cop
sounds incompetent. How the hell does no one know a damn thing in a
town this size? I bet everybody knows everybody’s underwear size.
They probably knew you were sleeping with Sarantos practically
before you even did it.”

Gabriella thought about dinner at Brandon’s
parents house and how the first thing his mother had said was that
she knew they were sleeping together. And they’d only started the
night before. “You’re right on the small town stuff. But I don’t
necessarily think the police officer is incompetent. I think there
are really truly no clues.”

“Spray paint? Where’d it come from? Has he
checked the local hardware stores, Home Depot? If they bought it
local, someone would remember. Tire treads in the mud? What kind of
vehicle? He could probably get a make and model from that, and he
probably knows who drives what kind of car around here. Dead body
that’s been frozen for two years? Who has deep freezers large
enough to house a dead body? Who has deep freezers large enough and
don’t ever use it? How did he die? If it was a gunshot, what kind
of bullet? What kind of gun? He probably knows who all has a gun
and what kind it is.”

Gabriella stared at him, her Coke halfway to
her lips. “Have you been taking criminal justice classes at a local
college or something? How did you come up with all that stuff?”

Emmett shrugged and finished chewing the
last bite of his sandwich. “I spend a lot of time on airplanes.
Read a lot of crime novels. So do you feel safe? Should you
consider closing up shop and finding a new place to put down
roots?”

Gabriella paled. “No, I haven’t considered
that.”

“Why? Your new boyfriend?”

Yes
. “He’s part of the reason, I
guess. But even so, I put everything I had into that candy store. I
have nothing left to start over with. I have to stay and see it
through, or else sell it and at least break even. At this rate
though, I can’t imagine there are many people out there willing to
buy it. Everyone local says it’s jinxed.”

Emmett munched a French fry, a thoughtful
expression on his face. “I wonder why someone wouldn’t want it
open? Let’s stop by there and have a look around after lunch.”

“We can’t go into the storeroom because it’s
a crime scene right now. And I have to get back for meetings.
Brandon got me this job with the Chamber so I could at least have
an income coming in, and whoever was the last office manager was a
complete idiot, so the place is a mess.”

“That was considerate of him. Ensures you
stay in town.”

“It was considerate, yes, but I asked for
it. He offered to support me.”

“Even more considerate.”

“Not to me. I am not going to be under
anyone’s thumb again. Not even this stupid candy store harasser. He
may have convinced me to close the candy store temporarily, but
he’s not running me out of town.” She took one of Emmett’s fries
and aggressively bit it.

When Emmett took Gabriella back to her
office, he convinced her to give him the keys to the candy store
and the apartment. He promised to be careful and promised that he
would not disturb the crime scene. He returned two hours later, and
after flirting with Amanda for a few minutes, he wandered into
Gabriella’s office and dropped into one of the guest chairs that
ran along the wall opposite her desk. Constance walked out of her
office and Emmett immediately jumped to his feet.

“Well, hello,” Constance said, as she eyed
him from head to toe. She stuck out her hand and walked towards
him. “I’m Constance Trakas, president of the Chamber of Commerce.
Are you new in town?”

Emmett shook her hand and grinned. “Nice to
meet you, Mrs. Trakas. I’m Emmett Hadley. Gabriella’s brother.”

Constance turned to look at Gabriella, who
gave her a little half-wave. “I didn’t realize Gabriella had a
brother. And such a good looking one, to boot. Call me Constance,
Emmett. And if I can ever be of assistance, please let me
know.”

She turned to Gabriella. “I was going to
send you down to the Holly Hotel to finalize arrangements for our
next networking event. I can go, if you’d rather visit with your
brother.”

Gabriella stood up. “No, I’ll go. Emmett can
tag along, if he wants.”

Emmett shrugged, so she led him out the
door. She glanced at Brandon’s office, but the door was closed.

“He’s off-site at meetings. Amanda told me,”
Emmett whispered, and Gabriella blushed because she’d been so
transparent.

The rain had finally cleared, so they walked
the short distance to the Holly Hotel. “You have it just as bad as
he does,” Emmett commented casually.

Gabriella shrugged noncommittally. It had
been little more than a week. She didn’t want to inspect her
relationship with Brandon too closely.

Emmett changed the subject. “Had a look
around your candy store. It’ll be a nice place when you finally get
it open. And you can make a little extra coin by renting that
apartment. What’s with the giant pile of overstock in the
storeroom? Some of that stuff has been expired for years.”

“Emmett! You weren’t supposed to go in the
storeroom,” she chastised.

“Relax. There wasn’t anyone around. You need
to empty your dumpster too. Although I’d dump all that old candy in
it first.”

“Sure. Just as soon as it stops being a
crime scene for more than thirty seconds. Here’s the Holly Hotel.
It’s a historic hotel that they’ve turned into a restaurant, bar
and comedy club. Plus it has private banquet rooms upstairs. Most
of the Chamber events are held here. The next one is a breakfast,
next Wednesday.”

They climbed the steps and entered the
lobby. Jared stood there, greeting guests.

“Well, hello, Gabriella. How nice to see you
again. I take it Brandon’s old news?” His smile was slick.

Emmett balled his fists and stepped in front
of Gabriella. “Are you implying something about my sister?” he
snarled at Jared.

Jared blinked several times and took a step
backwards. “Sister?” He tried to look at Gabriella over Emmett’s
shoulder. “You have a brother?”

“Yes,” Emmett snapped. “A brother who
doesn’t take kindly to men implying his sister is less than the
pure, innocent woman she is.” He added a glare for emphasis.

Jared took another step back and put his
hands up in front of him, palms out. “Chill out, man. I was just –
I was just – tell him we’re friends, Gabriella. We’re friends,
right?
Right
?”

“She’s with Brandon Sarantos,” Emmett
snarled.

Jared nodded vigorously. “Brandon’s my
cousin,” he sputtered. “Good guy.”

Emmett’s eyes narrowed.

“Hey, relax man. I don’t poach on other
people’s property, unless they’re willing to be poached. I’ve got
no beef with you.”

Gabriella didn’t like being referred to as
property
, but she decided to let it slide, lest Emmett do
something like deck Jared in the lobby of his own restaurant.

When Emmett didn’t say anything or make any
sort of move, Jared straightened the front of his suit coat
unnecessarily and cleared his throat. “Are you here for a drink or
an early dinner?”

Gabriella shook her head and finally spoke.
“I’m working with Constance now, and she sent me over here to
finalize details for our breakfast next week.”

“Oh,” Jared said, still sounding a little
faint. “Let me get Rebecca. She’s our banquet manager. Just a
moment, please.” He hustled out of the room.

“Emmett, that was completely unnecessary,”
Gabriella commented.

“He has weasel written all over him. Not the
first time you met him I take it?”

“I accepted a date from him last week just
to annoy Brandon, but we never went out. I’m told I should stay
away from him. Since he’s Brandon’s cousin, so I’m not too
worried.”

“Did Brandon get annoyed?”

“Big time. His sister-in-law witnessed it
and said it was the first time that he’s ever shown emotion over a
woman before. And Nicole has known him her whole life.”

“Huh. Guess you really aren’t leaving town
any time soon.”

“Probably not.”

Rebecca walked up and introduced herself,
and not surprisingly, she zoned in on Emmett and began blatantly
flirting. It took Gabriella so long to pull her attention that she
finally resorted to coolly suggesting if she wanted to maintain the
business from the Chamber of Commerce, she may want to focus on the
business at hand, and so Rebecca reluctantly shifted her focus away
from Emmett, and they quickly wrapped up the details for the next
event.