He led the way into the bedroom, turned and put both arms up on the wall trapping her. “Is there anything else I can do for you Gabriela?”
So he’d seen right through her ploy. “Umm. I guess not.” She bit her bottom lip, sure she was blushing.
Then he kissed her.
And she forgot everything, the dead body, the weather and even her name. The kiss was sudden, unexpected and oh so very perfect. The way his mouth moved over hers made her legs wobbly and stomach flip. The man definitely knew how to do it right.
When he broke the kiss, she remained still, her eyes closed needing to keep the sensations just a bit longer.
“Are you all right?” Jeremy cupped her jaw. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have…”
“Oh. Yeah. What?” Apparently, she also forgot the English language too. “No. Please don’t apologize. It was very nice.” She grinned like a loon. “Thank you for everything.”
His lips twitched. “You’re so different.” Jeremy studied her for a moment. “How have you not died yet?”
When her mouth fell open, he chuckled. “I’m kidding, but you seem accident prone and who else would have stumbled on the first murder anyone can remember here in this county?”
Gabriela couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “It’s a gift.”
“Have a good night. Be sure to call if you change your mind and want to stay at the house.”
As soon as the door closed behind him, she changed her mind. The silence grew. There were creaks outside, and some damn owl decided to hang out right outside the window and ask who over and over. Gabriela went to every window and double-checked them. When she turned toward the bedroom, every scenario from all the scary movies she’d seen came to life.
“Oh goodness. The hell with it. I’m not staying here.” She stopped and considered what to do. She could rush to her car and drive to the big house. Of course, the killer would be in the back seat. If she ran to the house, the killer would chase her, she’d be the one chick that tripped on an imaginary tree root and deserved to get killed. Gabriela blew out a breath. She went to the front door and peeked out. No one.
Then she quickly packed an over-night bag and went back to the front. After looking out every single window, she took a deep breath and opened the door.
“Okay, okay, okay.” She stepped and took off at a run…right into a hard chest.
“Ahhhhhhh!” Gabriela screamed, dropped her bag and turned to run back inside.
“I figured you’d changed your mind when I saw every light go on and off. Then you started looking out the windows.” Since he was laughing while talking, she barely understood what Jeremy said.
“It’s not funny.” Gabriela barely held back a giggle. “I got spooked. Something creaked.”
He picked up the bag. “Come on. Let’s get going. We have an early morning.”
“We do?”
“Yeah. The teams of workers show up to start the prep. As long as we stay away from the murder scene we should be okay.”
Gabriela scanned the area staring into the woods to make sure the killer wasn’t there. “Have you considered people may not come? I mean there’s a murderer around here.”
“The murder was something personal. I doubt the killer is anywhere near here.”
“Hmmm.” Gabriela wasn’t too sure. For the next few days, she was going to trust her spidy senses. If anything at all felt wrong, she’d be on the next plane to San Diego.
“Wait. So the festival is still on? What about the whole dead guy thing?”
Jeremy let out a breath. “Yes it will still go on. Maloney was part of the city council. He always came and enjoyed it. So it’s best to honor him by still doing it. Besides, I’m sure there’s going to be some sort of memorial speech in his honor.”
If she died, Gabriela would insist her friends and family not do anything fun for a long time. They would mourn and be sad for at least three months. Black. She nodded. She would insist they wear black the entire time too.
She tripped on a tree stump, stumbled forward and landed on the ground. “Ouch.”
“It’s a pretty big stump. I thought you saw it on the way over.” Jeremy helped her up.
Gabriela dusted off her pants. “I was planning my funeral. My mind was elsewhere.”
“Mmmm,” Jeremy replied and continued walking.
It was too dark to see clearly, but she could swear he was smiling.
Chapter Seven
Montana people were very odd. Everyone acted as if getting up while it was still dark outside was normal. Gabriela shuffled into the kitchen, her head wrapped in a scarf and wearing flannel pajamas. After pouring a cup of coffee and adding creamer and sugar, she lumbered to the kitchen island and did her best to pay attention to the conversation. Her eyes felt as if someone had taped rocks to her eyelids. It took strength, but if she lifted her eyebrows, it helped to keep her eyes open.
“Good morning,” Henry said grinning from the table with a stack of pancakes on a plate in front of him. Jeremy, his father and mother all sat at the table. Several others stood around with cups of coffee. She didn’t care who they were. All of them were crazy.
“Now,” Rick announced looking at his watch. “Everyone should be here in another half hour or so.” He looked to the two men standing with coffee. “Be out there and direct them to park by the main building. Some may not know where to go. We’ve got a group of newbies.”
Everyone groaned not seeming to like the idea of new people. Gabriela joined in, but for a different reason all together. It was too damn early.
Natalie smiled at her.
