Can't Stop the Feeling (Whispering Bay Romance 6)

“I admit, you almost gave me a heart attack when all that water hit the floor,” Pilar said. “It looked so real!”

Mimi pulled an empty two liter bottle out of her purse. “I have Jenna to thank for always having one of these on me.”

“You know what they say,” Jenna said. “It is important to stay well hydrated during pregnancy.”

“I have to know,” Ben asked. “How did you all come up with the plan for Mimi to fake labor?”

All three women smiled at one another. “We just sort of…knew,” Jenna said.

“Chalk it up to the three of us working well together,” said Pilar.

“But how did you know Wentworth would go for it?” Zeke asked.

Mimi raised a brow at her husband. “Babe, you ought to know better than anyone. There’s nothing more frightening to the average man than a really pregnant woman.”

* * *

Besides the three of them, the only other people in the building at the time of the siege had been Darlene, who’d been at the front desk and clueless until Pilar’s phone call had alerted her, and Denise and Larry, who’d still been in the conference room discussing the vote and hadn’t heard a thing until Zeke and his cops had charged the building.

Doug’s old desk had been resurrected and after a few minutes of searching, Zeke had found a false drawer brimming with cash. The money had been confiscated as evidence. Jenna heard Zeke tell one of his deputies to update the district attorney so that he could file even more charges against Doug.

All in all, it had been a pretty good twenty-four hours for Whispering Bay.

Larry gave Zeke a military salute. “Nice bit of police work, Grant. Good to know our tax dollars aren’t going to waste.”

“You should be thanking the mayor, the city manager and the city attorney. They’re the real heroes here.”

Denise clapped her hands together. “Oh! It’s like you’re those three women on TV that fight crime. You know, Charlie’s Angels!”

Larry made a face. “Come on over to the twenty-first century, Denise.” He patted Jenna on the shoulder. “I guess we’re okay, then?”

“We’re okay,” Jenna said. “After all, Larry, we both want what’s best for the city.”

“Glad to know you’re staying on board, after all.” He made a grumpy noise, then shuffled off. Everyone began leaving to go home, until eventually only she and Ben were left in the building.

“So you still have your job, right?”

“Right,” she said, grinning.

“And did I hear right? Did the city council vote again on whether or not to accept Nora’s offer?”

“Yep. It was four to two in favor of accepting.”

“Who changed their vote?”

“I did.”

He looked surprised. Not that she blamed him. She’d been so adamantly against accepting Nora’s offer that to change it now seemed unlike her.

“You know the famous quote,” she said. “‘Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.’”

“Churchill?”

“George Bernard Shaw. I’m not an egghead. In the end I’ll do what I think is best for the city. And after a lot of deliberation, I decided that Larry was right. As long as we control the growth, I think Whispering Bay will be okay.”

He looked like he was about to kiss her.

Yes, please.