Feeding the Fire (Rosewood 2)

“Are we going to rob someone?”

“No. I was just telling Grant that we got a report of the peeper at his girlfriend’s house. Ow, stop it, Grant!” Simon shouted the last part as Grant kicked him again.

“Is Pepper okay?” Blake assumed, making Grant’s hands tighten around his fork and knife.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Grant complained. Brothers were severely overrated. He’d dated plenty of women in town, but she was the one they always ragged on him about. She was his dating Waterloo, or at least he let them think that.

“She’s fine,” Simon replied, ignoring him. “I think she was just startled by the whole thing.”

“Do you guys have any leads on who it might be?”

Simon shook his head. “Not really. All we got is one muddy footprint from Colette Vaughn’s backyard. It was a men’s size ten narrow shoe, a work boot they sell at the shoe store on the square. We’ve got the store checking their orders, but they’re not computerized yet, so it’s going to take a while to go through all their files. That’s the only lead we have. We thought for a while it might be Jasper Daniels.”

“The guy who drove his truck into the lake?” Grant asked.

“Same guy. His wife left him right after Christmas, and not long after that, we started getting the first peeping reports. But last night, he was passed out in a cell. Sheriff Todd picked him up for driving his riding lawnmower down the street drunk. Apparently he didn’t realize that counted as a DUI. We didn’t let him out until this morning, so he couldn’t have been the one at Pepper’s window.”

“That’s just great. We’ve got a pervert in town and the cops haven’t a clue who it might be.”

“Ease up,” Simon complained. “You sound like Dad.”

Grant fought to keep his hackles from coming up. Nothing got to him quite like being compared to his father. He got that a lot. He had the misfortune of looking the most like his father out of all his siblings. They had the same build, the same carriage, and the same power over women. Grant just used his powers for good instead of evil. “And you sound like you don’t know what you’re doing,” he countered.

“We’re not exactly equipped with a crime scene unit around here. We’re working on it. And we’ve got some suspects.”

“Like who?” Grant challenged.

“Like I can’t tell you,” Simon snapped. “It’s an ongoing investigation.”

Grant groaned. He hated secrets, even ones the police had to keep. Things would be easier if people were just honest with each other. It would’ve saved him a lot of grief over the years.

“Please.”

“Well, how about you tell me your whereabouts last night between nine and ten o’clock?” Simon asked. “Peering in Pepper’s windows at night wouldn’t be a shock to me.”

Swallowing a bite of his food, Grant frowned at his brother. “I was at the firehouse with Mack. You can ask him. We got a call about ten and rode out to the Underwood farm to put out a debris fire that got out of control. Happy?”

Simon shrugged. “I suppose. I just didn’t want you to think the Rosewood police force wasn’t doing a thorough job.”

“You’d better be doing a thorough job,” Blake warned. “Ivy’s coming home tomorrow. If I catch some pervert looking in my windows, I’ll give you and Sheriff Todd what’s left of him.”

“Very considerate of you,” Simon noted.

“How long is she staying?” Grant asked, trying not to sound too interested. He wasn’t that concerned with Ivy, but if she was back in town, she would probably spend some time with Pepper. That meant Grant might have the opportunity to be around her socially. But he didn’t want anyone to know he was interested.

His brot

hers gave him enough grief about Pepper as it was.

Still, he had a hard time not thinking about her. It had been three months since they shared that night together. It was the hottest sex he’d ever had and he couldn’t tell anyone about it. That went against his strict policy of honesty, but Pepper insisted. It was a onetime thing and no one needed to know.

He’d opted just not to talk about it, as opposed to lying. He’d been okay with that plan until he’d gotten a taste of her. Since then, thoughts of getting that spicy redhead back in his bed had nearly consumed his thoughts.

God, he’d gotten pathetic. Grant had never had to work this hard for a woman in his life. Charming a woman had been as second nature to him as football was to Blake. Sure, he needed to practice and stretch his . . . muscle . . . so to speak, but he was always successful. Always. And he technically had been successful with Pepper. He’d scored. Unfortunately, it just hadn’t been enough to satiate him.

For the first time in his life, a woman had left him wanting more. Pepper had done nothing that he expected and he loved that about her. She kept things interesting in a town that was as predictable as bad weather in the springtime.

“About two weeks, I think. She’ll be here through Valentine’s Day.”