Read Double Take for Free Online Page B

himself thinking about those sparkling green eyes or that stunning red hair.
    Her goggle-eyed expression and gut response almost made him laugh, but he clarified, “Uh, me shutting up won’t change the fact that you’re going the wrong way.”
    “You’re serious?”
    “Serious as an IRS audit.” He jerked a thumb toward the fork in the road, at which she’d taken a decidedly wrong turn. “The road switches from two to one-way at the split. It single-lanes in a long loop around the base of the island.”
    She continued to gape and sputter. “Is there a sign? ”
    “Yup.”
    “I can’t believe I missed it.” She shifted in her seat, peering out through the misty morning air, looking for the road sign, then let out an audible sigh when she spotted it. “I’m very sorry—I’m usually a good driver. I was trying to read my own lousy handwriting for the directions and wasn’t paying close enough attention.”
    She showed him a sheet of paper on which was scrawled something that might have been English, but also might have been a secret code used by the Allies in World War II.
    “Wow. You write more like a doctor than a schoolteacher.”
    She bit her bottom lip.
    “I thought all teachers had good penmanship.”
    “I’m not exactly a typical teacher.”
    That was an understatement. If any of his science teachers had been as sexy as her, he may have ended up a Nobel Prize–winning biochemist. “You’re sure not like any of the ones I had.”
    “To be fair, you’re not exactly how I’d pictured the chief of police of a remote island to look.”
    “What would you expect?”
    “Umm... A sixty-five-year-old with gray hair and a fishing pole?”
    “You just described the guy I replaced,” he admitted. “But I don’t have the patience for fishing. I’m more of a pickup-basketball fan myself.”
    “So, Kobe, is there a lot of call for police chiefing here on the island?”
    “We have our fair share of crime, you know.”
    “Hotbed of criminal activity, is it?”
    “Some gang stuff going on.” Her eyes nearly popped out of her head. Chuckling, he added, “A gang of nine-year-olds went into the general store and swiped candy bars on a dare.”
    “I take it they weren’t armed?”
    “Only with loud whines and lots of crocodile tears when they got caught.”
    “Did you arrest them?”
    “Nah, I let them off with a warning. Their parents were so mad, I have no doubt those kids won’t do it again.”
    “What about me? Are you going to let me off with a warning, or are you going to give me a ticket?”
    “Trying to decide. Should I cite you for going the wrong way, stealing my gloves or telling an officer of the law to shut up?”
    She must have recognized the teasing note in his voice, because a soft laugh gurgled from her mouth. “Sorry about that.”
    “S’okay. You might have been trying to decipher your messy writing, but the truth is, the sign’s also a bit hidden by some overgrown bushes.” She glanced back again, and he did, too, barely making out the sign. He hadn’t been exaggerating. “I’ll get somebody from the town maintenance crew to come out and trim the bushes. I guess the crew’s not prepared for newcomers who don’t know their way around so early in the spring.”
    “Thanks, though I should have seen it, even if the underbrush is a bit overgrown.”
    “Let me hit the lights and siren and turn you around so you don’t get beaned by a truck while you get to the correct side of the loop. Then I’ll lead you to your new home.”
    He wondered if she would argue, but she must have still been light-headed from her water voyage since she didn’t. That was good. Not only because the roads were twisty and, in some cases, made no sense, but also because of the possible condition of her cottage. He didn’t know Lindsey well, but he sure didn’t want to think about her walking in the door and getting a faceful of spiderweb or a lungful of dusty air.
    Jogging back to his SUV, he