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life.”
    “I’m not sure he’s settled down,” Harper hedged.
    “I am,” Jared interjected. “I’m happily settled to boot. What about you? Do you have a lady love here this weekend?”
    “I’m keeping my options open,” Josh replied. “You know me. I can’t settle down until I’m sure I’ve found the perfect woman. Since you’ve already locked the perfect woman up, I’ll probably end up being a bachelor for life. It’s a hard job, but somebody has to do it.”
    “Ha, ha,” Jared intoned, rolling his eyes. “What are you doing these days?”
    “Working for the family,” Josh replied. “I do charity events and occasional business meetings. Most of the time I handle the hotel and put out employee fires and listen to complaining guests. It’s all very boring.
    “What about you, though?” he continued. “Is being a police detective everything you thought it would be? Whisper Cove can’t be much of a hotbed of activity.”
    “You’d be surprised,” Jared countered. “I’ve been in town two months and already solved two murders. I also met a certain blonde … so I guess you could say life in Whisper Cove is better than I ever envisioned.”
    “Good for you,” Josh said, slapping Jared’s shoulder and laughing. “What about you, Harper? What do you do?”
    “Oh, my life is pretty boring,” Harper replied. “I basically run haunted tours with my best friend. We do those cemetery visits and stuff. It’s not much, but it pays the bills.”
    Jared’s eyes momentarily flashed and Harper felt a ball of guilt land in the pit of her stomach. It wasn’t really a lie and yet it felt dishonest. She didn’t know why she was being so evasive, but she couldn’t help herself.
    “That sounds fun,” Josh said, his eyes lighting up. “You’ll be great for the game.”
    “Yeah, about the game, I’m not sure we want to play,” Jared said. “I’m a cop. That gives me an unfair advantage.”
    Josh derisively snorted. “I think you don’t want to play because you don’t want anyone else showing you up,” he said. “The people coming this week take these murder mysteries very seriously. They have a club and they travel all over the U.S. attending these events. I’ll bet they solve it before you even realize what’s happening.”
    “I’ll take that bet,” Jared said, narrowing his eyes.
    “I take it you guys are competitive,” Harper said, smirking. “Does this mean I get to watch you thump your chests and secrete testosterone all week?”
    “I’m not comfortable with that secreting testosterone thing,” Jared answered. “I will be thumping my chest … but I’m waiting until we’re alone in our room to do that.”
    Harper pressed her lips together and lowered her eyes, horrified by the mirthful expression on Josh’s face. “Jared,” she hissed, shifting uncomfortably.
    “Oh, she’s shy,” Josh said, laughing. “I love her already. I’m going to steal her from you. I can’t believe she’s been so close and I didn’t stumble across her first. I think it’s a sign.”
    “It’s definitely a sign,” Jared said. “That sign reads ‘closed.’ She’s mine. Don’t go hitting on my girl. I’ll have to beat you.”
    “Promises, promises,” Josh said. “Well, come on. We’ll get you two checked in and let you get settled. I have a surprise waiting for you upstairs that I think Harper is going to love.”

    “ I CAN’T believe this ,” Harper said, exhaling heavily as she glanced around the humongous suite. “I … Jared, did you know they were going to give us one of the four corner rooms?”
    Jared lifted his eyebrows and smirked as he watched Harper flit from one end of the suite to the other. She was enamored with the room and everything in it, including the antique furniture.
    “I didn’t know that corner rooms existed,” Jared admitted. “I asked for a beautiful room because I wanted to impress you, but I was not expecting this. It’s pretty nice,