Convincing Lina: A Bachelor of Shell Cove Novel (The Bachelors of Shell Cove Romance Book 2) (9 page)

She started to sing a
Linearized
of the late James Brown’s “I Got You” as she undressed.
 

“I feel good, dada dada dada, da, I didn’t know that I would.” Her voice rang out bouncing off the walls in the bedroom as she danced across the floor in her bare feet. “I’m so good, so good.” She gyrated her hips to the beat in her head. “Coz, I got somebody new, dent dent dent dent.” Wrong. Man-fasting and considering a relationship were diametrically opposed ideas. Opening her heart to Gideon was a foolish consideration. She did one full twirl then took a deep bow imitating the Godfather of Soul. It felt good to sing again. She rose from her concert bow, she extended her right arm, pressed the room light control, and froze. Body ridged, eyes wide, she unleashed a scream that ricocheted off every object in the bedroom.

The scream slashed through Gideon’s detailed plan for his next date with Lina. A woman’s scream from years gone by echoed through his brain bringing back memories of his failure.
 

Turning, he raced back to Lina’s door, as the screams intensified. Lina’s condominium resembled a large, single family beach house. Grabbing the door lever, he found it locked.
 

“Lina!” “Lina, open the door.”

Preparing to kick the door lock, he loosened his stance when she opened the door in bare feet with a long, hardwood stick raised over her head like a police baton.
 

“I heard your screams. What happened?” At her silence the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Lina didn’t suffer a loss for words often.
 

“The scream, Lina,” he prompted her.
 

“Someone broke into my house.” Her words came in a rush. Protectiveness and anger spiked through the very core of his being. The need to protect her besieged every fiber in his body. She was blocking his entrance to the entryway.
 

“Let me come inside.” He was thankful that she didn’t hesitate. He’d alienate any threat to Lina.
 

“You stay by the door,” he told her. This was not the time to ask politely.

“You’ll get no complaints from me. It’s in my bedroom.” Her bedroom? She pointed to a flight of hardwood stairs that lead to a loft overlooking the living area.
 

He looked her over, reassuring himself that she was okay. Lina was rigid from head to toe as if preparing to attack or to be attacked.
 

Gideon moved in the direction she pointed. He scanned the surrounding space as he moved. Her living room combined with the dining area and overlooked a stone balcony with a view of the beach. With the hour nearing eleven in the evening the starlit night was beautiful. The house was immaculate. Her bedroom was off the far corner of the formal living area. He pushed away the fleeting thought that the intruder was someone who knew her house, and exactly where the bedroom was.

The metallic odor was the first red flag. A rectangle rhinestone studded headboard covered half of the right bedroom wall, in the center of the royal purple duvet were at least a dozen white, long stemmed roses, dipped in crimson liquid.
Blood stained roses.
 

Gideon recalled what Lina told him about Jace and the roses, but breaking and entering to leave a blood-soaked message spoke to a more sinister intent. No man in his right mind would consider bloody roses a reconciliation gesture. Bending low he examined the lock on the bedroom door leading to the balcony. There were no visible signs of tampering. The hairs on the back of his neck were tingling. This stunt required pre-planning, timing, and patience.
 

He hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary about the surroundings when he picked Lina up for their date. But dense woods surrounded her dual unit condominium. It would be easy for a perpetrator to hide until the opportunity to enter presented itself. He had more questions than answers at this point. He knew he wasn’t leaving Lina alone tonight.
 

“Gideon? Is everything okay? BETAS and I are ready if you need us.”

Not hearing anyone enter the condo, Gideon started towards the woman waiting for him at the door.
 

“Who is Betas?” Lina aimed the hardwood stick approximately the length of a baseball bat, but half the diameter in his direction. The way she held the thing, he was hesitant to get too close.
 

“Dr. Gideon Rice, meet BETAS.” Gideon looked on as Lina gripped and released the smooth shaft of wood in comfortable familiarity. Gideon swallowed and willed his country boy thinking back into the barn.
 

He pointed at the stick then at the floor. She was slow to lower the wicked looking instrument.
 

“You named a stick?” She shrugged.
 

“I got it as a housewarming gift four years ago.”

“From who?” He tilted his head, interested to know who would give her a weapon.
 

“My mother if you must know.”

“It’s an unusual gift, don’t you think?”

“According to Bernadean James, a woman has to take care of herself.” He surveyed the room during her explanation.
 

“I don’t see any signs of forced entry from the balcony door. Who has a key to your house?”

“My mother. Oh, and Janna. She’s storing Ava’s engagement favors in my guest bedroom.”
 

“Not Jace?”
 

“I answered your question, counselor.” He held up his hands in mock surrender.

“Sorry, I know a lot of women give their boyfriend’s keys to their place.”

“Jace never had a key.” Knowing the other man hadn’t earned the privilege to enter Lina’s domain at will, set a part of his mind at ease.
 

“I think you should alert the authorities. Is anything missing or out of place in your bedroom?” She lowered the stick and pressed the fingers of the opposite hand to her left temple.
 

“I’m fine and nothing’s out of place. But you’re right. I should call the cops. I’ll see you to the door.” He didn’t budge.

“You have two choices. You come with me or I am staying the night with you. I’m not leaving you alone knowing there’s a potential threat to your safety. I’m not convinced this is Jace’s actions, maybe an unknown assailant entered your home.” The roses he could accept, but to secure blood, most likely from an animal source, then dip each individual one in blood with meticulous care, led him to think a more sinister plan was at work.

“What’s on the other side of the living area?”

“Another bedroom and bathroom are beyond the kitchen. I rarely use that side of the house.”

“I’ll go search the other spaces. You stay in this spot until I come back.” He could see the protest forming with the slight twist of her mouth. “Lina, I need to know where you are in the house.” He settled a determined look on her, he waited for her to accept his words. Patience earned him a stiff head nod. Reluctant, but he was sure she would do as he instructed. Gideon proceeded with his plan to ensure Lina’s safety and secure the perimeter.

“Call the police, while I check out the rest of the house.”

“I will, but first…”

“No buts,” he said, pointing in the direction of her bedroom. “That scene on the bed is a message. A calling card. Get the police here, first, anybody else can wait.” Lina James did not respond well to directives. That made for an interesting dynamic in a nurse. “Who might want to scare you?”

“First, I’m not scared. If anyone comes in this house uninvited when I’m here, they are going to get a kick from my whip ass shoes and a taste of BETAS.” A fierce warrior princess. Greeting him at the door with her humanized battering stick told him she brought the war to the enemy. Just like a Marine. He would give just about anything to call her his own. Running a hand through his hair, he refocused.

“Any names come to mind when you think about pulling out the whip ass shoes?”

“Other than Jace, no,” she said, deflated. “I’ve lived here for four years without incident.” He believed her.
 

“Remember, you stay here, no matter what.” Mindful, he made a slow approach to the closed guest bedroom suite. Even without his Kevlar boots, he kept his steps nimble, and light in his leather soled dress shoes. Out of habit, he reached for his sidearm weapon. A maneuver he’d done hundreds of times as a Marine in combat. His hands met a cell phone holster. It wasn’t there. Lina’s guest suite was equally decorated as the rest of the rooms, a bold mixture of texture, tone, and shades of the color purple. Both bedrooms had the look of a magazine layout for seductive boudoirs.
 

By the time he closed the guest bedroom closet, he could hear a car pulling into the parking area. When he walked into the living room Lina was peering through the wooden shuttered windows in the living room that faced the parking lot.
 

“Is it a patrol car?”

“No, it’s my neighbor, Estrella.”
 

“How long has she lived here?”

“A few months, give or take a week. She’s originally from Peru, she moved here because of her job.”
 

“Husband or children?” Huh. A woman that traveled out of the country for work. The women he’d grown up with believed in staying close to home. The residents of Waverly Falls didn’t venture far from the stable.
 

“She never mentions a family.” Neither did he.
 

“You know her well?”

“Well enough. She’s been supportive since things went sour with Jace.” Lina didn’t strike him as the type of woman that needed a shoulder to cry on. He rubbed his forehead at the image of Lina shedding tears over Jace Harper. “She cooks, I eat.” Ah. He could reconcile that kind of support with what he knew of Lina.
 

“Sounds like a good arrangement.”

“It works for me. Being trapped in the kitchen with raw ingredients and a cook book is equivalent to running with wolves, risky and detrimental to my well-being. I’m not sure what Estrella is getting out of it, but it makes her happy to watch me eat.”

“It would make me happy to see you eat too. You enjoy your meal with all your senses.” She narrowed those chocolate eyes on him, for the second time this evening.

“There you go pouring on the syrup.” He watched as she shook her head as if to remove a cobweb.
 

“Is that your way of calling me sweet?” He asked.

“Yeah, you are too sweet.”

“There is no such thing, you just have to take incremental doses until you can increase your tolerance for what I have to offer.” She rolled her eyes, but offered him a smile. He’d take it.
 

“Lucky for both of us, I’m not accepting any offers.” Her words pulled him up short.

“There’s an easy remedy.”
 

They were facing each other when she spoke.

“Relationships are not my strong suit. I am determined to complete my thirty day man fast.”

“Twenty-nine days,” he corrected.
 

“Yeah, I may extend it. Make sure I’m good and ready for the real thing.”

No way on earth would she complete and/or extend this fast on his watch. Plus he noticed her eyes darted to the left with that last sentence. Meaning it was a lie or half-truth. The observation techniques he learned in the military still served a purpose.
 

Watching the woman named Estrella ascend the stairs, Lina pulled the door open before he could stop her. Immediately, Gideon stepped in front of Lina.
 

“Gideon? What are you doing?”

“Someone could be watching you.” It was a possibility he had to consider. The stalker could be watching how Lina responded to his message.
 

“Estrella, come inside.” Estrella stopped outside the door, but didn’t move inside.

“It’s late chica, we can rendezvous in the morning,” Estrella said.
 

“Someone broke into my house and left bloody roses on my bed.” Estrella’s tan skin, paled. Eyes wide she took stilted steps into the room. Gideon hadn’t moved.
 

“I vouch for her, step aside Jean Claude Van Gideon.” She made light, but he noticed the voice tremors when she spoke. She pushed on like a soldier, talking and moving to keep the anxiety from biting at her courage. Gideon eyes swung down in her direction, a hint of a smile graced his full lips.