Betrayal of the Dove - By Capri Montgomery Page 0,17

It wasn’t any of their business who she hired, or his for that matter. Yet he had told their local bistro owner prompting an information quest visit under the guise of a fellow Row business owner bringing bagels. Petrof was in her store, with his spiked blond hair and his deep-set onyx eyes shining bright that morning, and never once did Shane give the impression that he felt the need to stay in the store throughout the entire conversation. Petrof was a lady’s man, as in all the ladies flocked to him, but not necessarily vice versa. Shane didn’t seem half as worried about that man as he did Craig. She wondered if Shane was a little jealous over the attention Craig showed her. While Petrof was gorgeous and nice, he wasn’t flirty. There were a few rumors as to why Petrof did not get too friendly with the ladies. Rumors did not equate to truth but she didn’t feel a need to ask for verification to determine the validity, or lack thereof, of the rumors. It wasn’t any of her business really. Besides, she rather liked that he didn’t flirt with her because she never wanted him too. Craig, however, was definitely flirting—throwing on the charm so thick that it was starting to scare her.

“Yes, I have a minute.” She directed her attention back to Shane and tried to keep her mind off his possible reasons for interrupting them. Maybe she was a little grateful because she really did want Craig to move on already—not just move on out of her store, but move on as in find another woman to like. There were plenty of beautiful women walking up and down the Row nearly every day. Why couldn’t he pick one of them to fawn over? “Just let me lock up. I need to take lunch anyway.” She walked Craig to the door before locking up and flipping her window sign to closed.

“That man likes you,” Shane said in a tone that was laced with something she couldn’t quite place.

“Yeah, he just asked me out,” she mumbled as she picked up the coffee. “He brought me this too. Do you want it?”

“Giving away a gift?”

“I hate coffee,” she said. “He would have come out better bringing me a banana nut muffin. Do you want it?” She held it out toward him.

“I’ll pass,” he mumbled.

“Guess I’ll dump it upstairs,” she sighed. “It really stinks,” she wrinkled her nose.

“Yeah, I can smell it over here and it smells like there’s something more than coffee in there.”

She shrugged. “Maybe it’s one of those exotic flavor things. He did get this from Heaven in a Cup down the street. That coffee shop has the weirdest combinations of drinks, but they do have really good muffins.” She smiled coyly. “I love my sweet treats in case you haven’t noticed.”

He laughed. “Nothing wrong with that.”

“So what did you want to show me?”

“Your new lock.”

“Already?”

“It’s just the back door, and it doesn’t take that long to fix it up. I’ll work on the upstairs while you eat lunch and then I’ll go to work with fixing up the security room. If you don’t mind, I can work after hours on the camera system.”

“Wow,” she shook her head. “You’re quick, and dedicated. I’m glad I hired you,” she smiled at him. “You can stay as late as you need tonight, just be careful when you’re leaving.” She saw the look on his face, the one that told her he couldn’t believe she was trying to protect him, but she was. All of the robberies had happened at night, after the shops had closed and if he stayed late then there was a possibility that he could be putting himself in danger out there. “Let’s go look at that lock so I can dump this out.”

Shane hadn’t exactly gone for style with the lock, but functionality was a ten plus, not that the look was unstylish it just wasn’t exactly a soft and subtle addition to her space. She had a salad and a turkey sandwich for lunch and fixed him the same meal. He hadn’t eaten, and she was sure he hadn’t grabbed a bite to eat while he was at home because he arrived back at the store too quickly for that—unless he had practically inhaled his food, which she had doubted.

His first order of business was changing her upstairs front door lock before eating. She watched him work. He was so focused on his