In Too Deep Read Free Page A

he
scanned the length of her, from the leather biker jacket, down to
black jeans emphasizing a pert ass, to grape-colored combat boots—a
touch of pure Piper. Her shoulders stiffened to fence-post
straight. So, she remembered more than just the sound of his
voice.
    Every cutting, snide comment he’d
intended to use from the moment Ford had sidled into his office
with a grunted, “Piper’s back,” evaporated into sea fog. He
swallowed, unable to extract his gaze from her full mouth and
creamy skin. Her hair, which in his rare poetic moments he’d
thought of as burnished chestnut, should’ve flowed past her
shoulders, but instead she’d cut it short, the fine strands curling
in the humidity.
    “ You cut your hair.” Jeez,
West, real smooth.
    She twisted a lock around her
finger, before tucking it behind her ear. “Too many drunks tried to
grab me by it.”
    He gripped the top of the nearest
chair, then noticing his reaction, deliberately relaxed his hand
again. What Piper chose to do with her life was irrelevant. “The
perils of being a cop.”
    Her head swung toward Ben, who
clattered and fumbled to get his crutches from behind the
table.
    West took a step closer, trying to
block the faint perfume of her skin from addling his brain even
further. “I take it you’ve volunteered to run the diving part of
Ben’s business.” The rigid line of her backbone betrayed her
tension.
    Her arrival and plans to work
would solve some of Ben’s issues, but create a whole bunch of new
ones for West. Back on the island, Piper became another
pain-in-his-ass problem, a reminder of his youthful naivety. “So
how does a cop plan to make nice to tourists and handle
testosterone-fired guys on a shark cage dive?”
    She slapped him with a deadpan
stare. “I’ll handle it fine. I know how to deal with pushy,
arrogant men.”
    Score one for her. “Good for you,
but Ben needs a qualified diver on his tours, not a
hobbyist—”
    “ I’m a certified rescue diver and dive instructor. Probably more qualified for this
than both of you combined,” she snapped.
    West pulled a fast grin before
smothering it. Was she now? Color crept up underneath the collar of
her jacket, an old telltale sign he’d done a great job of either
unsettling her or pissing her off.
    “ A lot of qualifications for a
simple officer of the law. You’ve been busy.”
    “ Very busy.” She turned to Ben,
who had wrestled himself to his feet. “So who was your dive guide
before?”
    At his sister’s words Ben’s face
hardened into a stone mask. He could’ve warned her not to go
there.
    “ No one you know.” Ben’s tone
snipped the words into staccato bites. “And they left unexpectedly
at the beginning of the season which is why I’m in this
mess.”
    “ Why did—” She paused, eyebrows
drawn in a sharp “v” as she stared down a nearby table of
snickering girls. Once they’d returned nervously to their drinks
she switched her intense gut-clenching gaze back to West. “Can the
three of us go to your dad’s office and talk privately?”
    “ It’s my office now, but sure.
After you.” West made a grand sweeping motion toward the bar.
“We’ve also a small matter of reimbursement to discuss.”
    The idea had popped into his head
on a flash of devilish inspiration. If Piper was determined to stay
here and make him suffer with her close proximity, he could damn
well ensure she was miserable too.
    Her jaw dropped.
“Reimbursement?”
    “ Everything has a price, including
me.”
    Her gaze contained the lash of a
stingray’s barb, full of venom and almost as painful. Luckily she
didn’t have the ability to hurt him anymore with those beautiful
hazel eyes.
    Score one for him.
    Ben made it across the pub to the
polished wood bar before he stopped, leaning heavily on his
crutches. “I’m exhausted and my ankle’s throbbing like a bitch.
Can’t we hash the details out tomorrow?”
    Piper shoved her fists into her
leather jacket and sighed.