Twirled Bond (Holly Woods Files, #5) Read Free Page A

was the saddest thing ever. We were twelve years old, and after a failed cinema attempt the Christmas we were eleven, which was sadly our audition for the Nutcracker, we finally convinced our parents to take us. We literally begged until we suffocated ourselves with a lack of oxygen. They agreed, and then...the thing freaking shut its doors.
    I’m still struggling to get over it.
    “Does this mean we can see it this year?” I ask, the thought sprinting through my head. “Oh my god.”
    “Noelle, Drake took you to Dallas to see it last year. It was your birthday present.”
    I roll my eyes. “I know that, and it was amazing, but he hated every second. Plus, at the Holly Woods Theater? That’s the childhood dream, Bek.”
    My best friend grins around a mouthful of croissant. She knows I’m right. Not to mention Drake slept through half of it. He’ll deny the sleeping, but he’ll admit that he only sat through the “longest-ass pantomime” of his life because of me.
    Aw. He’s cute sometimes.
    “I know. He’ll probably be happy he doesn’t have to take you.” She wipes her mouth with her napkin.
    Probably? He’ll punch the air in delight, the shit.
    “What are you doing today?” I glance up at her as I open my planner. No matter how my tech-god, Carlton, tries to convince me Google Calendar is how I need to organize my life, it’s not gonna happen. He can pull my bright, perfect Erin Condren planner from my cold, dead hands.
    “I am...” She pauses and pulls her phone from her purse. “Going to have a lunch consultation in Austin with one Miss Jacey Ford. She’s a senior at college and found an apparent engagement ring in her boyfriend’s closet three months ago.”
    “And he hasn’t given it to her yet.” Typical. “I’m going to start a side business that teaches people not to fucking snoop.”
    “No, you won’t. At least seventy percent of our cases are because people snoop on their other halves.”
    I purse my lips. Damn, she’s right. Maybe I’ll save that side business for another day. You know, half past never.
    “Okay,” I say, “I won’t. But I should. Snooping is never good.”
    “So, you wouldn’t snoop on Drake if you thought he was cheating on you?” Bek slowly raises one perfectly shaped eyebrow.
    A loud laugh barks out of me, and I clap my hand over my mouth. Fuck me, that’s the most obnoxious sound I’ve ever made. Even Bek is trying not to laugh at the horrid noise, but here I am now, giggling.
    Drake.
    Cheat on me.
    The man is a little dumb on occasion, but he’s not downright stupid. And he’d have to be to cheat on me. Not to mention he doesn’t have a lying bone in his body.
    “I have a crazy Italian grandmother with a questionable respect for the law, an ex-cop for a father, and three very current cop brothers who, after a year of our being together, are still side-eyeing him at Friday night family dinner.” I pause then tip my coffee cup in her direction. “Not to mention I’d shoot his ass before they could get anywhere near him.”
    “Shoot his ass?”
    “You’re right. I’d aim it right at his dick so he could never use it again.” I sniff, sip my coffee, and put the cup down. “You don’t fuck with Noelle Bond.”
    “Of course. The golden rule of existence for everyone in Holly Woods.” She dramatically rolls her eyes. “It’s a damn good thing he’s stupidly in love with you.”
    I grin. It is—and, with as much as we do bicker and I tease about him, that doesn’t mean I don’t know how lucky I am. With my job, it’s not like I’m not reminded on a daily basis how much worse it could be.
    “Has he spoken to his dad yet?”
    My smile drops with the abruptness of her question. I shake my head by way of an answer, and mercifully, her phone rings, putting our conversation to an end. She grabs her things then answers as she leaves, the faint scent of her perfume lingering in the air over my desk.
    I pull a small bottle of nice-smelling