Next Door Temptation by Julia Imari

Author:Julia Imari [Imari, Julia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Contemporary romance, romantic comedy, romantic suspense
Publisher: PaulJulia Press
Published: 2018-05-29T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

PAIGE STOOD NEARBY, watching Grant move around the chair for a thorough inspection. His fingers touched the loveseat like a blind man feeling an object, trying to make sense out of it. Then he crouched on the floor with a flashlight to get a better look at the underside.

“Do you know what you have?” he asked.

She shook her head. The two-seater chair looked so old she was afraid to even use it in her living room. The flared back and the bulbous feet weren’t what she considered attractive. But the wood? It was so pretty with its luminous shades of brown and black.

“This is a Chippendale loveseat. Made from mahogany.” Grant continued to inspect the chair, almost caressing it. He pressed his hands on the padded seat.

“Do you think we can restore it?” she asked. His silence didn’t give her an expected boost of confidence. It meant it was a moot point to even consider repairing it.

“However, something isn’t right with the seat.” He pressed the padding again and stopped. “There's an awkward feel to the cushion when I press down on it. Something other than padding seems to be stuffed inside,” he added.

She came closer. “That means the loveseat isn't in its original state.” Disappointment hit her with a vengeance. Now she wouldn't be able to find the money she was hoping for from the sale of the furniture. Sighing, she admitted the loveseat was the reason she upped her bid to win the house. Now her greed had backfired. At least she had several paintings and vases that could be potentially valuable. Crossing her fingers behind her, she continued to watch Grant poke at the padded cushion.

“I need to take off the seat and find out what’s going on inside. Is that okay with you?” he asked.

“Go ahead. It's fine with me.” She gave him permission to destroy the loveseat. At least she had tried her skill in antiquing. Well, she won some, she lost some. She had to learn how to deal with failure.

The sound of the fabric being torn made her cringe. She couldn’t bear to watch Grant demolish the loveseat. She looked away.

“Oh shit!” he screamed.

She jerked toward the cursing man. In front of him a white powder, inside the padding of the seat, exploded like a package of baking flour. The wood floor turned white. He looked at her before he squatted. In his hand was a huge beetle brooch, looking as ugly as the creature itself. The entire piece sparkled in pure gold and glistened with gemstones, including its antennas.

“What's that doing in there?” she asked, cupping her mouth with her palm. “No.” Someone had hidden it there.

“I’m calling the investigators right now to come and get this out of here,” Grant said. “I don’t know anything about it. Except for this brooch.”

“What are you going to say about the brooch?”

“That I found it inside the cushion of the loveseat.”

An hour later, two men came to Grant’s house. Paige didn’t want to get involved, so she went upstairs and holed up in her bedroom suite.

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