Lowcountry Mysteries (Boxed Set #1) by Lyla Payne

Author:Lyla Payne [Payne, Lyla]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Author Published
Published: 2015-08-08T22:00:00+00:00

I wake up with the sun, having forgotten to close the curtains the night before for deliciously wicked reasons. My muscles are sore, my body tingling inside and out as I stretch out on the bed, trying not to disturb the still-sleeping mayor at my side. He doesn’t appear younger while he sleeps, but the angles of his face seem to fit better, somehow. The sharpness of his jaw flows right into his full lips, the bump in his nose the perfect complement to his broad forehead. Since the moment I met him I’ve thought that he’s beautiful—but in the way a sculpture is beautiful, not in the too-pretty way of so many movie stars.

Beau’s face and body speak of promises kept and beliefs backed up by actions, of a hard line that balances an empathetic heart. He might come off as contradictory to some—and based on what Mel’s told me of his past, of his unwillingness to budge on the law or see any gray area between the world’s blacks and whites, he does fit that description—but to me, it suits him.

It melts my heart even as I know it will be the thing that pulls us apart.

My life is pretty much all gray area. The only black and white in my world is family. Even my Aunt Karen, who is a hard person to love, is above the rest of humanity when it comes to the people I would do anything to protect, who it would kill me to lose.

It’s a list that’s gotten too short over the past couple of years, after losing Mom, Grams, and Gramps in quick succession.

Other than family, and things like rape and child molestation and other obviously evil things, there’s not much I consider nonnegotiable.

Even knowing in my soul that we’re going to face problems, I stare at Beau a little longer. A lock of dark hair falls onto his forehead, which is wrinkled as though he’s thinking very hard in his dream. His breaths are even, calming the nervous pounding of my heart. No one else can do that without a word.

Not since Gramps died.

We spent half the night awake, and there’s a good chance I’m going to get another round out of him before we both have to leave for work. The guy’s anatomy is always raring to go, much to my delight.

I roll over, intent on getting out of bed and using the bathroom before Beau wakes up. “Great goose feathers!” I gasp.

He groans and rubs his eyes, and Glinda’s ghost, who’s wearing a disapproving but somehow intrigued frown, fades from sight.

“What did you just say?” he asks, peeking out from under one sleepy eyelid.

“I haven’t the slightest idea. It just came out.” I flick another glance at where the spirit had been, but she’s gone. It makes me feel a teeny bit violated to think that she or the mystery ghost could have been an uninvited audience last night. Perverts.

“Mmm,” he mumbles, reaching out and pulling me to his chest.

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