Sammi Carter - Candy Apple Dead

Table of Contents

Melting in Fear...

I pivoted toward the Jetta and caught a quick, shadowy movement out of the corner of my eye. My heart shot into my throat, and all my senses went to high alert. I could feel the hair on my arms, and suddenly the night sounds seemed amplified. Somewhere, buried deep beneath the soothing song of crickets and the whoosh of cars coming from the next street over, I heard the soft scuff of a foot on gravel.

Scarcely breathing, I tried to figure out whether I was closer to the Jetta or the door of Lorenas. Either way, I had to pass a row of darkened cars, any one of which could be hiding someone.

I took one step, then another, reminding myself that Id grown up with a brother, and Id taken countless self-defense courses while I lived in Sacramento. Not that Id ever had to put any of the techniques into practice.

Another footstep caught my ear and the shadow loomed into my path. I held back a scream...

Candy Shop Mysteries by Sammi Carter

CANDY APPLE DEAD CHOCOLATE DIPPED DEATH PEPPERMINT TWISTED

THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP

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CANDY APPLE DEAD

A Berkley Prime Crime Book / published by arrangement with the author

PRINTING HISTORY

Berkley Prime Crime mass-market edition / September 2005

Copyright 2005 by The Berkley Publishing Group.

Excerpt from Chocolate Dipped Death copyright 2006 by The Berkley Publishing Group.

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eISBN : 978-1-101-04361-5

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Chapter 1

I swear, darlin, Brandon Mills said in a sexy Texas drawl edged with sugar, this fudge of yours is going to turn me into a butterball.

I looked up from the marble counter and took in the fine sight of him leaning against the glass counter. All around us glass jars filled with an endless variety of confections winked in the brilliant Colorado sunshine. Id only been back for nine months and running my candy shop, Divinity, for six, and I still had to pinch myself sometimes to prove I was here at all.

This afternoon was one of those times.

Brandon looked deep into my eyesI mean deep and I, nearly forty and arguably intelligent, went weak in the knees. Hes probably mid-forties, tall, dark, and incredibly handsome, and I defy any normal, red-blooded American woman to maintain her composure when hes around.

When he realized that he had my full attention, he tossed off a heart-stopping grin that almost made me believe he meant something by it. I knew better, of course. I hadnt known Brandon long, but it had only taken me a few minutes to peg him as a playboy. Since coming back to Paradise, Id watched a handful of women flit through his life, and come to the regrettable conclusion that Brandon had about as much staying power in a relationship as cotton candy on a hot summers day.

Too bad. He really was something to look at.

With a sigh, I tried to pull my mind back to business. We were alone in the store that afternoon since my part-time sales clerk, who also happens to be my cousin, was off taking care of real-life problems. It was mid-September, so tourist season had already tapered off, and there wasnt a single customer browsing Divinity for a tasty morsel to sweeten their day.

That made Brandon even more flirtatious than usual.

I didnt want him to guess how deeply that penetrating gaze of his affected me, so I did what I could to look irritated. That fudge of mine is still a little too soft, I said, turning away from that full-on gaze. I just cant figure out what I did wrong.

Not a damn thing as far as Im concerned. Slowly, and wearing a deliberately teasing grin, he licked chocolate from his fingertips and ran a slow glance along the length of me. He was standing in the spill of autumn sunlight, perfectly framed by a nine-pane window and sheer granite mountain peaks. Its perfect, just like the woman who made it.

He could have gone all day without using that word. It makes me uneasy. Scowling slightly, I turned away to pull a new box of tissue paper from the supply cupboard. In the past year, Id watched my perfect husband take up with another woman, my perfect marriage fall apart, and my perfect life unravel right in front of my eyes. Not my favorite word, no matter who says it.

Im not perfect, I protested. Nobody is.

Close enough. Stepping away from the counter, Brandon snagged one of the wrought-iron chairs from the seating area and straddled it. Youre working too hard, Abby love. Why dont you leave all this and come away with me?

I had been working hard ever since Aunt Graces death six months earlier. Actually, Grace was my mothers aunt, and I still hadnt been able to figure out why she left Divinity to me in her will. Sure, Id worked with Grace when I was a kid, but so had most of the other cousins, and some of them seemed more obvious choices than me. But I was the one Aunt Grace chose, and so far nobody had done much more than mutter about her decision.

So how about it? Brandon asked.

I arched a skeptical eyebrow. Away where?

Oh, I dont know. How about Rye-T On for a sandwich? Ill bet five dollars you havent had lunch yet.

Youd win that bet, I said with a reluctant smile, but no thanks. You know, youre lucky Im not some dewy-eyed young thing with romantic dreams. Another sort of woman might expect going away to mean more than walking twenty feet down the sidewalk.

His expression sobered, and that lazy bedroom-look in his eyes made me think about things I probably shouldnt. Well, now, for you, darlin, lunch would be just the beginning.

My thoughts were definitely moving into dangerous territory now. Anticipation tingled all through me, but I didnt want him to know that. Really? I asked, doing my best to sound bored. What comes next? Dinner at McDonalds?