Boston Cream Killer: Book 8 in The INNcredibly Sweet Series Read Online Free PDF Page A

Joyce fanned herself unconsciously.
    This Adonis was right about her age, and was making her keenly aware that it had been a very long time since her last date. Spencer did his best not to blush at her compliment. Despite his movie-star good looks, he was shy, and sometimes found himself tongue-tied around women his age. He was getting better, largely from being around Izzy Gillmore, the reclusive but lovely horror author so much, but he still could be rattled pretty easily by a pretty face.
    “So, uh… is Echo around?” he asked, the tips of his ears burning under Joyce’s scrutiny.
    “She went to get us some lunch. You can hang out here with me until she gets back if you’d like,” she blatantly flirted.
    Spencer paused for a moment, feeling intensely disloyal, but entirely unable to take his gaze away from the dramatic planes of Joyce’s face, her large dark eyes, and silky chocolate skin. Every fiber of him was aware of her, and he felt like a world-class heel when he breathed in more deeply just to try to catch more of the scent of her perfume.
    “I have to… uh… that is, I can’t… umm…” he struggled.
    “Oh look, there she is,” Joyce looked a bit crestfallen, but waved cheerily when her boss came in the door.
    Spencer let out an audible sigh of relief, causing Joyce to grin from ear to ear.
    “Hey, Spence! What brings you here, Tiger?” Echo asked, hugging the befuddled Marine.
    “Oh, I uh… I just,” he frowned, kicking himself for losing his focus.
    “Did you come by to pick up the candles for the inn?” she asked, noting his deep blush and wanting to help him out.
    His gratitude was palpable. “Yep, that’s what I need,” he exhaled.
    “Come with me,” Echo beckoned with one finger, and he followed her after saying a quick goodbye to Joyce, who watched with great interest and much appreciation as he walked away.
    “Lord have mercy, I need me a cup of tea after that,” she sighed, fanning herself and heading to the kitchen.
    When Joyce returned to the front, blowing on her cup of tea to cool it, Spencer had gone, and Echo was talking with a woman who didn’t look like a books and candles kind of customer. When the woman caught sight of Joyce from the corner of her eye, she did a double-take. Seeing the mug of tea in her hand, she called out to her.
    “Oh, I’ll take an espresso if you don’t mind. Thanks so much,” the woman smiled in a most patronizing way.
    Joyce looked at Echo, eyebrows raised, and Echo returned her gaze, then looked at her customer, aghast. Hannah, wondering why everyone was staring at her and no one was moving, turned back to Joyce.
    “Well, go on, girl. Do I have to pay you in advance or something?” she frowned.
    Joyce put down her mug of tea, chin jutting forward, gearing up for the tirade that she was about to unleash on the rude stranger, when Echo let out a gasp of shock.
    “We don’t serve espresso, and in any case, Joyce is not… she’s more educated and intelligent than I am,” she said to Hannah, wide-eyed.
    Hannah looked back and forth from Joyce to Echo and back again, realizing her faux pas, but not terribly upset by it.
    “Oh, I see. My mistake,” she smiled and waved her hand as though to erase the whole matter. “I thought…” she trailed off.
    “Yeah,” Joyce’s eyes narrowed. “I know what you thought,” she accused, grabbing her mug of tea and heading to the storage room for more books, muttering to herself all the while.
    “Wow, I can never figure out why they are so sensitive like that all the time,” Hannah whispered to Echo after Joyce had gone.
    “They?” Echo’s blood boiled. “Just what… precisely… do you mean when you say ‘they’?” she asked, her teeth clamped together.
    “Well… I mean… the help, you know, employees,” she shrugged, not backing down an inch, and seemingly unfazed by the seething woman in front of her. “You know how they can be.”
    “No, I’m afraid I don’t, because I’m