Sunset Point: A Shelter Bay Novel Read Online Free PDF Page A

complexion went pale as sea foam. Her fingers trembled as she ran them through her hair again. “I have to think about it.”
    “You do that,” Tess said mildly, deciding she and Kara had pushed enough for today. She turned to leave, stopping momentarily in the doorway. “If you need to talk—woman to woman, not witness to prosecutor—or if you’d like me to set you up with a counselor trained to talk to children involved in legal actions, which I hope you’ll decide to do, please don’t hesitate to call.”
    Dana studied Tess with renewed interest, as if seeing the woman behind the dogged prosecutor for the first time. “You really sound as if you understand.”
    “Believe me, I do.”
    The irony in Tess’s smile was barely discernible. If her work, along with eighteen long months in a miserable mistake of a marriage, had taught her anything, it was that women were natural survivors. They often had no choice.

5
    After leaving the gift shop, feeling a bit more optimistic than when she’d entered, Tess drove with Kara to the bakery, parking at the seawall across the street.
    They ordered coffee and two salted caramel chocolate cupcakes from the hot, ripped guy who didn’t look like any baker Tess had ever known and whose deep southern accent had her thinking of mint juleps and magnolias, then took a table in front of the window, which offered a view of the bay.
    “So,” Kara said. “What’s your best guess?”
    “It’s a coin toss.” Tess bit into the buttercream-frosted cake with caramel drizzled over the top and nearly swooned. “This is the best. Cupcake. Ever.”
    “Tell me about it. I woke up nights craving them when I was pregnant. Of course I spent much of those nine months working my way through the menu.”
    Tess automatically skimmed a look over the sheriff’s slender body. “You’re not…”
    “Oh, no. Though I think Sax would be thrilled with a baker’s dozen, I’m pacing myself. Right now two kids are plenty.” She took a bite and studied Tess as only a cop could. A seemingly swift glance that missed nothing.
    “Why don’t you join us for dinner?” she asked. “Marcus Strong, that drool-worthy guy who made that cupcake you nearly swooned over, just happens to be a former Navy SEAL. He’s friends with Sax and is staying with us until the apartment above the bakery is finished being renovated.”
    “Okay. I’ll bite. How did a Navy SEAL end up baking for a living?”
    “It does seem counterintuitive. Especially since he enlisted because he wanted to get into action, but when the Navy found out he learned to bake from his grandmother and mother, who owned a bakery in South Carolina, they put him to work in the kitchen of an aircraft carrier for two years. Then he essentially jumped ship for SEAL training. And although, like all those guys, Sax included, he never talks about what he did while deployed, I’m betting he got that action he’d been looking for.”
    “Which may be why he returned to baking,” Tess mused. “I’ll bet the sailors on that carrier went into mourning when they lost him.”
    “No doubt. So, how about it? Sax is making gumbo and dirty rice.”
    “That’s tempting. But I have two trials tomorrow.”
    “We could make it an early evening. Did you notice Marcus is really, really hot?”
    “A woman would have to be blind, dead as a doornail, and six feet under not to notice that,” Tess said. “But I’m already juggling too many things to fit a man into my life.”
    “Been there, done that. Then I burned the T-shirt when Sax came back into my life. Maybe you and Marcus can get together for coffee or drinks once you get your cases wrapped up,” Kara suggested.
    Why was everyone suddenly so interested in her love life? Or more specifically, lack of one.
    “Sure,” Tess said, thinking about the caseload that seemed to stretch into eternity. “Once I clear them all, the hottie SEAL and I can set up a coffee date at the old folk’s home I’ve