Under the Magnolia Read Online Free PDF Page B

and
tightened her robe as her eyes slid to the door. "I was too
distracted to notice if they boarded the windows or not."
    He'd mentioned it, but she'd been in
sorry shape when they'd arrived. "Not very well. It could be
downed trees or debris." He reached out and grabbed his rain
slicker and flashlight, hesitating only a moment before taking up his
gun, as well. "There's a deadbolt on the door. Lock it behind
me, and only open it back up for me."
    Addie stared at him with her mouth
gaping open, and he could almost see her temper rising. "The protective thing was nice when I was
actually feeling shaky, but don't push it, Wes. I will kick your ass."
    That wasn't the reaction he'd expected. "Is there some reason you
think I wouldn't tell a six-foot tall trucker, in whom I had no
sexual interest whatsoever, the same thing, or are you just that
touchy?"
    She glared. "The six-foot tall
trucker probably isn't working on a Master's degree in meteorology.
If there were bank robbers or kidnappers up there, you would
absolutely be the boss of me, but that's a hurricane. I can do
hurricanes."
    He fought the urge to call her
"little lady.” "Do I still get to be the boss of you
if there are looters up there, looking to score from a posh and
ostensibly deserted resort?"
    Addie blinked, her mouth snapping
shut. Then she tilted her head and considered his words for a moment,
her expression finally shifting from annoyed to accepting. "Okay,
I guess that's why you're the cop and I'm the scientist. I can't
begin to imagine why anyone would be stupid enough to drive into a
storm just to steal stuff."
    "Agreed." He gave her a
wink. "Though there are a lot of people who can't understand why you'd risk your neck to drive into one, either." He glanced at the
door. "I have to go check this out. Just...wait here. Please?"
    "Okay," she replied
softly, smiling at him. "Be careful."
    He nodded then quickly headed out
and toward the stairs. He held his gun at the ready, his flashlight
above it. The hotel hadn't been locked when they'd arrived, and he
hadn't bothered to secure it behind them, but people looking to take
advantage of a bad situation rarely bothered to check doors. Smashing
windows was far easier, especially when there was no one around to
care.
    Wes didn't encounter anyone on his
way up to the lobby, and he found a large cabbage palm intruding
through a broken window and onto the glossy tile floor. A quick
examination of the glass in the immediate area revealed that it
didn't seem to have been disturbed, and only their own wet and muddy
footprints marred the tile.
    He blinked rain out of his face and
peered out of the broken window. The storm must have been drawing
closer, but he couldn't see a damned thing for all the wind and rain.
Maybe, in a little while, Addie could come up and take a look at
things.
    Leaving the palm tree in its new
home, he turned and trudged back down the stairs, only stopping to
grab a fresh towel. He'd barely finished knocking when she jerked the
door open, and he gave her a rueful grin as he rubbed the towel over
his wet hair. "No criminals up to no good. Just a tree."
    "Good." Addie tugged him
into the room and closed the door behind him, sliding the bolt into
place. When she turned to him, her eyes were a little sheepish. "I'm
sorry I snapped at you before. You know how I can get. I can't stop
thinking like a scientist."
    Her apology was unnecessary and made
him feel vaguely bad for no discernable reason. "It's not a big
deal. I have a hard time getting my own head out of cop mode, too. If
it were easy, I'd have probably realized that the chances of that
being anything other than bad weather were slim to none."
    She nodded and moved past him to
curl back up on the couch, her legs tucked under her and her robe
modestly arranged. Her expression turned serious as she cleared her
throat. "Since you're going to be spending the night wi—in
the same room as me, you'll probably need to know what to do if I
wake up