"Hey Hudson, I've got a job for you," Ridge calls, not lowering the phone he has pressed to his ear.
Hudson’s face falls. "It better not include a dog." His attention turns to me for only a second, but long enough I notice his scowl.
Before anyone questions me what that's all about, I turn in the other direction and become super interested in the poinsettias Anessa decorated the counter with.
Ridge walks over and joins our quickly growing circle. "Nope, got a friend who needs a favor in San Francisco. Best pack a bag."
"San Francisco?" Hudson’s voice reveals his lack of excitement.
"He’s emailing the details right now."
Bennett, another hunky transplant brought to Pelican Bay by Ridge's security firm, comes over, and everyone circling my table steps back to let him in. "We need his help tonight to pull off this raid."
"Agreed. I'll call into the local P.D. for help, too. Anderson will want in on this," Ridge says, and everyone nods their heads in agreement, including me, even though I have no idea what we’re talking about.
"What's going on?" The whole thing sounds serious.
Warmth covers my back when Spencer rest his hands on my lower neck. "Hudson picked up a lead I was able to track through banking records. Someone purchased a property under one of Frankie Zanetti’s businesses, and we think they might be using it as a hideout. We’re planning a takedown tonight."
"A takedown?" Tabitha looks to Ridge, which causes him to scowl at Spencer. Apparently, that wasn't supposed to be widely known information.
He answers her with annoyance. "If we round them up in one sweep, the whole town will be quiet and safe for Christmas. Didn’t you say you wanted a quiet Christmas?
I definitely think Ridge is trying to appease his girlfriend, but the quiet Christmas sounds great to me. I don’t want a dead guy under the tree.
"What about Regina and my shopping trip tonight?" There are only two days until Christmas, and I still haven't gotten anything for Spencer. It's driving me insane. I usually have all my Christmas shopping done by Thanksgiving. It was bad enough my sister got a dog weeks before Christmas, now I have to find something for Spencer and Frankie, too.
Ridge tips his head back, clearly thinking. "I don’t have enough guys. Spencer is our computer man, and we need him in the office, working surveillance."
Spencer lightly squeezes the back of my neck and smiles. “Hudson can do it."
Hudson groans. "First the dog and now this. You hate me, don't you?"
“Hey!” I say, sounding more offended than I actually am. “Shopping with Regina and me is always fun.”
**
Two glasses clink together when I place the large beer pitcher back on the shelf. “Ugh. What do you get a guy you’ve been kind of dating for three weeks?”
Regina stops in the aisle right of head at me, and I almost walk into her, stopping a few millimeters in time. "Have you said I love you yet?"
"What?" It'sonlybeen three weeks. My best friend should know me better than that. "No. What kind of girl do you think I am?"
Regina laughs. "You have to say the words one day, Joslin."
"Maybe."
She starts to walk again, eyeing each display. "So, no I-love-yous yet. What about sex?"
"You ladies know I can hear everything you say, right?" Hudson stops a few feet behind us, but we keep walking, and he eventually catches up again.
I shrug. It wasn’t my decision to have him follow us all day. "Yes."
"Yes, on the sex, or yes, he can hear everything.” Regina turns back, stopping our entire line again.
"On both." I reach for a pink pan but pull back when I remember I'm shopping for Spencer and not myself.
Regina high-fives me in the middle of the aisle. "Woo-hoo. Look at you, sexy mama. Have you given him a blow job yet?"
