I questioned the same thing but wasn’t willing to tell Cassandra my thoughts. I didn’t want her to worry because whatever the problem was, I’d make sure and take care of it. She didn’t need to fret about anything, and she certainly shouldn’t hang out with anyone at the bakery.
Vonnie stood beside her friend and nodded along, as if Katy had become a master storyteller during our brief vacation. “Shit just got fun around here again,” she said when Katy finished.
“She. Is. Not. One. Of. You,” I said, emphasizing each word slowly in case they had a hearing problem.
“Is too,” argued Vonnie.
The woman was definitely hanging around Katy too much. She sounded just like her. Pelican Bay could not support having two lead troublemakers in town.
Cassandra dropped her hand from my arm, and I tried to step in front of her to be a blockade, but I’d never intimated Katy. Not properly anyway. “First, she is not. And second, how did you find out about the break-in?”
Katy perked up at my question and snapped her fingers with a smile so wide I worried about her. Sometimes she got so excited about murders and break-ins that she came off looking like a deranged criminal.
“I wasn’t sure what happened, but I saw my cousin Anderson and three of Ridge’s guys there yesterday, so I took a wild guess.”
Of course she did. Katy had a way about her. She was sneaky and diabolical. If I didn’t find those traits admirable, I wouldn’t be her friend. Hopefully she hadn’t rubbed off on Vonnie too much.
“Ugh, why are we friends?” I asked out loud. A lot of it had to do with the fact we’d practically been in diapers when our parents started making us play together.
She waved away my question as she always did when I asked it. “Anyway, you take her on vacation, her brother’s house is broken into while she’s staying there, and she spent the night at your place last tonight. It’s my turn now,” Katy said, reaching her hand out to pull on Cassandra.
I lowered my hand in a chopping motion to stop her from getting her fingers on Cassandra. Literally. “This is not a shared custody situation, Katy.”
I prided myself on keeping a calm demeanor, but sometimes Katy drove me insane. I wouldn’t let her touch Cass and turn her against me somehow. I’d be more irritated with Katy, but I wasn’t the only one in town she drove insane, and most of the other men had military training.
Katy Kadish had a good heart, but that didn’t mean I planned to let her rope Cassandra into one of her stupid ideas. Or let them talk about Florida with me not in hearing range.
“I have cookies,” Vonnie said, looking at Cassandra and pretending I’d dissolved. Definitely way too much time around Katy.
“No, you’re not getting Cassandra in trouble.”
“Where are the cookies?” Cassandra asked, leaning to the side to see Katy rather than the back of my head.
Katy smirked, and we both realized she’d won. How did I compete with chocolate chip cookies from the bakery? Well, I had an idea, but it included getting naked in the hallway, and I wasn’t willing to do that with Cass and an audience.
“At the bakery, just down the road. It’s where we’re headed next if you want to come along,” Katy said it so casually that most people wouldn’t even recognize she’d led Cass like a sheep to her doom.
I sighed, and my shoulders sagged. Cassandra was a grown woman. I couldn’t stop her, but I could spy on her every step of the way.
“You do have to work all day. Right?” Cassandra asked, looking at me with pleading eyes.
I touched my fist to my forehead, admitting defeat but trying to think of a way to stop it. Maybe if we installed a stripper pole.
“I’m just saying,” she continued. “I don’t want to be in your way. I know you have a lot of work to do.” She darted around me, taking a step away and inching her way toward Katy.
At first I wanted to argue and tell her it was absolutely fine, and we’d take the afternoon off to do whatever she wanted. But she spoke the truth. Ridge had taken a large crew of our men with him to search for Cyrus Kensington. He’d officially put me in charge of the place in his absence, and I didn’t have any extra men to spare.
I wanted Cassandra to spend the whole day with me, but I couldn’t force her to. Yet, if I couldn’t spend the day looking at her from across my desk, I’d at least keep track of the places she visited with our vast supply of cameras. I’d gone insane like Ridge.
14
CASSANDRA
My lips tingled where Riley kissed me. It felt like they pulsed, and my cheeks held a blush with the heat we generated. However, for her part Katy hadn’t called either of us out, even if I was pretty sure she knew what we were doing. I’d prefer to spend the day with Riley, but he had to work and I really didn’t want to be in his way while he tried to get things done.
The guys of Pelican Bay Security were important. They were literally out trying to rescue someone from being kidnapped. I didn’t want to distract Riley and therefore cost someone their life.
A week of my vacation remained, and we had plenty of time to hang out. Katy latched on to me like I’d held onto Riley’s arm, and I allowed her to pull me through the long hallway toward the exit door.
