Free Misconduct (Hot Ice series Book 6) by Lily Harlem

about?
    “Can I grab a big chunk of that taffy?” Dustin asked,
gesturing to the sticky cubes and then turning to me. “And you’ll be pleased to
know I’ve got trunks.” He held up a pair of neon green shorts between us. The
brightest material I’d ever seen. Worse than my purse.
    “So you don’t get any more…shocks,” he said.
    “Good.” I slipped on my shades and grinned. “But the color
is so shocking they might blind me.”
    “Can’t do anything right, can I?”
    “Well, wearing something when swimming will be halfway
there,” I said, shaking my head and still smiling.
    “Sure thing, boss.”
    I took my sweets from Raymond, paid and bade him farewell.
Dustin seemed quite taken with sampling honey-coated peanuts, so I left him to
it and wandered to a purse stall next door. There was a great variety to choose
from, all handmade. I fingered the material, admired the stitching and then
chose a deep-purple, velvet shoulder bag that would fit a book, sun protection
and a towel, perfect to go with my bikini.
    I hunted for some bills and then paid the woman who unfolded
white tissue paper and started to carefully wrap it.
    “No, no,” I said. “I’ll use it now, don’t worry about that.”
    “Are you sure, madam?”
    “Oh yes, this one is terrible.” I pointed at my garish
orange bag. “I’ll switch everything over straightaway.”
    She smiled and then her attention was caught by another
customer, a man with dark, greasy hair who was roughly unzipping and zipping a
bag. It looked like the guy who’d undressed me with his eyes earlier.
    Dustin was still talking to Raymond, a small crowd of
children had gathered around him and I saw that he had a bag of jellied sweets
that he was handing out to them.
    “Two each,” he was saying as he stooped over. “And if you
all just take two I’ll buy a bag of those pineapple cubes and you can have two
of them each as well.”
    A squeal of delight went up and I smiled. He was like the
Pied Piper, kids were just drawn to him despite his giant size and gruff voice.
    Guessing he’d be a while, I maneuvered my way out of the
market and set my new and old bag on a stone wall overlooking the harbor. I’d
switch my wallet and phone to my new bag and fold the old one into it to take
home. The new one was much nicer, it had an unusual diamond pattern on the side
that was shaped sort of like sideways fish.
    Suddenly a rush of air pummeled into me and then a sharp jab
hit between my shoulder blades. The heat and solidity of another person’s body
whacking into mine hard had me crying out. I lurched forward, tried to grab the
wall but missed, and instead crumpled onto the ground, my breath knocked from
me.
    “Oi!” A deep shout rang through the air, breaking through
the sound of my rushing pulse in my ears and the drag of air surging back into
my lungs.
    As a blur of orange flicked past me, I twisted and saw the
shady guy from the purse stall pelting away. My purse was falling to the floor
but he had my wallet in his hand.
    There was another burst of energy at my side and I realized
it was Dustin who’d called out. He must have seen the guy wallop into me, and
now he was tearing forward, his feet pounding, his arms thumping.
    I pushed onto my hands and knees, head spinning and watched,
in what seemed like slow motion, as Dustin caught up with the guy in the mouth
of an alley.
    Damn, he’d run fast.
    Dustin grabbed the thinner man’s arm, flung him ’round as
though he were a ragdoll and shoved him up against the wall.
    “Gina, Gina, oh sweet mother of mercy, are you okay?”
Raymond was next to me, his hand on my shoulder. “Oh, this is terrible.”
    “I’m fine, really,” I said, watching the chaos unfold.
    Dustin had his thick forearm beneath the thief’s neck,
pushing his chin up. His captive’s feet were lifting off the ground and he was
clawing at Dustin’s forearms.
    A loud whistle piercing the air told me one of the island’s
few policemen was on