Free Deadly Rivalry (Hardy Brothers Security Book 17) by Lily Harper Hart Page A

remember. She had a habit of hiding things from her curious husband and then forgetting where she hid them.
    “Why did you buy rooster and hen griddle shapes?” James asked, genuinely curious.
    “I was going to cook them and put them in suggestive poses for your breakfast one weekend,” Mandy admitted, tapping her chin. “It’s going to bug me if I don’t remember where I put those stupid things.”
    “I’m sure they’re around,” James said. “I need you to go back to the suggestive poses. Were these poses of a sexual nature?”
    Mandy made a “well, duh” face. “What do you think?”
    “I think you have a filthy mind and it’s only one of the reasons I love you,” James answered. “Try to remember where they are. Now I kind of want to make dirty chickens.”
    Mandy snorted. “You’re the one who has a filthy mind. I ... oh, I remember where they are.” Mandy turned to look out the back window, her gaze landing on the guesthouse.
    James followed her eyes and smiled. “Are they in your studio? I can get them.”
    “I bought them the same day I bought a new set of paints,” Mandy said, her voice taking on a far-off quality. “I … I’ll get them.”
    James studied his wife, excitement temporarily flaring before he forced himself to douse it. He didn’t want to get his hopes up in case she changed her mind. “Are you sure? I can get them.”
    “I’ll get them,” Mandy repeated, stiffening her shoulders as she walked toward the sliding glass doors.
    James watched her yank the door open and kept his on eyes on his wife as she padded barefoot between the main house and the guesthouse. He wanted to remind her about running around barefoot in the backyard when they had ongoing construction – he was building an arboretum for her off the back of the garage – but he knew now wasn’t the time to dampen her enthusiasm.
    He leaned forward when she got to the guesthouse door, fighting the impulse to help her take the last step. She needed to do it alone, no matter how much he wanted to do it for her. He sucked in a breath when she reached out and grabbed the handle. His heart rolled when she pushed it open, and then he hurried toward the sliding glass door when he saw her step inside.
    He raced out of the house, making sure to shut the sliding glass door behind him before jogging to the guesthouse. He pulled up short when he entered, his chocolate eyes landing on Mandy as she shifted and took in the new entertainment area.
    James reached out to touch her arm, unsure if she liked the changes or not. When she met his gaze, her face was unreadable.
    “I … do you like it?”
    “You turned it into a Jaws area,” Mandy said, her voice cracking.
    “I thought we needed a change,” James said, choosing his words carefully. “It has personality. At least, I think it does.”
    Mandy moved into the room, her eyes busily bouncing from one thing to the next. The area where the previous bar stood was gone and it had been replaced with a built-in booth with leather seats and a round table at the center. A new bar area had been erected on the right, constructed out of weathered wood and featuring a porthole window in the middle of the shelves. A new leather couch and matching chairs sat on an ocean blue rug in the center of the room.
    The pool and gaming table were gone, replaced with a vintage skee ball game and a Jaws pinball machine. The hardwood floors had been sanded down and repainted, and the walls were covered with various nautical elements – including a fake shark head. Mandy moved toward that, her fingers outstretched as she touched the replica scuba diving tank in the shark’s mouth.
    “Where did you get this?” Mandy was almost breathless. “It’s supposed to be the actual Jaws shark with the air tank.”
    “I can’t take credit for the bulk of this,” James said. “Grady did it. We spent a week in the hotel while things were being fixed around here, and he did ninety percent of it while