Blazing Hotter (Love Under Fire Book 2) by Chantel Rhondeau Read Free Book Online Page B

everything else fails.”
    Deciding it was pointless to argue further, Cassie turned off the engine but left the keys in the ignition. “Lock the doors. I left the key if it gets too hot and you need to crack the windows.”
    As much as Frankie wanted to help her, Cassie still feared he was at greater risk than she was if Kenneth was the person after her. The doctor wouldn’t like her spending time with Frankie and might try to take him out of the equation.
    Cassie walked into the store, an old-fashioned bell over the door heralding her arrival. Lush plants and fragrant flowers filled every available surface, and Cassie picked her way through the vegetation until she spotted a counter in the back corner.
    The woman standing behind it smiled widely. “Good afternoon. Can I help you find something? Gardenias are on sale, and I have some arrangements already made if you’re in a hurry.”
    “Actually, I’m hoping you can help me figure out who sent me flowers earlier today,” Cassie said, coming to a stop in front of her. She glanced at the nametag on the woman’s shirt. “I tell you, Tammy, it’s lovely to have flowers delivered, but I’m dating a couple different people right now. The card wasn’t signed, silly man. I don’t know who to thank.”
    Tammy gave a knowing smile and nodded, bending beneath the counter to pull out a book. “Where were they delivered?”
    Cassie gave the address to the rehab center. “I’m a physical therapist there.”
    With a nod, Tammy flipped through the book. “Oh, I see it here. Red roses. No name attached. Paid cash.”
    Darn. They had the right florist, but it still wouldn’t help them. “Is there anything you can tell me about the man? Do you remember him at all?”
    Tammy looked up. “I actually remember this order quite well. It wasn’t a man, it was a woman.”
    “A woman?” That definitely wasn’t the doctor. Frankie had sounded so sure the person who killed those two women recently was a man, but that would be the natural assumption, wouldn’t it? What if it was a woman? “Can you tell me anything about her? Maybe I know who it is.”
    “Tall, blonde. Super skinny.” Tammy squinted as though it would help her see the woman. “She had huge boobs, and I immediately thought she must have had them modified. They didn’t fit at all with her tiny body.” Tammy opened her eyes to their normal size and shrugged. “Honestly, I thought she had to be a stripper with those boobs and the way she dressed. Also, I remember her because she insisted on putting her own card on the flowers and not using one of ours.”
    A stripper? That didn’t make any sense. Cassie had nothing against the women who worked at the two strip joints in Sayle, but she also didn’t know any of them. There was no reason one should be threatening her. She needed to get back out to Frankie and find out more about the murders. Maybe this stripper was the killer and had targeted her for some reason.
    She forced herself to smile at Tammy. “Doesn’t sound like anyone I know. Weird.”
    “Well, I guess just be happy someone thought of you and sent flowers. Plants always brighten up a day.”
    Yeah, sure. Threats of being cut always brightened Cassie’s day.
    ***
    F rankie breathed a sigh of relief when they pulled into Cassie’s driveway. His dad’s old pickup truck was already parked out on the road. His dad was at the far corner of the house, standing near the top of a ladder as he drilled a black bracket into the corner of the roof.
    “What is he doing?” Cassie asked, turning the car off. “I didn’t expect him to be attacking my house with a drill.”
    “It’s probably the holder for a security light. I asked him to pick up a few.” Determined not to be a burden on Cassie, Frankie struggled to open the small latch handle up near the top of the door and the dashboard. It wasn’t easy and pain flared through his right hand making him suck in a loud breath to keep from groaning. “If