Tattoo My Heart (Heroes of Seaside Point, Book 1) by Mia Dymond Read Free Book Online Page B

door? This is Seaside Point for Christ’s sake.”
    “I live in Los Angeles remember?” Annessa held her breath and hoped for once her brother would accept her excuse.
    Travis exhaled a long breath. A family trait, obviously. “Okay, hang tight.”
    Annessa pocketed her phone and glanced around the front yard, now enveloped in darkness. Tree leaves shook in the slight night wind. Street lamps decorated the neighborhood. There was a time she ran every street in town under a blanket of stars. Nightfall in Seaside Point never bothered her. Until now.
    She stuck one hand in her pocket and caressed the thin vial before she turned her back to the street and jiggled the doorknob one more time, just in case she’d been mistaken. Stupid thing wouldn’t budge.
    The sound of footsteps behind her caused her to freeze. She allowed herself a cursory glance at the street in her peripheral vision. Her brother’s truck wasn’t parked at the curb. Her mouth went dry at the unusual silence. Where were the locusts? And the neighbors? Mrs. Peters, with her supersonic hearing and unique brand of neighborhood watch, had lived next door all of Annessa’s twenty-four years. Normally, no one crossed the yard without an interrogation. In fact, any one in town would speak as they approached. Now extremely uneasy, she eased the vial from her pocket.
    With a sharp intake of breath, she spun around while her index finger pressed the spray nozzle of the liquid weapon and released a rush of the toxic substance. Right into the gorgeous eyes of Casey McIntyre.
    “Damn! Point that thing somewhere else, Annessa!”
    It was then she realized her finger was still positioned over the trigger. As her hand shook, the steady stream of poison doused him from eyebrows to thighs.
    Casey fell to his knees, coughing and retching into the nearby bushes.
    “Oh God.” Annessa descended the steps with her feet barely touching. She tossed the vial to the ground, rushed to his side, and began to unbutton his uniform shirt.
    “Stop,” he spat.
    She ignored him while she slid the shirt from his wide shoulders and off his bulky arms. Tears streamed from his eyes as she mopped them from his cheeks.
    “Sonuvabitch!” Casey lifted his hands toward his face.
    “No!” Annessa swatted away his hands while she unclipped his cell phone from his belt and dialed.
    “Travis,” she said into the phone, “where are you?”
    “I sent Casey. He’s not there?”
    Annessa balled her fists and willed herself not to scream. “He’s here, but I need you too.”
    “What the hell is going on, Annessa?”
    “I sprayed him with pepper spray!”
    “You what?”
    “He snuck up on me. Consider this an emergency and bring whatever you need to treat him.”
    “I’m on my way. Drag the hose from the side of the house and rinse him off.”
    Annessa disconnected and fastened the phone back to Casey’s belt. “Don’t rub your eyes,” she told him as she stood. “I’ll be right back.”
    She returned in seconds, garden hose in hand. She lowered herself to her knees and pointed the running water at his face.
    “I’m so sorry, Casey.” Annessa fought tears as she used her thumb and forefinger to open his left eye. Water coated the surface and he hissed. “One more.”
    She repeated the process and then tossed the hose to the side. “Better?”
    “Much,” he grunted.
    Red and blue lights flashed in the darkness as Travis parked an ambulance in front of the house.
    “Oh hell.” Casey squeezed his eyes shut.
    “No, leave them open.” She allowed herself to relax somewhat when her brother bent next to him with a bottle.
    “What’s in there?”
    Travis pried Casey’s eyes open one at a time. “Liquid antacid and water.” Travis blotted the skin underneath with a gauze pad. “She got you good. Stings like a bitch, huh?”
    Casey answered with another grunt.
    Travis cocked his head to one side and frowned at her. “What the hell possessed you to spray him?”
    Although