Feeding the Fire Read Online Free Page B

tucking it around the curtain rod and blocking the entire view.
    “Peep on me now, you bastard!” she shouted at the window, although the culprit was long gone.
    Pepper had intended to curl up in bed and watch some television before she fell asleep, but she knew now those plans were shot. Instead, she picked up her cell phone and called the police department to add her report to the long list of complaints.

    “I responded to a call at your girlfriend’s house last night.”
    Grant looked at his brother Simon and frowned. He didn’t have a girlfriend and Simon knew it. Grant wasn’t much for the kind of commitment that required labels. He narrowed his eyes at him. “You know something I don’t?”
    Simon chuckled. “I went to Pepper’s house last night,” he explained.
    “She’s not my girlfriend, dork. We’ve never even dated.”
    “I know. But she’s the one you dream about,” Simon said with a misty, romantic look on his face.
    That earned him a kick to the shin under the table. Simon bit down a yelp, not wanting to cause a scene in Ellen’s Diner. If he did, Ruth, the waitress, would scold him. Grant’s twenty-two-year-old brother was hard-pressed to get any respect as a police officer as it was. He didn’t need to be publicly reprimanded by a crotchety, middle-aged woman having hot flashes.
    “That hurt, you dick,” Simon hissed over their food. He leaned down and rubbed his leg with a frown lining his face. “Someone is a little touchy about the subject of Pepper Anthony.”
    Pepper was always a touchy subject and had been since the ninth grade. Grant wasn’t used to failing when it came to women. He always knew exactly what to say, how to act, when to look into their eyes at the perfect moment to make all their defenses melt away. None of those skills had helped where Pepper was concerned.
    “Someone doesn’t feel like getting ragged on by their baby brother today. Now get to the point of the story. What happened that you had to go to her place?”
    “She was struck by the peeper.” Simon shoved a French fry in his mouth. “That’s our eighth report so far. The second this week.”
    Grant didn’t like the sound of that. Rosewood was a small, quiet community. They weren’t used to having some pervert roaming the streets at night, harassing the local ladies. Especially Pepper. She lived alone in that house and her family lived way on the edge of town. She was surrounded by older residents who probably couldn’t hear her screams. She had no one to protect her from the town weirdo. “Is she okay?”
    “Oh, yeah, she was just a little unnerved by the whole thing. The guy never tries to get in the house or make contact. He just watches. Pepper said she was in her kitchen and saw someone watching her from the backyard.”
    “That’s creepy. I don’t like it. Pepper doesn’t have a security system, does she?”
    Simon snorted. “No. Who does? You know a big dog and a loaded shotgun are the ADT of the South.”
    “Yeah, but Pepper doesn’t have either of those.”
    “Who doesn’t have what?” Blake asked from over their shoulder.
    Grant and Simon both turned to watch their oldest brother approach the booth and force Simon to slide over. Because of Blake’s class schedule he usually didn’t have time to pop over to the diner at lunch, so this was unexpected.
    “A security system,” Simon repeated.
    “Are we going to rob someone?”
    “No. I was just telling Grant that we got a report of the peeper at his girlfriend’s house. Ow, stop it, Grant!” Simon shouted the last part as Grant kicked him again.
    “Is Pepper okay?” Blake assumed, making Grant’s hands tighten around his fork and knife.
    “She’s not my girlfriend,” Grant complained. Brothers were severely overrated. He’d dated plenty of women in town, but she was the one they always ragged on him about. She was his dating Waterloo, or at least he let them think that.
    “She’s fine,” Simon replied, ignoring