Fudging the Books Read Online Free

“Get ready to be chocolatized!”
    She nabbed me and led me to the Nook Café kitchen. The aroma was heavenly. My stomach grumbled dramatically.
    Bailey slung on an apron and handed me one. “
Arrr
.” She faced our chef Katie and snarled like a pirate. “What now, oh mighty captain?”
    Katie Casey was a jolly soul with bright eyes and an easy laugh. She chortled so hard her toque nearly fell off her curly mop of hair. She righted it and glanced at the pocket watch she always wore pinned to her chef coat. “Jenna, fetch the oranges from the walk-in.”
    “Aye, aye, Captain.”
    “Not you, too.” Katie frowned, which made her hangdog-shaped eyes turn even more downward, an intentionally comical look. “There’ll be no pirate talk in my kitchen. I run a tight ship.”
    “Ho, ho,” Bailey said. “Very funny.”
    “Don’t ye mean yo ho?” Katie grinned then twirled a spatula in the air. Chocolate
mole
sauce ran down the length of the handle and splatted her apron. “Oops!” One of the two sous-chefs Katie had brought in for the event—she had also appointed two of the regular waitresses to help us out—rushed to her aid and offered a wet towel. Katie cleaned up and said, “Keller”—he was her boyfriend—“is totally into this week of pirate events. He’s spending all his time on The Pier vending his ice cream just so he can be close to the action, and he’s forever saying, ‘C’mere, me beauty.’”
    “Well, at least he thinks you’re beautiful,” I said.
    Katie reddened and tucked a loose hair behind her ear. “Yeah, right. Bailey, what do you think of Jenna’s idea to do chocolate-making demonstrations in the shop?”
    Bailey giggled. “You have to ask? You know me and chocolate.” She pressed two fingers together. “We’re tight.”
    “As tight as you and Tito?” Katie teased.
    Tito Martinez, a local newspaper reporter, was Bailey’s newest boyfriend.
    Bailey blushed. “We’re not that tight.”
    “Yes, you are.” I nodded. “I’ve seen you two gaze into each other’s eyes.” I hadn’t always been a fan of Tito’s. However, the more I’d gotten to know him over the past few months, the more he had grown on me. As for Bailey, he hadwon her heart with his sense of humor and his penchant for volunteering for good causes. The fact that he could also, magically, pull a quarter out of her ear at any given moment made her smile. She loved to be surprised.
    “We’re not as tight as you and Rhett,” Bailey countered.
    Rhett Jackson is my boyfriend, going on a couple of months. We haven’t said
I love you
or anything like that yet, but whenever I’m with him, the world goes still, in a good way.
    “Wipe that silly grin off your face,” Bailey said.
    “Why should I?” I would never forget my first glimpse of Rhett. Tousled dark hair, sparkling eyes, and jeans that fit just right. I would also never forget our first kiss. And our first dinner alone at his cabin. He’d farmed out his dog so there would be no intrusions. And our first—
    Bailey fanned me with a pot holder. “Wowie! What are you thinking about, girlfriend? Hearts afire! Katie, look at Jenna’s cheeks. They’re red-hot with lust. Get the extinguisher.”
    I smirked. “Ha-ha.”
    “By the way,” Bailey went on, “have you seen what Rhett has done outside Bait and Switch on The Pier?”
    “No, what?”
    Bait and Switch Fishing and Sport Supply Store is one of the largest buildings on The Pier. Rhett owns it. Previously he was the chef at The Grotto, a four-star restaurant that used to be located on the second floor of Fisherman’s Village—just upstairs from where The Cookbook Nook and Nook Café are located. The restaurant burned down, but surprisingly no shops below or to the right or left of it were touched. Rumor was that Rhett had started the fire. Rhett swore he didn’t, which turned out to be true. Only recently, our clever chief of police, at my urging, pulled together all the clues and found