Truffled to Death (A Chocolate Covered Mystery) Read Online Free Page A

aimlessly toward the door.
    “Sure,” he said. “You’re busy. Would you like to go out to dinner sometime?” It sounded formal, which was totally weird. Was he nervous?
    “Are you okay?” I asked. “Not, like, dying of cancer or anything, right?” It was my turn to wince.
    He smiled. “Nope. So dinner? Steamed crabs? Tomorrow night?”
    “Sure.” Excitement fluttered in my stomach. And not because I loved steamed crabs as much as any Maryland native. Maybe it was the chicken tamales I’d pilfered from El Diablo. “Coming back in?”
    He shook his head. “Just stopped by to see you and Erica. I’ve had to deal with too many . . . people lately.”
    That reminded me of all the “people” photographs I’d seen on Reese’s blog, and my good mood deflated. “Okay. You staying with us, I mean, Erica?”
    “Yep,” he said cheerfully, as if he knew how that drove me crazy. “Right upstairs.”
    I made sure not to watch him walk away—okay, maybe a little bit out of the corner of my eye—as I went inside.
    The professor had finished his words, and the crowd had seemed to swell even more in the few minutes I’d been outside. The Latin beat of the music had picked up and a few people were dancing in place, almost as if they didn’t realize it.
    El Diablo stepped out from the kitchen to see what was needed and frowned at me when he discovered holes in my arrangements. How could I help that my truffles were so popular?
    I intercepted the tray Kona was carrying and filled in the open spaces. A breeze blew through the open door, a warning of the rain that would soon start. I had a moment of gratitude that it had held off so long, and then something prickled up the back of my neck.
    A new gorgeous man, this one with long hair pulled back into a Johnny Depp ponytail, stood in the doorway. His eyes flickered around the room and I stopped to watch him, feeling like an animal about to cross the plains, knowing a predator waited somewhere. Or like turning left at the Jasmine Road stop sign right outside of town, where cars speed around Devil’s Bend, ignoring the Stop Sign Ahead signs until it was too late.
    He met my eyes, as if sensing my discomfort, and I swear his green eyes glowed for a second. In some ways, he was similar to the delicious man Kona had laid claim to, but just a little darker. Darker hair. Darker tan. The veneer of civilization wafer thin. Someone you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley. Not that West Riverdale had many of those.
    I brushed off the fanciful nonsense and looked away.
    Kayla approached him with a tray, shaking her hair toallow her cute blond curls to fall across her face. She must have won the coin toss with Kona.
    I watched him take a bite of a Cherry Ambrosia truffle and close his eyes, as if he couldn’t help himself. I could almost taste the kirsch and dried cherries along with him.
    “Someone is having a sale on tall, dark and dangerous,” May said, tugging at her Spanx through her sparkling green dress. “Maybe he likes ’em middle-aged and plump.”
    I laughed. “He should be so lucky.”
    Nara stared at him with wide eyes. “Maybe he likes ’em tiny and exotic.”
    I watched him lean closer to Kayla and say something that made her laugh. “Looks like he likes ’em young and adorable.”
    “Too bad.” May sighed. “Have you seen Lentil, I mean Coco?”
    “Lentil?”
    She waved her hand. “Sorry. That’s what Iris calls her. Says she’s the exact color of the diner’s lentil soup. Plus a few other choice names when Lentil, I mean Coco, threw up on her shoe.”
    Served her right for naming my cat after soup. “Someone said Coco was out back.”
    May was even more into Coco’s kittens than I was. “I’ll take a peek,” she said, but then she didn’t move.
    We turned to look at Tall, Dark and Handsome 2.0 in time to see Kayla point to me. I felt rooted to the spot as he made his way over.
    “Ms. Serrano,” he said, his voice soft and low with a