Chapter 1
“You havegotto be kidding me.”
Chloe Davenport pulled a feather-filled pillow over her head, hoping,prayingit would somehow block out the rumble. Only the pillow, full of its fluff and glory, made her sneeze.
Damn feathers.
She never imagined her first morning in Fortune’s Bay would kick off with abang.
A loud, rumbling bang.
It was bad enough she barely fell asleep only two hours before, wishfully expecting to sleep until noon. The plane from San Francisco, the day before, had been delayed and the layover in Dallas, Texas was longer than anticipated.
Naturally, when she arrived at the quaint two-bedroom rental she planned to call home for the next several months, Chloe was dead—zombie-level—tired.
Thevroom vroomrumbling sound, that seemed to intensify by the second, came from outside of the sheer curtain-covered window behind her bed.
Must reposition bed,she thought, knowing her dainty self had enough trouble carrying two suitcases up the stairs into the bedroom. It would be impossible to rearrange furniture.
With an exaggerated “Ugh”,Chloe tossed the pillow across the room, kicked the duvet off her body, and lay there, momentarily contemplating her next move. She wasn’t quite sure if she should roll out of the bed—a cozy queen-sized poster bed seemingly meant for sleeping in late without any loud-noised intrusions—or stay put, turn on the TV and systematically drown out the annoyance with something more pleasant, like an episode ofThe Walking Dead.But, in order to turn on the TV, she would have to use the remote control. And since she had yet to become familiar with her temporary residence, Chloe had no flipping clue where said remote was.
The noise, louder than ever, was beyond unbearable.
Who revs up a motorcycle at this hour of the morning.She slipped in a quick glance at the digital clock on the bedside table, its bright red display of5:42 a.m.all but shouting at her.
After rolling out of bed, her bottom plopping onto the cool hardwood floor, Chloe sat there, eyes still shut, wondering what she did to deserve this. Back home in California, she was a thoughtful neighbor.
No loud music.
No loud television.
No loud sex. Well, in all fairness, it would have been kind of difficult to have any type of sex, loud or not, considering she hadn’t been in a relationship for over a year now.
But Chloe sure as heck was not the type of a neighbor who would be outside at the butt-crack of dawn, loudly revving up a motorcycle, waking up the entire universe. Never mind the fact she didn’t own a motorcycle. Nor had she ever been on one.
They were frightening.
As were the guys who rode them…in her opinion.
Vroom, vroom, vroom, reverberated through the window, walls, and even worse, Chloe’s last nerve.
A muffled grunt made its way out of her mouth as she sprang to her feet, the outsidedisturbanceloudly teasing her annoyance.
Stomping all the way to the light switch on the wall by the bedroom door, Chloe flicked the switch upward, hoping, somehow, the light would intimidate the outside noisemaker.
But it didn’t.Of course.
And, to make matters worse, thevroom, vroom, was now accompanied by music.
What the actual hell?
Well, at least the heathen had good taste in music. Luke Bryan was one of her favorites.
Breathing in a sigh, Chloe started for the stairs.
There was only one way to make the noise stop: confront the problem itself.
Maybe.
