Page 30 of Charmed by You

“Yeah? So if I was like a double-agent, I’d be trying to getthe information from you in bed?” she’d teased. And then they’d ended up nakedagain. Which, as far as Simon was concerned, wasn’t a bad thing at all.

When he took the official week of leave, though, they mademore definitive plans. They went out into the world, exploring the stalls atthe Rose Bowl Flea Market, visiting the observatory, taking the ferry toCatalina. He felt like a tourist again. And Frannie did, too. She kept her hairup and under a floppy hat, wore no make-up, and dressed in flowy, peasant-styledresses. He thought she looked incredible. And no one recognized her. Or, ifthey did, they realized she was incognito and didn’t bother her.

That had been the idea—to let them go out together and havefun while keeping Frannie safe from prying eyes.

As far as the threat, the case had officially been closedwith Frannie, Matthew, and Ryan all signing off on the decision. Burnet’s mysteriousshooter probably didn’t exist at all. The simplest explanation was that Lesliehad made up the story to help her defense. And the simplest solution wasusually the right one.

But even if there was a mystery shooter, if they’d knownthat Frannie had been there that night, they would have dealt with her a longtime ago. And if they’d only learned it because of Burnet’s poking around, theymost likely knew that Frannie didn’t have any idea who the shooter was. All ofwhich meant that officially, the case was over. Unofficially, Simon intended towatch her like a hawk. And he intended to keep watching her. She was his now.And he would keep her safe.

They were on the ferry back from Catalina when he saw theway she was looking at two young girls, probably ten or eleven, writing intheir pink diaries and giggling as they whispered to each other.

“Was that you once?”

She shook her head, clearly distracted. “No.”

“Frannie?”

She tilted her head up at him, but she seemed to be lookingright through him.

“What? What is it?”

“Can we go home? I need to see something.” She reached forhis hand. “Please?”

“Of course.”

As soon as the boat docked, they headed for the car. Shesaid nothing, and he didn’t push. Something was on her mind, and he could waituntil she was ready to tell him about it.

When they got back to the house, she bolted to her bedroom.He followed, then found her half under the bed as she tugged out a flowered hatbox. She lifted it onto the bed, then started pulling out spiral notebooksuntil she finally tugged out a pink cloth-covered book like the girls on theferry had been giggling over.

“Carolyn’s diary,” she said, climbing on the bed and holdingthe pink book in her lap. She raised her brows, then patted the space besideher. And that one little gesture said more than a week of exceptional sex. Theywere together.

They were a team.

And he’d fallen in love.

He took a moment to savor the moment then hurried to climbup beside her. She started flipping pages, going slowly every few moments toread a passage and smile. But for the most part, she was on a mission, and shedidn’t stop until she reached a double page spread that was full of crampedwriting interrupted only by a butterfly, a snake, and a calligraphy-style V.

“This,” she said, pointing to where the snake bumped upagainst a butterfly made of two Ds, one the mirror image of the other. “That’s whatshe wrote instead of saying Pruitt or stepfather. The snake is the S and thebutterfly is for Dad. Stepdad. Right?”

“Got it.”

“She does it in a few other places, too. I’m a picture of afan with a little R on it. And her mom is a drawing of a mummy.”

He couldn’t help but smile. “Typical kid.”

“Pretty much. But then there’s this.” She tapped the page,and he saw a capital V with a wavy line through it, like someone had crossed itwith a calligraphy pen.

“It’s a V,” he said.

“Yeah, but in context, she’s talking about a person. So Ifigure she had a crush on some guy. And that means that he’s the most likelyguy to have come by her room that night.”

“Oh.” He scooted back so he was leaning against theheadboard. “That’s a stretch.”

“Do you have another idea?”

“I do. But you’re not going to like it.”

Her shoulders fell, and he could hear her exhale. “You thinkI should drop it because it’s been years and I won’t figure it out anyway?”