Diana Orgain | Diana Orgain

Fleeced at Yappy Hour Sneak Peek ~ Chapter 3 pt.2

From Fleeced at Yappy Hour Chapter Three Part Two… “It’s just a feeling,” I finally shrugged. “Gut instinct. But my gut instinct was to find you all perpetually annoying when we first met, and I was wrong there, so I’m probably just as wrong here.” “Oh, sweetheart, the Roundup Crew lives to be perpetually annoying,” Brenda grinned. “Come on, Max. I want to get a good look at this stranger before he hightails it out of here when he finds out how crazy we are.” Brenda grabbed Max’s hand and yanked him out of the Wine and Bark. I half expected to glance out the window and see her grabbing a pair of binoculars from the fish and tackle/dance studio next door before they went down to pay a “casual” visit to their friend Yolanda. “A gut feeling, huh?” Rachel adjusted the strap of her black tank top and leaned over the smooth counter to peer into my eyes. I pushed my feet on the wall of the bar below me, sending my stool into a counter-clockwise spin. “He was too handsome.” I wrinkled my nose, thinking of the strange glinting I’d seen in his window the night before. “And he shut his blinds on me.” “Oh, gee, someone shut their blinds so you couldn’t stare into their brand new place. How terrifying.” Rachel was joking, but the biting sarcasm underneath her tone was like a punch in my gut. “Fine,” I snapped. “Crazy Maggie, always overreacting. You know, when I found Dan lying dead on the floor over there, with blood seeping out of him from every angle, and...

Fleeced at Yappy Hour Sneak Peek ~ Chapter 3 pt.1

From Fleeced at Yappy Hour Chapter Three Part One… “Did you hear there’s a new face in town?” Rachel asked the next morning, grunting as she lifted a case of tequila onto the counter. “I didn’t hear,” I replied, absently wiping down a clean glass. “I saw him last night before the Pacific Cove gossip mill had its chance to get to me.” Rachel’s eyes widened. She slipped her scissors across the top of the plastic covering, creating a slip to pull out the tequila bottles. “What’s he like?” I thought about the question for a moment. What was this newcomer like? Truthfully, I didn’t have a good answer for my little sister. We’d hardly exchanged two words. “Mysterious,” I finally said. I plopped the white cloth down and handed Rachel the glass so she could put it under the counter. “He didn’t seem interested in having much of a conversation with us. Of course, it didn’t help that Yolanda was so stressed out about Ocean she hardly gave me a minute to chat with the guy.” “Oh, right, Ocean comes into town today,” Rachel grimaced. “What?” I demanded. “Everyone seems to be wary of this kid except for me. Why is that?” “Yolanda told you about her past, right?” Rachel asked. “Yeah, so?” I shrugged. “How many of us got through our teenage years without a little rebellion?” “You never stole a bridal crown,” Rachel said. I ran my tongue over my front teeth, unable to come up with a good comeback. “Touché. Still, I don’t think we should focus so much negativity on Ocean. Let’s talk about Yolanda’s...

Fleeced at Yappy Hour Sneak Peek – Chapter 2 pt.2

From Fleeced at Yappy Hour Chapter Two Part Two… “So who’s it for?” When my question went unanswered for a few seconds too long, I slammed the cupboard closed, effectively stopping her from her health food tirade, at least for a moment. “Did something happen with you and Gottlieb?” Yolanda’s eyes widened, and then a silly, schoolgirl blush rose to her cheeks. “Not at all,” she murmured. “Things with us are just fine.” I narrowed my eyes, letting her know that I was waiting for an answer and that I didn’t plan to move until I got it. “Fine,” she breathed, leaning back against the counter and running a hand through her hair, pulling up a thousand more fly-aways. “My sister’s coming.” At her words, my brain tried to compute a hundred different things at once. First, Yolanda had a sister? Second, this was stressful?And, third, why the heck was she hiding her stuff? “This probably seems odd, huh?” Yolanda asked, reading my expression. “A little,” I nodded. “Is your sister averse to your nice things?” “The opposite, actually.” Yolanda let out a loud guffaw that didn’t strike me as being filled with too much humor. “We’ve got a bit of a rocky relationship.” I paused, not sure I should press her too much harder. “Well, as someone who’s sister perpetually seems to keep things from her, I get it,” I chuckled, reaching into the grocery bags and pulling out a box of dried seaweed. It was nearly impossible to keep myself from wrinkling my nose at the stuff. “This is different,” Yolanda grimaced. “You don’t have to talk about...

Fleeced at Yappy Hour Sneak Peek ~ Chapter 2 pt.1

From Fleeced at Yappy Hour Chapter Two Part One… BANG! The sound of something big and clunky slammed into Yolanda’s front door as I lifted my hand to knock. I was almost certain she and Gottlieb had gotten into a fight, or maybe even broken up. Why else would she be so angry? “Yo!” I called out, banging my fist against the door. “What’s going on in there?” A breathless, slightly sweaty Yolanda yanked open the front door. Her usually perfectly coiffed blonde hair was completely out of place, with fly-aways soaringwilly-nilly through the air. “Hi,” she said, her blue eyes wide. “What are you doing here?” “Dinner,” I explained, lifting the takeaway bag filled with a delicious burger and fries. The steam wafted from the top, spiraling through the air and up into Yolanda’s nostrils. She sucked in a deep breath, closing her eyes for a brief moment of ecstasy before they snapped open once again. “Well, don’t just stand there, come in!” She beckoned me into the apartment as if she’d already asked me to do it twice. “Oh, goodness no!” A loud slam echoed behind us. Yolanda’s eyes popped open wide, and I could see her hesitate, almost ready to close the door on the poor schmuck behind us. I, however, wasn’t able to do that since something solid and round tumbled into the back of my ankle. Looking down, I saw a signed baseball sitting there. I picked it up and turned to find a handsome, clean-shaven man with sparkling gray eyes and the kind of haircut that looks simple but probably costs a couple of...

Fleeced at Yappy Hour Sneak Peek ~ Chapter 1 pt.2

Fleeced at Yappy Hour (Roundup Crew Mystery Series Book 3) From Fleeced at Yappy Hour Chapter One Part Two… I wandered away from the bar and into the kitchen, where I was about to grab my phone from my back pocket when a warm hand stopped me. “Hey there, stranger.” Gus grinned down at me, his hair flopping over his forehead, the tiniest bit damp with sweat. I found myself licking my lips and trying not to openly drool. Something happened to my insides when I watched Gus in the kitchen- something I definitely couldn’t talk about in proper company. I’d really never found myself dating two guys at once, but that was the predicament I currently found myself in. Who could I possibly choosebetween a charming chef or my lovely law enforcement friend? Then again, at the moment neither was asking me to choose…so…I was temporarily putting aside my monogamist tendencies. Gus was the new sole owner of DelVecchio’s, a restaurant right across from the Wine and Bark. It used to belong to him and his best friend, Dan, but Dan was murdered the same week I arrived in Pacific Cove. I didn’t know back then that Dan’s death would be the first in a string of terrible incidents around my little town- incidents that I somehow managed to keep getting involved with. “Hey,” I replied with a soft smile. “So, how’s cooking in a normal kitchen?” “The ones in New York were better, but the company here can’t be beat,” he chuckled, glancing around at the decidedly not million-dollar kitchen. Just a few weeks ago, Gus had been...