Chill Out by Jana Richards

Chapter One
    His breath was hot on her face. Renata moaned as he licked the shell of her ear, his wet tongue rasping over her sensitive skin. Blindly, she reached up to touch his smooth hair, his soft beard, his wet nose…
    Wait. His what?
    Renata woke with a start. And came face to muzzle with the biggest dog she’d ever seen in her life. Or perhaps it was a pony. She wasn’t awake enough to tell.
    “Holy crap!”
    At her high-pitched squeal, the dog backed away from the sofa where she’d fallen asleep after arriving at her friend’s cottage. Renata climbed over the top of the sofa, then peeked over the edge and raised her fists. How boxing was going to help if the beast decided to rip her throat out, she had no idea, but she wasn’t going down without a fight.
    “Where the hell did you come from?”
    “He’s with me.”
    Renata jumped at the sound of the deep male voice coming from behind her. She whirled to face him, her heart in her throat. A long-haired man with an unkempt brown beard was in the kitchen, unloading groceries from white plastic bags. He looked as big and scary as the dog.
    She lifted her fists a little higher, trying to disguise her fear. “My husband is upstairs. With a gun. All I have to do is scream, and he’ll be down here in a flash.”
    “Relax, nobody’s going to hurt you. It’s Renata, isn’t it?”
    Alarm bells clamored in her head. “How do you know my name?”
    “Tyler told me. He’s an old friend. He loaned me the use of the cottage for a few weeks, but apparently he and Caroline had a miscommunication about who was staying here this weekend.”
    Caroline Montgomery was her best friend and business partner. She and her husband Tyler owned the cottage in question. It was located on the shores of Falcon Lake, a little over an hour’s drive from Winnipeg, and Caroline had offered it to her as a refuge this Valentine weekend.
    “I don’t believe you. Caroline would have contacted me. How do I know you’re not a thief?”
    He held up a can of soup. “Do most thieves bring their own groceries to a heist?”
    She frowned. He had a point. Still, it freaked her out that some stranger had just waltzed through the door while she was sleeping.
    “How did you get in? I’m sure I locked the door.”
    “Tyler left a key. I called out, but you didn’t wake up. Do you always sleep like the dead?”
    She glared at him. Her sleeping habits were none of his damn business. She’d arrived exhausted after working full tilt since six that morning so she could clear her desk and get away for the weekend. He was the one with some explaining to do.
    Keeping one eye on the dog, she grabbed her purse and pulled out her phone. “I’m calling Caroline to check your story.”
    “Knock yourself out.”
    She saw immediately that she’d missed a phone call and several texts from Caroline. She really had been sleeping like the dead. She scrolled to the first text.
    Sorry, sorry, sorry! Just found out Tyler told his friend Noah he could stay at the cottage. Noah just called saying he was almost there! Going to kill Tyler!
    “Crap.”
    He raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. So this Noah person was legit. Renata wanted to scream in frustration. All she’d wanted was a peaceful couple of days alone to read romance novels and hide out from her family. Was that so much to ask for?
    She scrolled to the next text.
    Where are u? Understand if u r not speaking to me. All Tyler’s fault!
    “So you’re a friend of Tyler’s?”
    “Yeah, we go all the way back to elementary school. I’ve been out of the country and needed a place to stay, and Tyler offered. I’m Noah Brownlee, by the way.”
    “Renata Cabral. Caroline and I own an accounting business together.”
    “So she said. I’m sorry about this.”
    “Not as sorry as I am.”
    Caroline’s subsequent texts were progressively more frantic, and more than a little weird.
    Is he there yet? Are u not answering cuz you’re dazzled by his good