Wine and Research (Citizen Soldier #8)

Chapter One

Mainlining coffee wasn’t working.

At a literal loss for words, Elle Hudson set her empty mug down and sighed. It was her third cup in two hours, and the first time in her writing career that consuming the brew hadn’t helped percolate words.

She got up from the table to look out the window of the quaint little cabin she rented in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. The beauty of spring’s awakening, woven into the mountains in a vibrancy of greens, warmed her heart and spoke to her soul.

Too bad her brain was still hibernating.

Elle had been here almost eleven months already.

At first, she enjoyed the beauty and solitude and had allowed herself to relax and soak in the scenery, as well as observe and mingle with the locals.

She’d even taken a job as a server at the town’s diner.

It had been a great way to get to know people and do the “observe and mingle” thing with ease.

During that time, she’d developed a soft spot for the elderly owner, Henry “Gabe” Gablonski, and she still worked there on occasion.

That form of research had been easy and still was, unlike her other efforts.

Fleshing out a police procedural romance series had turned out to be a lot harder than she’d expected…thanks to the officer assigned to take her on ride-alongs last year.

Somehow, Elle had managed to outline the entire four-book series and each individual book, but now the deadline for the first was looming, and she had barely managed to write the first two chapters.

She knew what she needed—what she’d already set in motion again—she just didn’t want to need it.

Or him.

Officer Jeremy Mercer.

Her heart skipped a beat despite the fact she didn’t like the guy.

He was as arrogant as he was handsome, and the combination drove her nuts. Blue eyes as bright as the sky, broad shoulders and muscled body perfectly outlined in his uniform, and the personality of a rock. The guy was immovable, impenetrable, insufferable…and sexy as all get out.

Elle hated her attraction to him, and yeah, she was attracted to the jerk. Why else would she have dreams about him, with his blue eyes heated and muscled body naked and entangled with hers?

Her heart did more skipping, and she set her head to the window and groaned.

No sense in prolonging the inevitable. Sighing, she pushed away from the window, saved her work before shutting down her laptop, then walked across the open concept cabin to the lone bedroom to grab the phone she’d stupidly left charging on the nightstand.

She didn’t have it charging from her laptop because that would’ve made sense.

Just another casualty of her dormant brain.

Grumbling, she unhooked her phone and checked the screen, noting one text and a missed call.

The text from her friend, Sophia, reminding her about their get together for dinner at the local pizza shop tomorrow night.

Elle sent her an “I’ll be there” response, then redialed her missed call from Gabe.

“Elle, thanks for calling me back,” he said, with the sound of dishes clanking in the background.

“I know you’re writing and hate to bother you, but I’m in a bind.

Shorthanded. Two out of my three servers called off.

One is sick and the other has a sick child.

Poor Mary is trying to hold down the ship, but you know how Sunday afternoons can be, so I’m trying to get her some help before noon. ”

Sunday mornings weren’t a walk in the park either. Poor Mary. Great food with great service made The Pocono Eatery—A.K.A. Gabe’s—a popular stop for locals and tourists.

“Of course, I’ll come in,” Elle said without hesitation. She wasn’t getting any writing done anyway.

Besides, Gabe was like the uncle she never had, and considering her father, mother, and brother were all dead, it made him the closest thing she had to family.

“Thank you,” he said, relief evident in the sigh that rustled through the phone. “You’re a doll. Mary and I can handle things right now, so don’t rush.”

She nodded as if he could see her. “I’ll be there within the hour.”

After she hung up, she changed out of her T-shirt and sweatpants and into a light green blouse and tan pants before slipping her feet into the nonslip shoes she’d purchased just for work.

Gabe didn’t enforce a dress code, other than no cutoff shorts.

The only thing he required was for his servers to wear one of his blue and white checkered aprons.

She didn’t mind. The pockets in them were good for tips, her pad and pen for orders, and her other pad and pen for jotting down notes and ideas that always hit at unexpected moments. She was always prepared.

She was also stalling.

Straightening her spine, Elle gripped her phone and before she could chicken out, she called the precinct and asked to speak to Lt. Kroeger. Half expecting to be told he was unavailable, she was shocked enough to raise a brow when she was put right through.

“Ms. Hudson, what can I do for you?” he asked in a pleasant tone that was foreign to her and sent surprise rippling through her chest.

The lieutenant had never been rude to her when she’d met with him for the first-time last year, but she got the impression he was less than happy to grant her request to shadow his department for her research.

His upbeat greeting this morning hadn’t been what she’d expected, or she would’ve bitten the bullet and called him two weeks ago when her writing ran out of steam.

This was a pleasant and welcome surprise. Hopefully, his new attitude would remain when she asked to shadow some more.

If she had to guess, the fact that the mayor was a big fan of her books may have changed his outlook about her research.

Whatever the reason, Elle was grateful. The less heads she had to butt to get her research done, the better.

“Do you need to do more ride-alongs?” he asked before she had the chance.

Once again, surprise rippled through her.

“Yes,” she replied, more than relieved at the ease of the conversation. “I just need another week or two to get everything nailed down and make sure I represent the force correctly.”

This series was very special to Elle. She was writing it to honor the men and women in blue, especially the officer who gave his life trying to save her brother twenty-five years ago. Her chest squeezed tightly. Neither of them had survived, but she respected the man and his sacrifice.

“No problem,” the lieutenant said, sounding sincere. “Come by the precinct tomorrow morning around ten.”

She experienced another bout of that rippling surprise. The guy was three for three.

“I will. Thank you so much, Lt. Kroeger.”

When they hung up, she sank down on her bed and stared at the darkened phone in her hand. That conversation had not gone at all the way she’d expected. Maybe her luck was changing. Maybe she wouldn’t be paired with officer hot-n-cold this time.

Maybe she should worry about all of that tomorrow and get her butt to the diner.

At thirty minutes to noon, Elle walked into Gabe’s, pleased to see it was only half filled and that Mary had everything under control. Although the relief lighting the woman’s eyes told her she was happy for the help.

“Bless you for coming in, Elle,” Mary said while refilling a customer’s coffee cup.

She smiled. “No problem. Let me grab my apron, then you can tell me how you want to split up the tables.”

Elle greeted Gabe behind the counter with a kiss on the cheek before heading into the back.

Mary, the sixty-seven-year-old bundle of energy, soon followed. “If you can take the next few who come in, it’ll give the ones already here a chance to finish up, then we can split the place like normal.”

“Sounds good,” she replied, tying her apron.

This meant Mary took the window booths and half the tables, and Elle took the wall booths and the other half of the tables.

After glancing at the daily special written on a dry erase board, she returned to the dining room just as the bell attached to the bar on the glass door jingled, signaling the arrival of customers.

“Elle, I didn’t know you were working today,” Sophia Nardovino said with a grin, just inside the door, holding her fiancé’s hand.

Sophia was one of the first friends she’d made in this town.

“Yeah, I thought you’d started writing,” Ryder said.

Not only was the handsome brown-eyed, brown-haired man her friend’s fiancé, he was also Gabe’s son, and Elle’s landlord. He was the owner of the cute cabin she’d grown to cherish.

Smiling, she shrugged. “I wasn’t and I am. You two want the usual?”

“Yes,” they both replied.

“All right. Grab a seat.” She nodded toward the empty tables and booths. “I’ll put in your order and be right back with your drinks.”

“Grab Phoebe’s and Ethan’s too. They’re going to join us,” Sophia said.

Again, she nodded. “Will do.”

Ethan Wyne was one of four brothers who owned and operated a large resort ten miles out of town, and his wife, Phoebe, was a world-famous actress who opened a theater behind the resort.

Sophia was a set designer who worked with Phoebe at the theater.

Elle enjoyed the company of creative minds and had hit it off with them a few weeks after she’d settled in last year.

She’d actually hit it off with a lot of people in the friendly town.

In the beginning, she’d only intended to stay long enough to write her first book, but now, Elle was considering sticking around until she finished the series.

It wasn’t like anyone was waiting for her to return home…

if you could call the house she owned in upstate New York a home.

Other than writing there, she wasn’t around long enough to grow roots.

Once Elle surfaced from her writing cave, she usually took off again.

If she wasn’t at book signings, she was traveling and doing research.

Initially, she’d bought the house on the lake thinking it would be peaceful and productive, and for a time it was. But lately, she found herself away from it more and more. And she hadn’t realized what peaceful meant until she’d rented Ryder’s cabin.

It felt more like home than her house.

“You might as well put in their usual order too,” Sophia said, capturing Elle’s attention.

She smiled and repeated, “Will do.”

After submitting the orders that she knew by heart, she brought the drinks to the booth they’d chosen, just as the bell jangled as Ethan and Phoebe walked in.

“Over here.” Sophia waved at the couple, who immediately headed their way.

“I didn’t know you were still working here, Elle,” Ethan said.

Phoebe nodded. “Yeah, I thought you’d started writing.”

Mary set down two meatloaf platters on a nearby table and walked over. “The answer is that she’s an angel coming to this old lady’s rescue. Gabe had two call-offs, and Elle agreed to come in. I feel bad you’re giving up your writing time.”

Elle set a hand on the woman’s shoulder and shook her head. “You’re not. Trust me. All I was doing was staring at a blank page. I’m happy to have something to do.”

“Ah, writer’s block,” Phoebe said with a nod. “I know a lot of playwrights who go through it.”

She released Mary and turned to face the actress. “Any idea what to do about it?”

Phoebe wrinkled her nose. “Pretty much what you’re doing. Change of scenery. Change of focus. They find something new to occupy their thoughts.”

The bell jangled again.

“Well, look at that…I think your change of focus just walked in.” Sophia grinned.

Elle knew without turning around that Officer Jeremy Mercer had entered the restaurant because she could feel the man’s overwhelming presence with a smattering of awareness prickling its way across her skin.

“Then I guess it’s a good thing he’s your customer,” Mary said, walking away with a slight twitch to her lips. “Jeremy, Scott, Nico, nice to see you boys. You sneak out of the armory for a quick lunch?”

“Yes, ma’am,” all three answered in unison.

“Then have a seat,” Mary said. “Elle will be happy to take care of you.”

All three had very honorable careers, and just as honorably, they served part-time in the Army National Guard. One weekend a month they had drill at the armory across the street. It was just her luck this was one of those weekends.

Swallowing a groan, Elle plastered a smile on her lips then turned around to face three very handsome men in ACUs—Army Combat Uniforms—walking toward her.

They were all tall, broad-shouldered and handsome, but it was the one with blue eyes and his expression dialed to Robocop that tripped her pulse.

Why couldn’t it be the gorgeous green-eyed paramedic, Scott? Or the dark-haired, dark-eyed firefighter, Nico?

She couldn’t for the life of her understand why it was Officer Grumpy who made her insides flutter.

It wasn’t fair, and it was freakin’ irritating.

So was the weird feeling pinging low in her belly that she experienced from looking at the guy.

He didn’t appear to have the same reaction to her, though.

Nothing ruffled Jeremy’s calm or got past that tough exterior.

And what an exterior he had. At six-feet-one inch, he was solidly built, but managed to move all those mouth-watering muscles with an easy fluidity that would make a tiger nervous.

It certainly made her insides quiver.

Stupid insides.

No doubt from her fierce annoyance and reluctant lust.

The heck with writer’s block, she needed a cure for that.