Stirring Up Trouble: Garrett's Point Novel, #3

By Savanna Grey

Badass Biker

Rusty Shannon is one tall, badass, retired Navy Seal that owns and operates the Bottom's Up Bar with a no-nonsense attitude. He runs a tight ship and intimidates most people he comes into contact with. While his demeanor comes in handy running a bar, it also hasn't hurt his social life. Women are attracted to his large build, sexy beard and taunting tattoos. Many women have taken a ride on his Harley, but none have captured his heart until he tastes Melanie's Sweet Potato Pie.

Hometown Girl

Melanie Davis, known as Mel the Mediator, is the logical, peace-keeping one amongst her friends. So when trouble presents itself at the diner, and Rusty rushes to her rescue, she is both unprepared for the attraction she feels toward him and the fear that is resurrected from a long-past experience when holds her in his arms.

Feeling like he's been sucker-punched, Rusty grumbles around for several days not wanting to admit the effect Melanie has over him. That is until he realizes he isn't the only one under her spell. When competition presents itself for her heart, Rusty is determined to stir things up. He's never lost a mission and doesn't intend to start now. Too much is at stake.

While opposites attract, will Melanie choose the safe and comfortable path or will she open herself up and face her fears to find a happiness beyond measure in the unknown?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Savanna Grey
• Release date: Mar 20, 2016
• ISBN: 9781519947628

Book preview

A Note from Savanna:

Wow! I can’t believe this is the third installment to the Garrett’s Point series. It is difficult to explain how I feel about the citizens of GP. The four women in these books are the kind of friends we all want. The community itself is what America was built upon.

I based this town in Virginia because there are so many communities like it there. My family and I spent four summers on a river just like the community of Garrett’s Point.

It’s a special reminder to me of the importance of our friends and family that surround us, but also the importance and the impact we make in the communities we live in.

I hope you enjoy Melanie’s self-discovery and the journey the citizens take with her.

XXXOOO,

Savanna

Chapter One

Sunlight filtered through the front window of Mel’s Diner, offering the illusion of warmth on a chilly March afternoon. Leaves danced in the wind down Main Street as the diner’s front glass door swung open, carrying in a gust of wind. I glanced up from refilling napkin holders as the wind grabbed hold of the neatly stacked napkins on the counter and blew them across the countertop. Reacting quickly, I rescued them before they hit the floor.

Whoa. Sorry about that, Mel. That gruff, back-me-into-the-corner-and-kiss-me-senseless voice could only belong to one man. Rusty Shannon. My eyes widened as I looked up into his sexier-than-should-be-legal chocolate brown eyes. I tensed all over.

Hey, Rusty. No problem. It’s a bit windy today, isn’t it? The weather, really? You’re going to talk about the weather? I scolded myself. Placing the napkins underneath the counter, I took in a calming breath. This man always tweaked me up tighter than the lids on my grandma’s homemade preserves.

Did Carol tell you I called? Rusty asked as his 6’2" frame approached the counter, his broad shoulders essentially blocking out the sunlight. Lord, the man was huge!

No. She didn’t. What can I help you with today? The man made me nervous. He always had. His type should come with a warning label: Hot and Dangerous. His reputation for being a womanizer alone was enough to scare me away, but it was something else that simmered underneath that made my senses go on high alert when he was around.

I need some cupcakes for my niece. It’s her birthday, and yes, I’m a terrible uncle. I forgot. It was actually cute the way his lips curved upward at his self-indignation. I called Carol and she said you still had some from this morning. She was going to box up six of them for me.

I had attended high school with Rusty’s sister, Marilyn. Her name fit. She raised her dress up for most of the football team as I remembered it. She had married young and was now a single mother of an adorable daughter and was working as a cashier at the grocery store. That had to be tough no matter who you were.

It’s Lily, isn’t it? She’s a sweet little thing. She wants a milkshake whenever she and Marilyn come in. Let me go in the kitchen and see if Carol boxed those up for you. Just give me a minute. As I turned to push through the swinging doors into the kitchen, I heard Rusty say he was going to step in to the head. Gotta love ex-military men and their own special vocabulary.

I found the box of cupcakes with Rusty’s name scrawled in black marker across the top sitting on the work table in the corner. Sure enough, the box held six cupcakes with sprinkles on top. I headed back in to the diner.

My head was down as I was pressing a piece of scotch tape to seal the lid when I came to an abrupt stop.

I found the...Oh! Hello. I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you come in. I set the cupcakes on the counter, noticing that Rusty hadn’t returned from the men’s room. What I did find was a man in worn blue jeans, a faded flannel long-sleeve shirt, and a ball cap pulled down to slightly cover his face. I had never seen him before.

You know how they say you should never ignore your gut instincts? Well, right that second mine was telling me something wasn’t right. Unease crept up my spine like a spider creeping up a wall. I gripped a menu and held it in front of me as if it were a shield.

Will this be for dine-in or take out? Would you like to sit at the counter or would you prefer a table? You’re welcome to sit wherever you like. I waited as the man just stared back at me. He glanced around the diner, finding it empty this late in the afternoon. We wouldn’t see the dinner crowd for another three hours.

He took a step closer. His eyes narrowed, and suddenly I was staring at the wrong end of a handgun. I’m not here to eat. What you can do is hand over all the cash in your register, and make it quick. He shook the gun at me as I continued to stare. I felt like I was in a daze trying to process what was happening.

This isn’t a toy, and unless you speed it up, you’re gonna find out first-hand. He was standing directly in front of me now. Little beads of perspiration were visible across his forehead. My hands shook as I opened the register drawer.

Okay. Okay. You can have whatever’s in here. Just please take it and go. As my hand reached in to grab what bills were in the register drawer, I heard the men’s bathroom door swing open. Oh God! Rusty! I’d forgotten all about him.

I sure hope you found the cup... Just as he rounded the hallway leading into the diner, the thief jumped behind me, locking one arm around my neck with the gun pointed to my head. Rusty stopped dead in his tracks.

This was it. My time was over. No great love of a lifetime. No children. No. Just NO! I was not going to allow myself to be a victim all over again. My fear turned to anger. But what was I going to do with a gun pointed to my head?

Hey man. Don’t do anything rash. Rusty drew my attention back to him. I could see how tense his shoulders were as he slowly walked with his hands up toward us.

Don’t come any closer or I’ll shoot her. I will! The man jerked my head, banging the gun against my temple. Pain shot to the roots of my hair.

Okay. I’ll do whatever you say. Just don’t hurt the lady. You don’t want to do that man. Rusty spoke calmly, his eyes were boring into me as if he was trying to communicate, pleading with me to understand.

I didn’t, but I knew this was a bad situation with the potential for disaster if we didn’t give this guy what he wanted. Please. I pleaded with the stranger. Just take the money and go. No harm. No foul.

The man grabbed the money I held up in my hands. His grip on my neck had loosened. It was in that split second that my self-defense training kicked in. I looked into Rusty’s eyes, hoping he was paying attention. I didn’t have a second to spare. My body went completely limp, my weight allowing me to slide through the man’s loosened grip and land on the floor.

I heard the man yell, What the hell? as I went for a karate chop to the back of his knees. Before I could figure out if I had been successful, the man disappeared over the counter as Rusty single-handedly lifted him up and over and straight into his fist. The breaking of the man’s nose made a sickening crunch as blood poured down his face. Rusty had managed to secure the gun and had the man face-planted to the diner floor in three seconds flat.

I think I just had a first-hand experience as to where the term Shock and Awe came from.

Rusty, are you alright? I just stood there frozen in place.

I’m fine. You? His gaze locked with mine and then looked me up and down, a frown creasing his brow as he noticed a purplish color forming on the side of my face where the attacker had hit me with the gun. His grip tightened on the man’s bent arms he held behind his back, and his knee dug a little deeper into his back.

Damn it! You son-of-a-bitch. You broke my nose, the man whimpered on the floor, blood still flowing from his nose.

I’ll hold him. Now would be a good time to call the sheriff, don’t you think? He stared at my unmoving figure.

Oh! Right. Sure. I jumped into high gear, my adrenaline still rushing through my veins.

Gladys, it’s Melanie Davis at the diner. I need to report an attempted robbery. Could you send the sheriff over please?

The sheriff’s dispatcher could be heard through the telephone, asking if everyone was alright.

Yes, we’re fine. Rusty Shannon has the intruder contained, but he’s injured.  No. Not Rusty. The intruder. I think his nose is broken. Yes. Yes. I’ll stay on the line.

I took a deep breath as I listened to Gladys call Sheriff Grady McCloud on her radio. As it happened, he had just pulled up to the station at the end of the block. He barreled through the diner’s front doors like the hounds of Hell were on his heels, his gun drawn.

He assessed the situation with his razor-sharp eyes. Everyone okay in here?

We’re fine, Grady, thanks to Rusty. Grady walked slowly over to where Rusty had the perpetrator pinned to the floor. Removing his handcuffs from his belt, he secured the man. I’ll take it from here. Why don’t you have a seat at the counter while I get this guy situated?

Grady’s deputy, Mike Marshall, came in next and the intruder was transferred over to his custody for processing at the jail.

Just then all hell broke loose in the diner.

Kathryn, Sydney, and Emma all arrived at the scene at once, pushing their way in through the crowd that was already assembling outside the diner.

Don’t tell me it’s a live crime scene and I can’t go in there, Deputy. I’d like to see you try to stop me! Kathryn could be head saying as the three pushed their way in.

Grady groaned as his wife and two of her best friends entered the diner. Kat, you can’t push the guys around like that. They are just doing their jobs. How many times do I have to tell you that?

The Not now look Grady received made him smirk, as he knew his wife was more bark than bite...well...maybe not when it concerned the people she cared about. I was one of those people. Part of the fearsome four. Lord help the man who tried to get in the middle of that. Grady had learned that first-hand.

I could feel Rusty watching me. I didn’t realize that my pallor had paled, and I had a slight shake to my shoulders. Reaction was setting in. I leaned against the counter for support, looking out at the diner, but I wasn’t clearly seeing the diner. I was reliving what had just happened. I saw Rusty start to walk toward me, but he was interrupted mid-step.

So, it looks like that Navy SEAL training came in handy today. Grady gave Rusty a manly smack on his shoulder. You may have saved a life or two today, Rusty. I know there are a whole lot of us who are thankful for that. Both Rusty and Grady watched as the three women surrounded me like a protective shield.

Melanie, honey, are you okay? Emma was the first to speak. What the hell happened here, Mel? How’d you end up with a jerk-off like that in your diner? Do you know who he is? Do you... Kat pressed. She was a journalist, after all. It was just in her nature to get to the bottom of the story.

Sydney, always the responsible one, grasped my hands and squeezed reassuringly. She didn’t miss much as a senator’s daughter and town councilwoman herself. Why don’t we give Melanie a minute to collect herself before we bombard her with questions, hmmm? We can see she’s safe. That’s what matters, so why don’t you go freshen up, then we can sit down to a nice steaming cup of coffee...or wine. What do you say?

I say I felt like my knees were going to give out any second, and I needed some space. I didn’t trust myself to speak, so I nodded and quickly pulled all three of