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I reach for my phone and check my security app. There’s no one on any of the live videos. No animals or movement of any kind. Of course, this window is in a blind spot, but if someone was walking here, they’d have to pass by the front or rear camera.
“Nope,” I mutter, staring at it, watching carefully. “Nothing going on.”
I shake my head and set the phone down.
“I’m just tired. Getting up at five in the morning to be at work by six is early for this girl,” I say to Lily, who’s laid her head down again, but continues to watch me as I dry off and pull on some shorts and a tank top. “I’m too much of a night owl. But that’s okay. In a few months, I’ll have a quarter of the work, and I’ll be complaining about that.”
I climb into the bed beside my dog and kiss her head.
“How was your day? It was nice of Marion from the coffee shop to bring you some treats.” Lily licks my face. “No, I don’t have any for you. It’s time for bed.”
We snuggle down, and I open up my iPad so I can read for a while, and, before long, Lily is snoring happily beside me.
I hear the slightest thump outside my window, and I sit very still, listening. It happens again, and without another pause, I reach for my phone and call Chase.
“Hey there, Blondie,” he says, and his voice immediately calms my hammering heart. “You okay?”
“I think someone is outside of my house,” I reply, not bothering to whisper, as I don’t move my eyes from that window. “There’s nothing on my cameras, but I can hear someone outside my bedroom window. I should have called 9-1-1. I’m sorry, Chase?—”
“Be there in five.”
He hangs up, and Lily doesn’t even stir as I get out of bed and wait, listening. Chase and Brady were right: Lily is not a home protector.
There’s another small noise, and I shake my head. There’s something out there. Maybe it’s a critter. That would make sense. It’s summertime, so it could be a raccoon or a cat. Anything, really.
My phone pings with a text.
Chase: I’m going to walk around your house before I knock on the door.
I reply with, Okay, thank you.
I watch him on the app. I can see him on the video as he walks around the side of the house, and then he disappears from my view. I switch to the backyard, and a few seconds later, he appears. Every muscle in his body is on high alert, and he’s not skulking around. He’s walking with authority, and it’s not just reassuring. It’s sexy.
But there’s nothing and no one else in view.
I see him walking back toward the front door, so I hurry through the house and meet him there, opening the door before he can ring the bell.
“I’m sorry,” I begin, shaking my head as he steps inside, and I close the door behind him. “I absolutely should not have called you.”
“Yes, you absolutely should have,” he replies easily as his eyes skim down my body. He clears his throat. “I walked around and didn’t see anyone. There aren’t any footprints under the window, but it’s been dry lately, so they might not have shown up. Nothing on the cameras?”
“No, nothing. It’s probably my overactive imagination. Or an animal.”
“Could be an animal,” he agrees with a nod.
“It was just so weird because I could have sworn there was a shadow or something through the closed blinds. But I suppose that could have been headlights from a car.”
He nods, thinking it over. “Do you want me to stay for a while?”
“No.” I frown and then shake my head with certainty. “No, I’m really okay. I’m so sorry that I made you come all the way back over here. I just wasn’t thinking clearly, and you were the first person who came to mind to call.”
“I like that.” Chase pulls me into his arms and hugs me close. I’m so surprised that I don’t return the hug for a nanosecond, but then I wrap my arms around his waist and lean into him. He rocks us back and forth and presses his lips to the top of my head. “I’m glad you called me, Blondie.”
His voice is soft, and I feel like, for the first time in a long damn time, I can exhale.
“Thanks.” I don’t want to move yet, so I don’t. It feels good to soak him in. “This is really nice.”
“Sometimes, a person just needs a hug.” I feel him grin against my head.
