“Understood,” Liam said.
“I need to go see about my house.” Dean stepped back and made his way to a police officer.
Samantha stepped out of Liam’s embrace, and he immediately missed her presence. It had been so long since he’d held someone like that. Sophia excluded.
They turned around, and both girls were staring at them, mouths agape.
“What?” Sam stopped in her tracks.
“Are you two dating now?” Isabella looked at Sophia, then glanced between the two of them. “We were gettingvibesat lunch.”
Liam reached down and grabbed Sam’s hand. Gave it a little squeeze. “I guess the secret’s out.”
She looked up at him. Vulnerability filled her face.
This was obviously a big step for her. Even if it was fake.
“We could be sisters!” Sophia turned to Isabella and wrapped her arms around her.
He wasn’t going to ruin their excitement with semantics. They needed all the happy they could get right now.
And he needed to figure out who had just tried to kill them. There was no way that a drive-by at Dean’s house was a coincidence. This was a targeted attack.
Dating took a back seat to attempted murder.
SEVENTEEN
Sam was numb. It was like she was watching a movie. She knew what was going on, but she wasn’t actively participating in it. Except she really was. They’d waited until they were given the go-ahead to grab their stuff, and Liam and Sophia helped them pack up what little they owned and load it into his SUV.
They had to leave her car behind because it was blocked in by all of the emergency vehicles. Not to mention it was part of the crime scene. It had sustained a few bullet holes.
Stress upon stress. Now she’d need to make an insurance claim for her car. First her home, then her car.
She shivered. They’d almost died today. For what? The fact the girls had told them about a trash-can fire? Nothing about this made any sense.
Sam was no longer worried that this was connected to the Mob. It had to be the kid from the outlet center.
Liam was certain they hadn’t been followed. Given his career and experience, she was confident in his ability to do his job. But how could they have known where to find them otherwise?
She wanted to close her eyes and sleep for a week. Or any amount of time, actually, if when she woke up, she discovered this was a nightmare. It hadn’t worked for the Mob. And it probably wasn’t going to work for this.
The car stopped moving. She looked out the front window to see that they were parked in Liam’s driveway. Wow, she had no recollection of the drive over here. That’s what she got for zoning out.
She didn’t have the energy to climb out of the car. Her entire body felt like rubber. No matter how many times her brain told her arm to open the door, it wouldn’t listen.
Her eyes started to burn, and her breath came in rapid gasps. The sounds in the SUV faded to a ringing, and her vision blurred.
Had the doors just opened and shut?
Her chest constricted. There wasn’t enough air.
The atmosphere next to her changed, and she was pulled from the SUV and jostled around until she was sitting in someone’s lap, strong arms wrapped around her and holding her tight. She faintly registered the closing of the car door.
She was safe in these arms. She closed her eyes and burrowed into the safety.
A hand rubbed up and down her arm, and words were whispered into her hair. She couldn’t hear what was being said.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
