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“August,” she said in her clipped tone. “This is serious. You should have had a proper alarm system in place. Why did someone break into your house?”
I threw up my hand. “How the hell should I know? Why does anyone ever break into a house, Mom? To steal stuff, I guess.”
Silence.
Saint shifted closer to me. I wanted to turn and bury my face into the front of his shirt. I was so fucking tired from not getting any decent sleep, and now my mother was making me feel like the burglary had somehow been my fault.
When the silence from the other end of the line became unbearable, I did what I always did with my family. I caved.
“Sorry for my outburst,” I mumbled, turning away from Saint. “And I had a security system installed right after it happened. I didn’t expect to need it in the countryside. Hobie has an insanely low crime rate.”
“Have you seen Brett at all?”
The sudden change of subject threw me. My cousin and I didn’t get along. Brett had been a complete terror to me growing up, and I avoided him as much as possible now that it was in my power to do so. “Um, no? Why would I have seen him? I’ve been here in Hobie since I met you for lunch at Grandfather’s office a couple of weeks ago. The burglary happened after that.”
“You should have told me,” she continued. “Had I known Melody’s house had been broken into, I would have insisted—”
“I’m sorry, Mom. I need to help some customers who just came in. Sorry about missing dinner tonight.” I hung up before she had a chance to say another word. I turned to ask Saint why he’d come by.
He studied me with wrinkles of concern on his forehead. “Augie…”
“Why are you here?” I pushed my glasses up and looked around at the shop full of things Saint could have zero interest in. Surely he wasn’t there as a customer.
“I wanted to ask you some more questions.”
As much as I would have loved to have cried all my woes to the big protector, I resisted the urge to rely on a perfect stranger, and I knew that even talking about it would reveal just how upset the topic made me. The idea of transforming into the trembling, cowering weakling in front of Saint that I already saw myself as in general was untenable.
“No, thank you. I need to get back to work.”
Saint took a slow pan of the shop which was empty of any customers. “I can see how slammed you are,” he said flatly.
“Saint… I can’t… I just don’t want to talk about it anymore. It’s over. I’m fine.”
“Could the break-in have anything to do with your family’s… money or… involvement in political issues?”
I could tell he was trying to be professional, but the implication rankled. “No.”
“How do you know for sure?”
“Because I don’t have anything to do with the company or the foundation. That’s all my grandfather.”
We stared at each other for a beat. I could see the man’s frustration at not being able to solve the mystery behind my intruders. Leave it to a professional self-defense instructor to get annoyed at not being able to account for all factors and secure all angles.
“Let me take you to Dallas,” Saint blurted. By the almost comical widening of his eyes immediately after, I could tell he’d surprised himself as much as me with his offer.
“What? Why?” Was he asking me out? No. Surely not.
Saint cleared his throat. “Well, your mother wants you to come to dinner, and I’d love a chance to meet her.”
Oh. Oh, right. It wasn’t me he wanted to spend time with in the city. It was either my beautiful, elegant mother or my famous, rich, and influential family. My heart tumbled to the floor like an idiot. I had so much experience being used for my connections, there was no telling why I was surprised by this.
“No. I’m not going. I have to close the shop.”
“I’ll get my sister Sassy to come hold down the fort. She’s worked a ton of retail and lives just a few blocks away over the doctor’s office. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.”
“Why in the world would I need you to drive me to Dallas? And how exactly would I explain your presence to my mother?”
My head was reeling with the conflicting emotions of disappointment that he didn’t want me for me and the temptation of getting him alone in the car for several hours just so I could have an excuse to be near him. Plus, I had to admit to myself the idea of having him beside me at John’s house filled me with a strange kind of relief.
“You could tell her I’m your personal security. Maybe it would make her feel better knowing someone was looking after you since the break-in and everything.”
