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He shrugged. “The cops didn’t see me. I slithered alongside the hedge, climbed the maple, crawled onto the oak that grows up next to the roof. Then I came in through the attic gable window, which was not alarmed, for your information. Through the crawl space, down through the trapdoor into the laundry room…and here I am. Piece of cake.”
“What enterprise.” She wrenched the comb through her hair.
“I wanted to see how safe you were in the bosom of your family.”
He couldn’t stop staring, though he could tell it made her uncomfortable. She pulled her robe tight, evidently unaware of how the sheer silk showcased her awesome body. Her white throat bobbed.
“So?” she demanded. “What did you conclude? How safe am I?”
“Not at all,” he said flatly. “If T-Rex is a tenth as good as me, he could be sitting right where I am now. I’m betting he is. Somebody should tell your folks this. That somebody probably should not be me.”
“Yes, they’re prejudiced,” she admitted. “But if you hadn’t stopped us from getting into the car, I’d be dead right now.”
“There is that,” Sean agreed. “Did that earn me some points?”
“With who?” She laughed nervously. “With my mother?”
“I don’t give a shit about your mother. I’m only interested in you.”
She fended him off with sarcasm. “I’m so honored,” she said. “But you were way, way down there into the negative numbers, point-wise.”
His mouth twisted in a humorless smile. “Am I up to zero yet?”
She dragged the comb through another tangled lock. “I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t know why you’re here, what you want, why you care. What does zero mean? A blank slate? Like nothing ever happened between us? I’m sorry, but I just can’t pretend that.”
He shook his head slowly. “I wouldn’t want you to.”
They stared at each other until Liv’s eyes dropped. She dug the comb into another thick snarl, her fingers trembling.
So she wasn’t immune. Angry, but not indifferent. Triumph leaped inside him, like flames. He wrenched his gaze away from her face. The wad of condoms was stiff in his jeans pocket, digging into his thigh. T-Rex. He had come here to talk to her about T-Rex.
“So you have no clue who this guy is?” he asked. “Most stalkers are known to their victims.”
“Yes, I know that,” she said shakily. “But I have no idea.”
“No jealous ex-boyfriends?”
She shook her head again. “Not a one.”
“I don’t see how an ex-boyfriend of yours could be anything but jealous, princess.”
The statement hung in the air. She lifted her chin. “Are you jealous, Sean?”
He clenched down on the hot flare of excitement. “What, you mean, I count as an ex-boyfriend? I rate the list? I’m honored.”
Her gaze was penetrating “Don’t wiggle out of the question.”
He took a deep breath, and threw it out there. “Is this a sneaky way of asking if it was me who burned your store and rigged a bomb in your car? Is that what those idiots have been telling you?”
She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
“My brothers can vouch for me, if there’s any doubt,” he told her. “But even if I were so jealous I was sick with it, I would never hurt you, Liv. Not you, nor any other innocent person. Never. Is that clear?”
She stared into his eyes, and nodded. “That’s clear,” she said.
“You believe me?” He could hardly believe it.
“I believe you.”
