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I immediately wrap my arms around him, needing to be surrounded by his comforting arms. All of the tension I was feeling a few minutes ago drains away as he holds me tight against him.
Suddenly I feel something wet on my arm, and I lean back, peeking my head around Cooper. There, sitting in the driver’s seat is the sweetest little dog I’ve ever seen. Although to call her little isn’t entirely accurate. She’s fully grown and has the tan coloring of a lab, but her ears stand up tall so I don’t think she’s a full lab.
Cooper turns to see what I’m looking at and chuckles. “Quinn, this is Piper. My nosy best friend,” he says as he gives her a pat on the head. I hold my hand out for Piper to smell.
“Hi, Piper. Aren’t you a pretty girl?” I say as I gently rub her head. She leans into my hand as I’m petting her, making me smile. It’s then I notice Cooper never let me go. His arm is still wrapped around my back, and his hand is curled around my hip.
The way his fingers are digging into my side makes everything female in me stand up at attention. His cologne wafts into my nose, and the feel of his strong body pressed up against me plays into all of the delicious fantasies running through my head.
The reason he’s here unbiddenly pops into my head, effectively acting like a bucket of cold water dousing my raging hormones. I take a deep breath to refocus my mind.
“Should we head inside so you can see what’s going on?” I ask, not wanting to end the moment but knowing this needs to get done.
“We probably should. I’m going to leave her in the truck while we’re inside.” Cooper says with another pat to Piper’s head while telling her to stay there. We step back and he closes the door.
Walking in through the garage, Cooper holds my hand, giving it a squeeze. Before we get inside, Cooper turns to me, “Let me do a quick walkthrough to make sure no one is inside, and then I’ll come get you when it’s clear.” I feel a whole-body shudder move through me at the thought of someone still being inside. I don’t have the capacity to say anything at this moment, so I nod my head and wait.
A few minutes go by and Cooper comes back, giving me the all-clear. A deep breath I didn’t know I was holding flows out of me.
“Besides your studio, did you notice anything else out of place?” Cooper asks as we enter the kitchen.
“Not really, but I honestly wasn’t paying much attention. After I realized what happened, I just wanted to get out.” I look around the room, cataloging my belongings. Being back inside makes my skin prickle with the knowledge that a stranger was in my house without me being here.
“Let’s look at your studio first, and then we can check the other rooms.”
Cooper guides me across the living room and into my studio. The doors are still open from when I was in there earlier, so we walk right in and, automatically, my gaze goes to something I missed before.
The painting I did of Cooper’s eyes is facing outward and leaning against the leg of my easel. Now I know for sure someone was in my studio. I had that painting tucked away with other canvases, and only by going through those canvases would you have been able to find it and pull it out.
I’m just unsure as to why that one painting was pulled out.
Cooper looks around the room, seeming to take in every detail. “Without touching anything, can you show me what has been moved or changed?” Cooper asks.
“I first noticed my paintbrushes were all out of order. I keep them organized by size so when I need a specific brush, I can quickly grab the one I need without having to search for it.
“I thought it was weird, and normally I do a better job of cleaning up but figured I was in a rush or something. Then I noticed the baskets holding my paints were a little askew, and when I opened one, the paints that are normally in each drawer were switched around.” I point to each item as I tell him about my system.
“I know it seems a little obsessive, but I keep each basket organized by color, and when I opened them, they were all mixed up. I’m sure I sound crazy but this system helps my imagination have room to flow and not get hindered by mess,” I tell Cooper, hoping he doesn’t think I’m insane. In every other aspect of my life, I don’t need organization, but when it comes to my studio, it’s the one place I need it so my mind can focus.
“If it was just my paintbrushes, I would have brushed it off and moved on, but my brushes combined with the paints makes me sure this wasn’t an issue of time management or distraction. On top of all of that, when we walked in, I noticed this painting on the floor,” I say, pointing to the canvas I never wanted Cooper to see. “I had it tucked in with the canvases over there. Someone had to have gone through them and pulled this one out.”
“Okay, I’m going to run out to the truck and grab my kit. Do you want to take a look around and see if anything else is out of place?” he asks.
“Sure,” I respond, nodding my head. I don’t want to be left alone in the house, but I summon all of my courage and follow Cooper out of my studio and back into the living room. As he heads back out to his truck through the garage door, I start walking around downstairs, trying to find anything out of place.
Cooper comes back inside with a grey briefcase-type box in his hand and heads into the studio. Since everything seems to be fine, I continue my search upstairs.
I walk through all the rooms, not seeing anything out of place until I walk into my bedroom and immediately freeze.
18
QUINN
My stomach turns as I take in the scene before me. Where the subtle mess of my studio would have gone unnoticed by most, the chaos of my bedroom would be missed by no one.
Every item that was once sitting on a surface, is now on the floor. My bedside table lamps, picture frames, and knick-knacks are all spread across the carpet in no obvious order. It’s the most bizarre and unnerving thing I think I’ve ever seen. It makes absolutely no sense and has effectively scared the hell out of me.
I slowly back out of the room and walk downstairs to get Cooper. “If I wasn’t already sure someone had been in my house, my bedroom would have confirmed it,” I say as I enter the room.
