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Caleb nodded with a flash of determination flickering in his eyes. “That’s good. I’m prepared for anything.”
I glanced back at Geneva’s house with a sigh. I privately dissected our fight from before. I guess I couldn’t really consider it a fight. It was more like a little disagreement, but I left because I wanted her to know that I was not the kind of guy who would overstep boundaries.
She was freaked out, and rightfully so—I just wish there was a way I could show her that I wasn’t the one she needed to worry about. If she wanted to be alone, then so be it. I would just watch from afar and swoop in to be the hero she needed if it came down to that.
Which, by the way, I hoped I wouldn’t need to do. It would just end up being a boring, uneventful rest of the night.
The street lamps beside my car flickered and buzzed. A few insects swarmed around the attractive light. The grass had a soft green glow under the silky moonlight. Nothing ominous going on here. It seemed like an average night.
“Her living room lights just flicked off,” I said, nudging Caleb to get his attention as I pointed out the window.
All was dark inside her house. She was probably tucking herself into bed right then. I imaged her in a lacy nightie, maybe something sexy and vibrant and red. My heart started pounding. I needed to shake off the sexual arousal jitters. If I played my cards right, hopefully I would get another chance with her.
My eyes were drawn to movement nearby. A pine green Toyota Camry crept slowly up the street. It wouldn’t have been unusual, but the fact that the person driving wasn’t using their headlights. Odd.
I watched as they disappeared out of sight.
Or maybe I was being too paranoid. Caleb, who was Mr. Military Law Enforcement, yawned beside me and tapped the glass from his window. “Man, this is really dull.”
“Yeah,” I said, then sat straight up. “Wait…”
Caleb frowned. “What is it?” He peered out the windshield.
“That green Camry again. He was just here a couple minutes ago.”
“That’s peculiar,” Caleb said. “No headlights, either.”
My unsettled feeling deepened. Before I was able to get the license plate number, the car was gone.
The minutes dragged on into hours. The Camry didn’t return.
The next morning, I woke up and wiped the drool from my mouth. I blinked my eyes open, turned my head to see eyes glaring at me from several inches away, and shouted.
“What!” Caleb jolted awake, staring at me as if I had two heads. “What the hell, man?”
In answer, Geneva rapped at my driver’s side window. Obediently, I rolled it down.
“What are you guys doing here?” she demanded. It looked like she was torn between anger and perplexment. Oops. This probably wouldn’t help any of her paranoia from last night.
“What are you guys doing here?’ she asked again.
“Damn. I’m sorry, Geneva,” I sat up and immediately tried to compose myself. I had no idea what time I’d fallen asleep but apparently, I’d been knocked out for a while. “I know this looks…” Bad and maybe a bit stalkerish. “I can explain,” I amended quickly.
“We didn’t want to leave you alone,” Caleb interjected. “We decided to camp out here to make sure you were safe through the night.”
Geneva pursed her lips and then shook her head. “I can’t tell if that’s disturbing or sweet.”
I looked into her warm blue eyes. Perhaps she had forgiven me after all. “Sorry we fell asleep on the job.”
“It wasn’t your ‘job’ to begin with,” she snapped, but her words lacked bite. She sighed and then looked away, a blush coming over her rosy cheeks. “I did some thinking after last night, and I realized that it’s very unlikely any of you had anything to do with the hotel room or the note. Even if you did, there’s no motive. If it is the same person, they want to scare me. You’ve never made me feel anything less than safe.”
I nodded vigorously, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Caleb do the same. We probably looked like a couple hopeful puppy dogs instead of the suave, protective professionals we had been going for.
Geneva’s lips curled with amusement. “So, did you end up seeing anything interesting?”
“Actually, yes.” I exchanged a glance with Caleb. “There was this green Toyota Camry driving up and down your back street at a slow pace last night. It went up and down without headlights.”
“Makes sense if the driver was searching for something or someone,” Caleb added.
