Chapter One
Jenna
How did my life get so screwed up?
I tapped a finger against the porch railing. It was in dire need of stain, and the picket fence surrounding the small front lawn needed some white paint. The flower beds were dry and dead. The grass was dead in the front and the backyard. The inside of the house fared no better either. The carpets needed to be ripped out, the hardwood floors restored, and every room needed to be swept and scrubbed down.
This was what my life had become over the past few months— run-down and in desperate need of fixing. My heart ached just thinking of the past year. Gone. Wasted. It tasted bitter at the back of my throat.
The small neighborhood was quiet against the backdrop of a buzzing Denver. I gazed along the shaded street while waiting for my mom’s esteemed realtor to arrive and hand over the keys. My dad’s small inheritance he had left behind for me in case of an emergency had paid for this house and a few small repairs that needed to be done. Everything else would somehow be up to me to figure out.
A job would be the next thing to look for. The shelter back in California had given me a basic flip phone to contact my mom with. My books, computer, iPhone, and clothes were all locked up in Leon’s apartment still. I paid for it, so it’s mine, not yours. That had been his response when I’d asked him to send my things through the mail. I had even offered to wire over a small bit of money for him to do it, but he’d only take the money. If he couldn’t hold me hostage, he’d hold my possessions hostage.
I sighed inwardly. How I ended up with someone like Leon was beyond me. A wolf dressed like a sheep was how I had described it to the shelter. Nothing about him screamed danger. He had charmed the hell out of me my freshman year of college. He had been the man on campus then. I had been the quiet book nerd looking to enjoy a few California sunrays. Colossal disaster. I still had the bruises on my arms and legs to prove it.
Those dark and horrible memories tickled the back of my head. I swiped at them in annoyance, tugging the long curls of my hair out of my hair clip. Don’t think about it. Just ignore it. Keep going forward like they said.
“Hello there!”
I blinked to find a middle-aged woman in a knee-length floral dress standing on the other side of the fence. She smiled kindly at me with her dark hair pulled back in a bun. A little girl clung to her hand, impatiently tugging at her mother’s arm.
“Hello,” I said, forcing a smile.
The woman put a hand on the gate to open it. That was when I caught sight of the casserole dish in the palm of her hand. I stepped down from the porch to open the gate for her.
“Very kind of you,” she said, beaming. “I’m Martha Smith. I live four doors down. This is my daughter, Julie.” She ran a hand down Julie’s dark locks fondly. “She’s one of the youngsters you’ll see running around here.”
“Hi,” Julie said.
“Hi,” I parroted back.
“We wanted to bring you this,” Martha continued, holding out the casserole dish. “We heard from the realtor that you would be moving in today but had no working appliances just yet. I do hope you have something to sleep on besides that nasty carpet in there.”
I took ahold of the casserole dish. The smell of chicken and rice filled my nose. My stomach gave an appreciative rumble.
“Thank you,” I said, holding the fine ceramic carefully in my arms. “I have an air mattress in my car that I’ll sleep on tonight. The rest of my furniture will be here tomorrow hopefully.”
“Oh, good. I’m so glad someone bought this house. The last occupants didn’t take care of it at all, as you probably know.” Martha’s eyes raked me up and down then. They settled on the bruises on my forearms, and I couldn’t tuck them away with the casserole dish in my arms. Thankfully, she looked away a second later. “You look so young to be buying a house. How old are you?”
“I’m twenty-three,” I said, uncomfortable with that knowing look in her eyes. “Thank you again for the casserole, Ms. Smith. It smells good.”
“Call me Martha,” she said airily. “It makes me feel old when you say my name that way.”
“Right. Martha—”
The roar of a diesel truck interrupted us. I glanced over my shoulder to see a tall and strong man hop out from the driver’s side. My heart gave a start when he swept an icy gaze across me and Martha. His blond hair was tousled back sexily. Muscles strained against the cuffs of his gray shirt. I glimpsed a cross tattoo on his right forearm before he turned on his heel to walk around the truck to the passenger side.
“That’s Derek Summers,” Martha whispered to me, leaning over the fence slightly. The passenger door opened, and a little boy jumped out a second later. He pretended to crash roll on the driveway before scrambling to his feet. “That’s his boy, Owen. He goes to school with Julie.”
Julie gave an impatient whine then. “Moommm. Can I ask Owen to play before dinner?”
“Maybe, honey,” Martha said placidly. “That depends on Owen’s dad.”
“Why are you whispering?” I asked.
Martha blinked. “Am I?” She laughed lightly. “I supposed it’s habit, dear. Derek over there is a bit of a grump over noise, so I suggest you keep it down.”
“I’m not loud.”
“Mooomm!”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake!” Martha took a step back from the gate to call out in exasperation. “Derek! Does Owen have time to play before dinner?”
The little boy immediately stopped at the question. He turned to look up at Derek with a hopeful expression.
Derek shook his head, placing a hand on Owen’s shoulder. His gaze skimmed over us indifferently.
“Not tonight, Martha,” he said, his husky timbre filling the summer air. “Owen has homework he needs to finish. Have a good night.”
The curtness threw me a little. I looked over at Martha, who didn’t seem too surprised or bothered by it. She caught sight of my expression.
“You’ll get used to him,” she said. “He’s a bit rough around the edges, but he’s quite helpful when you need him. He’s just an ass at times.” Her nose crinkled. “Don’t expect him to be around at night though.”
I couldn’t help it. Curiosity got the better of me. “Where does he go at night?”
“Beats me,” Martha said, shrugging her shoulders. “A job I assume. He doesn’t talk about himself much. All I know is that JoAnne’s daughter, Hayley, is the trusted person for watching Owen at night.”
I didn’t care about any of this information. Men were at the bottom of my list now. He is sexy though. I ignored that thought. He was a bit of a prick from what I had gathered. The last thing I needed was another man like that in my life. That had been the reason I had gotten into trouble in the first place.
I spotted my mother’s realtor driving down the street in our direction. I closed the gate as politely as possible.
“Thank you again,” I said, taking a step back. “I better go. That’s the realtor with my house keys.”
Martha flashed a dazzling smile. “Of course, dear. Anytime.” She reached over to pat me on the shoulder. “If you need anything, don’t hesitate to come get me. Remember to keep the noise down.”
She walked down the sidewalk with Julie hopping along. They disappeared behind a large oak tree a minute later.
This was a new beginning with new people around. Everything would be okay again. Things would be better once the dust settled. I repeated those things to myself firmly.
I looked over my shoulder to see Derek grabbing the mail from his box on the front door. He looked at me with a blank expression before stepping through the front door, slamming it shut behind him.
“So much for making friends with the neighbors,” I muttered, and started in the direction of the realtor when she stepped out to jiggle the keys at me.
“Ready to see your new home?” she asked kindly.
“Yes,” I said emphatically. Even if it was a complete mess inside, it was my place. It was my fresh start.
Chapter Two
Derek
It was just my type of shitty luck to have a young and sexy woman as a neighbor. I had moved here to Arvada just to escape women in general after my divorce. Now I had an attractive and young one living next door to me. It was horrible and shitty luck that I couldn’t shake off.
I never blamed the universe for what had happened. I had made the decision to marry Sidney despite my family warning me to steer clear of someone like her, but the sex had been far too good to let her go. Sidney knew her way around a bedroom, but that had been part of the problem. She was so damn good at it that she lured other men in too.
My father’s voice echoed in my head as I watched the young woman talk with someone who appeared to be a realtor from the living room. “Son, 99 percent of women are cunning and manipulative. That’s just how God made them. Look for the rare 1 percent, but don’t dare to dream of ever finding it.”
Cunning. Manipulative. Greedy. That was exactly who Sidney was. I had a rundown house, barely a few bucks in my account, and full parental custody of Owen after a year of fighting each other in court. Within a matter seconds, that judge had ordered me broke and Owen to be split in half every summer and holidays while Sidney lived in a nice beach house with my savings account in her name.
Bitterness tore through me. I let the curtain drop down before picking up the stack of mail in the hallway. I sifted through it to toss the junk in the trash can. The television had clicked on in the living room. I could feel the tension radiating off Owen even before I stepped in to turn it off.
“You need to finish your project, buddy,” I said, taking the TV remote from his grasp.
“I can finish it later,” Owen said. He folded his small arms over his chest with an angry huff and looked away from me. “You never let me play with my friends anymore.”
“You can play with them at recess during school,” I said, but that didn’t appease him. I caught sight of his scowl. “I’m serious, Owen. Finish that project or you won’t get to play outside for a while.”
“What’s the difference?” Owen mumbled.
He got to his feet anyway to grab his backpack by the front door. I let out a sigh the second he was out of sight and hearing range. There were many times I wondered if the judge had picked the right parent to raise Owen full time. I had no doubt about how much Sidney loved him. She was good about the affection part, and while I loved my son more than life, I couldn’t find it in me to embrace him like he wanted.
I had my father to thank for that. What a kick he would get out of me blaming him for it. I couldn’t even remember the last time he had hugged me, let alone said he loved me.
I popped in the pizza we had picked up on our way home from school. Owen sat quietly at the kitchen table, circling randomly in his workbook. That was another thing I didn’t understand when it came to Owen. I could hardly ever hold still and focus. I had to move. My career in the Special Forces had been short thanks to an enemy bullet fracturing my spine the first few months of a tour. I was lucky from what the army doctors had told me at the time. Most of us never came back, and if we did come back, we came back with injuries so grotesque that it was unbearable. I missed those days, because then I had been moving somewhere with a mission. Now I moved at a slow pace around the house between getting Owen to school, going work, and paying bills.
“How about some football after pizza?” I asked.
Owen didn’t look up from his workbook. “No, thanks. I want to watch TV.”
I shook my head.
“You can’t just sit on the couch and watch TV,” I said. “You need fresh air and exercise.”
“We had plenty of that back with Mom.”
My jaw clenched. This was something Sidney and I had surprisingly agreed on in court. Owen was traumatized enough with everything that had happened. He didn’t need to hear either one of us talk about the other in a bad light. Still, I had no idea how to explain to him what divorce meant.
“I know,” I managed to say. “I’m sorry, bud. There’s just nothing I can do to make things better, is there?”
“No,” Owen said quietly. “Nothing.”
Owen silently ate his piece of pizza next to me at the kitchen table. It took all of my strength not to reach out and ruffle his blond locks of hair in the hope that it would cheer him up. I’m sorry. That was what I wanted to say, but I couldn’t apologize without explaining the entire truth of what had happened. That could come later, when he was old enough to understand that relationships could go awry without any cataclysmic event setting it into a downward spiral.
The doorbell rang right as I scooped up the paper plates from the table. Owen shot out of his seat with an excited grin.
“Hayley’s here!” he shouted, rushing into the hallway.
I arched an eyebrow. I had a sneaking suspicion that the only reason Owen liked Hayley out of all the other babysitters who tried to watch him was because she fed him chocolate and candy. Whenever he brushed his teeth in the morning after Hayley babysat him, there was always chocolate on them. She got him in bed on time though; I’d grant her that. I didn’t complain either, because I needed her there at night when I left.
Footsteps approached the kitchen.
“Hi, Derek.”
“Hayley,” I said, turning to look at her standing in the kitchen with a curt nod. “I just got him some pizza for dinner tonight. He’s finished with his homework too.”
“Right,” Hayley said, turning to look at Owen bouncing around her. “I guess that means we have some time to play a few games then, eh?”
“Not for too long,” I said over Owen shouting happily. “Just for thirty minutes is all.”
“Daaadd!”
I ignored the crestfallen look Owen sent me. I caught ahold of Hayley’s gaze pointedly. She gave a nod of understanding.
“You heard your pops,” she said. “Just for thirty minutes. I have my own homework to do tonight as well.”
“Feel free to use whatever you need,” I said. I clasped Owen’s shoulder as I passed by him. “I have to get ready for work.”
I entered my room to change for another long night. I slipped out of the rumpled clothes I had slept in all day when Owen had been in school. I gave my bed a longing glance. Nothing sounded better than settling down with Owen for the evening and going to bed at a normal hour again.
Crime never rested though. It thrived at nighttime.
I dressed in the usual attire of my pants and a black shirt with my bullet proof vest over it, and I grabbed my Glock 22 from the gun safe next to my bed. The sound of an air pump clicking on startled me for a second. Forcing my finger away from the trigger, I realized with growing dread why the sound was so loud.
My window was still propped open to let the summer air in. I bent down at the waist to see what I suspected— my new neighbor's bedroom window was wide open too, and I could see her blowing up an air mattress with a pile of sheets and blankets next to her.
My eyes focused on the tightness of her ass cheeks, which were peeking out from beneath her gray cotton shorts. I looked away sharply when I felt myself harden. Slamming my window shut, I pulled the shades down violently.
More shitty luck that our bedroom windows faced each other and she also liked to keep her windows open to let the night air in. Go fucking figure. I’d also undoubtedly be getting some shows at night, and enjoying them too.
Chapter Three
Jenna
“I’m worried about you, Jenna. I think we need to hire someone to take care of all of this.”
I rolled my eyes in exasperation for the hundredth time that morning. Not because I didn’t agree with my mother, but because she wholeheartedly believed she could hire a bodyguard to follow me from my house to the store.
“You can’t hire a bodyguard,” I said. “I’m not that important of a person.”
Anna Collins straightened the turquoise nylon scarf tied loosely about her neck. She sniffed delicately while gazing out at the showroom of various furniture sets.
“Nonsense,” she said. “You’re important to me. Just say the word, Jenna, and I’ll have somebody over at that apartment—”
“Mom,” I cut in harshly, shaking my head at her. “Remember what the police officers and social services told us? It’s better to keep my distance right now. We don’t want to tip him off either.”
“I know that. I just think it’s unfair that he won’t send you your things.”
“He paid for the things he has.”
“It shouldn’t be like that, Jenna,” she said, shaking her head at me with a sad frown. “Your father didn’t raise you to believe that sort of thing in a relationship is okay. Then again, we can agree to say you weren’t in a relationship exactly.”
A headache pounded in my temples. I loved my mother more than anything in the world. She hadn’t even batted an eyelash when I’d called from the hospital with two broken ribs, bruised arms, and a concussion to ask for help. Years ago, my father had passed away from a heart attack, and while his death had been dark and abrupt, he had made sure that my mother and I were taken care of. I had never accepted my inheritance because of Leon. He could take everything else, just not any of my dad’s hard-earned money.
The last thing I wanted to talk about though was Leon. I’d done enough of it by talking to the police.
“I appreciate everything you are doing mom,” I said, giving her a smile. “I just want to focus on moving forward now. I can live without a computer and a phone for a little bit until I get a job.”
“Oh, please,” Anna said. “I’m buying you a phone. There’s no way you can go without a phone.”
“Mom—”
“Don’t start, Jenna. Just say you love me, and let’s finish picking out your furniture so it can be delivered later.”
I embraced her tightly for a long moment, inhaling the smell of sunshine on her clothes. There was one perk at least to moving all the way out to Colorado. I got to be close to my mother again.
An hour later, I dropped her off at her gated retirement community with sprawling gardens and evergreen pines.
“I love you, dear,” Anna said, leaning in through the window to kiss me on the cheek. “Call me on that brand-new phone of yours if you need.”
I smiled. “Thanks, Mom. I will.”
By the time I arrived back to the house, the handymen my mother had hired to rip out the old carpet were pulling out rolls of rotted pads and stained carpet. I swept the hardwood floors free of nails and dust until the furniture trucks arrived. I stood on the porch while movers came in and out of the house.
Hope. It trickled through me for the first time in a long time. A new house. New furniture. I can do this. I can start my life over again. I tilted my head up to allow the warm sunshine to fall over my face.
“What the hell is all this?”
I started at the sound of Derek’s voice cutting through the morning as sharp as a surgical knife. My heart pounded against my ribcage when I saw him leaning over the fence slightly to watch the movers with an irritated scowl. Martha wasn’t kidding. He hates noise. There were dark circles underneath his eyes, but even rumpled he still looked sexy.
“Movers,” I said, stepping off the porch to walk up to him. The grass tickled my bare toes as I approached. He eyed me with an indifferent expression. “I’m sorry. Martha told me that you don’t like noise.”
“No,” he said sharply, “I don’t like noise. I work at night. The only time I ever get sleep is when my son is in school.”
I recoiled slightly at his agitated demeanor. “Okay, well, they’ll be done soon. I’m sorry. There isn’t anything I can do.”
Derek swept his gaze along the furniture trucks parked out front. It gave me a few seconds to admire his well-maintained frame. I wanted to reach out and feel those muscles bulging out. It wasn’t just his fit figure that hooked me. It was the haunted air that surrounded him. He kept his emotions well-hidden, though, when he looked back at me.
“Just tell them to keep it down,” he said. “This is the only time I get to sleep. I don’t have the ability to sleep all day like you do.”
The insult slapped me hard across the face. I stared at him as he leaned back to go to his house. What is his problem?
“I don’t have the ability to take a nap all day,” I said, a bit defensively. “I have things to do also.”
He snorted. “Such as?”
“I have a job too,” I said, though it was a flat-out lie. I still had to find a job by the end of the week in addition to everything else.
“You don’t look old enough to have an important job,” Derek commented flatly. “You don’t even look old enough to own a house that needs renovations.”
Anger skittered through me at those insults. “Well,” I said, hooking my hands on my hips, “I am old enough. I’m old enough to buy alcohol. I’m old enough to do everything. Not that it’s your business.”
“I didn’t ask,” he said. Jerk. “Just tell your movers to keep it quiet. I need to sleep.”
Exasperated, I looked over at the movers pulling out the frame for my new bed. They weren’t even that loud while they talked to each other.
“It’s impossible to keep quiet when you’re moving,” I said. “You’re asking me to do the impossible. Just close your bedroom window.”
He stiffened visibly at that. I had noticed, well rather heard, him slam his window shut the other night. It had been open again this morning, but the curtains had been drawn closed. I had no idea why I’d even looked at that this morning on my way out. Maybe it was because our bedroom windows faced one another. That thought caused an array of emotions to go through me.
“Tell them to be quiet,” he said shortly.
I opened my mouth to argue, but he was already stalking back up his driveway to the front door. He slammed the door shut without sparing me another glance. I walked up to my front porch with a sigh.
“Great,” I grumbled, shoving my hands in the pockets of my jeans. “I have an asshole for a neighbor who has ridiculously good hearing. How much better could this get?”
Chapter Four
Derek
Crash!
I jerked awake, one hand instinctively going straight to my Glock. A terrified scream filled the morning air. I shoved the sheets and blankets back. Years of training in the Navy SEALs pumped through my veins as I rushed down the stairs to yank the front door open. I scanned the area for the sound of the crash and scream with my Glock held in front of me defensively.
The second I rounded the right side of my house, I stumbled upon an alarming sight. There she was, my new next door neighbor, dangling by her fingernails from the gutter with a tipped-over ladder on the ground. She gave me a frightened look, either from nearly falling to her death or because I had the barrel of my Glock pointed directly at her.
Irritation swept through me. What the fuck? I clicked the safety back on before slipping my gun into the hoister at my hip.
“What the hell are you doing?” I snapped, stalking over to stand below her. It was a damn miracle she hadn’t fallen yet.
“Hanging out,” she said, her arms shaking from holding on. “The ladder fell when I was climbing up onto the roof.”
“Why were you climbing onto the roof?”
“Does it matter now?” She looked down at me, her face cherry red from the effort to keep holding on. “If you want to watch me break my neck, stick around. I’m sure you’d be happy.”
“I wouldn’t,” I growled. I held out my arms. “Just let go. I’ll catch you.”
She shot me a skeptical look. “Yeah, right. How do I know you can even catch me?”
“I trained in the Navy SEALs,” I said. “So you tell me if I’m able to handle catching a woman dangling from a roof.”
Her arms trembled violently. I waited patiently before she let go of the gutter, squeezing her eyes shut. She landed perfectly in my arms. She was so light that it surprised me. The smell of vanilla and coffee filled my nose. The bare skin of her back felt hot from the sun as it pressed against my arm. I caught a glimpse of her breasts jiggling slightly from the fall before I forced myself to let go of her.
“Thanks,” she said, stumbling to her feet when I practically dropped her. “At least I know you don’t want to watch me break my neck.”
She smiled in wry amusement.
“I’ve seen people with broken necks,” I said. “It’s not a pretty sight.”
“I’m sure.” She held out a small hand. “I’m Jenna Collins, by the way. I never got to introduce myself, because you’ve either yelled at me or ignored me since I moved in.”
I didn’t take ahold of her hand. Her skin had felt way too soft and good against my own. I didn’t want to think of how those hands felt.
“Derek Summers,” I said. “What were you doing up on the roof?”
Jenna glanced up at the gutter that was now twisted from her desperate attempt to hold on. A grimace contorted her freckled face. “I was trying to fix a hole in the roof before it got too hot. I found a raccoon in my attic last night, and I’m confident it’s getting in through the hole up on the roof.”
“Do you even know how to patch a roof?” I asked skeptically. I know she had taken offense to my previous comments about her young age, but she just didn’t seem like the type of woman who could climb up on a roof and know what to do up there.
“It’s not that hard,” Jenna said, puffing up slightly. “I just have to take some of the shingles and nail it down. It doesn’t have to be perfect.”
A chuckle escaped my lips of its own will. She paused in picking up the ladder from the ground, visibly surprised at the sound.
“That is not how you patch a roof,” I said, shaking my head. “If you don’t do it right, you’ll have snow and rain leaking into your attic. That will turn into an even bigger problem.”
“Right,” Jenna said. “So I’ll do it right then.”
I admired her stubbornness and pride; we had that in common. But I wasn’t in the mood to rescue her from the roof again because she didn’t check to see if the ladder was level and steady on the ground.
“Let me do it,” I said. I reached for the hammer that was tucked in the waistband of her jean shorts.
Jenna started back from me in a panicked fashion. I looked up in mild surprise to see fear, such intense fear, flicker there briefly before shame colored her cheeks. That was when I caught sight of the faintest hint of bruises that looked exactly like fingerprints on her forearms. Realization dawned on me then. Her skittish behavior, checking the locks excessively at night, and eyeing me with wariness made sense. All of it made sense. The defiance. The sharp attitude. Every single bit of it clicked into place.
“I can do it,” she said shortly, crossing her arms to hide the bruises. “Thanks, but I’ve got it covered.”
“You’re going to break your neck if you do it,” I said.
“Not that you care if I do,” she said. She turned on the heel of her bare foot. “Sorry to have bothered you. Better get back to sleep before your son comes home.”
Observant landed on that list too, far too observant if she’d already figured out my schedule. My eyes went straight to the tight curves of her ass cheeks in those frayed jean shorts she wore. I tore my gaze away when she turned to look back at me with a frown.
“If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have come out here,” I said, walking back around to the driveway. “It’s better to fix the roof when it’s cool out, too, like in the evening.”
“You only want me to fix it in the evening because you’re awake then.”
“That too,” I said. “Keep it down.”
I heard a mumbled word that sounded exactly like “asshole” thrown at my back. I slammed my door behind me. Leaning against it, I rubbed the sweat from my forehead while I willed my heart to cool. There was no point in trying to lay back down to get a few hours of sleep. I couldn’t get those images of her bruises out of my mind. Whoever had hit her, he’d hit her hard enough to put her in the house next to me. She wasn’t from around here. That much I could tell from how sun-kissed her skin was. Somewhere from the coast, I imagined. Maybe Florida.
My blood was running hot from feeling Jenna’s body cradled perfectly in my arms, a little too perfectly. I glanced down at the partial bulge in my pants. Sleep was definitely out of the question now.
“Great,” I grumbled, locking the front door. “Something I have to take care of on my own, just like everything else.”
Chapter Five
Jenna
The longer you ignore me, the worse it is going to get. Those words echoed in the back of my mind as I clicked out of my email with a trembling breath. At least I got notifications from my social media in my email account. It was the only way I could check things without alerting anyone to where I had gone.
Leon was the only one who suspected I would use my email account to check my social media pages. Everyone else just messaged me out of concern of where I had gone. I couldn’t tell them, though, as much as it hurt my heart to lose my circle of friends back in California. The thought of Leon trying to hassle them for information put cold fear in my heart. He was angry. He wanted to find me, and I had blind hope that moving to a large city would be enough to deter him.
The library was quiet for a Thursday morning. Everyone was in school or at work. I had spent the past hour applying for jobs that were posted online. Anything at this point would be better than nothing. I could rebuild my life as I went.
I hesitated in gathering my purse. Since falling from the roof, I had done my best to avoid Derek as much as humanly possible with us living so close. Nothing seemed to make that man happy. A cricket would set him off, but not like Leon. He was in control, guarded, and never once seemed physically threatening.
Except the one time he came tearing around his house with a gun pointed directly at me.
Navy SEALs. He’d had combat training at one point in his life. That much I could sum up him from the day he had rescued me from the roof. Running toward the sound of danger had been instinctive for him. Maybe having Derek next to my house wasn’t such a bad thing.
I left the library. Along the way, I rummaged through my purse for my phone to call my mom.
“Leon messaged me,” I said the second she answered. “He emailed me, actually. He knew I’d check my email.”
“You’re supposed to close those social media accounts,” she scolded, sighing into the phone. “I know this is hard, Jenna, but you need to listen to what the police told you. You know that jail only pissed him off. When he got out—”
“I know.”
A headache pounded in my temples. The hot summer air settled heavily on my shoulders. The sound of traffic washed over me. The first stirrings of dread started in my chest.
“He’ll come to Colorado,” I said quietly. “He knows where you live, Mom. Remember? We visited you once at Lone Tree.”
Anna blew an angry breath into the phone. “I’m not afraid of him,” she said defiantly. “Hell hath no fury like a mother protecting her child who has been hurt.”
That did not help my fears. It made everything way worse. I rubbed at my eyes tiredly as I climbed into the driver’s seat of my car.
“You should be,” I said.
“Honey, men like Leon live off threats. I’ll contact someone here, though, to see what they say about the situation.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
I pulled up to the house at 8:20 a.m. to find Martha and Derek talking with each other on the sidewalk. I felt Derek’s gaze threaten to burn holes into me as I climbed out of the car.
“I wish I could say that I could watch him,” Martha said. “It’s just too much, Derek, to do that every night. He needs a steady schedule, and he’d sleep better at your house.”
“I know all that,” Derek said, pointedly turning away when I approached them. “It’d just be for a little bit until I can find another permanent babysitter who can stay here overnight with him.”
Martha caught sight of me approaching. Her eyes twinkled mischievously. “What about Jenna?”
“Me?” My eyes widened at the thought of staying in Derek’s house overnight. “I don’t know if—”
“You’re in a need of a job, dear,” Martha said. “That’s what you told me the other day. Derek pays $100 a night Monday through Friday.”
That’s $2,000 a month. I looked up at Derek, who looked less than thrilled judging from the sharp glare he sent Martha.
“Well—”
“I have no idea who Jenna is,” Derek said flatly.
Martha rolled her eyes. “Does she honestly look like a criminal to you?”
“Appearances aren’t everything,” he replied. He ran a hand through his hair in visible frustration. “Please, Martha. I just need this until I can find—”
“I can do it,” I said. They both turned to look at me. “I can do it. I love kids. I took a couple of courses in child psychology as part of my degree.”
“There you go,” Martha said cheerfully. “Problem solved, Derek. It’ll be a good thing to get know your next-door neighbor.”
I caught sight of the wink she sent in Derek’s direction. Realization dawned on me then why Martha had suggested me.
“Martha—”
“Well, I better go,” she said, checking her wristwatch with a smile. “I have to get some errands done before picking up Julie from school. Jenna, call me if you need anything.”
She left us standing there on the sidewalk. I scuffed the heel of my sandal against the concrete while I waited for Derek to say something. I wasn’t thrilled about babysitting for Derek, but the pay was too good to ignore. I needed something to keep going.
“Listen, I can babysit until you find someone else,” I said. “I’m not some horrible child abuser on the run, if that’s what you think.”
Derek’s eyes narrowed at that. “What are you on the run from?”
I stiffened in surprise at the question. “Th-that’s none of your business if I’m on the run.”
“It is if you are going to watch my kid,” he said.
I threw my hands up in frustration.
“Fine,” I said shortly. “I was just trying to offer a solution until you figure something else out. It’s called being nice.” I started up the sidewalk, his gaze burning holes into me. “Maybe you should learn something about that.”
“Wait.”
I paused. Footsteps slowly came up behind me.
“I appreciate the offer,” Derek said, and I turned back to face him. “I go to work at 8:00 p.m. My shift ends at 5:00 a.m. You can sleep on the couch.”
My heart skipped in relief. The last thing I wanted to do was spend time in Derek’s house, but I needed the money until I figured something else out as well.
“I’ll be over at around 7:30 p.m.,” I said. “I can cook Owen something to eat too. I’m not a completely helpless person like you think I am.”
Derek didn’t respond. Dark and tired circles surrounded his eyes. It was hard to read the expression on his face.
“I’ll cook him dinner,” he said. “I’ll expect you around 7:30 p.m.”
He didn’t wait for a reply. He didn’t utter a thank you. I watched the strong muscles in his back flex through his shirt as he walked up the pathway to his front door. Something told me that pleasantries and politeness weren’t a part of Derek’s personality.
He’s still sexy though.
I sighed inwardly. I didn’t need to get involved with another man who was obviously emotionally unavailable or otherwise scarred. I was just going to stay the night inside his house, on his couch, while he went to work. There was nothing strange about that. Nothing would happen.
I had no idea if I was relieved about that or not.
Chapter Six
Derek
“My last babysitter gave me chocolate all the time,” Owen said. “I did everything she said because of that.”
I looked over at Jenna, who was standing nervously in the living room, holding her purse close to her chest. She smiled down at Owen despite her nerves.
“You’re in luck,” she said. “I love chocolate too.”
“Not too much chocolate,” I said, too tired to even argue with Owen. All morning I had tossed and turned, trying to get Jenna out of my thoughts. I caught Jenna’s eye. “Don’t let him bully you into giving him more sugar. We had a discussion about this before you came over.”
Owen stuck out his tongue at me. He immediately bounced back over to the couch to grab the book we had been reading together before the doorbell had rung.
“Jenna,” he said, grabbing ahold of her hand, “let’s read this book together. My dad doesn’t like it.”
“Sure,” Jenna said. “Just give me a minute with your dad, okay?”
He pouted. “All right.”
I grabbed ahold of Owen’s shirt before he could shoot up the stairs. He squirmed underneath me when I hugged him tightly, my heart lifting at the sound of his laughter. He had been devastated when I’d told him Hayley wouldn’t be able to watch him anymore.
“Good night, buddy,” I said, pressing my lips to his hair. The smell of his fruity shampoo filled my nose. “Bedtime in ten minutes. I mean it.”
“Fine,” Owen sighed out dramatically.
He slipped out of my arms to run up the stairs. I listened to the patter of his feet across the hardwood floors before turning to look at Jenna. She smiled timidly.
“If you need anything,” I said, holding out a piece of paper with my cell and office numbers, “call these numbers. I always answer at least one of them.”
“Right,” Jenna said. She glanced at my bulletproof vest curiously. “Are you a cop, or—”
“I work for the police department, but I’m not a police officer,” I said.
Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. I pulled out my wallet to take out a one-hundred-dollar bill. Jenna waved it away when I offered it.
“Pay me tomorrow,” she said. “What is it that you do exactly?”
The last thing I wanted to do was discuss what I had to watch every night. The Internet was an abyss of horrible and dark and twisted things that normal people didn’t think about on when they logged onto their social media accounts on a daily basis.
“I work for the cyber-crime unit here,” I said carefully. “I work on the Internet all night to catch criminals.”
Jenna’s eyebrows shot up in understanding. “Oh. That makes perfect sense then why you are gone at night all the time.”
“You noticed I was gone every night?”
“Well, sort of.” She flushed brightly before turning to look at the bookshelf. “Do you mind if I read a book once Owen is in bed? I lost all of mine.”
“Go for it,” I said, and I didn’t push the conversation further. I took in her tanned and long legs that were noticeable because of the shorts she wore. How would it feel to have those wrapped around me? I stirred in arousal at the thought. “Okay, have a good night. I have to get going.”
I didn’t give her a chance to reply. I gathered my keys from the hallway end table. The hot summer air didn’t help the fact that my skin already felt hot and flushed from imagining Jenna wrapped around me. I wiped away the sweat gathering at the nape of my neck. I needed to do something to release this tension brewing inside me. It was only for a few days until I found a permanent babysitter.
The phone didn’t ring once. Five o’clock rolled around without a word from Jenna. I pulled up into the driveway ten minutes after, wary of what I would find. The smell of freshly brewed coffee caught me by surprise when I walked through the front door. Shutting it quietly so as to not stir Owen, I walked through the dark hallway to where the kitchen light was spilling out.
“Morning,” Jenna said. She stood behind the kitchen island, nursing a cup of coffee while scrolling absently through her phone. “I didn’t expect you to be back before six.”
“I try to get back early to get a shower in before taking Owen to school,” I said. “Do you mind if—”
I pointed to the coffee pot behind her.
“Oh,” Jenna said. “Here. Let me pour you a cup.”
While she poured a cup of coffee, I undid my bulletproof vest with a sigh of relief. I draped it on the back of a dining chair. Jenna held out the cup for me to take. Her fingers brushed against mine briefly. The softness of her skin sent a tingling sensation up my arm. Her blond curls were damp. Gone were her tight shorts (thankfully), and instead she wore a pair of loose sweatpants that hung low on her narrow hips. Her tank top left little to the imagination, though, from her perky breasts to her flat stomach.
“Thanks,” I said, retreating to put space between us. “How did Owen do throughout the night?”
Jenna smiled warmly. “He’s a gentleman. I didn’t hear a peep out of him at all once I told him it was time to go to bed.”
“Good,” I replied, nodding. I took a long sip of coffee to fight of the exhaustion that clouded my brain. A hot shower with Jenna in mind sounded good, but I fought it off. The last thing I needed to do was release myself with thoughts of Jenna. I cleared my throat. “Thank you again for taking care of him while I find a babysitter.”
“No problem.” She tapped a finger against the rim of her mug anxiously. “I’m still looking for a job right now, so if you need me longer than a week, I’m free.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said.
Silence stretched between us. My body ached everywhere. I downed the rest of my coffee before setting it on the kitchen island between us. I pulled out my wallet to hand over a one-hundred-dollar bill.
“Thanks,” Jenna said, tucking it into the pocket of her sweats. “I actually had a favor to ask of you since you’re obviously well trained in self-defense and everything else…”
She trailed off a bit uncertainly. That piqued my interest long enough to put off having a hot shower.
“What are you getting at?” I asked.
“There is a person in my life who isn’t necessarily a good person,” she said a bit timidly. “I was wondering if you possibly teach me some self-defense tactics or how to use a gun.”
A sharp coldness settled in my chest.
“If you’re in danger—” I started, but Jenna cut me off smoothly.
“I was in danger,” she said. “I just want to be able to protect myself in case something comes up again.”
“I’m not buying it,” I said shortly. “What is going on for you to want a gun?”
Jenna’s eyes flashed defiantly. “Does it matter to you?”
“It certainly does. Owning a gun is a huge responsibility, one that I suggest you think long and hard about. It can end someone’s life.”
“Never mind,” Jenna said. She set her coffee cup down on the kitchen island. “I’ll be over tonight to watch Owen if you still need me. If not, you know where I live.”
I didn’t call her back. The front door shut quietly a moment later. I walked to the kitchen window to watch Jenna cross the front lawn before disappearing behind a few shrubs. That coldness in my chest melted away. Was he that dangerous? Years of working behind detectives and my fellow officers told me that he was dangerous, whoever Jenna had in mind. She’d done the right thing by moving away, but I didn’t want to see her end up with the emotional scars I carried close to my heart. Watching the life flicker away from someone’s eyes took a toll in a lot of ways. I’d seen it a few times, and I never wanted to see it again. Sidney had never understood why I had chosen to fight from behind a computer screen. “You shot people in the head before,” she had said. “Why fight it this way?”
The morning light spilled in through the curtains. I headed upstairs for a long hot shower before I started the process of getting Owen up for the day. The floorboards groaned beneath my feet as I treaded as quietly as possible to the privacy of my room.
The window was open still. I hesitated in closing the curtains as I always did. Instead, I hunched down to see Jenna collapsing in her own bed. She reached out to wrap her arms around a pillow, holding it tightly to her. It didn’t take a genius to see that she was crying.
I stood up with a sigh. Closing the curtains, I headed straight to the shower. I couldn’t help her as much as I wanted to.