Closing the door on Shane, I leaned back onto the surface and slumped down to the floor.

Dinner with Shane and his family?

I wasn’t quite sure why I agreed. The man’s preconceived notions about my character had been mean and unwarranted. If it hadn’t been for the way he apologized, I would have dismissed him entirely. I wasn’t a doormat. I wasn’t weak, and I never would be again.

You should have told him about those deliveries.

It hadn’t occurred to me, until everything had been said and done with Rosie, and then Shane’s judgment, that the little girl shouldn’t have been able to get inside my cottage.

With everything I’d been through thus far in my life, I lock everything. Everything! I was overly obsessive about it, to be honest. My house, my cottage, my car. Hell, I have double locks for the first two. It didn’t matter that I was going to the curb to fetch my mail. I locked my doors and windows. It didn’t matter if I was still inside my car. The doors were locked then too.

So how was it that Rosie was able to get in?

The answer was simple.

Someone had been in there before her. It had to be it.

I shivered at the thought that my home—my sanctuary and workplace—had now been invaded. The fact that an innocent child could have been harmed, by showing up like she had, brought a whole slew of goosebumps. I felt violated.

Picking myself up off the floor, I made sure to check the door’s locks, as well as all the windows and additional doors, before making my way to my bedroom, locking that door too.

Morning came too soon for me.

Last night, I’d slept with my bedside lamp turned on, and my Glock 26 under my pillow.

Every noise had me jumping, no matter how familiar the sound was.

I’d lost count at how many times I reached for my gun whenever a twig snapped or a vehicle came barreling down the street. A car door slamming had me bracing.

By three a.m., I’d resolved to talk to Shane about that security system I had debated—and dismissed all too easily—yesterday.

By lunchtime, I was coming out of my skin.

I felt like I was being watched, and it was proving a big distraction, if my nearly avoiding being run over by a black Chevy Avalanche was anything to go by.

Opting to stay where people were, I walked into Fairfax—a place I’d only heard of and hadn’t been to before now—and ordered myself a burger with everything and their signature seasoned fries with a zesty cheese dip. It wasn’t one of my healthiest options, but it was what I needed.

I was digging into my meal when a shadow darkened my space.

“Is everything okay, ma’am?”

Looking, up and up and up, I was greeted by a handsome man with jet-black hair and a pair of dimples that set my motor running. His smile was congenial, his eyes friendly. I instantly found myself wanting to ask him to sit with me because he made me feel safer.

One glance at his wedding ring, however, had me reevaluating my intention to follow through with my thoughts.

“Dalton,” he introduced himself by sticking out his big mitt of a hand, which I took.

“Emberlyn.” My smile was forced and I could tell he knew this, his assessing gaze going into overdrive.

“Hey, babe?”

The man turned, his megawatt smile shining through toward a beautiful, short pregnant lady heading in our direction.

“I thought you said you’d wait in the car,” he said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders, not having much choice but to wrap hers around his back and cuddle into his side.

Looking up at Dalton, she wore a sheepish expression. “Had to use the facilities,” she explained, then looked my way and smiled. “You’d think I’d be annoyed, but I never thought I’d be pregnant so I’m nursing all these little annoyances for all they’re worth. I’m Devolin, by the way. Was my husband harassing you?”

“Not at all.” This time, my smile came easier, feeling more genuine. “Emberlyn.” I presented my hand once more. Looking around, I realized I couldn’t have picked a busier place—even if I tried. “Are you waiting for food?”

“Yeah.”

“You can sit with me, if you’d like,” I told them.

Devolin jumped right on in. “So, Emberlyn, what do you do?”

I bit my lip, debating on what to tell these people. “Ever heard of Lavender Sky?”

Devolin’s eyes widened. “I love their products! They’re small from what I know.”

I nodded, grinning. It looks like I had a fan. “I make them,” I announced.

“Seriously?” Dalton looked impressed.

“Mhmm.” I snuck a bite of one of my fries, washed it down with a large gulp of Pepsi, and asked. “And how about you two?”

“Dalton owns his own security company,” Devolin said, “and I work for him.”

My eyes flickered between the two. What were the odds? “What kind of security?”

“Investigations, and sometimes, some search and recovery,” Dalton said. “Devolin is my lead expert when it comes to following someone’s electronic footprint.”

My mouth formed an ‘o’ in understanding. “So you’re a hacker?”

“Po-tay-to…po-tah-to,” she murmured with a devilish gleam in her eyes.

The conversation at hand gave me a segue into my recent dilemma.

“You wouldn’t happen to know of any decent companies that install security alarms, do you?” I blurted, immediately feeling bad that I was willing to talk about this with mere strangers before mentioning it to the neighbor, whom I already had a rapport with, and incidentally was also a cop. In my defense, if I couldn’t mention it to Shane, who better than a security expert?

Dalton’s eyes narrowed. “Emberlyn, are you in trouble?”

“I-I just can’t be too careful, you know?” Cue the forced smile. “With my business growing, and me living alone, I want to make sure my assets are safe.”

Something in the way Dalton looked at me told me he didn’t quite believe my words. To evade his scrutiny, I chose to look over at his wife. She wore a very similar expression to her husband’s.

“Dalton knows of a few people that do systems. I’m sure we can help, right, babe?” She looked toward her husband.

The man nodded, his attention being beckoned by someone behind the bar. Standing from his seat, he offered me another one of his kind smiles, and then pulled his wallet out. Fishing through it, he slid a business card over the table, and toward me. “Give me a call. We’ll help you out.”

I nodded. “Thank you, I will.”

“It was nice meeting you,” Devolin said cheerfully.

“Likewise.” I smiled again. “Both of you.”

Just as they’d appeared, they left, their meals in tow.