Right… Then what was all that “situational awareness” stuff?
I took a breath and tried not to be so damn defensive. I knew he was trying to help. To make sure I was safe. He wasn’t blaming me.
It was me who still felt guilty.
“I went on a date with him,” I said quietly. I’d already told him that in the car. But maybe I was still looking for someone to absolve me of it. “I mean… sort of. There were other people there, with us. But I flirted with him.”
“And that gives him the right to climb the wall of your house and break into your bedroom in the night? I don’t care if you married him. Nothing gives him that right.”
“Yeah.” I pushed my plate away. I hadn’t finished, but I’d definitely lost my appetite. “Agreed. But maybe I do need to be more… situationally aware.”
I looked at him. At his solid frame, his stony face, and those gorgeous eyes. There was so much more going on in his eyes than he put across with his body.
His body was inaccessible, but his eyes… they were all-seeing. There were deep wells of compassion in there.
Surely, this was what made his clients feel safe. I could feel it when I was around him… The sure, alpha presence. The decisiveness and control.
And that compassion in his eyes.
“Maybe I’ve just always seen the world through a bit of a soundtrack,” I said.
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know… Sometimes I get lost in the music in my head, and it’s like everyone is on the same track with me. They’re all part of this glorious musical and I’m the conductor.” He listened carefully, like he was trying to understand. Or at least assess. “Maybe it makes it hard to see that not everyone is hearing the same music that I am.”
“It’s good to be aware of that.”
“I wasn’t until just now.”
I studied him as he held my gaze.
Then he sat back in his seat.
“The police have released Sanchuk from custody.”
I blinked at him. “What?”
“I’m sorry,” he said, clearing his throat. “There was no easy way to tell you that. I wanted you to feel safe, to know we’ve got everything we need in place, we’ve got guys on it and we’ve got a plan, before I told you. But I don’t want to leave you in the dark.”
Well. I couldn’t exactly be pissed at him for that. But I was annoyed as shit that we’d just sat here eating dinner and he didn’t tell me right away.
“When did this happen?”
“Early this afternoon. Like I said, we have contacts in the police department. I called Brody already to fill him in.”
Of course.
Tell the men first. They need to know.
I bit back my irritation.
If I went into raging bitch mode, maybe he’d decide it wasn’t worth the trouble of telling me anything.
“So what happens now? Will he try to come after me again?”
“I’m gonna be straight with you, Summer—”
“Please do.”
“We don’t know this guy or his motives. We don’t know why he did what he did, and that makes him a threat. But you are not in danger. We’ll wait for the restraining order to come through. Meanwhile, you go about your life, and we make sure you’re secure. ”
“Right. And what exactly does that mean?”
“It means I’ll be with you twenty-four-seven. If I ever have to leave, briefly, someone from my crew or from Jude’s will be covering you.”
“Leave?”
“Maddox and his guys will be back tomorrow to install your new alarm system. I’ll probably pop out briefly while they’re here. I need to make a run over to my place, pick up some things.”
Huh. Interesting, how it disappointed me that he was leaving.
Though, obviously, he needed a change of clothes.
“Okay,” I said. Damn, though. I wasn’t scared that he was leaving, was I?
Yes, he made me feel safe, already. That was certain. As much as that certainty kinda bugged me.
But Maddox was just as good, right? He was one of Jude’s guys. Obviously, Ronan seemed to think so, too, if he was leaving him here with me. And Elle certainly trusted Jude and his team; they’d kept her safe her entire career.
One member of the team was as good as any other.
“Any travel you do,” he went on, “you’ll be traveling with two men. Me and someone else, so you always have coverage. But I’m still doing my assessment, putting together a complete security plan for you, and I’ll update you as I go. There are some things I’ll need to know. Like who has access to this house. And I want the names of everyone who regularly comes here. I need to be informed when people are coming over. Like your yoga instructor.”
“Carissa? She’s hardly a threat.”
“That may be. But I need to know.”
“Fine,” I said. “She’ll be back. She comes to practice yoga with me a few times a week, when I’m home from the road.”
“Okay. And who else can I expect to be showing up at the door?”
I considered that. “Ashley comes over a lot. He doesn’t always knock.”
“The door will be locked from now on. So he’ll have to.”
“Hmm. My friends Wendy and Jewel are here a lot. Elle’s here all the time. I have a massage therapist who does house calls. Do you want a list?” I asked, sarcastically, as he pulled a small notepad from his back pocket and produced a pen from somewhere.
“Yes,” he said. “Does anyone have a key?”
“My cleaning lady has one. But that’s it.”
He met my eyes. “And what about the key that was in the coffee can?”
“It’s in my bedroom.”
Oh… fuck. He was not gonna like this.
“There were… uh… a few more, though.”
“A few keys?”
“Yeah. Like, a few that went missing over the years.”
“You’re kidding me.”
“Nope.”
“From the can?”
“Yeah, but that was just because my friends let themselves in and out… we’re partying, people get drunk and they lose keys.”
He made that skeptical little growl sound in his throat. I’d heard it a few times by
