“Yes, ma’am. Night.”
She hangs up without another word, and I snap off my light and lay my head down. I hope I can get to sleep. My adrenalineis going crazy. I could read a book, but I decide to try to sleep without one. I close my eyes and listen to the silence around me. My neighborhood is usually pretty noisy no matter the time of day—or night, so it’s strange that it’s so quiet.
When I hear footsteps outside my window, I lift my head in an attempt to see outside. It’s dark, so I can’t even see shadows. It’s probably just my neighbor or someone trying to cut through my yard. “Good luck with that,” I mutter. That concrete wall back there will stop them. I wait and listen for the footsteps to move back out toward the front, but I hear nothing. I shrug and roll over. Time for some shut-eye.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
MY GRAY LIFE
I’mantsy on the drive home. My head is spinning—so many things are wrong with MacKenzie’s place, I’m not even sure where to start. There are no exterior lights… and the locks, I mean lock, singular. Her windows are as old as the house. Anyone could jimmy those open. They’d have to be small, but there are plenty of small criminals running around the streets of Chicago. Whoever owned the house prior should have made sure she was safe.Damn it.My fists clench my steering wheel, and I tell my car, “Call Gill.”
“Boss?”
“Gill.” I’m not really sure what I want to ask him. Maybe I just need advice. “MacKenzie’s place.”
“Yeah?”
“It’s a security nightmare.”
“You’ve been there, boss?”
“Yes. I took her to dinner and then invited myself into her place. I wanted to see what was happening there.”
“Uh-huh.” I can hear the smirk in his voice. “And?”
“It’s worse than I imagined. There are no lights on her exterior. She’s got one flimsy lock on her damn door. Plus, itsticks. If she were trying to get inside quickly, she wouldn’t be able to do it.”
“Okay. What else?”
“Footprints. There was one set of footprints in the fresh snow when we got there. It appears whoever left them went from the front gate to her door but in a wide arc.”
“Avoiding any light from the house?”
“Yes. How did you know?”
“Just a guess. I could put a couple cameras outside her place from the street to keep an eye on each side of the house.”
That’s a great idea. “Great.” We’ve done that before. One of my guys wears a City of Chicago jacket, and we use one of our vehicles with a magnetic city logo on the side. That’s standard practice for us. “What else?”
“We can’t go in and change her locks. She’d know we did that.” He chuckles. “I’ll check out the back and see if we can get a camera on her door. I know she’s got a wall at the back of the property from the property assessor website. I’ll see if there’s something we can do.”
“Can you do it tomorrow?”
“Yep, tomorrow, boss. Consider it done.”
“Okay. Thanks, man. Talk to you soon.” The cameras aren’t going to be enough, but it’s something for now. Damn, I want to call her. She barely spoke to me tonight. She’s so damn shy. But at the New Year’s Eve party, she was so animated. I need to relax and take my time with her. I’m sure I’ll see that girl come out eventually. I’m doing my best to move slowly, but it’s nearly impossible when all I want to do is sink my cock into her over and over again. Fuck, my hard-on is going to drive me insane. I’ll do it myself this time. Next time, I’m coming so deep inside my girl she’ll feel it for days.
When I get backto my place, I’m still on edge. Part of it is due to all of my security concerns about MacKenzie’s space, but most of it is due to how turned on I am. Still. It’s been forty-five minutes since we kissed and touched, and all I want to do is go back and finish what we started so my dick will calm down.
“Jesus, what is it about her?” I haven’t been in a long-term relationship, or hell, any term of relationship. Sure, I’ve had sex with my share of women that I’ve met at conferences, bars, and social functions, but MacKenzie Parker is the exception. She’s different. She’s refreshing and frustrating at the same time. She’s pure and almost virginal. Shit. Could she be avirgin? I wouldn’t think so. The girl is beautiful and sexy. There’s no way she’s gotten past the male population without someone trying to get in there.
I wonder if she’s been in a long-term relationship? Or does she date a lot? It didn’t seem like she felt very comfortable on a date, but maybe it was me who made her nervous. I’m a big guy. I can be intimidating. I’m almost a foot taller than she is, and I must outweigh her by a hundred pounds. Then, there’s the fact that I practically mauled her at her store. I flinch at the thought that I’m probably scaring the shit out of her. That could be why she was so quiet. The MacKenzie I saw at the party was curious, irreverent, and funny. Tonight, she wasn’t the same girl.
I’d love to know how much she’s dated. Gill won’t be able to search her dating history, but he could look to see if she’s on Love Match or Tinder. Christ, I hope she’s not on Tinder. All Tinder is good for is to find people within a two-mile radius to fuck. I flinch again. So, yeah, I’ve used Tinder and I’m not real proud of it.
I pick up my phone and text Gill.
Me:On a scale of 1-100, how creepy would it be for you to search for her on dating sites like Tinder?
