“Stop.Ugh.”I slapped my hand on my forehead. “Okay, text me your address. I’ll be right there.”
“With a bottle of Bordeaux?”
“With a pair of blue-handled scissors.”
He laughed again. At least someone thought this was funny.
“Okay, but I’m at my house. I’ll text you the address, but I’m meeting the boys for poker night in forty-five minutes, so make it quick.”
“I’ll be there in under forty-five minutes.”
My pulse raced as I clicked off the phone.
Astalker.
Everything I had done the night before ran like a list through my head… Oh my God, I’d changed my clothes. Had the perv seen me undress? Had the whole world seen me naked? Was my naked body broadcasted somewhere on the internet?
My stomach clenched, and for a second I thought I might throw up.
“You okay?”
I spun around, the phone slipping from my grip and clamoring onto the floor. Phoenix picked it up.
“Sorry,” I said breathlessly. I took the phone from his hands. “Slippery… uh, cell phone...”
His steely expression told me he didn’t buy that.
“I’ve… I’ve got to take care of something real quick. I’m sorry.”
I breezed past him, but he followed me into my office. I felt his eyes burning into me as I slid behind my computer and began closing out the screens. My hand trembled over the keyboard.
“Are you sure you’re alright?”
“Yes. Fine.” The cartoon-sounding pitched tone that came out of me did nothing to convince him. I cleared my throat. “I’m fine. Uh, how about you call tomorrow morning and we’ll get our next appointment set up? I’m sorry about this.”
When I looked up, Phoenix was gone. Like a ghost. I blinked, stared at the doorway a minute, then pushed Mr. Steele aside and focused on shutting down the office.
It was thirty minutes before I was able to walk away from work. Two phone calls and eight urgent emails—two, I’d left in draft mode. I needed to get to Andrew’s, then home and immediately turn off my internet.
I grabbed my briefcase and purse, jogged through the lobby, and locked the door behind me as I stepped outside. The early evening air was sharp and damp, the storm cloaking the street in a gray sheet of rain. I jogged to my car and plugged Andrew’s address into my GPS. According to the directions and aerial map, he lived on fifteen acres outside of town. A drive that would take at least twenty minutes in the rain. The street lights flickered as I pulled onto Main Street and sped through the town’s square. The locals had gathered at Donny’s Diner for an early dinner. Tad’s Tool Shop was bustling with cowboys, probably getting extra supplies to prepare for the severe storms we were supposed to get over the next few days. Banshee’s Brew liquor store was packed to the gills, as always.
I took a left at the only stoplight in Berry Springs and followed the curvy road out of town. I was a mile down the road when I saw a large silhouette walking down the shoulder. Shoulders hunched and head bowed against the rain. I flicked on my high beams, squinted through the downpour, and leaned over the steering wheel. My foot slowly pressed the brakes.
No way.
Nofreakingway.
I slowed to four miles an hour and rolled down my window, rain and cold wind swirling inside.
“Whatthe hellare you doing?”
Keeping his stride, Phoenix glanced over his shoulder. “Going home.”
My mouth gaped. I pressed the gas and edged next to him. For someone who was in physical therapy, the guy had some speed. His walking gait equaled my jog.
Rain poured off his hair, the tip of his nose, his chin. He was soaked to the bone.
“I thought someone was giving you a ride?”
