She dropped her bag on the hall table and paused at the sticky note on the pile of mail.
Pretty sure these are bills, so I haven’t looked at a single one, as I’m manifesting a good day. Oh, and I made chili. It’s in the fridge. You’re welcome.
A smile curved Callie’s lips. Of course bills would affect Aspen’s day, because she hadn’t finished her book in too long so her income had to be dwindling.
Quickly, she shuffled through the mail. Aspen was right.
Bill. Bill. Bill.
She was about to drop the pile when she reached the last one.
All the fine hairs on her arms stood on end at the sight of that familiar writing.
No. This couldn’t be from him. This was her home address. It wasn’t public knowledge. He shouldn’t have access to it. Had he followed her home?
The idea made a shudder roll down her spine.
With shaking fingers, she tore open the envelope to find a single piece of paper.
Whenever I see your hair, I just want to touch it. I bet it’s soft like silk.
Nausea curled in her belly.
Lock was right. She needed to tell Eastern. This was too far.
She also had to tell Aspen. If they had her address, this involved both of them.
Quickly, she crossed her living room into the kitchen to grab the other letters she’d stashed in a drawer—only to stop at the sight of the back door. The back door she thought she’d fixed.
Only right now, it was open.Wideopen.
Her heartbeat stumbled over itself. She lifted her phone and called the person with whom she’d always felt safest. The man she absolutelyshould notbe calling.
He answered on the first ring.
“Callie?”
“Lock…I need you.”
CHAPTER 9
Biceps. Thick, glistening biceps that stretched the material of the crisp white shirt. A white shirt that, in her opinion, was far too tight. Surely seeing every curve of muscle on the man’s body was overkill. And had he always been that tanned? She didn’t remember his skin looking so bronzed.
She should still be thinking about the creepy note and the way her open door had scared the crap out of her. But nope. Lock Walker entered her home and suddenly she was undressing him with her eyes.
“You should have let me fix this earlier.”
She jumped at Lock’s words. The first words either of them had spoken since he’d gotten to work. In fact, he’d arrived, looked at her door, done that jaw-clicky thing he did when he was mad, and immediately gotten to work fixing it.
She cleared her throat. “I didn’t want to ask you for a favor, and I didn’t want to hire someone else in case word got back to Dad. Besides, I thought I’d fixed it.”
Clearly, she was no Bob the Builder.
He shot her a look over his shoulder. “Why didn’t you want it getting back to your dad?”
Of course that was the part he focused on. “I didn’t want to worry him.”
His brows flickered before he turned back to the door. “Call me next time. It’s not a favor—it’s me taking care of you.”
