Callum was nothing like Dominic and would never harm her, but as big and tough as he was, he didn’t look like a safe harbor.He looked like the red flags that she had missed when she first fell for Dominic.
Safe harbor didn’t exist.It was mythical.
Which was why she was always on the run.
He shifted uncomfortably on the couch.“Let me help you figure everything out.You don’t have to hide.”
Grace picked up her iced tea.The ice cubes clinked against the glass.There was no reason to be mistrustful of Callum, and she’d spent so many years wanting so much from him.His time.His attention.Him to see her as anything other than Hayden’s little sister.Now he was offering her his complete attention, and she was terrified.
Both dogs tilted their heads.A delivery truck rumbled to a stop in front of Alicia’s house.Alicia moved to the window.Callum joined her.They peered through the gauzy white linen curtains.
Grace’s stomach turned.
“It’s the FedEx lady,” Alicia said.“It’s fine.”
Argos and Toto sat on their haunches.Their heads turned toward the front door, and they barked after the doorbell rang.
“Expecting a delivery?”Callum asked.
“No.”Alicia pursed her lips, as though questioning the trust she’d put into Grace’s hiding skills.“But I smash a preorder link on paperbacks like some people drink wine.Then there are review copies, book merch.I enter a lot of giveaways.It’s a constant stream, and unless it’s for work, I don’t track book release dates.They arrive when they arrive and make my day.”
Alicia was talking too much.Grace could hear her nerves.The dread curling in Grace’s stomach multiplied even as the delivery truck revved to life again and pulled away.There had to be a hundred reasons—a hundred books—why a delivery had arrived, but the timing didn’t help her feel safe.
Callum removed a gun from the small of his back, where it had been secretly tucked.
Alicia put her hands on her hips.“Oh, no, sir.We don’t do that in my house.No guns.No way.”
“Callum.Wait.”Anxiety spiked in Grace’s veins.“It’s nothing.Put that away.”
He stalked through the living room.“Stay put.”
“Telling me to stay put in my house.”Indignant, Alicia recoiled but didn’t move.
Neither did Grace.Adrenaline coated the back of her tongue.She needed to apologize to Alicia for bringing problems into her precious home.
Callum glanced over his shoulder to make sure they hadn’t moved.
The deep seriousness in his eyes drained Grace’s last remaining nerves.She and Alicia stepped closer together as he checked the door.Their elbows touched.Alicia grabbed Grace’s hand.“Everything is fine.He’s doing what he knows how to do.”
Callum disappeared toward the front of the house.Shouldn’t he call out something?The coast is clear?False alarm?Her heart hammered.
“Come on.”Alicia tugged them back to the couch.“It’s nothing.”
Argos and Toto repositioned to bookend them.
“I’m sorry I brought this into your home.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”Alicia squeezed Grace’s hand.“There is nothing to be sorry about.Let the big guy with the gun check things out, and all will be fine.It’s probably not even a fun delivery of books.More like a tax return or something.”
“You’re such a shitty liar.”
Sherlock sailed onto the couch and exercised his paws on a throw pillow that once upon a time had an embroidered profile of Sherlock Holmes.
Callum returned with a standard delivery box in hand.Thank God the gun was nowhere to be seen.She couldn’t believe he had a weapon hidden on him.He’d been expecting that level of danger—or maybe he had a gun on him all the time.Was that comforting or terrifying?The Army had trained him to fire everything from handguns to tanks, but seeing it was something else.
“Who’s it from?”Alicia asked.
“A P.O.Box.”He snapped a photo of the address and tracking information, flipped the box around, inspected every side, then typed a message on his phone.Thewhooshof a sent text message sounded before he looked up.
