James let him drop the rest of the way to the tile floor.
It wasn’t a knockout punch, but it would do.
James hesitated only long enough to make sure he wasn’t getting back up and then hurried to unlock the door. He flung it open just in time to see a flurry of motion enter from his right.
His fist went up, ready to rumble with whoever the intruder had brought, but the source of the motion was the woman he was ready to rumble for.
Rose was wrapped in a sheet, still dripping wet from head to toe, and a phone pressed against her cheek. Soap bubbles were still scattered across her hair. They offset the severity of the red handprint around her neck.
“Are you okay? Where is he?” Her voice was hoarse. It made the anger in him mount again.
“I’m good,” he answered. He thumbed over his shoulder. “He’s out. For now. Do you have your cuffs with you?”
Rose relayed the details to whoever she was on the phone with but nodded to James. She pointed to her bag in the corner. James went through it with as much respect as possible, only lightly noting her handcuffs were tangled up with a pair of underthings.
“Behind his back,” she instructed.
James could hear whoever was on the other side of the phone talking quick. Rose replied in kind, but he had moved too far away to hear exactly what. Instead, his focus moved to the man as he rearranged him to cuff his wrists behind his back.
Who was he?
Where had he come from?
James had been in the kitchen when he’d heard Rose yell for him. Before that he had been in the living room.Both places gave him an easy view of the front and back doors. And even if they didn’t, where he had been in each room had given him a clear sight line to the bottom of the stairs.
Had the man still managed to sneak by him?
Had he found a different way to the second floor?
Or had he already been in the house before Rose had gone upstairs?
If so, then why did he wait to attack her when she was in the bath?
James finished his task and sat back on the tile floor to face him.
His hit had busted the man’s nose. Broken it, maybe. It was a mercy if that was all. James could have done a lot more.
Rose appeared at his side. Instead of sitting next to him where he had leaned back to rest on the tile, she pulled up on his elbow. Her hand was still wet. He let her lead him back out to the bedroom. She was no longer on the phone.
“The sheriff is on the way,” she said. “I need to get dressed but I’m getting kind of uncomfortable at the thought of changing with him in there and someone maybe coming up the stairs.”
James understood what she was asking. She’d stopped him at the one spot in the room where he could see the bathroom and into the hallway without having to turn toward each.
He nodded.
“I’ll keep watch, you change.”
“Thank you.” Her voice was still hoarse. It grated at James.
He couldn’t believe she had been attacked inhishome.
He was supposed to protect her.
What if he hadn’t heard her?
What if he’d been too late?
The what-ifs were brutal. James tried to keep his anger from boiling over while Rose went out of his sight line behind him to dress.
