“Did you tell Chief Nichols about what Danny did toyou?” he asked. “Did she ask whether you want to press charges?”
“Yes and yes. But it’s like I thought. It would be difficult to nail him for anything aside from the trespassing, unless I want to go through a whole trial or something. Because he’ll deny attacking me. You’re my only witness.”
“And I don’t have a stellar track record. Any defense attorney would flay me alive on cross-examination. I’m sorry about that.”
Same kind of thing that might happen if I went to court to revoke Danny’s visitation rights. At least he hadn’t actually been handling drugs.
“It sucks,” I muttered. “But at least Nichols knows Danny has a vendetta against you. She’s a good cop. Teller always trusted her.”
He didn’t reply to that. My head was getting all swimmy now.
Maybe I’d overdone the whiskey.
“Grayden, I had a crush on you,” I said to the ceiling. “Did you know that?”
“You mean when you were younger? Yeah. I guessed.” His voice was right there in my ear. Gravelly and intimate. So close yet so far. “I was way too old for you then.”
“But not now.” My eyes fluttered closed. “Last night was the hottest thing I’ve ever experienced. The way you touched me? You felt how wet I was. All slippery.” The word felt downright erotic on my lips. How it forced my tongue against my teeth. “I’ve never come that hard.”
My thighs squeezed together as arousal built between my legs.
“I didn’t even get to play with your piercing.”
He groaned. “Piper, I…”
A loud sound outside made me sit up. “What was that?”
“What do you mean?”
“I heard something.”
“Where?”
“Outside.” Getting up on wobbly legs, leaving the whiskey bottle upright on the rug, I tiptoed to the nearest window. Everything was dark outside. My nearest neighbor’s lights were off, probably having gone to bed.
“What kind of noise was it?” Grayden asked sternly. There was a rustling sound, like he was moving.
“A bang. Something breaking.”
And now there was an electronic beeping. Where was that coming from?
“But it wasn’t in your house?” Grayden asked.
“No. It sounded like it was coming from…” I moved into the kitchen, looking through the window over the sink. “My garage. The side door looks open.”
The beam of a flashlight appeared, cutting through the darkness. Shit. I ducked down to hide. A cabinet knob dug into my back.
I understood that beeping now. The alarm panel for my homesecurity system. The garage was detached from my house, but it was still wired into the system.
“Grayden,” I whispered. “Someone broke into my garage.”
“Don’t move, okay? Stay right where you are and call 911. I’m on my way.”
TWENTY-NINE
Grayden
My truck’sengine roared as I raced toward Piper’s house. “Grayden?” she asked through my phone speaker.
