“As if,” I snorted, rolling my eyes. “It isn’t the same thing at all. I’m a twenty-three-year-old college graduate with a ton of debt and no job. You’re a hot guy who served in the military, knows how to fly planes, and has what I’m assuming is an awesome career since your boss let you borrow a freaking plane for the weekend.”
“You do realize that a big part of why the auction went viral was because you’re fucking gorgeous, right?” My eyes widened as I shook my head. “Plus, you put your life on hold to save your nephew.”
I shrugged. “All I did was donate some bone marrow. Anyone would’ve done the same under the circumstances.”
“I wish I could agree with you, but you’re wrong.” His grip on the steering wheel tightened, and his knuckles turned white. I couldn’t help but wonder if he was thinking about some of the things he’d seen when he was in the military. “Don’t downplay the importance of what you did.”
“I couldn’t imagine living in a world without Harry.” I sniffled, remembering how I had felt as though someone had punched me in the stomach when Ana had called to tell me about his diagnosis. “He’s such an amazing little boy.”
“Tell me your favorite story about him.”
Harry was one of the few topics I could speak about for hours without feeling self-conscious, so the trip to the hotel flew by. I didn’t have much time to think about the fact that I was going to be walking into a hotel room with a guy I’d just met. It should’ve been awkward, but I was more at ease with Devon than I ever remembered being with another guy. Between sitting in the co-pilot’s seat next to him for the flight to Portland, being aware of everything he did while I tried avoiding him during the party, and talking about my nephew for the past hour, Devon had somehow managed to sneak behind the wall I usually kept up around people I didn’t know that well.
After putting my luggage into one of the bedrooms, I walked back out to the shared living room. I grabbed the magazine highlighting the best local restaurants and tourist attractions off the coffee table and handed it to Devon. “There are lots of fun places we can go, but we’ll need to keep the budget in mind since my bank account is a little light right now.”
“Cost isn’t going to be a problem.” He pulled an envelope of cash out of his back pocket and handed it to me. “You have plenty of money to spend.”
I shook my head and shoved the envelope back at him. “Nuh-uh. This isn’t mine.”
“Sure it is.” Instead of taking the cash, he held his hands up. “Your sister gave that envelope to me while you were saying goodbye to Harry. It’s the money from the auction site, minus processing fees.”
I started to shove the envelope into his front pocket, but I yanked my hand back when I realized how close my fingers were to his dick. My cheeks were bright red as I argued, “Then it’s your money because it came from you in the first place.”
“Nope, sorry.” His lips curved into a smug grin. “The terms your sister listed on the auction clearly stated there were no refunds once the transaction was complete. The only reason Anadidn’t give you the envelope was because she knew you’d argue with her over it, and she wanted to get us out the door before you changed your mind about the hotel.”
“My sister is so darn sneaky,” I muttered, rifling through the bills. “The only way I’m taking this is if we blow the whole thing doing stuff you pick while we’re in Portland.”
“Hooah,” he agreed with a determined gleam in his dark eyes.
Devon was more than up to the challenge. We spent the next day and a half seeing all the sights Portland had to offer, from the Spruce Goose at an aviation museum to whales on a boat tour on the Pacific. We ate at three of the best restaurants in the city, dropping about five hundred bucks on dinner alone. I couldn’t remember having as much fun with anyone else, and I was sad for our time together to come to an end when he dropped me back off at my apartment the following evening.
8
DEVON
When we reached Mel’s door, I was grateful as fuck that I’d insisted on walking her inside. She never would’ve noticed the scratch marks on her doorknob, but I’d been trained to notice every minute detail pertaining to my surroundings. I spotted the proof that someone had picked the lock as we neared her apartment and threw my arm out to stop her from moving any closer.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, glancing up and down the hallway, looking for a clue as to what had spooked me.
I jerked my chin toward her door. “It looks like someone broke into your place.”
“What? Really?” She took a step back, pressing her hand to her chest. “Why would a robber even bother with my place? None of my stuff is worth much of anything.”
People committed crimes for less, but she did have a point. I scanned the other apartments near hers, but none had any visible signs of a break-in. Mel had been the perp’s only target, which made the situation even more fucked up. Yanking my cell out of my pocket, I fired a quick text off to Whit, asking him to put things in motion to install cameras across from her door andinside her apartment. Then I rolled her luggage over to the side of her door before kneeling to snap a few photos of the knob.
Mel looked scared out of her mind when I stood and turned to her. Pulling her close, I wrapped my arms around her and whispered, “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
“I never thought I’d say this,” she mumbled against my chest, “but I’m so happy my sister put up that darn auction. If she hadn’t, I would have had to face this whole thing by myself. I mean, what if I’d been home when they broke in?”
“You don’t need to worry about that, sweetheart. I’ll figure out what happened.” Guarding people was a big part of my job, but this time, it was personal.
She took a few shuddering breaths before stepping back and looking up at me with damp eyes. “What do we need to do? Call the cops?”
I wanted to strangle the person who’d made her so afraid, but first, I had to figure out who they were. “I need to go inside and make sure your apartment is clear.”
“Oh my gosh, they could still be in there?” she hissed.
“Hopefully not since I left my gun in the glove box of my SUV.” When she gasped and her eyes went wide, I quickly added, “Not that I’m going to need a weapon. The obvious scratch marks on the doorknob lead me to believe I’m dealing with an amateur. I’ll be able to handle whatever I find in there, no matter what.”
