Page 35 of Worth the Wait

He laughs. “She and my wife are best friends. Have been since way before we met.”

“Small world.”

“It is indeed.” We stare at each other, two men who understand the silent warning the other one is giving after the unspoken acknowledgement, that yes, I have slept with her.

His warning is be careful.

Mine is it’s none of your business.

“It’s actually quite a good thing. I can breathe a bit easier knowing you’re next door after what happened.”

If he didn’t have my attention before, he sure as hell has it now.

I fight the need to know and the want for her to tell me herself. The need to know wins.

“What’s that?”

“She hasn’t told you?”

“Nah, but I know something’s up. She jumps at the slightest sound. She’s constantly on edge. Unsettled. The look is the same one any of us on the job have seen before. She tries to hide it, but it’s still there. Add to that, she’s in my class. Reluctantly.”

Grant angles his head to the side and stares at me, almost as if he’s asking if he can trust me when he damn well knows he can.

“About a month back, she woke up in the middle of the night to a man standing over her bed.” The fuck?

“What?”

“Yeah. Guy stood there, scared the shit out of her, and then took off without doing a thing.” He shrugs in obvious frustration. “Rare for Sunnyville. Masked intruder. No forced entry⁠—”

“Which means he had a key or she left the door open.”

“She didn’t leave it open. She’s a stickler for the dogs under her care and is always afraid one might bolt.”

“Did the dogs bark to alert her?”

“Nope. That’s one of the many odd things. The dogs didn’t bark. The guy didn’t say a damn word. Didn’t threaten her...he stood there and stared at her before taking off out the back door.”

“Any leads?”

“She gets a lot of odd calls because of the business name but none that pan out. She had a guy she met online...nothing serious, but after a few dates he wanted more and she didn’t.” Is it bad I love hearing this? “The guy sent some weird shit to her so he’s my bet. That and the fact he’s disappeared off the face of the earth…”

“Huh.” It’s all I say as I replay his words.

“Yeah. She feels like she led him on. Unintentionally, mind you—but you and I both know how someone who’s not all there is challenged with rejection⁠—”

“Shit goes downhill fast.”

“Pretty much. She feels she brought this on herself...or at least that’s the story she’s giving me to hide the fact that it scared the shit out of her.”

“It’s always hard for the tough girls to admit they’re vulnerable,” I murmur, thinking about her reaction in self-defense class. The constant jokes. The need to redirect away from her discomfort. Then to our conversation yesterday. The way she jumped when she saw me on her patio. Her refusal to tell me why.

“Always. It seems you might know her pretty well.” I smile, because fuck if I’m going to hide it. Grant throws his hands up and laughs. “I don’t want to know.”

“Smart man.”

A text alerts on Grant’s phone, and he glances at it for a second. “Shit, I’ve got to go.”

“We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” I say and point to the groceries around us.

He laughs and reaches out to shake my hand. “We do. We need to actually make plans next time.”

“It’s a plan.” Grant takes a few steps away and turns back, and I smile. “Don’t worry, Malone. The warning has already been heard and yes, I’ll look out for anything strange at her house.”

His smile is quick. “Thanks, Rez. She’s family.”

“And the second warning was just given,” I say through a laugh that matches his. He turns around and disappears at the end of the aisle.

I stare at the cereal in front of me but the boxes of Crispix and Frosted Flakes blur together as I think about what Grant just said.

How so many things make sense now.

Desi’s jumpiness.

The distance she prefers to keep.

She has good reason to be fearful and guarded.

But not on my watch. Fuck. No.