DVD in the player and moving the furniture back, she stretched to the introduction of the video. Things were just getting started when she heard a truck pull up out front. Already? She thought she’d have time before the workmen came. She’d gotten here an hour early on purpose to get these moves under her belt.
Something caught her eye in the backyard, but the closed blinds blocked her view. Her heartbeat thumped between her ears as she inched to the window and peeked through the slats. A man was creeping along the outside of the house. Abbey’s pulse leaped and her palms slicked. Maybe this was the guy after Julie. Maybe he thought he could get in and wait for her, surprise her when she came home.
Anger joined the mix of fear and panic as she backed away from the window. She needed to call for help. She headed for the wireless phone, but the receiver was gone. Julie had a terrible habit of never replacing the phone on the charger. If Abbey didn’t put it back, the thing would die on a regular basis. She held back the urge to groan and scurried to her bag near the front of the house for her cell phone.
The man was at the backdoor now, jiggling the knob. Abbey’s heart jumped into her throat. Even if she called for help the police wouldn’t get here fast enough.
The alarm! Abbey ran to the keypad in the hallway and flipped the top. She heard the squeak of the backdoor as it opened. Panic shot through her. She hit the alarm button on the pad, but it stuck. Glancing over her shoulder, she heard him coming closer. She jabbed at the button but nothing happened. What good was this stupid fucking alarm!
Run! She should run out the front and to a neighbor’s house.
Wait! The workers! The guys out front would help her. She raced into the entryway and opened the door, ran outside, ready to call for help, but didn’t see any workers. A lone truck sat parked across the street. The neighborhood looked deserted. Where was everybody?
Oh shit. The workers hadn’t come early after all. It was the man stalking the house who’d come. Her pulse tripled. She heard something behind her and panic shot through every cell. Abbey bolted for the neighbor’s house. She heard him behind her and wanted to scream, but she couldn’t pull any air into her frozen lungs. She’d barely gotten ten yards when a massive weight brought her down, tackled her to the lawn. She hadn’t even called the police! No one knew what was happening. No help was on the way.
Abbey fought like a wild woman, bucking and kicking as she wiggled and squirmed to get out from under the massive weight surrounding her.
Not again! Not again! Tears leaked out of her eyes as she struggled. Her ponytail came free and her hair obscured her vision.
“Nowhere to go, doll. I’ve got you now.”
Abbey barely heard his words through the roaring in her head.
The man flipped her on her back, trapped her wrists to the ground and stopped suddenly. He’d probably just now realized she wasn’t Julie. Although their skin tones were dramatically different, their body shape and hair color were remarkably similar.
“What the hell?” he muttered.
Abbey still fought like a mad woman. She wasn’t a teenager anymore. She had the ability to fight this guy. All those self-defense classes hadn’t been for nothing. She opened her eyes and screamed, a whole new burst of adrenaline racing through her.
Surprise stopped her cold and her scream died in her throat. What the hell?
“Abbey?” the guy said, breathing hard. His weight crushed her to the lawn. “What the hell are doing sneaking around in Julie Fraser’s house?”
Gasping for air, Abbey searched her terrified brain for his name. She’d never forget him. Elevator guy. Tall, auburn hair and a spectacular body. “Blake?”
He nodded and sat up, not one bit of humor on his grim mouth, his hand wrapped around her arm. “Answer me,” he said. “What were you doing in her house?”
Abbey smacked his hand off her as he tried to help her up. “Don’t touch me.” She got to her feet, still leery and shoved her hair behind her ears. She glanced around the neighborhood. He’d been at the hospital and now he was at Julie’s house? That was too coincidental. “Why don’t you tell me what you were doing sneaking around her backyard?”