Cocky Protector - Kat Mizera Page 0,14

hear what I’m trying to tell you.”

“I don’t want to listen to anything you have to say.” She pointed a finger at me. “Stop following me. Stop moving things around in my apartment. And don’t you ever invade my privacy again.”

She started walking away.

I had no choice but to follow her, so I did, reaching for her arm. “Would you please listen to me?”

“Nope.” She kept walking, wrenching her arm away so I couldn’t touch her, and a few people looked our way so I opted to let her go.

“Call your mother!” I called after her. “She’s the one who contacted me. Ask her.”

She hesitated, but didn’t turn around. Then she kept walking.

Great. I felt completely helpless as the woman of my dreams stalked off down the street, totally upset with me. Had I fucked this up or what?

I’d just gotten back to my hotel when Samantha Barrow’s name flashed on the screen of my phone. Oh, this was going to be fun.

“Hey, Mrs. Barrow.”

“You read her diary?!”

“What did you think I was going to do?” I demanded. “Watch her for a few hours, immediately find the stalker, beat him up and call to tell you everything was okay? Do you understand how a stalker works? If she even has one.”

“If…” Her voice trailed off. “What do you mean?”

“Well, so far all I’ve discovered is that Shannon decorates with a lot of bright colors and doesn’t think she’ll ever get married again. Essentially, there isn’t any evidence pointing to a stalker.”

She sighed.

“If you truly believe there’s something going on, I’ll stick around a little longer, but now that she knows I’m here and is pissed at me, I don’t know how effective I can be. I wish you’d told me she got a nanny cam.”

“She just did it last night. I didn’t know.”

“Well, what do you want me to do?”

“Shannon isn’t crazy. I don’t know what’s going on, but I know she’s not making things up or having hallucinations. She showed me the pictures of her teakettle in the morning and then in a different place when she got home. Short of doing it herself, what else could this be? She has money, a job she swears she loves, and friends she travels and hangs out with. There’s no reason for her to make something like this up. Please, Ace, don’t give up yet. I know she’s being difficult, but it’s only because…”

“Because?” I pressed her when she let her voice trail off.

“Her divorce hurt and losing her father gutted her. She’s had a rough couple of years and even though you did what you had to do, I’m sure breaking into her apartment feels like a betrayal of some kind.”

Now I was the one who sighed. “I should have spoken to her before I did that.”

“Well, what’s done is done. Give her a couple of days to calm down and see if you notice anything else amiss. If there’s still no sign of a stalker, I’ll let it go.”

“All right. A few more days.” I hung up and put the phone down. This had gone sideways in ways I couldn’t explain. I hadn’t anticipated the nanny cam, hadn’t even thought about it since there hadn’t been one in my initial visit to the apartment. I’d taken for granted she was still a sweet, naïve woman who wasn’t very worldly and I’d been very wrong. Now I had no idea how to fix it, and worse, if she really did have a stalker, I wasn’t in any position to help her.

I’d just dozed off when my phone rang. I grabbed it and blinked at the unfamiliar number. It was local, which was confusing, so I answered cautiously. “Ace Ross.”

“Ace, it’s me.” She was whispering but I somehow recognized Shannon’s voice.

“Shannon? What’s wrong?”

“There’s someone in my apartment.”

I jumped out of bed, grabbing my jeans as I spoke. “Are you safe? Where are you?”

“I’m at a bar. I was going to delete the app for the stupid nanny cam and when I pulled it up, there was someone there that’s not you.”

“Tell me where you are and do not leave the bar!” I jammed my feet into my shoes, grabbed my coat and ran out the door as she told me the name of the neighborhood pub she was calling from.

I hailed a taxi and was there in less than ten minutes, rushing inside and barely breathing until I saw her. She was at a table by the window, staring down at