The mighty Quinns: Liam - By Kate Hoffmann Page 0,41

Boston. Maybe I should go somewhere else. I was reading this book the other day that said—”

Before she could continue Liam brought his mouth down on hers, stopping her words in her throat. The kiss was soft and reassuring and Ellie opened beneath his gentle assault. She smoothed her hands over his face as he kissed her, exploring with her fingertips, her touch heating his blood.

He pulled back and smiled down at her. “We can talk about books later,” he said. “Why don’t you go grab what you need and we’ll go over to my place? Tomorrow we’ll come back and clean up.”

Ellie nodded. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For being here. For watching out for me.”

Liam waited while she packed, walking through her apartment and picking up where he could. When he found the phone beneath a pillow from the sofa, he put the receiver back into the cradle. He was tempted to call Sean but he’d leave that for later.

Ellie reappeared a few minutes later with a small duffel bag. “He went through my dresser,” she said. “But he didn’t touch my jewelry.” She paused, then shook her head. “No, it couldn’t be him.”

“Who?”

“I’m just being paranoid.”

“Who?” Liam demanded, slipping the strap of her bag from her shoulder. He reset the alarm, then closed the door behind them and locked the dead bolt. They walked down the stairs to the street and Ellie stopped. “Ronald,” she finally said.

Liam wasn’t sure how he ought to react. Either Ellie was genuinely confused by all that had happened or she was very deftly throwing suspicion onto her partner in crime. “Ronald Pettibone?”

“I just don’t know…” she said, shaking her head.

“Why would you think it could be him?”

“He broke up with me. And he was pretty clear that he didn’t want to remain friends. That’s why I left the bank. And then, out of the blue, he shows up here. He claimed to have friends here, but we spent a long weekend in Boston about a month before we broke up and he didn’t mention any friends then. Do you think he’s stalking me?”

“I don’t know,” Liam said. “But I’ll find out.”

Liam glanced up and down the street before they got into his car, noticing a black sedan with tinted windows parked down the block. Now he was feeling a little paranoid.

As they drove through the city, he kept his eyes on the rearview mirror, swinging around the block every now and then to make sure he wasn’t being followed. When he was satisfied that the black sedan wasn’t tailing them, he headed toward Southie.

He hoped that Sean would be gone when he got home, but when he stepped inside his flat, he found both Sean and Brian sitting on the sofa, eating pizza and watching a game show. They both registered surprise at seeing Ellie again, but for completely different reasons.

“Hey there, Ellie,” Brian said, standing and brushing the crumbs off the front of his sweater. “It’s nice to see you again. How was the game?”

“It was great,” she said, giving him a warm smile. “The Red Sox lost, but it was still fun.”

Liam ignored a tiny sliver of jealousy as Brian held on to her hand for just a bit too long. “You know, if you spend much more time at our place, you’re going to have to start paying rent,” he told Brian.

“I’ll remember that next time you come over to do your laundry for free.”

Sean pushed to his feet. “What are you two doing here?”

“Someone broke into Ellie’s apartment,” Liam said.

“Again,” Ellie added.

“Again?” Brian asked. “You’ve had more than one break-in? Gee, Charlestown doesn’t have a real high burglary rate. Do you think there’s some kind of crime wave starting there?”

“I think I’m being stalked,” Ellie said. “That, or I’m really unlucky.”

“Ellie is going to stay here until we figure out what’s going on with her apartment.” Liam took her arm and tugged her along to his room. “Why don’t you get settled? Then we’ll go out and get some dinner.” He closed the bedroom door behind her, then strode over to the sofa. “Did you ransack her apartment?” he demanded, his voice a harsh whisper.

“No,” Sean said. “I went though everything, but I put it all back in place before I left. Someone must have been there after me. It wouldn’t have been too hard for him to get in—I couldn’t reset the alarm because it wasn’t set in the first place. Ellie might have noticed.”

“This wouldn’t have happened if