Shadow of Doubt - Hailey Edwards Page 0,55

have him come to your place? Don’t look good for me to have a mouse near my store. People get ideas about raisins in their food.”

“I apologize.” I held up the mouse. “It scared me is all. I wasn’t thinking.”

“You have a good night now.” He pointed the broom at me. “Remember, don’t run no more after dark.”

“Yes, sir.”

Mr. Dickerson let himself back in his store, and I passed the hostage to Ford through the window he had lowered to better hear me lying like a rug.

“Do I want to know?” He took a sniff, and his eyes widened. “Snowball?”

“Yes, indeed.” I rounded the truck and hauled myself onto the seat. “She’s in time-out.”

“I guess so.” He handed her back. “I’m your boyfriend, huh?”

“Don’t get a big head.” I settled in for the short ride. “Mr. Dickerson is human. He caught me on patrol one night and offered me a ride home. I told him I run this neighborhood for exercise, and he almost had a heart attack. I make a point to swing by once a week so he knows I’m still alive.”

“You figured it would put his mind at ease if you had a big, strong, handsome man in your life.”

“As old-fashioned as he is, only one part of that sentence matters.”

“Ouch.”

“It’s just a flesh wound.” I patted his arm. “Your ego will survive. You apparently go around telling people you’re big, strong, and handsome. Pretty sure that means you’ve got plenty to spare.”

“I try, and I try.” He nosed the truck up to the curb in front of the Faraday. “You shoot me down at every opportunity.”

“I’m not actually your girlfriend, Ford. I don’t have to stroke your ego.”

The mottled red blossoming in his cheeks inspired pity in me, and I didn’t tack on or anything else.

But I was thinking it.

“The cleaners finished up three hours after you left. There’s a log of all the personal items they took for testing. If you’re missing anything that’s not listed, let the Faraday know, and they will arrange for replacements.”

“I have renter’s insurance.”

“The Faraday has only been breached once since our pack took over security,” he told me. “It happened almost two years ago. To Linus.” He threw the truck in park and got out with me. “It sets a bad precedent, makes it look like we can’t protect high-profile clients. Our alpha will not be pleased about this.”

“These things happen.” I led the way past the doorman, who was too busy perfecting his statue impersonation to notice what I held. “Hazards of the job.”

I had used that line more in the past twelve hours than in the past twelve months.

“It’s okay to be upset,” he said once the elevator doors closed behind us. “It’s okay to be afraid.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” I was quick to assure him. “I’m plenty pissed.”

Fear had no place in my life. Not anymore.

The hall stood empty, but I didn’t think too much about it. I had probably beat Midas here.

“Do you hear that?” Ford cocked his head. “Are you expecting someone?”

“No, and yes.” I passed him the mouse cup. “Stand back.”

Adrenaline dumped in my veins as I gripped the knob and found my apartment unlocked. A quick twist of my wrist opened the door, and I rushed the figure who spun around with a gleaming weapon in hand.

By the time my brain put a name to the face (Midas) and I had ID’d the weapon (staple gun), it was too late. I hit him center mass with my shoulder and knocked him backward, right onto the futon. Momentum got the best of me, though, and I tumbled after him. He landed in a seated position, and I landed between his thighs, on my knees, with my arms loosely wrapped around his waist.

“Um…”

Midas flattened his spine against the fabric. I wasn’t sure he was breathing, but his eyes sparked crimson.

“I wasn’t expecting you.” Slowly, slowly, I kept going until I sat on the floor, but I didn’t pull back before I got a nose full of his scent, cedar and amber. “I didn’t mean to tackle you. I don’t even like football. Except for tailgating, which is worth the crowd and the noise if you do it right.”

He closed his eyes, fisting his hands where they rested on the futon, but I never thought for a minute he might hurt me, and not just because of my gender.

Folding my legs into lotus position, I gave him space. “Are you all right?”

“I wanted to surprise you.”

The