What If You & Me (Say Everything #2) - Roni Loren Page 0,22

your place is long gone after all that screaming.”

He kept his arm around her as they sat down, and she kept the pepper spray clutched tight in her hand, half expecting her intruder to bust through this door, too. “You heard me? Why didn’t you come?”

He squeezed her arm. “Andi, I’m so sorry. I heard the screaming, but I thought it was one of your movies again.”

“Jesus,” she said, every part of her trembling now.

A distant police siren wailed, and Hill rubbed his palm up and down her chilled arm. “Try to take a few deep breaths. You’re okay now. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“I’m okay?” she repeated almost to herself, unsure.

“You’re okay,” he said. “I’ve got you.”

The sound of his reassuring voice undid her, the reality of what she’d seen sinking in for real. Someone had been in her house. With her, while she sat there under headphones, oblivious. So many bad things could’ve happened. She leaned into Hill, pressing her face into his shoulder, letting the tears overtake her. The terror she’d felt when she’d seen that door wide open had been a sensation she’d experienced in her worst nightmares.

Hill made quiet, soothing sounds, letting her make a mess of his white T-shirt, and murmured gentle words to her, obviously used to being the calming presence in chaotic situations. “You’re all right.”

The man was a stranger. One she couldn’t get a good read on, but in that moment, he felt like safety and comfort, like exactly the thing she needed right now. She let her pepper spray drop and wrapped her arms around his neck.

Chapter Six

Hill tensed when Andi looped her arms around his neck and pressed her face into his shoulder, her choking sobs putting little cracks in the armor he usually maintained when victims were upset. It did no one any good in a bad situation if the person there to help got emotionally swept up as well. But Andi’s entire body was trembling against him, and he wanted to scoop her up, hold her, and assure her that he wasn’t going to let anything happen to her, that she was safe with him.

But he had a feeling that when her panic eased, she was going to quickly remember who she was clinging to. He wasn’t going to make this even weirder for her by giving in to that urge to hold her. He put a hand on her back and tried to calm her as best he could.

He could hear the sirens blaring out front, and he informed the 911 operator that the cops were here and ended the call. The siren turned off, blue and red lights flashing through the front window. Hill listened as the officers walked up the porch steps, the wood creaking, and then as they called out to anyone who was inside Andi’s half. He could hear them as they inspected the other side of the duplex, knowing they wouldn’t find anyone. If someone had broken in, they were long gone by now unless they were the dumbest criminal who ever lived. When the knock on his door finally came, Andi startled and lifted her head, her cheeks tear-streaked and eyes puffy.

He brushed her hair away from her face. “It’s okay. It’s the police. I’m going to get that.”

Her gaze darted toward the front door. “How do you know it’s them?”

“I heard them search the other side. Plus, I’ll probably recognize them. I know most of the cops in this precinct. Stay right here, okay?”

She didn’t look ready to let him go, but finally, she released him. She shifted to the corner of the couch and pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging them to her. Only then did he notice that all she was wearing was an oversize T-shirt and boy-short panties. He glanced at the door and then back to her. “Down the hall, in my bedroom, there’s a basket of clean laundry next to the bed. You can borrow some shorts if you want.”

She glanced down as if just noticing her state of undress for herself, and she hurriedly put her feet to the floor, clearly self-conscious. “Oh, yeah, thanks.”

He gave her a second to head toward the bedroom, and then he went to the door. He checked the peephole, recognizing the face on the other side.

Of course. Fucking hell.

He took a fortifying breath and pulled open the door, schooling his face into one of mild impassivity. Officer Christina Morton was standing there, not