by Katie Reus
She opened her mouth once, then closed it and nodded. Good. He didn’t want to waste time explaining now.
Methodically, he swept through her house, checking each window and door to make sure everything was secure. If someone truly wanted to break in they’d just smash a window or kick in a door, but that wasn’t what he was looking for. If there was a weakness such as an unlatched window, someone could easily take advantage. First he wanted to check for any sign of a break-in on the chance that someone was hiding in the house, like a partner.
When he was certain her house was clear, he found her downstairs by the door just as someone knocked on it. After looking through the peephole, he opened the door to Brad, who was still in his uniform. The flashing blue lights from his car flickered over the yard and house.
“I saw a man wearing a hoodie on Samantha’s balcony when I drove up,” he said to Brad, ignoring her gasp of surprise for now. “He scaled down it and was around the side of her house by the time I’d retrieved my weapon.” Keeping his SIG pointing downward, he added, “I have a concealed permit for this.”
Brad simply nodded, so Maguire continued, even as he tucked his weapon into the back of his pants. He would secure it as soon as he could. But he wasn’t leaving Sam. Not for a second.
“I would have gone after him, but I wasn’t sure if there was anyone else already inside or nearby and I didn’t want to leave her vulnerable.” He itched to race outside after the guy but it was far too late for that.
Brad nodded again and held up his radio, giving quick instructions to one of his deputies about the situation and ordering two of his guys to do a sweep of the surrounding neighborhoods.
But it wouldn’t do any good. Maguire understood that this was a small town and resources were limited. The department was only as large as it was because of all the tourism Holly saw.
“I’ll be back,” Brad murmured to the two of them, then focused on Maguire. “I’m going to turn your car lights off.”
Maguire nodded and shut the door behind him before facing Samantha. “You okay?”
“I guess.” She started to wrap her arms around herself but he pulled her into his arms. Without pause she rested her head against his chest. “So you saw someone on my balcony?”
“Yeah.” And he really wished he’d pursued him. But if the guy hadn’t been alone he’d have never forgiven himself if something happened to Samantha.
“That’s super creepy.” She pulled back slightly to look up at him. “I’m really glad you’re here.”
Yeah, he was too. “Do you have a security system?” He’d seen the keypad by the front door, but that didn’t mean it was activated.
“The system is in place, but the security company isn’t coming out until next week to add contacts to the windows and activate it.”
“You’re staying with me tonight.” There was no other option after this.
She stepped out of his embrace and looked up at him with raised eyebrows. Wearing a sexy multicolored summer dress that molded to her curves, she placed a hand on one hip. “Can you think of a better way to phrase that, Mr. Bossy?”
He cleared his throat. He was used to taking charge of most situations. It was one of the reasons he ran his own businesses. “It was pretty likely you’d have been staying over anyway.” Because they were definitely getting naked tonight. He couldn’t wait to peel that dress off her, inch by inch.
“So?”
He bit back a grin, glad she wasn’t denying it. “So…will you please pack a bag and stay over at my place tonight?”
The smile she gave him almost knocked him on his ass. “Yes, I will. Thank you for asking.” She gave a soft snort as she shook her head. “You think…the tire thing has anything to do with tonight? I feel stupid even saying that out loud.”
“Honestly, who knows?” But he didn’t believe in coincidence.
Sighing, she raked a hand through her long, espresso-colored hair. She’d left it down for their date and must have curled it because it fell around her face in soft, big waves. “I’ll go pack a bag. If the sheriff comes back in just tell him I’ll be down in a few minutes?”
“Of course.” Once she was upstairs and out of earshot, he pulled out his phone and pressed one of his speed dials.
Nolan picked up on the second ring. “Hey, man. Thought you had that date tonight. What’s up?”
Maguire didn’t waste time in explaining what had happened. “It could be nothing,” he said as he wrapped up. “But it could also be the same jackass who flattened her tires. I don’t know and Brad hasn’t taken a statement yet.” Though Maguire planned to ask questions as soon as Samantha was back downstairs. He wanted to know if she had any enemies or if someone had been harassing her through her job. “I have a big favor to ask.”
“You want me to stop by her mom’s place? Check on her?”
Maguire pushed out a breath, glad his brother was on the same page. Since Samantha’s vehicle had been vandalized at her mom’s house, he didn’t think it would hurt to have someone keep an eye on her mom. “Yeah.”
“No problem.”
“We’ll probably head over there too, but I wanted to make sure her mom had someone over there before we could get there.”
“Just text me her address. I’ll head out now.”
“Thanks. I owe you one.”
His brother laughed. “Yeah you do. I’ll collect with free labor on my car later.”
Rolling his eyes, he hung up right as Brad stepped in the front door.
The sheriff gave him a brief nod. “Where’s Samantha?”
“Packing a bag.”
“She staying with you?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. I was going to suggest it. It’s pretty clear that she was home, so if someone was attempting to break into her place knowing she was here…” The sheriff shook his head, his frown deepening. “That’s disturbing behavior.”
That was exactly how Maguire felt. Even if the vehicle vandalism wasn’t related to this, someone had still been either trying to break in or peep on her. Because the balcony led directly to her bedroom and was only accessible through the French doors upstairs. There were easier ways to break into the place, so Maguire figured that the unknown man had wanted to peek on her in her bedroom. It was disturbing and triggered all his protective instincts.
Maguire turned at the sound of Samantha coming down the stairs. Not in her bare feet anymore, she had on sparkly sandals and was carrying a brown and beige overnight bag. At the bottom of the stairs, she set the bag and her purse down.
“Did you find the guy?” Hope laced her words as she looked at Brad.
The sheriff shook his head. “No, but I want to sit down with you and take a statement.”
“That’s fine, but I want to call my mom first.”
“I already called my brother, Nolan. He’s headed over there right now to check on her.” Maguire glanced at his watch. “He should actually be there soon.” Nolan didn’t live far and he’d said he’d be heading out almost immediately.
Samantha’s expression softened as she moved up to his side and wrapped her arm around him. Facing the sheriff, she said, “I’m ready to answer your questions.”
* * *
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you had a stalker.” Maguire’s jaw was as tight as his white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel.
“Maguire.” Sam wasn’t sure what to say because she was surprised he was so angry about this. After spending half an hour answering the sheriff’s questions they’d headed over to her mom’s house—where Nolan was already waiting. Maguire’s brother had volunteered to stay the night, and even though she’d wanted to stay he’d made the point that if someone was harassing her, it was best to stay with Maguire, not her mom. She felt weird not staying but now she was just frustrated with Maguire. “I wouldn’t even call him a stalker.”
“A man who made harassing phone calls to your cell phone and office, who showed up at your work and even
your home uninvited. A man you had to get a restraining order against? A man who broke into your condo? That’s a stalker.”
She winced at his harsh tone. “I know. Okay, yes, he was a stalker. But I moved away. Far, far away.” It was another reason that moving home had been such an easy decision. She’d left all that grossness of Nelson Smith—aka her stalker in Oregon—behind. Or she thought she had. Actually, she was pretty sure she had. “I haven’t even thought of him since I moved.” Mainly because the man had an inoperable brain tumor. It was terrible to think, but according to his family—who’d convinced her not to press charges when he’d broken into her condo back in Oregon—he only had months to live.
“Why didn’t you press charges against him?” he asked as he pulled up to a stoplight.
“Because I felt bad. The man is dying. He was normal before that brain tumor. At least according to his family and his lack of a police record.” Nelson Smith was the co-owner of an ice cream shop in the same neighborhood where the corporate office for her former real estate company had been, and he had randomly fixated on her. “I’d interacted with him the last couple years in a completely platonic capacity, so I’m pretty sure they were telling the truth. He didn’t just randomly develop a fixation on me after all that time. It was the tumor.” She would have felt terrible pressing charges against someone who wasn’t in his right mind and was about to die, especially since she’d made the decision to move home by the time Smith had broken into her place. “And we don’t even know that it was him tonight.”
His fingers loosened slightly as he took another turn. “I know. I just don’t like unknowns and I really don’t like the thought of you in danger.”
“I don’t like the thought of that either, but the sheriff is looking into him. Don’t get me wrong, I’m scared. But I trust him to do his job.”
Maguire rubbed the back of his neck, his arm muscles flexing, capturing all her attention.
She shifted slightly against the leather seat. “You never told me how pretty I am in this dress.” Normally she would never say anything like that. She didn’t fish for compliments, but it was clear he needed a distraction in a bad way. There was nothing they could do tonight and worrying wasn’t going to help anyone. She also didn’t want this to spoil the rest of the night for them, not when she’d been looking forward to it so much.
He jolted at her abrupt words and turned to look at her. “You look beautiful.”
“It’s new. I bought it for our date.”
Those ice blue eyes dipped down, taking in all of her before he faced the road again. “I’ll try not to rip it later when taking it off you.” His voice had dropped, taking on a sexy timbre she felt all the way to her core.
She should tell him that he was being presumptuous, but they both knew he wasn’t. Not even a little bit. It was almost guaranteed he’d be taking her dress off later. If he didn’t, she’d be taking it off for him.
Reaching out, she took his hand in hers and linked their fingers together. “That’s very thoughtful of you,” she murmured. “And you’ll be happy to know I don’t have anything else underneath this dress.” She’d never gone completely bare before but had been feeling wild earlier. Well, before the incident with the peeping weirdo on her balcony. She was so glad to be able to go to Maguire’s. It was strange to depend on someone, but if anyone could keep her safe it was him.
He shifted once against the seat and she could see the very real effect her words had on him. The thick length of his erection was visible, bringing up so many fun memories with him. She didn’t fight the grin spreading across her face. Even with what had happened at her house, she was still excited about tonight, about spending more time alone with Maguire.
“Oh, I’m on the pill,” she added, wanting to let him know that up front. Not because she’d had an active sex life. She nearly snorted at the thought. It was the only way to regulate her body.
His fingers tightened on hers but he didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. She already knew he was clean from his admission a few days ago. There was nothing stopping them from being intimate with no barrier tonight. Not one single thing.
And she didn’t want anything between them. Not now. She wanted to savor every second of her time with Maguire.
Chapter 7
Maguire was quiet as Samantha talked to her mom on the phone. He’d just pulled down his street and was counting the seconds until he could get his hands on Sam. He still couldn’t believe she’d had a stalker and hadn’t told him.
He was likely overreacting but he didn’t care. That type of thing was important and would have changed things for him. For one, he wouldn’t have let her go off on her own today. And yeah he knew the word “let” would make her crazy, but he didn’t care—and he wasn’t going to actually say the word out loud to her.
“If you’re sure—” A beat passed before she said, “Okay, okay. I’ll call you in the morning. But call me if you need anything.” Pause. “Love you too.” She slipped the phone into her purse as he turned into his driveway. “Well, she’s totally fine with Nolan staying over. In fact, she’s come up with a list of chores for him to do in the morning.”
Maguire grinned, unable to hide a laugh. “Your mom sounds like mine.”
“Oh, no doubt. Though she did say something about you coming over this Sunday and helping out too.”
“Not a problem.”
“Really?”
“Of course. You’re mine, Samantha.” Maybe it was too soon to admit it like that, but after learning that she had a stalker, he was in pure protective mode.
Her eyes widened slightly, but she didn’t respond. Just cleared her throat. He wasn’t sure if what he said made her nervous or what.
“I’ll help your family out any way I can.” He steered into his clean, organized garage and shut the door behind them. He’d paid attention to their surroundings on the way home and taken the really long way in case someone tried to follow them. He was certain no one had.
“Well, thank you. I’ve hired a few people to start taking care of things for her like lawn care, but it’ll be a big help to get some things done around the house.”
“I aim to please,” he murmured, his gaze falling to her full lips.
“Is that right?” She unsnapped her seatbelt and before he could react, she hiked up her dress and straddled him.
Sucking in a breath, he looked up at her as she grinded against him. Immediately his hands slid up her legs and back around to her… He groaned at the feel of her bare ass. She hadn’t been teasing him. The sexy woman had nothing on underneath. “You’re killing me.”
“Good,” she murmured.
He’d felt her before, had made love to her before, but as he slid his hands over all that smooth skin, his brain threatened to short-circuit. He’d planned to cook for her, to take things slowly tonight. She’d just had a scare and he didn’t want to take advantage. Clearly that wasn’t an issue for her, though.
The dome light flicked off, but he had a light on in the corner of his garage that gave him enough illumination to see exactly what he needed to see—Samantha on top of him.
Keeping her gaze pinned on his, she reached between their bodies and started unbuttoning his long-sleeved shirt. His breathing grew erratic as she released button after button, her eyes filled with a lust he knew matched his own. Once she had it undone fully, he shrugged out of it and tossed it into the back seat.
Then he reached behind her, found the zipper at the top of her dress and slowly unzipped. She shivered as the little straps fell down her arms and the silky material pooled around her waist. He groaned again at the sight of her perfect pink nipples. Even in the dimness, he could see the color and it made him ache. Back in that closet he hadn’t gotten to see them again, but he’d thought about them. Fantasized about them.
He leaned forward, sucked on one nipple, earning a surprised moan as she arched into him.
Oh yeah, this was what he’d been missing. He palmed her o
ther breast and gently ran his thumb over the hard bud as he continued teasing her other nipple.
She grinded her body against his, making his cock even harder than it was. Probably a good thing that his pants were between them. Because he’d be inside her right now if they weren’t.
He managed to tear his head back so he could look up at her. “Need to go inside now.” Otherwise she wasn’t making it out of this car without being fully claimed by him.
“No we don’t.” She reached between their bodies again, running her hand over his erection.
He pulled her to him, crushing his mouth to hers in a savage claiming. He needed this, needed her as much as he needed his next breath. He’d had plenty of fantasies of taking her in his car, and even though it was cramped… Oh yeah, they were doing this. He released the lever on the side of the seat so that it slid back, giving them more room.
“Lift up,” he rasped against her mouth. He needed his shoes and pants off right now.
She did as he said and moments later he was naked underneath her, his cock thick and heavy between them. The leather was smooth against his ass and her apples-and-cinnamon scent wrapped around him, making him lightheaded as he arched his hips up to her.
Now she was the one groaning as she settled her body over him. Her dress was bunched up at her waist, the strip of material not covering her breasts or her exposed pussy. Remembering her taste from the other day, how slick she’d been, he cupped her mound as she met his mouth with hers.
Gripping her hip with one hand to hold her in place, he slid a finger inside her with the other. “So tight,” he murmured against her lips. “So wet. So mine.”
She moaned at his words, her inner walls tightening around his finger. He added another, wanting to torture them both just a little bit before he slid inside her. He preferred being on top, being in control, but having her straddling him like this was all sorts of sexy.
Slowly he withdrew his finger, then slid it back in. She shuddered, her fingers digging into his shoulders as she tried to ride him. But he held her in place with the hand firmly clasped on her hip.