Spirited Away

by Angela Campbell

  With a harsh curse, he reached for the keys sitting on the desk. It would do as an excuse to go outside and see that she made it safely home.

  He pretended not to notice her as he stepped out on the front porch, trotted down the steps and headed for his car. Good thing his garage was still filled with moving boxes. Otherwise, he’d have parked inside. The dogs began barking and Noah lifted his gaze in their direction, acting surprised to see them.

  Strange thing was, both dogs and the woman were looking up at his house. Emma smiled, directed an awkward wave toward his second floor, and then tugged the animals back before dropping her gaze to where he stood. “Come on, guys. Our night time walk is over. Shhh!”

  Noah followed her gaze up toward his bedroom window.

  “Sorry,” she called, drawing his attention back to her. “We didn’t mean to bother you or your, er, wife.”

  The irony of that idea tugged at his mouth. “I’m not married.”

  “Oh.” She glanced back toward the window. “Girlfriend?”

  A chuckle tickled his windpipe. “Don’t have one of those either.”

  If this was her idea of fishing to see if he was attached, she was doing a lousy job of being subtle.

  She bit at her lower lip. “Point is, we didn’t mean to bother you and your friend then.” She turned and practically had to drag the growling dogs after her. “Come on.”

  Noah scratched at his neck and followed her. “Wait. What do you mean, me and my friend?”

  With a nod toward his house, she seemed more preoccupied with the dogs than him now. “The woman in the window.”

  He jerked his gaze toward the upstairs bedroom window. The light was on. What the—? His muscles froze, rooting him to the spot. He hadn’t been in the room tonight. No reason for that light to be on.

  All thought of his new red-headed neighbour fled his mind as he bounded up the stairs and back into his house. This could be his best chance to catch the person who’d been messing with him.

  But there was no one in the bedroom, nor any other room in the house. He searched them all. Nothing.

  The house was empty.

  Chapter 3

  Mornings sucked.

  After letting the dogs out, Spider lumbered like a zombie from the kitchen back to bed and groaned when she saw that it was an hour-and-a-half earlier than she’d planned to get up. Only six hours since she’d fallen into blissful slumber. She faceplanted into bed and pulled the sheets over her head.

  Working from Zach’s house. Can set own hours. Sleeeeep.

  A heavy weight settled against the back of her neck. She was drifting toward unconsciousness so she ignored it until, a few seconds later, the sheet tugged at her hair, exposing part of her face to cold air and the light in the room. A tiny claw nicked her scalp.

  “Stop it, cat!” She swatted over her shoulder and connected with fur. “Y’all are seriously messing with my beauty sleep,” she grumbled and dug deeper into the pillow.

  The cat’s weight shifted away from her.

  She started to doze, but a sharp prick at her ear followed by “Mreeeoow” shocked her awake again.

  Spider flung the sheets off her head and glared at the animal. “You have a litter box! What do you want?”

  Abbott shifted on his front paws on the pillow beside her, watching her with big, rounded kitty eyes that rivaled those of Puss in Boots. “Meow.”

  “You’re hungry?”

  He stood and brushed against her. “Meow.”

  She glanced at the clock. “According to the note Hannah left, it’s not time for you to be fed yet.”

  “Meow.”

  “Will you let me get some more sleep if I feed you?”

  “Mrreeow.”

  “Don’t make a habit of this, cat.” With heavy-lidded eyes, Spider padded into the kitchen and set the cat’s food out. Charlie and Costello came running, and Spider shrugged. Why the heck not? After pouring them some food, she shuffled back to bed, nudging the bedroom door shut. Darn animals could entertain themselves for a while.

  She glanced at the clock again before tugging the sheets over her face and snuggling into the pillows. Ah, sleep.

  Her muscles relaxed as her mind sank into a comfy dream. A lake glistened beneath bright sunlight as birds chirped in the distance. Music and singing grew closer. Wearing one of his trademark suits and over-sized glasses, Elton John sat on the lounger beside her cooing out a song about unicorns and elephants – Wait, what? –while the hot neighbour from yesterday peeled his shirt off and dove into the gleaming water, revealing a set of abs so chiseled Michelangelo would have drooled.

  The hottie from the lake surfaced right in front of her, slicked back his wet hair exposing arm muscles so defined she wondered if he was for real, and, smiling, asked her, “Do you wanna—?”

  Spider’s eyelids jerked open as the bed sheet pulled at her hair and slid toward her shoulder. Something sat on her feet, so she kicked toward it, hoping to dislodge whichever animal was making a nuisance of himself now.

  And she’d been having such a delicious dream, too.

  “Abbott!” She flung the sheets away from her, sat up, and glanced at the foot of the bed.

  No cat. No dogs.

  She blinked as she stared toward the door, which was still shut.

  “Guys?” she whispered, and glanced around.

  Something or someone had just tried to tug the sheets off her – right? She patted the bedding to make certain she was alone. Totally alone.

  Hmmm. Dream? That kind of didn’t make sense though. About as much sense as Elton John belting out a song about unicorns and elephants. Then again… She snickered and shook her head.

  Sighing, she pushed the hair away from her face and decided she might as well get up. It was almost nine. Time to get up anyway.

  She was wiggling her feet out from under the covers when the sheet she still held in her right hand ripped free of her grasp and landed in a heap at the end of the bed. Ripped. Right. Out. Of. Her. Hand.

  And then she saw—

  Holy crap!

  Heartbeat racing to a near explosion, Spider screamed and bolted for the door, throwing it open and darting for the living room. Charlie and Costello started barking and nearly tripped her in the hallway as they ran like maniacs toward the room she’d just deserted. Abbott sprang to his feet and disappeared into one of the rooms in the opposite end of the house.

  Spider pounced onto the sofa, grabbed the phone and hugged a pillow to her chest as she stared in the direction from which she’d come.

  The dogs were barking like a pack of wild things.

  “Be careful!” she called out to them from where she huddled at the edge of the couch.

  She punched in 9 and 1 to her phone, then hesitated. Dang it all, what if she was overreacting?

  In what seemed like minutes but was probably only seconds, the two dogs quieted to a few huffs and came trotting down the hallway. Costello poked his head around the corner and looked at her as if he was thinking, “Exactly why were you screaming again?” Charlie sprinted toward her, leapt onto the couch, and began slathering her face with yucky dog kisses.

  The pillow made a great shield against yucky dog kisses. “Was someone in there or what?”

  Probably not, since no one had tried to kill her yet.

  Costello jumped on the couch beside Charlie and panted hot, stinky breath in her face in reply. She pushed his nuzzle away.

  Oh yeah. She was so not a dog person.

  “You’re right.” She petted both dogs as she glanced wide-eyed down the hallway. Had she seen what she’d thought she’d seen? “I was probably dreaming or something.”

  Probably.

  Bam. Bam. Bam.

  She squealed and both dogs went berserk, jumping off the couch and charging towards the source of the noise – the front door. Her rib-cage almost broke from how hard her heart slammed against it. Heaven help her, she was going to have a heart attack before this day was finished. H
and to her chest, she followed the animals, nudging them aside so she could see who on earth had just bypassed the doorbell and banged on the door so darn early … and with such force. Was it The Hulk? Sheesh.

  No, not the Hulk.

  Hello! Hottie neighbour alert.

  After hurriedly punching in the alarm’s deactivation code, she jerked open the door and flung herself at Noah. “Thank goodness you’re here!”

  Charlie whizzed past, but Noah reached down with one hand, grabbed his collar and pushed him back into the house before he could get far. She seriously needed to remember that dog did that. Realizing her arms were still twined around the man’s waist, she pulled back.

  “I would have come sooner if I’d known I’d get that kind of a greeting.” Bent over now, Noah scratched the dog behind his ears and didn’t seem to mind in the least when Charlie slipped him some tongue.

  Eww. Just eww.

  “Would you please come in and check the bedroom for me?” She nudged Costello back with her foot and gestured down the hall. “I think someone might be in there.”

  “What?” Noah straightened and stepped inside, pushing the door shut behind him. “Where?”

  She led him part of the way and then pointed out the room. “There.”

  “Stay here.” He disappeared through the doorway, both dogs trotting after him. He finally reappeared, hands held out. “I don’t see anyone.” He checked the other rooms before declaring, “Nope. I don’t see anyone else in the house.”

  She released her breath in a rush.

  He stopped a few feet away from her, so close the scent of soap teased her nostrils. “What happened?”

  With Noah so close, she was aware of how her nightshirt clung to her free breasts and even more aware she’d been having an inappropriate dream about him less than fifteen minutes ago. She crossed her arms, not that he hadn’t already seen her in her pajamas, and shrugged. “I thought someone pulled the sheet off me while I was sleeping. I guess I was dreaming.”

  “Maybe.” His forehead creased as he glanced back toward the bedroom. “It could have been one of the pets.”

  “No. They were shut out of the room.” She shook her head. “Anyway, I’m sorry. Did you need something?”

  His gaze fell to her chest before flicking back up to meet hers. Heat engulfed her face. Her tank top’s statement “Gamers do it all night” probably seemed a little provocative. Yeah. She really should go put on some more clothes.

  “I wanted to ask you about the woman you saw in my house last night.”

  “Oh.” She lifted a hand and played with the end of her hair. “What about her?”

  “Did you get a good look at her?”

  “Why?” She smiled. Was he harboring a criminal or something? Trying to decide whether Spider had seen too much?

  Her smile slid off her face. Or he could be one of those crazy men who kidnapped women and kept them chained in the attic. She took a step back.

  “This is going to sound strange, but there shouldn’t have been anyone in my house last night. Are you sure you saw someone?” He watched her carefully, drawing her attention to the vibrant green of his eyes, shadowed by dark lines underneath. Even darker hair fell in shaggy waves that framed his face. He had that McDreamy Patrick Dempsey haircut going on. Stubble highlighted a strong jawline and luscious mouth.

  He looked hot, but edgy. Kind of dangerous.

  Serial killer dangerous? The way her luck was going, probably.

  “I could have been mistaken.” But she wasn’t. She remembered everything about the woman she’d seen. Young – college age, probably. Long, dark hair and a pretty face. She’d been wearing a jean jacket over a white shirt. Something Spider wished she was wearing right about now. “Um, do you mind if I go throw some clothes on?”

  “Go ahead.”

  She glanced at the dogs and wondered how exactly her boss Zach communicated with them – apparently he could, being a pet psychic and all. Costello lifted his beady little eyes towards her, and she tried sending him the thought: Attack him if he follows me. Good boy.

  Costello opened his mouth and grinned.

  She held up her finger and managed a smile for their guest. “Give me one minute.”

  Hurrying into the guest room, she shut the door behind her. Abbott was sprawled on the bed. Wait – she could have sworn the cat had disappeared into the office on the other side of the house.

  “How did you get in here?” She shook her head. “Never mind. Safety in numbers. Don’t move.”

  She yanked a pair of jeans and a Captain America t-shirt out of her suitcase and tugged them on as fast as she could manage. In case she got kidnapped, her cell phone was turned on for tracking purposes. The small pocket tools her dad insisted she keep with her made their way into her other pocket, just in case. He’d also given her a little stun gun to attach to her keychain—not that she had done it. What the heck had she done with it? No time to search. On the way out, she risked a glance in the mirror and paused. One side of her head boasted a tangled poof while the other looked as though she’d stuck her finger in a socket. Oh, geez. Had she really opened the door to someone with her hair looking like that? She ran a brush through it real quick, scooped the cat up and paced down the hall.

  “If he tries anything, claw his eyes out,” she whispered to Abbott, who growled back a response she hoped meant “Consider it done.”

  Noah glanced around the house he’d only been inside once, when he came over to introduce himself to his new neighbours, and whistled. For a guy who’d grown up in a trailer park, this sure seemed a nice place for a couple with no kids.

  He’d found its previous sale listing online and memorized some of its stats during his initial research into Collins. Single-level updated traditional ranch with a little over three-thousand-square-feet, four bedrooms, three baths, a side-garage, and a sizable fenced backyard. That was on paper. In person, the home seemed even grander with its 10-foot ceilings, open floor plan, modern appliances and warm decor.

  He’d been amazed to see a home across the street up for rent at a shockingly affordable price. The Buckhead community of Atlanta was where the wealthy lived, and Noah certainly wasn’t wealthy enough to afford even this neighbourhood, which was on the lower end of the pricey scale. But he’d grasped the opportunity and had considered staying in the two-storey fixer-upper after his assignment was done because he’d gotten such a great deal on it.

  But maybe not, considering the crap he’d been dealing with since he moved in and the probable reality that his neighbours were going to hate his guts when they returned home. He picked up a framed photo of Zachary Collins and his bride posing with their wedding party. Their perky house sitter stood in a blue dress beside a smoking-hot blonde and attractive black woman on the other side of Hannah. His gaze skirted over the other women and stopped on the young redhead.

  Anything wedding-related always gave him the creeps, but looking at this picture stirred an unfamiliar feeling in his chest. Was it guilt? Or envy? Sleep deprivation must be making him crazier than he’d realized.

  “I had that picture framed as a surprise for when they get back,” Emma said, catching him by surprise.

  Some of the tension left his shoulders after seeing she’d covered up. She was even more distracting today than he remembered – and he’d remembered a lot. Hell if he knew why, but she’d been on his mind more than seemed reasonable for someone he’d just met. On second thought, her impressive chest pushed against a Captain America shield now. The woman was blessed. Maybe that’s why he couldn’t stop thinking about her. The West men had always had a weakness for well-endowed women.

  Feline grumbling came from the black and white cat she held, giving him a good excuse to look at something other than her. The creature eyed him with an unnerving stare. How many animals did Zachary and Hannah Collins own?

  “This is Abbott,” she said. “I can’t remember if I introduced you to the dogs, but that chubby little guy is Costello an
d the one who keeps trying to escape is Charlie.”

  He glanced at the stout mutt. “That one is a boy? I thought he was a she.”

  “People always think that because he’s so pretty.”

  “Are any of them yours?”

  “Nope. Just pet-sitting.” She stroked the top of the cat’s head. “So… have you called the cops?”

  His heart skipped a beat. “About what?”

  “The mystery woman inside your house last night.”

  Oh. Right. He shrugged. “Nothing was taken. They probably wouldn’t believe me.”

  He’d used the so-called mystery woman as an excuse to come over and break the ice with her. Find out more about her and her relationship to Zachary and Hannah Collins.

  Find out more about her.

  Noah’s gaze strayed down the hall toward the bedroom she’d directed him to earlier. Her descriptions had been a little… spooky. That had been almost a play-by-play of what he’d experienced a couple of weeks ago when things had started happening at his new house.

  He cleared his throat. “And you’re sure you didn’t see anyone earlier?”

  She fidgeted with the squirming cat. “Well, I thought I saw—” She stopped herself. Shook her head. “No, I didn’t.”

  “What did you think you saw?”

  She reluctantly lowered the cat to the floor. “When the sheet was wafting through the air, I thought it was covering a person. You know, like I saw the form of a person underneath the sheet? But I was probably dreaming. It was only a second or two.”

  The walls seemed to shift and move around him as he struggled to remain steady on his feet. Exact same thing had happened to him a week ago. “Did you have your house alarm on?”

  “Yep.”

  She probably had been dreaming, but…

  Damn. What were the chances?

  He noticed the laptop on the coffee table. “What time do you get off work?” Her eyes widened, so he clarified, “So, I can keep an eye out, make sure you get into the house okay.”

  “I’m actually working from home while I’m here. I doubt I’ll be in and out very much.” Her eyes widened again. “Except, you know, my boyfriend comes over a lot. Yeah. And friends. I’m hardly ever here alone. Lots of people would miss me.”