The Embrace Series: Romantic Suspense Box Set

by Dana Mason

  “A few minutes later someone disarmed the system with the correct code,” Shane said.

  “That was me,” Johnny said.

  Brian looked at Johnny’s shirtless body, his eyes dropping to Johnny’s bare feet. He glanced at Ali, then back to Johnny. “You were here?”

  “Yeah . . . we were sound asleep when the alarm sounded.”

  Ali’s face lit on fire when all their eyes focused on her and Johnny. So much for privacy.

  Brian directed his next question to Ali. “Who came down the stairs first?”

  “Ali locked herself in the bedroom and I came down alone with her gun. I disarmed the system with the code she gave me. After shutting it down, I searched the downstairs. Nobody was in the house, but the front door was ajar.”

  Brian pursed his lips and looked at the broken lock again before meeting Ali’s eyes. “When was the last time you talked to Carl?”

  “Today. We dropped his stuff off at his parent’s house.”

  “The two of you together?”

  “Yes,” Ali said, her voice dropping to a whisper.

  “And before that . . . when was the last time?”

  “Two weeks before Christmas, the same day I told him to leave.” It was hard not feeling embarrassed, airing her dirty laundry in front of everyone—not to mention this wasn’t how she wanted people to find out about her and Johnny. Then again, she never wanted people to find out about her and Johnny.

  “Is someone changing the locks?” Brian said looking from Shane to Johnny.

  Shane nodded. “Yeah, I already have the stuff to do it.”

  “Shane, will everything be secure with a new knob and lock? Any structural damage to the door?”

  “Nope, it’s sound.”

  “Ali, write down Carl’s address. I want to talk to him.” Brian handed her his notepad and a pen. “I also want you to call Seth and change your passwords and codes again and have him reset your system.”

  She nodded and jotted down Carl’s parent’s address then handed the notepad back to him. “You don’t really think Carl tried to break in?”

  “Does he have a reason, is there something here he wants?”

  “No, I had to deliver his stuff to him. He wouldn’t even make the trip to pick it up. He didn’t care at all.”

  “An old key . . . an old alarm code . . . seems like they were hoping you didn’t change anything after Carl left.”

  “We didn’t argue over any possessions. Why would he try to sneak-in in the middle of the night? He hasn’t even wanted to see Micah.”

  “Maybe he didn’t, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t give the code and key to someone else to do it for him.”

  “But why?” she asked, again. “There is no longer anything here for him.”

  “I don’t know.” He shrugged. “I could be way off here, but it won’t hurt for me to have a conversation with him,” Brian said. “Keep the alarm set, Al, even when you’re home in the middle of the day.”

  Ali nodded. “Thanks.”

  “Call me for anything—even if it’s an insignificant noise.” He held her gaze. “Promise me, Al.”

  She held up her palm. “I will . . . promise.”

  “Bennett, walk me out,” Brian said motioning for Johnny to follow him.

  Ali waited until they were outside to sneak into the bathroom. Once she got a look at herself in the mirror she gasped. “Oh hell!” She rubbed at the small bite size bruises along her chin, jaw and neck. “No wonder they were looking at me funny,” she whispered, rolling her eyes. “Hell . . . I’m a marked woman.”

  Chapter Nine

  When Johnny and Brian were outside, Brian stopped at his car and tugged on the handle, then turned. “What are you playing at, Bennett?”

  “I’m not playing at anything. What are you talking about?”

  “She’s got a lot going on and she doesn’t need any more heartache right now.”

  Johnny squared his shoulders. “Fuck you. I care about her.”

  “You better, because that lady in there is like a sister to me. If you fuck with her—you fuck with me—you got that?”

  “Yeah, I got it, but you’re mistakin’ my intentions here, Brian.”

  “Prove it. Don’t let anything happen to her before I figure out what the hell is going on with her bastard ex-husband.”

  “Ain’t nothing gonna happen to her. I promise you that.” And he meant it too. If he had to park his ass on her porch, he’d make sure nobody hurt her.

  Brian nodded and climbed into the car. “I’m going to hold you to that.”

  “Then you better keep me updated. I want to know what you find out from Carl.”

  “We’ll see, Bennett.” Brian pulled the door closed and drove away from the curb, leaving Johnny standing in the street.

  Johnny came back inside to find Shane working on the locks and Ali curled on the couch staring at the cold fireplace. He went to her and sat down. “Why don’t you go back to bed, I’ll stay up until he’s finished.”

  “No, this isn’t your responsibility. I’ll stay up until I know the house is secure.”

  Ouch. The dismissal stung. “Are you pissed at me?”

  Ali rubbed her face with her hands and shook her head. “No, I’m mad at myself. You shouldn’t be here,” she whispered. “These guys already consider me the slut of the neighborhood, now I’ve proved them right.”

  “That’s ridiculous.” He stared her down, but she didn’t look at him. “What did I say about you being so down on yourself?” He reached out and cupped her neck with his hand and forced her to look at him. “Stop doing that.”

  “Johnny—look at my face.”

  He turned her head from side to side and lifted her chin, then grinned. “Sorry.”

  “It’s not funny.”

  He shrugged. “Now they know.”

  “Don’t you understand? They think I’m a tramp, especially—“

  “No! No one thinks you’re a tramp because you’re with me. Stop saying that—stop doing that.”

  She shook him off. “You stop! You don’t know, Johnny. Just because you don’t think like that doesn’t mean they don’t.”

  “You’re an asshole.”

  She drew back, her shoulders lifting in indignation.

  “Oh stop acting so insulted. I’m callin’ it as I see it. These guys showed up tonight to check on you and your kids because they care about you, and you treat them like shallow jerks.” He grabbed her face again and turned her to look at him. “Do you know Brian Hammel just put me on notice?”

  Her eyes grew wide. She started to speak, but he interrupted.

  “—because he doesn’t want you to get hurt again.”

  Johnny released her and stood up to pace the room. The more he thought about it, the more he knew he’d be the one getting hurt in this relationship.

  Why did Mark call? Why did all these guys show up to ‘take care of her’? Johnny wanted to take care of her, damn it! All these ‘friends’—the same friends she insisted didn’t respect her. Fuck Mark, fuck Shane, and fuck Brian Hammel—and fuck her too if she didn’t want him.

  “Johnny,” she said before he had the chance to storm out of the room. “I need to be careful . . .” She sounded remorseful, but resigned.

  “You know . . .” He huffed out a breath and shook his head trying to clear away the anger. “Brian assumed I’m playing you, but I have a funny feeling I’ll be the one gettin’ hurt here.”

  She looked at him and her expression softened.

  “I guess when you have all these other guys around to take care of you then I’m deemed completely unnecessary, and you can dismiss me—and who exactly is Seth?”

  She fought a smile, but he didn’t get the joke.

  “Seth is Mark’s dispatcher at the monitoring center for Summors Security.”

  “Why is Mark calling? Why does he think you need to be rescued?”

  “Because that’s what Mark does, he rescues people.” She rolled her
eyes. “How do you think he met Sarah?”

  “I am here, Ali,” he said pointing at his chest. “You don’t need him.”

  “Johnny, I didn’t ask him to call.”

  “No, but I’d bet a hundred dollars you didn’t tell him I was here either.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “Do you have a hundred dollars?”

  “Yes!” he said, irritated.

  “Prove it, show me.”

  “Damn, woman, my wallet is upstairs in your room. Stop changing the subject.”

  Ali turned on her heels and stormed up the stairs. Johnny followed five feet behind her. “Don’t walk away. Where are you going?”

  Johnny rushed into the bedroom as she snatched up his wallet off the floor next to her bed. She opened it and took out a hundred dollar bill, ignoring her buzzing cell phone on her nightstand.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Taking my money, jerk!”

  “What?”

  “You bet me, and you lost. I certainly did tell Mark you were here.” She stormed at him. “It seems Brian Hammel isn’t the only person here making wrong assumptions.” She waved the bill in front of his face before stuffing it into her pocket. “Now if you’re so sure you can’t trust me then get the hell out of my house.” She pushed on his chest. “Go!”

  “I didn’t say I don’t trust you. Where on earth did you get that idea?”

  “Why else would you assume I would hurt you? And asking me about Seth?”

  Johnny shook his head and turned away. Being honest with her would complicate things too soon and too fast.

  “Admit it, you insist you don’t care about my past, but you do.”

  “You’re wrong.” He ran his hands through his hair then thrust his finger in the direction of her cell phone. “Will you get that already?”

  “It’s Melissa . . . ignore it.”

  “Ali—I’m done with the locks,” Shane called up from the bottom of the stairs.

  Ali stalked passed Johnny and went downstairs.

  They said goodbye to Shane then Johnny walked around the entire house again, checking all the locks and windows while Ali reset the alarm with Seth on the phone. When he came back into her room, Ali was still on her phone. He watched from behind as she nodded and shook her head repeatedly, without talking. She had her back to him, but it was obvious by her body language that she was upset.

  “No, Melissa, I’m fine . . .” she finally said, her voice nasally. “No, I’m not crying.” After a long pause and more head shaking, she said goodbye.

  Ali turned, surprise on her face when she realized he was in the room. She quickly wiped her face and crossed her arms. “The new code is 2830, let yourself out.”

  He stared at her, silently begging her not to send him away. His heart ached at the drawn expression on her face, he didn’t want to leave. He only wanted to hold her and fall asleep wrapped around her like they’d done earlier. “I don’t want to leave.”

  “I don’t need your protection so if that’s why you’re staying, don’t bother.”

  “When I said you would hurt me, it wasn’t because I thought you would sleep around or anything like that.”

  She bowed her head, shaking it, obviously not believing him.

  “I don’t care about your past, Ali, but I do care about you. I care enough to know that if you push me away, it’s gonna hurt like hell.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets, his eyes darting to the floor.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “Hurting you isn’t . . . I care about you too. Do you understand that?”

  When she approached, he lifted his eyes and she gave him a tired smile.

  He pulled her into his arms. “I don’t want to fight with you, sweetheart,” he whispered. “Can we go back to bed?”

  She nodded jerkily, another tear slipping from under her closed lids. Her heart and mind were battling, he knew that. She cared about him, but she didn’t want to get involved with anyone. He got it, but he couldn’t agree with her reasoning and that’s why he wouldn’t give up.

  They crawled back into bed and curled up with each other.

  “This was my only night to sleep without Micah waking me up.” Her voice hinted at a whine and it almost made him chuckle.

  “Go ahead and sleep, sunshine. I won’t let anything else wake you up.” He instantly felt her body relax and heard her breathing steady. After she’d gone to sleep, he kissed her temple and said, “I love you.”

  Chapter Ten

  The doorbell woke Johnny. Ali didn’t stir at the sound. It’d only been a couple of hours since they went back to bed and she had been completely exhausted. He carefully slid off the bed and pulled his jeans on, then jerked on his shirt while padding down the stairs.

  He hurried, hoping to beat the second ring of the bell, but he was too late. It chimed again just as he entered Ali’s new code into the alarm system.

  Johnny yanked on the door to find an older woman standing on the porch, holding her keys and looking none too pleased. Next to her sat Micah still strapped into his car seat.

  “Hey, little guy,” Johnny beamed at Micah, unable to hold back when he’d laid eyes on the baby. Then he looked back at the woman. “Well . . . lookie here, you must be Ali’s mama.” Johnny drawled before holding his hand out for hers.

  She ignored his extended hand and said, “And you are?”

  “I’m Johnny Rhay Bennett a friend of Ali’s.” Johnny dropped his hand, then leaned in and unhooked the car seat to pick up Micah.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Oh don’t worry, ma’am, Micah and I are old friends . . . hey there,” he cooed to the baby, then looked back at Ali’s mother. “Ali is still sleeping, we had a bit of a rough night and she didn’t get much sleep.”

  She looked Johnny up and down as he stepped aside to let her in.

  Johnny didn’t think she looked much like Ali at all. She had a short round little body, where Ali was lean with roundness in all the right places. There were some similar facial features, but that was it. Unlike Ali’s long blonde hair, her mother had short, dark curls that hung to her shoulders.

  When Johnny closed the door behind her, Ali’s footsteps pounded down the stairs. “Mornin,’ sunshine, look who I found on your front porch.”

  “Great,” Ali said frowning, her eyes darting between her mother and Johnny. She reached over for Micah and when she had him in her arms she kissed his pink little face all over, making him smile. “Hi, sweetpea, did you miss mommy?”

  “Alison, what are you doing?” her mother asked.

  “I was sleeping until you woke me up.”

  Johnny crossed his arms, fighting the smile that wanted to spread across his face. He had a feeling the showdown between Ali and her mother would be an interesting one.

  “How was he last night? How many times did he wake up?” Ali asked.

  “He was fine, woke up twice, but went right to sleep after his bottle.” Susan placed a hand on her hip and said, “Why didn’t my key work, it was fine the other day.”

  “We had to change the locks last night, someone tried to break-in a little after midnight.”

  “That’s ridiculous—really in this neighborhood, you must be mistaken.”

  Ali looked up from Micah, her smile slipping from her face. “I’m fine by the way, mother . . . thanks for asking.”

  That was his cue. He needed coffee before watching anymore of the sparring match. “Excuse me ladies, but I think Micah and I will go make coffee.” He took Micah from Ali and left the room.

  “The coffee is in the—”

  “I’ll find it,” he said brushing a hand at her.

  “Alison what are you doing? Have you not learned anything after—“

  “Mother, don’t, okay. I haven’t slept and I really don’t want to hear this right now.”

  “Don’t talk to me like that. I’m only trying to keep you from being the first topic of gossip in this town again.”

  Ali sighed
heavily and tried not to roll her eyes. “Johnny is a friend.”

  “Is he the reason you broke up with Carl? Did you cheat on Carl with this man?”

  “No, Mother! Carl cheated on me—and probably several times.”

  “Of course he didn’t . . . Ali, why are you trying to destroy any chance you have of getting your husband back?” Susan sighed and rubbed her forehead. “You need to fix your marriage.”

  “There is no marriage. Carl is out of my life for good, thank goodness.”

  “So you’re rebounding—that’s what this is.” She waved a hand toward the kitchen. “It’s a bit of a step down, don’t you think?”

  “You don’t know anything about him. Johnny is a good man.”

  “No—I bet you don’t know anything about him.” Susan walked from the entry hall to the living room. “Really, Alison, he sounds like some kind of country hick.”

  “Don’t be a snob, Mother. Johnny is a detective from Nashville. He just took a job with the Santa Rosa Police Department. I met him through Sarah, they’re old friends.”

  “Oh and it just gets better. A police officer, really?”

  “Come on, Mother, give me a break here. I don’t want to fight with you right now.”

  “Well what am I supposed to say when I walk in to find you’re sleeping with some hillbilly?”

  Ali dropped both her hands to her hips and her voice went icy. “How about goodbye.”

  Johnny walked in behind her. “Coffee’s on.”

  Ali dropped her head and shook it, then said, “Johnny, I think I forgot to introduce you. This is my mother, Susan Parker. Say goodbye, she was just leaving.”

  “It’s been a pleasure, Mrs. Parker, please come back when you have more time to visit,” he drawled sweetly.

  “Alison, we haven’t finished our conversation.”

  “Yes, we have,” she shouted. “You’re rude and I refuse to listen to another word. When you learn civility then come back and talk to me.”

  “Fine!” Susan’s eyes seemed to glow from the anger. She glared from one to the other then stormed out of the house.

  When the door slammed behind her, Ali collapsed on the couch, and dropped her face to her hands.