Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 128801 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 644(@200wpm)___ 515(@250wpm)___ 429(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128801 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 644(@200wpm)___ 515(@250wpm)___ 429(@300wpm)
I was positive, positive.
Disquiet pulled through his expression. “Looks to me like someone fucked with the lock.”
Alarm pulsed, and that frown was pulling deeper, in confusion and disbelief. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, Dakota, I’m sure. Something like that doesn’t happen by accident. But whoever it was is long gone.”
Fear sped through my senses, and I looked back at Kayden, a knot so thick in my throat I was having a hard time breathing. “I can’t believe this.”
Ryder’s words pulled me back to him. “I’m going to give Ezra a call to get someone out here to check on things, but not until I get you two out of here.”
That time my furrow dug so deep I was pretty sure I was seeing double. “Excuse me?”
“Getting you out of here…taking you to my place.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary, Ryder.”
He stepped forward, towering over me like a dark storm, that mayhem I could always feel vibrating beneath the surface surging through the room and ricocheting from the walls. “It’s very necessary, Dakota. You think I’m going to leave you here knowing some asshole might have been trying to get into your place? Not going to fucking happen.”
“We’re not your responsibility.”
“Yet I’m the one who’s here.” His words were close to a growl, sharp as they raked over me.
Chills lifted, and I fiddled with my phone like it was an 8-Ball and would spit out the proper answer on how to handle this.
“Aren’t we overreacting a little bit? I mean, this has to be a false alarm, right? It’s probably Mr. Chainfeld next door, thinking he was locked out of his place and needed to break in.”
The poor old guy had started getting disoriented lately, and I’d had to call his wife from the restaurant the other day when he’d gotten distressed over his bill after Beth had asked for his credit card to pay for it. He’d started shouting that she was trying to rob him.
Because I couldn’t stomach the alternative.
That it might actually be dangerous to stay here.
Nerves rattled, and I inhaled a shaky breath.
“Not taking that chance, Dakota. Not with you, and not with your son. Of course, I could always take you to your brother’s if you’d prefer.”
Something wry infiltrated that.
“No.” It shot out in a bolt of horror. I mean, not that I didn’t love my brother, but that was not going to work out. Cody might have good intentions, but he drove me insane with his overbearing ways. He’d be so far up my ass about every little thing that I would go nuts.
I definitely didn’t want him to catch wind of this.
Not until we knew for sure.
But staying with Ryder? There had to be a better solution.
I wasn’t sure I could handle that. Being in his space.
Close quarters.
Watching him do his thing.
It was bad enough to have to witness it when we were out, but it would be so much harder with it paraded right in front of me.
“Then let’s get your things.” He gruffed it like it was a done deal, not waiting for a response before he angled around me, going right to Kayden’s dressing table where he started tossing a bunch of things into his diaper bag.
It took me a second to wrap my head around it, and I moved for him, reaching out to touch his forearm to stop him. “This is a bad idea, Ryder.”
He whirled around, and shock spiraled through me when he suddenly had me by the jaw, fingers soft but sure before his hand slid up to my cheek.
His hot palm burned into my flesh.
My stomach tipped onto the floor.
What the hell was he doing?
My feet had turned to putty as he stared down at me. “Call it what you want, Dakota, but I’m not leaving here without you and your son.” The pad of his thumb traced along the hollow of my eye. “I won’t take that risk.”
I blinked at him, hardly able to press out the question. “Do you really think we’re in danger?”
His hand tightened on my face, that gaze darkening and deepening, swilling with something harsh and severe. “I’m not sure, Dakota, but if you are? I promise I will take care of you. Protect you.”
“Why?”
“Because protecting you is what I was created to do.”
I swallowed around the jagged rocks that littered my throat. I had to set aside the questions and worries. Set aside the desperate need to ask him what he meant when he claimed things like that.
None of that mattered right then.
Bottom line, I couldn’t take that risk with my son, either.
And it wasn’t like this was forever. It was just for the night. Ezra would check things out and find it was all good, tell me there was nothing to worry about, and I’d be right back home.
One night.
It wasn’t like I hadn’t spent the night under the same roof as Ryder before.