Betrayal of the Dove (Men of Action) (4 page)

“I just washed those,” she said. “It doesn’t normally look like this,” she felt the need to explain that she was not a total mess when it came to her place. He just nodded and took one more look at her bathroom before looking at the lock.

“This lock isn’t going to keep anybody out,” he slapped his palm against the door. “Neither is this door. One kick and whoever wants in is getting in.”

“Great,” she mumbled as she tried to take any of the dry pieces of clothing down. She realized now that she was actually drawing attention to her underwear—more attention than she needed to—just by her own actions.

He walked back out into the main area. She had used decorative privacy divider screens to separate areas. She had an office where she balanced the books and paid bills, so she had a deep chocolate wood divider there with decorative lace-like cutouts at the top of the fixture. Then she had an area where she made her jewelry off to the other side of the kitchen area. She put another matching divider there so that her boxes and crates of materials weren’t an eyesore, or a constant reminder that she should be working. Owning
Snowflakes in the Desert
was wonderful—most times—but she had a bad habit of working seven days a week. When the store wasn’t open she was making new pieces. She needed to find some balance, to get out there and do something more than just work; but if she didn’t work then she didn’t pay the bills and if she didn’t pay the bills then she didn’t have a place to stay. That’s how she rationalized letting everything else fall by the wayside. She was so exhausted come Sundays that she just didn’t feel the need to get out and party. She shrugged, she really was too old for that lifestyle anyway…well, maybe not too old, she admitted to herself.

“I’m curious,” he looked over her place. She would swear he seemed to appreciate what she had done with it. The bedroom was closed off from the kitchen with the same privacy divider, only she had moved it farther away because she liked having more space in the bed area. “Why did you name your store
Snowflakes in the Desert
? It’s not a very…common name,” he said as if he were looking for the right word.

“No, it’s not. It’s long and not trendy at all, but I thought it was fitting. No two snowflakes are the same and no two of my jewelry pieces are the same. I make everything by hand and everything is different, even if it’s just moderately changed with stones or colors, or a slight fluctuation in the design, no two pieces are the same. They’re as original as snowflakes.” She smiled, very proud of her work. “Now, if you’re finished showing me what’s wrong with my security can we go back downstairs?”

“You want to put your panties away?”

“Pardon me?” She looked at him trying to figure out what he was talking about until he pointed to her hands and she realized she was still holding a few of the lace panties she had taken down from the bathroom. “Oh,” she blushed. She didn’t put them in the drawer she just placed them on the bed before coming back to where he was. “Okay, let’s go.” She ushered him out of her flat and back down the stairs.

“This light is a death trap,” he told her. “If somebody had snuck in here they could hide up in the shadows and wait for you. There’s less light hitting your door area, and that little alcove between the hall and your stairs is the perfect place for an attacker to lie in wait.”

She nodded. “I hadn’t really thought of that.” Maybe she should have. Her brothers were both always talking about safety and security for their sisters, but she had never really thought of her place as being as accessible as Shane had just showed her it was.

“I’m going to go get some locks for this place so I can put them on before you close up tonight. I don’t like how vulnerable you are here.”

Well now that he had pointed everything out she didn’t like it either. “I’ll get you some cash from the register for it. There’s a home store about fifteen minutes away from here.”

“Don’t bother,” he mumbled. “I said I was getting you better security, not some flimsy excuse for a lock from some standard home store. I’ll take care of this. I just have to go back to my place to get what I need.”

She wasn’t going to argue with the man because first of all, she didn’t think it would do any good. He had made up his mind and he was going to do it whether she wanted him to or not. And secondly, she really did suddenly feel as if her place was a robber’s heaven just waiting to be hit. Shane lived in Cave Creek; at least that’s what he said when she asked him since he hadn’t listed his address on his CV. It shouldn’t take him too long to pick up whatever he needed.

“Why is your car on the street and not back in one of the parking spaces behind your building?”

“I like being able to look out and see my car at night. It lets me know it’s still there.” She laughed at her own reasoning. Clearly she didn’t think the Row was as safe as everybody said it was or she wouldn’t have even thought of that.

“It’s not a really good idea,” he assured her. Of course it wasn’t. Her store and home was a stationary security disaster let him tell it. “When you move your car it’s real obvious to anybody that you’re not here, and when it’s there they’ll know you are. It’s too easy to learn your patterns based on the position of your car. You should park in the back. The lot isn’t visible because of the buildings so nobody would be able to easily tell when you’re out of town.”

She nodded. She hadn’t really thought of that either. She never would have guessed this about herself, but she really did hate when people pointed out all the things she hadn’t considered. It made her feel stupid on so many levels. She should have thought of everything Shane had, yet she had let the location lull her into a pseudo sense of security.

“Plus,” he looked at her sternly. “When you go shopping I’m sure you use the back door to come in which means you have to walk down that little alley to get to it. That’s not good either.”

“Of course it isn’t,” she said dryly. “I get it,” she assured him. “I’ll park in the back from now on.”

“Why don’t you go ahead and move your car now. I’ll wait until you’re done before I head out.”

“Where’s your car?” She looked out at the row of parked cars lining the street. Shoppers were busy going from store to store. The tragedy in the area hadn’t deterred shoppers during the daylight hours so that was a good thing for business.

“I’m the F-250 parked behind your building.”

She hadn’t looked out when he opened the backdoor. She didn’t even know there was a vehicle back there. The two parking spaces behind her building belonged to her and not the building next to her so she never really bothered to pay attention to the back lot.

“Go on,” he ushered her toward the door. “I want to get back to my place and pick up the stuff I’ll need to change out those locks before it gets much later.”

She laughed. “I guess you’re not just bringing my video security into the twenty-first century; you’re bringing my locks too.” She laughed again. “Thanks. I feel safer already.” He opened his mouth to say something and then stopped, as if he had thought better of whatever it was. She wondered what he was going to say, but at the same time she wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

“How old are you?” She knew she probably shouldn’t ask. There was probably some legal rule about asking that question, but since he was already hired she didn’t see a problem with the question. He seemed old when it came to wisdom and demeanor, but his features didn’t look old at all.

“Thirty-eight,” he smiled at her.

“No way! Get out,” she said; her shock resonated in her tone. “I thought you were like twenty-nine, thirty at the max.”

He shook his head. “I’m retired military,” he said as if she should have done the math and come up with his exact age. Well, yeah, maybe she should have put it closer, but retired military meant a lot of things. Either he had put in his twenty years plus one day, or he had come out early. Some people didn’t really emphasize the difference when talking. Maybe she should have known he would have. When he said retired he didn’t mean he put in his time and left, he really meant retired military style.

“How old are you?”

“You probably already know that,” she smiled. “But I guess one personal question deserves another. I’m thirty-one. I just had a birthday last week. It feels like yesterday I was twenty-eight,” she laughed. “But time moves on and age moves with it.”

“Happy birthday—belated,” he said.

“Thanks. Gavin’s the oldest. He’s your age actually. Thomas just celebrated thirty-five not that long before his wedding, and Eve’s the baby. She’s twenty-five now. She’s much older in spirit than her years.” She sighed. “Adam’s death changed her—a lot.”

“I heard about that. I’m sorry for your family’s loss.”

“Thanks. It hit Eve hard. I mean I guess it would right; that’s natural. But she just changed so much. I’m talking overnight change here. One day she was my baby sister and the next…it almost feels like she’s older than all of us now. She still looks like a kid, well, maybe just younger than she is anyway, but her attitude, her spirit, the person she is, it’s like she’s a hundred years old. It’s like she’s lived a thousand lives full of pain and heartache and each one broke her. I miss my baby sister, but I have to admit she’s grown into the strong, independent woman she always wanted to be.”

“Death will do that to a person. Some people fall apart, others evade the pain by throwing themselves into something else, and some deal and move forward the best they can. When I joined the Navy I was a kid out of high school with the mentality of a kid out of high school,” he admitted. “I thought I was larger than life, couldn’t be hurt and wasn’t going to die anytime soon. Boot camp aged me, constant training aged me more, and war—watching men fall beside me—it mentally knocked me way past my physical years in age.”

She nodded. “We’re not all really sure where Eve fits in those categories yet. She didn’t fall apart, but she did throw herself into her work. I don’t know if she’s dealing with things and trying to live the best she can, or if she’s avoiding thinking about Adam by taking on every assignment that comes her way.” She shook her head. She didn’t need to be having this conversation with him. “I better go move my car. I’ll be right back.” She briskly walked back over to the register and grabbed her keys from behind the counter before going out the front door. She hadn’t missed the look he gave her when she got her keys. She was sure she was in for another lecture about why leaving her keys behind the register was such a bad idea. She decided that when it came to protection, Shane was definitely going to be worse than her brothers. She didn’t think she would ever meet a man who could be more protective of her than Gavin and Thomas were, but she just had.

Gavin and Thomas were family and so she expected them to smother her with loving protection, even when she made a point of putting enough distance between them so that she didn’t have them breathing down her neck she always knew they were keeping up with her in one fashion or another. But this guy, Shane Maxwell, was not the kind of guy who was going to protect from a distance. He also wasn’t the kind of guy who would let her get away with, or at least let her think she was getting away with, not having him keeping a close watch over her safety. She shrugged as she pulled her little bug in next to his oversized truck. She wanted security; she couldn’t complain now that she had gotten it. “Suck it up, Alyssa,” she told herself. “That man is definitely here to stay—for a little while anyway.” Just until he had fulfilled his promise to whatever friend had hired him. Something about that really bothered her. She wanted him to be there because he wanted to be, not because it was a favor to a friend. She didn’t want to be anybody’s obligation, yet somehow, his words had made her feel as if she was just an obligation, a way of doing a favor for a friend.

She needed to get over her issue with why he was there. In a lot of ways it was good that he wasn’t truly there because of her. She wanted to keep things professional and his feelings of obligations to his friend meant he wouldn’t be thinking of anything more with her. She wanted him to think of more, but she knew it was a bad idea. “Employers do not date employees,” she said as she walked back down the alley to the front door of the store. She took the walk instead of going in through the back because she really needed just a few minutes of breathing room, a few minutes to get her head on straight and not think about all the things she wished she could do with Shane Maxwell.