“Okay, my brothers are jackasses but that’s weirdly sweet.”
“You know they love you.”
“I do know that. And I love them. They just drive me insane. How’s your dad anyway?”
“Great. Going a little stir-crazy in retirement, I think. I think he’s more excited about me getting a dog than I originally thought. I called him about Bud and he’s decided it’s a done deal at this point.”
“Will I get to visit your new pup sometimes too?” she asked teasingly.
He paused, giving her a look that was searing in its intensity.
Um…what was happening? She stared back at him, completely ensnared by his green eyes. She opened her mouth to say something—anything—but his phone suddenly buzzed in his pocket.
The noise jarred both of them and he glanced away to pull it out. He frowned as he looked at the screen, but just as quickly shoved it back in his pocket before pouring another scoop into the waffle iron. “You know you can come over anytime you want, Ivy. Whether I have a dog or not.” His words came out light enough, but there was something under the surface.
Something she wasn’t sure she wanted to poke at. Or maybe she did. After that intense kiss, even if it had just been for show, she felt as if things had shifted between them, that they were more than just friends, but…not quite there.
She cleared her throat, trying to scatter the cobwebs from her mind. Because she was way too afraid to push this right now. “So how has it been, transitioning to the civilian world? I mean, I know it’s been a while but I also know that you floundered a bit after getting out of the Marines.”
He poured more batter into the waffle maker as he answered. “Red Stone Security is good for me. A lot of the men and women who work there are former military so there’s a lot of camaraderie. Not everyone has a military background, however, and that’s a good thing. There’s a nice mix.”
“Good.” Now she was the one floundering as she tried to think of what to say next. She normally never struggled with him but at the moment she was overtired and punchy. And she couldn’t stop staring at his mouth. She knew how soft his lips were now too, hence her brain fritzing.
“So, this contract aside, how is your job? Are you still enjoying it?”
Oh boy, that was a loaded question. “I’m enjoying my job but…I’ve been thinking about making some changes.” Admitting this aloud was a relief.
He lifted an eyebrow as he looked at her. “Really?”
“Yes, but I honestly don’t want to talk about it just yet. I’m still sort of rolling things over in my mind.” Which was mostly true. She’d more or less made the decision but she wasn’t ready to put the thought out into the world yet. Because if she failed on this contract, then she would take another one because she desperately wanted to pay off that mortgage. She needed to save the shelter.
She knew the world wouldn’t end if she didn’t but…it was important to her. And it had been really important to her aunt. She hated the thought of that place being bought out by billionaire developers who would just tear it down and turn the property into something awful and corporate, with no soul. The shelter did so much good for the city and its homeless animals, and it had been there for decades.
As he slid the last waffle onto one of his gray and white plates, Nash unplugged the iron and turned to her. There was a sort of longing in his eyes she felt all the way to her core. She set the wineglass down as a low-grade buzz started deep inside her. She tried to tamp down her nerves—failed.
“I wanted to talk to you about something.”
“Okay.” Her phone buzzed on the countertop next to her but she ignored it for once, her attention riveted to Nash. She really wanted to know what he had to say.
He glanced down and she went to silence her phone, then saw that it wasn’t a text, but an alert. She frowned. “There’s movement on my security cameras.” She’d set up a couple at her rental place because old habits died hard.
“Maybe it’s an animal or something,” he murmured as she pulled up the screen.
Her gut tightened as she stared. “Someone is breaking into my rental.” She flipped the screen around and held it out to him.
He cursed softly and pulled out his own phone, calling 911 immediately.
Food and everything else forgotten, she slid off the countertop and hurried to grab her bag as Nash spoke into the phone.
The fear that this might be related to what they’d done earlier hit her hard. It couldn’t be a coincidence.
Chapter 15
Leaning against his SUV in the driveway, Nash watched as Ivy talked quietly to Detective Anning about the break-in at her rental. She was giving him a statement and handing over the video feeds, but there wasn’t much on the video. And there was no way this was unrelated to her current contract—or at least he didn’t believe that.
Unfortunately she hadn’t put up many cameras. She’d only done it as a cautionary thing out of habit. There wasn’t much the cops could do with what was on the video since the guy who’d broken in had been wearing a hoodie covering most of his head and face. And he’d had on gloves and long sleeves. There’d been no visible tattoos and his clothes had been generic enough.
“Nash?”
He turned, surprise flickering through him at the familiar voice. “Theo.” Nash shoved off the SUV and strode toward his old friend, also a detective. They’d gone to high school together, but Theo had been a year older. “They need two of you guys on this B and E?” Neither he nor Ivy were telling the cops about their suspicions about the robbery. They didn’t have anything concrete, and she didn’t want to talk to them about her job for a whole variety of reasons.
His friend snorted softly and shook his head. “Normally no. But we’ve had a string of robberies in the area. Mostly petty stuff, things left in open garages getting snagged. But it’s been escalating and last Friday an older woman was injured during a robbery. The guys didn’t realize anyone was home and one of them panicked and hit her in the head. I’ve seen stuff like this spiral out of control so we’re working this case hard.” Theo’s expression darkened slightly before his gaze trailed over to where Ivy was. “You here with her?”
“Yeah.” And he didn’t want to offer any more explanation than that.
Theo nodded. “That’s Sebastian’s younger sister, right?”
“She’s back in town for a while. We were at my place when she got an alert on her phone.”
A frown pulled at his mouth. “She’s just renting the place temporarily and put cameras up?”
“She likes to be cautious,” Nash said.
Theo paused, as if he wanted to ask more, but then said, “So how are you doing anyway?”
“Good. Working at Red Stone now.”
“I thought I heard that. I don’t even need to ask, but how are you liking it?”
“I love it. It’s a solid company.” It was well-run, employees were well paid and got good health care and PTO. It ticked all the boxes.
Theo smiled slightly. “That seems to be the consensus.”
“Are you thinking of switching professions?”