“I can stay in the valley if I want.”
“Not as my employee you can’t.” Maybe Cruz was crossing a line here, but he would deal with a disgruntled employee or even a lawsuit over allowing this playboy to pursue sweet, innocent, unassuming, far-too-attractive Meredith.
“You just want Meredith to yourself,” Josh sneered at him. “Isn’t it enough that every woman in the world falls at your feet? What do you care about one more?”
Cruz hesitated before admitting, “Meredith is the one for me. The only one I want.”
Josh’s eyebrows raised. “Hmm, isn’t that interesting.” He gave Cruz a mocking look. “Finally, the superhero has a weakness—the beautiful Meredith, who’s more than willing to sleep with me.” He arched an eyebrow.
Cruz felt a chill go through him. This guy was a creep, and this wasn’t going to end well. “Don’t you dare touch Meredith.”
Josh simply sneered at him. “You don’t have to fire me. I quit. And we’ll just see who Meredith chooses.” With that, he turned and stormed toward the driveway. Cruz heard a motor turn over and then a vehicle spin away. He wanted to chase after Josh and make sure he didn’t head back to Meredith’s.
“Cruz!” Taylee was calling to him from the backyard.
Cruz sighed and headed back to the party—his party. He knew he couldn’t control Josh, and especially knew he couldn’t control Meredith, but he did stop to say a prayer for her to be protected. He didn’t have a good feeling about any of this. As soon as he could, he was headed to Meredith’s house to make sure Josh wasn’t there.
Chapter Three
Meredith spent a long, uneasy night and woke up with a slight headache. She hadn’t been comfortable with Josh taking her home since she didn’t know him very well, but he had been her option to get out of there fast. Cat had picked her up earlier to make sure Meredith didn’t ditch the party. Thankfully Cat hadn’t seemed too upset when she called, more concerned. Josh was Cruz’s employee, so she felt she’d be safe with him. However, she hated all the stories he kept telling her about Cruz being some world-renowned ladies’ man, and it was obvious he and Cruz had some issues. When Cruz had called her “his girl,” she’d about fallen over, but from what Josh said, he had dozens of “girls,” a different girlfriend in every city or small town they spent time in. She knew she was nothing special to him. She thought she knew Cruz so well, but it’d been twelve years since they’d been close, and it seemed the fame and women had changed him.
Josh had tried to walk her inside, but she’d insisted she had a headache and firmly told him goodnight. Throughout the night, she could’ve sworn she heard vehicle tires crunch on her gravel drive and even footsteps outside her bedroom window like she’d heard in the past. She didn’t see anyone on the security cameras, and her sensor lights hadn’t gone off, so she was probably imagining it.
It all combined to make her not sleep well and wish that she didn’t live alone. Since being abducted and almost sold to human traffickers, she’d wished she was still living with her parents or at least had a roommate. She’d been so proud a few years ago when she’d bought this small cabin on the south side of the lake and had slowly fixed it up with a lot of help from Cruz’s handyman dad, Jay. Jay and Devon had come by shortly after the abduction a few weeks ago and helped her install the security cameras, alarms on her doors, and sensor lights. She hadn’t heard or seen anyone outside since the abduction. Right when she started feeling safe, she was almost certain someone was prowling outside her house at night again.
Grateful it was finally light outside, she pulled on shorts, a t-shirt, socks, and walking shoes, downed a glass of water and some Ibuprofen, gripped one of her canisters of handheld pepper spray, and headed out into the gorgeous summer morning. Her head pounded with each step as she waited for the Ibuprofen to kick in. It was probably fate kicking her in the behind after she’d lied to Cat last night and claimed she’d gone home from the party because she had a bad headache. She couldn’t think of a time in her life that she’d lied, but last night it was warranted as all of her silly hopes of her and Cruz together crashed around her ankles.
Staring at the thick greenery around her, she took a trail that paralleled the road, not wanting to be too far from the safety that cars and cabins represented to her this morning. Everything seemed better in the light of day as far as her safety was concerned, especially with her pepper spray in hand. She had probably imagined the footsteps outside her window and the cars in her driveway. Infrequently throughout the past several years, she’d heard what she thought were footsteps outside and had even called Sheriff Greenwood, Hope’s dad, a few times. It always turned out that nobody was there. She was afraid the kidnapping had turned her into a paranoid wimp, but could anybody really blame her?
Thinking of the sheriff and Hope led her back around to her angst from last night. She’d been so excited for the party and the chance to spend more time with Cruz. Then she’d met Josh, and he’d confirmed her fears that Cruz was the worst kind of player. To top it all off, as they’d talked, Cruz had been wholly focused on the beautiful Hope Greenwood and hugged her multiple times.
Meredith loved Hope and felt awful for what she’d gone through recently with her divorce. Her husband lied, stole, and crushed her dreams, so she had no choice but to return home. Meredith should be happy that Hope had an appealing, strong shoulder to lean on, but dang if Meredith wasn’t a selfish brat and wanted Cruz all to herself.
No. He was a player, and he didn’t want her. She needed to somehow move on from her stupid Cruz fantasies. Maybe she should warn Hope not to trust him as well. It was all so depressing she felt her shoulders sag.
A branch snapped behind her, and then a couple of birds launched into the air. Meredith jumped, and her heart pounded faster as she heard loud footsteps approach.
“Hello?” she called.
Nobody answered, but the footsteps paused, and she could swear she heard heavy breathing. Prickles broke out on her neck and arms. Darting a glance over her shoulder, she couldn’t see anyone. She upped her pace and took the next trail that led to the main road. Hearing the footsteps pick up behind her again, she broke into a jog, clinging to the pepper spray with sweat-slick fingers.
“Who’s there?” she screamed, spinning around and trying to look through the thick, dense trees.
No answer, but the footsteps were getting closer. She was certain of it. She upped her pace to a sprint as the pounding behind her grew louder. She checked over her shoulder constantly and saw a shadow not far away.
Meredith was more of a hiker and walker, but she would run flat out if it meant getting away from some creeper. She prayed her imagination was just in hyperdrive, and the person wasn’t really chasing her with ill intent. At the same time, it wasn’t just imagination for her, as she knew how it felt to be manhandled, tied up, and more terrified than she’d ever understood a person could be. She could not allow herself to be in that position ever again.
She hit the main road at a flat-out sprint and saw a small pack of mountain bikers coming her way. Relief poured through her, and she waved madly at them. The group slowed and stopped right in front of her. Meredith’s heart started racing even faster but for completely different reasons than someone following her in the woods. She darted a glance back at the woods but couldn’t see anyone.