Page 37 of K-9 Prime Target

“And he’s definitely watching Nina,” Liam said. “He’s violating a restraining order to stay at least a hundred yards away from her.” He pointed to the man’s helmet. “He has a sticker for Mt. Hood Meadows on his helmet. It’s the only one like it I’ve seen at the resort, so keep an eye out for him.”

“I’ll make sure everyone sees these and knows about the sticker on his helmet,” Connor said. “If we see him around, we’ll alert security.”

Liam scowled. “Don’t bother alerting security unless he’s within a hundred yards of Nina. I spoke with Doug this morning, and he pointed out that there’s no law preventing this creep from being on resort property, as long as he’s not bothering Nina.”

“There’s no law preventing a couple of us from getting him alone and impressing upon him that he needs to leave,” Brian said.

“Don’t risk your jobs over me,” Nina protested. “Just—let me know if he’s around.”

“We’ll do that. And if you see him, call one of us. Don’t let him get you alone.”

“I won’t. I promise. And thank you. All of you.”

She left the patrol building and Liam followed. He wanted to say something about how he knew this was upsetting for her, or that he liked her fellow patrollers and trusted them to help her. Instead, she turned to him with an overly bright smile. “Want to grab some lunch?” she asked.

He followed her to a sandwich place near the back of the plaza. “Everything go okay this morning?” he asked while they waited for their order.

“It was fine. I didn’t see Nicholson.”

“I hung out in the plaza for a while, watching people. But I didn’t see him, either.”

“Did Doug really say they couldn’t do anything about Nicholson?”

“Only if he’s violating the terms of his parole or actually harassing or threatening you.” Liam picked up a salt shaker, then pushed it aside again. “I think he’s right. If the government thinks Nicholson served his time, he’s free to do what he wants.”

“Then we have to wait for him to step out of line.”

“He’s going to have a lot of people watching him now. He’s lost the element of surprise he had when he attacked you before.”

She nodded. “You’re right. I should be a lot safer now. I just don’t feel that way.”

The server called their number, and Liam retrieved their sandwiches. She unwrapped hers but didn’t eat it. Liam pushed his own lunch aside. “Doug suggested you might want to leave town for a while. If Nicholson can’t find you, he’ll give up and move on to something else.”

“It’s the middle of the season. We’re still short one patroller. I couldn’t leave.”

“Doug says he can find someone to fill in.”

“Someone who won’t be as much trouble, he means.” She scrunched a paper napkin into a ball and tossed it on the table. “Now that I’ve done all the photos for their big marketing campaign, he’d be happy to get me out of the way.”

“I’ll support whatever you want to do,” Liam said. “If you stay, I’ll stick around. If you want to leave, we could go to Ireland, or anywhere else you want to go.”

“You don’t have to change your whole life because of me. Don’t you have jobs you need to complete?”

“I scheduled in some downtime after this, on purpose,” he said. He wouldn’t admit it was because he had hoped to reconnect with her and had allowed time for that to develop.

“You can’t babysit me forever.”

“You’re not a child I need to watch over,” he said. “But you are someone I want to spend time with. And you have to admit, this is a good time to have another set of eyes watching out for you.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you. It makes me furious that even from a distance Nicholson is controlling me. He’s making me second-guess everything I do.”

Liam picked up his sandwich again.

“I’m not going to leave SkyCrest,” she said. “I’ll make sure Doug knows that.” She picked up her own sandwich. “I’m not sure what I’m going to do about Nicholson right now. I have to focus on things I can control, and that means doing a job I’m good at. I’m not going to let Nicholson—or Doug, for that matter—keep me away from work.”

* * *

The next morning, Nina was glad she was able to sleep in until six. When her alarm sounded, Liam reached over and pulled her close, and she allowed herself the luxury of cuddling with him for a few minutes. He had spent the night at her house again, after she had paid a man to scrub the graffiti from her garage door.