Page 35 of Then Came You

“You’re scaring me.” But she stood too and followed him to the parking lot.

He tossed their trash in a barrel on the way. “Fear is good. You should always be aware of your surroundings.”

“You sound like a cop.”

He stopped abruptly and turned to face her. “I am a cop, Gillian, and the sooner you accept that, the better.”

She swallowed hard, and he felt a touch of remorse for sounding so harsh. Before he could stop himself, he reached out and placed his hand on her cheek. “Your safety is important to me.”

Surprisingly, she didn’t pull back. They stood there and gazed into each other’s eyes for a few beats until he realized that Stella might be lurking nearby. He didn’t want to give the woman any more fodder for gossip, so he reluctantly pulled his hand away.

“Let me check out your place. Please.”

She hesitated for just a few seconds and then nodded. “Okay.”

Feeling bolstered by her assent, he accompanied her to the passenger side of his truck and opened the door for her. To hell with pretending they were just on an outing. This was a date, plain and simple. He’d wanted to spend a carefree afternoon with her, but now his plans had changed. He was concerned for her safety, and he’d gone into cop mode.

His questions might have made her uncomfortable, and she might not want Stella to know who he was, but there was no denying it. As a man, he was interested in being with Gillian, but as a cop, he was committed to protecting her.

He’d like her to accept him as both, but for now, he’d settle for the latter. Still, when he looked over at her riding in the passenger seat of his truck, he wanted it all. She was pretty, kindhearted, and smart. She was also strong yet vulnerable, a combination he found irresistible.

If only she’d open up to him, let him in. If only she wouldn’t see him as a threat to Owen’s memory. If only she’d believe him to be worthy of her attention and not just as a friend or a cop but as something more.

What would it take for her to see him as a man?

Chapter 13

Gillian felt rattled when she and Sam pulled up to her house. She wasn’t sure which made her more anxious, the idea of an intruder on her property or bringing Sam into her private space.

He’d been inside her house twice now, but he’d waited by the door both times. Now he wanted to check the place out, and though it made her uncomfortable, there was no easy way out of it. If someone had attempted to break in, she needed to know about it.

“What kind of security system do you have?” he asked after they’d hopped out of the truck.

“Besides Cocoa, you mean?”

“A dog might scare away some people, but not all. What else do you have?”

“I have those outside lights that come on automatically at night, but that’s about it.” When Owen had lived there, she’d never worried about her safety. She’d felt secure with him, but she’d learned the hard way that he wouldn’t always be there to protect her.

“I’d like to walk around back if that’s okay.”

“I’ll go with you.”

She led him around the side of the house that abutted Stella’s property. “There’s Stella’s house, through the trees.”

Sam looked where she’d pointed and then back at Gillian. “I think you might be right about her. She’d just about have to use binoculars to see anything from there.”

“I told you.”

“Well, in this case, I’m glad she was being nosy.”

He didn’t have to explain why, and she felt a shiver of fear travel up her spine.

Sam studied the ground along the side of the house, presumably looking for footprints or something the intruder might have dropped. It hadn’t rained in the past couple of weeks, so the ground was hard and dry, and there were no footprints to be seen. Nothing looked out of place.

“Maybe Stella was mistaken,” Gillian ventured, but Sam was not to be deterred. She studied his profile and noted the fierce determination in his gaze and the set of his jaw. This must be how he behaved when investigating a crime, and though it was familiar to her, he seemed much more intense than Owen had been. In his free time, Owen liked to crack jokes, tease people, and generally have a good time. While Sam was friendly and approachable, he was also quieter and more introspective.

Why do I keep comparing them?