Forgotten E-Book

Mary E. Thompson

• Herausgeber: BluEyed Press
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

Jaymes Ford has never measured up to his brother. He was always second best as kids, he crashed and burned in SEAL training, and when Jaymes was kidnapped, the woman he loved fell for his brother. 

Kelsea Arnold wants to believe she’s losing her mind, but she can’t shake the feeling of being watched. She’s never seen him, but she can feel him. Watching her. Following her. Wanting her. 

Jaymes has nothing to offer the gorgeous, curvy woman who shows up on his mother’s doorstep trembling. He has no idea if she’s telling the truth or if it’s all in her head. But he knows how it feels to be in her shoes and chooses to protect her, even if it’s only from herself. 

When it’s clear Kelsea is in grave danger, Jaymes vows to keep her safe. He’s finally found someone who makes him feel like he’s the better brother, and he’ll do whatever it takes to protect her.

Leseprobe

FORGOTTEN

F-BOMB: SEALS LOVE CURVES, BOOK 2

MARY E THOMPSON

Forgotten

F-BOMB: SEALs Love Curves, book 2

Copyright © 2018 Mary E Thompson

Cover Copyright © 2021 Mary E Thompson

Cover Photo from depositphotos, Copyright © Wavebreakmedia

Background from depositphotos, Copyright © yupiramos

Flag from Pixabay, CC0

Published by BluEyed Press, All Rights Reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This is a work of fiction. All characters, businesses, locations, and events are either products of the author’s creative imagination or are used in a fictitious sense. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-944090-70-8

Print ISBN: 978-1-944090-71-5

Audiobook ISBN: 978-1-944090-65-4

Created with Vellum

F-BOMB: SEALS LOVE CURVES

Welcome to the world of F-BOMB where a group of former SEALs have come together to protect the curvy women they love and the country they call home from the dangers of the world. They have the training and the knowledge, and they have the ability to kick some ass when needed. And it’ll be needed.

F-BOMB: SEALs LOVE CURVES

Freedom

Fiancée (subscriber exclusive)

Forgotten

First

Failure

Friends

Family

Forbidden

Future

Finally

SUBSCRIBE NOW AT MARYETHOMPSON.COM

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

About the Author

To everyone who’s wondered if you would be missed…you would be

1

Kelsea Arnold locked her office door as a chill raced up her spine. She looked around, but no one was in the hallway. Dark classrooms lined both sides, with doors long closed and locked. Her colleagues had families to see, lives to live. Things she hadn’t had ever, if she was being honest with herself.

She glanced down the long hallway again and shook off the feeling of being watched. She was imagining things. She had to be. No one was there. No one was ever there when that feeling crept up on her.

Darkness blanketed the grounds of Erie University, like it usually did by the time she left work. She had papers to grade and lesson plans to finalize, and then there were the research papers she had to write. To say she had a lot on her plate was an understatement. It was one of the many reasons she worked late every night. That and it was easier to get work done at school where, once in a while, someone was around instead of her silent and empty home.

She was almost to her car when that feeling of being watched slithered up her spine again. She stopped and listened, straining to hear footsteps or some other noise that would tell her where the closest person was. A shuffling drew her attention to the sidewalk she’d stepped off of moments before.

She spun and stared long enough into the shadows that her eyes played tricks on her. She thought she saw a man near the bank of trees, but no one was there.

Right?

“Hello? Is anyone there?”

Silence met her question, but silence didn’t mean she was alone.

She stared for another second, then convinced herself she was crazy. With a deep breath, she turned back to her car, not running, but not taking her time either.

As soon as she was in her car, she locked the door and forced herself to take a deep breath, then cranked up the car and drove off.

She watched her rearview mirror constantly on her drive home. Her heart raced as she changed lanes and took the long way home. At every intersection, she swore someone was following her, but she lost them at the next turn. By the time she pulled into her driveway, her palms were so wet they slipped on the steering wheel. She pulled her car into the garage and closed the door behind her, watching the mirrors to make sure no one got in the garage with her.

Kelsea turned her car off and sucked in a deep breath. She was safe. She was in her home. No one was there. She was okay.

She got out on shaky legs and made her way to the door. She unlocked it and went inside, locking the door behind her. She leaned back against it and breathed deep. Slowly, her heart stopped pounding and her breathing returned to something normal. It was sad to admit running from an imaginary stalker was the most exercise she’d had in months. She was painfully out of shape, something her ex reminded her of the last time they spoke.

Screw him, she told herself. She didn’t need the man who thought she was fat. She was changing the world, and she didn’t need any man for that. She was happy on her own.

Liar.

Kelsea rolled her eyes at herself and pushed away from the door. It was an ongoing internal battle. As a psychology professor, she knew her pride was bruised more than her heart. She’d studied enough to understand how people thought and why certain things bothered you when others didn’t. Like the fact that she was pissed off that he said she was fat, but not bothered in the least that they were done. Pride, one. Heart, zero.

She stashed her double-x coat and oversized purse in the closet, imagining Maxwell’s sneer. Everything about her was too big. She groaned. He wasn’t worth another thought. And after the night she had, she didn’t need one more thing to mess with her head.

Kelsea’s home was her sanctuary. She meticulously chose every item that went into the house when she bought it. It was a true fixer-upper, and she painstakingly remodeled every room until it was everything she ever imagined her home would be. Her kitchen was definitely one of her favorite rooms. It was the first one she completed, and she loved the beauty and simplicity of the pristine white cabinets and matching smooth countertops. The only color came from the copper cookware that hung above the large center island.

It was also where she kept the wine, so of course she loved the kitchen. More than that, it made her feel good. You could be fat in the kitchen and no one thought twice about it. No one trusted a skinny chef. Not that Kelsea was a chef, but she told herself it made sense as she moved around her kitchen, heating up leftovers from the night before and pouring herself a large glass of wine.

She carried her computer bag, wine, and dinner to the blue-gray living room and sank onto her insanely comfortable couch. She finally took a deep breath. She was safe. She was possibly crazy, but she was safe in her home.

She ate in silence, letting the sound of the movie on TV fill her home and convince her she wasn’t quite so lonely. If she had friends, she would call someone to come over once in a while. She had her work and her students and a neighbor a few doors down that she talked to, but mostly, she was alone.

After she finished her dinner, Kelsea pulled out the tests she had to grade. It wasn’t long before she was dozing on the couch. A loud commercial startled her. She looked at the clock and realized how early it still was. She didn’t care, though. She was exhausted. An early day combined with irrational fears did that to a person.

She went to her room and flipped on lights. Her dirty clothes went into the hamper in her closet, then she padded to the bathroom. She glanced longingly at her soaking tub and debated taking a bath. It would definitely soothe her nerves, but she was so tired she worried she’d fall asleep and drown.

She sighed and promised herself a long, hot bath over the weekend, when she wasn’t so exhausted.

She finished up in the bathroom and debated sleeping naked, but decided she wanted clothes on to give her a sense of security. Just like snuggling under the covers wouldn’t help if someone broke in, she knew it was irrational, but fears weren’t rational so she gave in to them and pulled on a pair of yoga pants and a t-shirt. She threw an Erie University sweatshirt on with a pair of thick socks and told herself she was going to roast. But she felt better, so she kept all the clothes on.

She went back to the front door and double checked that she’d locked that and every other door and shook her head at herself. She was being paranoid.

In her bedroom, she pulled her hair up into a ponytail and wished, not for the first time, that there was a man sliding into bed with her. Being lonely sucked.

With a sigh, she turned off the light, and swore she saw a flash outside her bedroom window.

* * *

Jaymes Ford leaned back in his chair and laughed at something his mom said. He rubbed his stomach, enjoying the full feeling. It was another thing he’d learned to appreciate. His brother, Archer, told him he’d only been gone a little under two weeks when Archer’s psycho former commanding officer, Brady Williams, kidnapped him, but for Jaymes, it had been a lifetime. They only gave him food when he couldn’t sit upright any longer, and water was restricted so he didn’t dump it on the computer.

The fuckers were smart.

“You shouldn’t say things like that, Mom,” Jaymes chastised.

His mom spun on him and rolled her eyes. “Neither should he. He’s a grown-ass man, and he should know better than to proposition an old lady like me. And at church of all places.”

Jaymes laughed again, because she was right. But that didn’t make it any less funny that one of his mother’s fellow parishioners grabbed her ass and told her he wanted to take her on a hot date.

“You’re right, Mom. Are you going to tell on him?”

She waved her hand at him and scoffed. “You know no one would care. Those old bitties would be jealous that they weren’t the ones getting felt up.”

Jaymes choked on his water. “Felt up? Mom, that’s sexual harassment. I mean, him grabbing your ass is also, but feeling you up definitely is.”

She gave him a funny look. “There’s no difference, Jaymes. Feeling me up is grabbing my ass.”

Jaymes held her gaze for a second then slowly said, “Mom, feeling you up is grabbing your breasts, not your ass.”

She turned scarlet and busied herself with the dishes in the sink. “Oh, no. I didn’t mean that!”

The doorbell rang and saved them both from further embarrassment.

“Will you get that, honey? A neighbor is supposed to be bringing something over tonight. That might be her.”

Jaymes was more than happy to escape his mother for a minute, and her felt-up ass. He chuckled on his way to the door, wondering who was showing up at his mom’s house at almost nine at night.

Jaymes opened the door and stopped dead. He expected an old lady, someone close to his mom’s age.

Instead, it was another friend of hers. Jaymes met her a couple times but only briefly. He couldn’t remember her name. It was something pretty, simple but not very common. It suited her, but Jaymes still couldn’t think of what it was.

But it wasn’t her name or how beautiful she was that had Jaymes stopping dead. It was the look of pure terror on her heart-shaped face when she saw him standing there.

“Are you okay?”

She took a step back and started to turn away.

“My mom’s inside. Hang on a second.”

She froze and slowly turned back to look at him. Her eyes ran down his frame, taking in every inch of him.

He wondered what she saw. His white socks stood out against his dark jeans. His t-shirt was a little tight after the muscle he added the last few months, but it was comfortable. He edged his glasses up his nose, a new addition after spending so many days in dark basements and straining his eyes to look at computer screens.

He wasn’t the same man he was before he was kidnapped, but the woman before him obviously didn’t remember him anyway.

“Jaymes, right?” she asked tentatively.

He nodded. So much for her not remembering him. “Do you want to come in?”

She shook her head. “No, I should⁠—”

“Come on. My mom was just getting dessert out. I think she made a chocolate cheesecake because she knows I’m a sucker for chocolate. You’re welcome to join us.”

She glanced down the street, then chewed on her lip, and finally nodded.

Jaymes stepped back and held the door so she had plenty of room to get around him. He didn’t know what she was running from, but it was obvious to him that she was doing exactly that. Running. From someone or something.

Before they walked into the kitchen, he stopped her. “Are you okay?”

She nodded stiffly, as though regretting her decision to come inside. “I won’t stay long.”

“I think you should. Did my mom tell you I was kidnapped a few months ago?”

Her swift intake of breath told him she either didn’t know or didn’t remember, but either way, it was too close to her fears.

Enormous green eyes looked up at him and filled with tears. She was scared, trembling as she stood in front of him.

“Nothing will happen to you here. I promise.”

She sucked in another breath, fortifying this time, and nodded sharply, just once. Strength stiffened her spine and dried up her tears. When she met his gaze again, she was a different woman. Determined, strong, pissed off.

He liked that one better.

She followed him down the short hallway to the dining room. The kitchen sat just beyond, but his mom was already bringing cheesecake back into the dining room.

“Kelsea, honey! How are you? I didn’t know you were stopping by tonight. Did I?”

Kelsea nodded. “No, Cecelia. I’m sorry. I just wanted to… say hi. I scared myself and wanted some company.”

Her cheeks pinked like she was embarrassed by what she admitted. Why, he couldn’t understand. If anyone knew fear, it was definitely him. He wouldn’t judge her, and neither would his mom.

“You’re always welcome here, Kelsea. You know that. I’ve got two spare bedrooms these days, and my boys are both in town so I don’t have any reason to fill them up.”

Kelsea smiled and looked relaxed for the first time since Jaymes opened the door. He wondered what was going on with her, what or who she was running from.

She gave him a sideways glance, so he smiled, hoping she thought he looked trustworthy.

“Sit and have some dessert with us, Kelsea,” his mom said, waving Kelsea toward a seat.

“Oh, I should go. You love your time with your boys.”

Jaymes moved toward the table and took a seat. He cut a large piece of cheesecake and set it in front of the empty chair next to his. Then he cut another one and set it in front of the chair his mother used for dinner. Finally, he cut a piece for himself.

When he looked up, both women were watching him. He speared a bite of cheesecake and shrugged. “What?” Then shoved it in his mouth.

Kelsea met his gaze and finally settled into the seat he left for her, between him and his mother.

Both women forked a bite and ate it. Jaymes watched Kelsea out of the corner of his eye. She had one of those curvy hourglass figures that drove him crazy. She was wearing a pair of yoga pants that threatened his sanity and an oversized sweatshirt with Erie University on the front. Her dark hair was tied back from her face in a knot kind of thing on top of her head with tiny pieces falling down around her face and along her neck. Her emerald eyes darted around the room as she ate, taking in everything and focusing on nothing.

He hated that she was so scared, that she wasn’t sure if she was safe. He understood that feeling and wanted to keep her from it.

“What were you teaching your students about today, Kelsea?” his mom asked when the cheesecake was half gone.

Kelsea set her fork down and folded her hands together. “We’re still early in the semester, so I’m convincing half of them that I’m not crazy and telling the other half that they are. It’s always an interesting time of year.”

Jaymes smiled with her and slowly ate his cheesecake while his mom peppered Kelsea with questions.

“Are these freshman again?”

Kelsea nodded.

“They all think they know everything.”

She laughed. “Some of them, yes. Since it’s the second semester, many of them have mellowed out. They already know that they aren’t the kings and queens like they were in high school. They’re in a much bigger pond now.”

His mom nodded. “Well, that’s good. They don’t need to go into it all cocky like they own the place. How many classes do you teach this semester?”

“Five classes. Two undergrad and three grad school.”

“And how many students have projects with you?” his mom asked pointedly. She turned to Jaymes and said, “Kelsea is the most popular professor in the psychology department. She studies the brain side of psychology and interprets what people do because of their brain. It’s where the field is going.”

Kelsea blushed and met his gaze. “I’m a neuroscience psychologist. I study how the brain works in relation to psychology. I have the best toys. That’s why I’m so popular.”

He smiled at her, waiting for the realization of what she said to sink in. When it didn’t, he simply said, “All the beautiful women I know have the best toys, too.”

She choked on her cheesecake.

2

Kelsea could not believe she said that to so many people and never realized just how dirty it sounded.

Her cheeks heated instantly, and she sputtered for something to say to make it better, but there was nothing. She just had to run with it.

“Well, we smile and ask nicely, so people tend to give us lots of money.”

Then it was his turn to choke on his cheesecake.

Cecelia looked at the two of them like they were crazy.

Kelsea finally felt better. When she turned off the light in her room and saw a flashlight outside her bedroom window, she freaked out. She snuck out of her room, tugged on her sneakers, and ran like hell to Cecelia’s house. She didn’t have her purse with her or anything, just her keys. Which was really stupid because if someone really was out there and they killed her, the police wouldn’t be able to identify her body.

But she was operating on pure instinct when she left her room. Terror raced through her, and she knew she wasn’t being paranoid or crazy. Cecelia was the closest neighbor to her that she’d gotten to know, so she sprinted the three houses down and panicked when a man opened the door.

But Jaymes was funny and sexy and kind. She’d forgotten that he was kidnapped months ago. If anyone understood how terrified she was, it was definitely a man who’d been there.

And instead of continuing to freak out, she was flirting with him.

His brown hair was neatly trimmed, but his beard was a little long. She’d always been attracted to men like him, men who were a little scruffy and a whole lot of sexy, but with a nerdy side that came out in small ways. The way his t-shirt stretched across his pecs had her mouth watering even as she shook with fear. He definitely had a nerdy side, as evidenced by his wire-rimmed glasses and bright white socks, not to mention the career working with computers, if she remembered correctly. But she was a psychologist who chose to teach others how to be psychologists, so she was no stranger to being a geek.

Jaymes took a drink of his water and smirked at her, tipping his glass in her direction.

“Are you two all right?” Cecelia asked, tossing her gaze between the two of them.

Kelsea and Jaymes exchanged a grin and nodded.

Cecelia rolled her eyes. “I swear, it’s like having two children again. What is going on between the two of you?”

Jaymes recovered faster than Kelsea did. “Nothing, Mom. We’re just talking about Kelsea’s work. I’m guessing you teach at Erie University?”

She nodded. “I do. This is my second year.”

“Wow. And you have a PhD, I’m guessing, if you’re teaching grad students?”

She nodded, a little impressed that he would know that. “I do. In psychology. The neuroscience part of it wasn’t all that common when I was going to school, but I was a premed major for my undergrad and planned to be a neurologist.”

“Well, damn. That’s impressive.”

Kelsea grinned. A lot of people were shocked when she told them she wanted to be a neurologist, but not as many thought psychology was quite so fascinating. There was definitely something about brain surgery that was sexy, but she was learning how the brain controlled what a person did. She thought that was pretty damn sexy, too.

“I decided going to medical school, then getting into a residency program, and having to do a fellowship, and then studying under someone for years was too long for me to wait. It wasn’t as important to me to be able to cut open a brain and fix it as it was to understand everything about how it works. So, I gave up neurology and went into psych. I love it.”

Jaymes smiled at her. “It’s better to love your job.”

She sensed something in him, something that said he used to but it changed. She wanted to ask, to push, but before she got the chance, he turned to his mom.

“My mom was telling me about the dirty old man at church that felt her up the other day.”

Kelsea gasped and met Cecelia’s gaze. “Tell me he’s joking.”

She rolled her eyes. “My son likes to pick on me. The man grabbed my ass.”

Jaymes scraped the last of his cheesecake off his plate and licked the spoon. Kelsea’s nipples tightened watching the very tip of his tongue clean the fork. Damn, she really needed to get laid.

“Mom thought getting felt up meant she got her ass grabbed. It was a concerning few minutes. I figured I’d share with you.”

Kelsea chuckled at the glint in Jaymes’s chocolate eyes. He winked at her, as though they shared a secret. She looked back at Cecelia, who scoffed and got up, carrying the cheesecake back to the kitchen.

“Where are you taking that?” Jaymes asked.

“To the fridge. You’re done.”

“Mom! I wanted another piece.”

Jaymes jumped up and followed her. He begged and pleaded with her until their voices dropped too low for Kelsea to hear what they were saying.

She sipped her water and her mind wandered back to whoever was following her. It had been six weeks, since just after Thanksgiving, since she started thinking someone was following her. She was sure she was crazy at first, but seeing that light outside her window, and all the times she heard someone behind her, felt someone watching her… She wasn’t crazy.

But she was alone.

Her parents still lived in Ohio where she grew up. She wasn’t close to them, and hadn’t been her whole life. She didn’t have any siblings, and her coworkers mostly all thought she was crazy anyway. Her only friends weren’t human, but she loved the furry friends she made at the shelter every day.

And Cecelia. She met Cecelia the day she moved into her house. She came over with a casserole and homemade cheesecake and introduced herself. She offered her son, Jaymes, to help Kelsea move in, but Kelsea denied the help. She was used to doing everything on her own. She always had, and always would.

But Cecelia kept coming back. Once a week, she’d stop by with food in a plastic container with the excuse that she made too much and didn’t want it to go to waste. She slowly wore Kelsea down until they became friends.

Jaymes and Cecelia came back into the room, Jaymes wearing a triumphant smile as he carried the cheesecake back to the table. He cut himself another large piece and plopped it on his plate, then offered her one.

“Oh, no. I can’t. I’m trying to lose weight.”

“Kelsea, you’ve been trying to lose weight since I met you. You’re beautiful. You don’t need to lose weight. Tell her Jaymes. Maybe she’ll believe you.”

He looked at her, his dark eyes going even darker as he scanned her body. She felt his gaze over her like a lover’s caress, touching every inch of her curvy figure. She’d always hated that she wasn’t smaller, that her hips were too wide and her boobs too big and her belly wasn’t flat. But the look in his eyes made her feel stunning. Like if she changed one thing, lost one pound, it would be a mistake.

“You’re perfect,” Jaymes said, his voice husky. “You definitely don’t need to lose any weight.”

Kelsea trembled at the lust in his voice. She clenched her thighs together to stop the pulsing between them. Just the sound of the man’s voice had her ready to go off. What was wrong with her?

“See, Kelsea,” Cecelia interrupted her thoughts, “I told you. That Maxwell doesn’t know what he’s missing breaking up with you. He was lucky to find a woman like you, kind and smart and beautiful. And it’s not like he was a real catch. With his scruffy face and all those muscles. Did he think he could do better than you? That he was really that perfect?”

Kelsea sighed. She thought he was that perfect. When she met him at least. It baffled her that a man like him wanted to be with her. A man who rippled with muscles when he moved. He was confident and strong and smart. And he wanted her. He was perfect, until he wasn’t.

“Who’s Maxwell?” Jaymes asked quietly.

She avoided his gaze. It was bad enough that Cecelia told Jaymes she got dumped. She was thankful she never shared the real story with her friend. She hated lying about why they broke up, but Kelsea needed a shoulder to cry on when things ended between them. She never expected Cecelia to tell her hot son she got dumped.

“He was this guy Kelsea met over the summer and dated until a couple months ago,” Cecelia supplied. “You wouldn’t have liked him. I didn’t like him. He was cocky and arrogant and never talked much.”

“Sounds like a few other people I know,” Jaymes said with a half-grin for his mother.

“Your brother is not like that,” Cecelia argued.

Jaymes laughed. “Really? Because he’s living with and engaged to my best friend, so I see him an awful lot. He’s pretty damn cocky, and he’s never talked much.”

There was something deeper in his comments that Jaymes wasn’t saying. The best friend comment set Kelsea on edge. She didn’t know who Jaymes’s best friend was, but she was pretty sure he wasn’t happy his brother was with her.

“You know the cocky is because he’s a SEAL and the not talking is because of your father. Trust me, he’s nothing like Maxwell.”

Jaymes shrugged, but it was clear he wasn’t buying it.

“Well, I find it hard to believe you could raise a man who is anything like Maxwell. Jaymes is very kind, and I’m sure your other son is, too.”

“You haven’t met Archer?” Cecelia asked.

Kelsea shook her head.

“Oh, we all need to get together sometime. And he can bring his… well,” she glanced at Jaymes, “Lily.”

Jaymes gave her a tight-lipped grin that said a lot. Lily used to belong to Jaymes, but she was with Archer. And he was still upset about it.

Guess the flirtation between them was all in her imagination. And if that wasn’t real, maybe her stalker wasn’t either.

A grandfather clock chimed, telling them it was already ten o’clock. Cecelia looked at it and gasped. “I didn’t know it was so late. I have to get to bed. Jaymes, make sure Kelsea gets home, okay?”

Jaymes nodded and got up. He carried the cheesecake to the kitchen while Cecelia grabbed plates and cups from the table. Jaymes helped her put everything away quickly, then she shooed them out the door and into the cold January night.

Jaymes looked around for a second, then back to her. “Where’s your car?”

Kelsea shook her head. “I only live a couple houses down. I, uh, I walked here.”

He looked down at her feet and nodded slowly, like he knew exactly what happened. “Why don’t I give you a ride?”

Kelsea shook her head and ducked her chin into her sweatshirt. She walked down the steps and started to the sidewalk.

Before she got more than a few steps away, his hand landed on her shoulder and startled her. She jumped and spun on him.

He stepped back, staring at her.

One more person who thought she was crazy.

* * *

“Are you okay?” he asked slowly.

There was fear in her eyes. Just like when he opened the door an hour ago. That fear went away when he told her who he was, but this fear? This fear had hooked into her and wasn’t letting go.

“I’m… I’m sorry. I was… you startled me.”

“Kelsea, it’s cold, and you’re clearly upset about something. Let me drive you home, check out your house, make sure everything is okay.”

She shook her head. “You don’t have to do that.”

He smiled. “I know, but you’re a friend of my mom’s. She asked me to make sure you got home. And I know how it feels to worry if you’re safe in your own home. Let me check it out, Kelsea.”

She stared at him for a long minute, then finally nodded.

He unlocked his truck and waited for her to get in before he joined her. He cranked the engine and blasted the heat so she’d stop shivering. After a minute, he backed out of the driveway, but her shivering got worse.

Terror, not cold.

“Which house is yours?”

She pointed to a light colored ranch three doors down. Jaymes pulled into her driveway and put his truck in park, then turned it off.

“Kelsea, let me come with you.”

She held his gaze, then nodded again.

Jaymes hung back and let her go first. He looked around, checking for footprints or anything suspicious as she walked to her door.

He thought he saw something, but instead of scaring her, he followed her inside.

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” she said immediately. “I think I’ve been working too many long hours and I’m starting to lose it.”

“What happened, Kelsea?” Jaymes asked softly.

She shook her head. “It’s nothing.”

He moved closer to her and reached for her hand. She stiffened for a minute, then sank into his chest, surprising him.

He wrapped his arms around her and held her. She trembled, clinging to him. It had been a long time since he felt able to take care of someone else. He ran his hand down her back and held her close, hoping he could take some of her fear away. She smelled like cherries and fresh air, and he couldn’t resist a whiff of her.

“Are you okay?” he asked after a minute.

She nodded and stepped back, meeting his gaze with her own troubled one. “I’m sorry. I… I thought I saw someone outside my house earlier, and I’ve been thinking someone was following me, and I just worked myself up over nothing.”

Jaymes shook his head. “When I was kidnapped, I thought someone was following me for a couple days. I brushed it off as nothing, but they took me anyway. From outside my home. Don’t discount your feelings and your fears.” He looked around. “Let’s check everything out inside, then you can show me where you thought you saw someone outside. It hasn’t snowed in a few hours, so we might find some footprints.”

She shivered and looked up at him. “You don’t think I’m crazy?”

He shook his head. “No. Not even a little.”

She nodded and walked him around her home. The kitchen was simple and clean, all white. The clutter on the counter told him she enjoyed cooking. The living room had a very lived-in feel to it, with books on the coffee table, a TV above a short fireplace across from the couch, and a bookshelf nearly overflowing with a variety of books. They passed a hallway bathroom, where he checked behind the shower curtain, and a spare bedroom, where he checked under the bed, before she walked into her bedroom.

The walls were a steel blue color with light gray curtains breaking up the dark color. Candle holders filled with half-melted candles, pictures of different places around the world, and dogs and cats lined her walls. He smiled, enjoying the peek inside her.

What struck him was that nowhere in the house did he see a picture of a person. Family, friends, even herself. No pictures existed. Which told him something, too.

She was a loner. Kind of like him.

“Sorry,” she said, moving to the corner of the room.

He watched her, wondering what she was apologizing for. She snatched a bra off the coatrack in the corner and shoved it in a drawer, then slammed it shut.

Too bad he got a damn good view of the purple lace. Now he was picturing her in it. And only in that.

He cleared his throat and turned away from her bed. He hadn’t ever had the urge to throw a woman down on her bed and ravage her like he wanted to do to Kelsea. But he would be an asshole if he actually followed through. She was scared, and there was no way in hell he could take advantage of her.

With her room clear and the house empty, Kelsea led him outside. Jaymes stopped her on the driveway and pointed to what he’d noticed earlier.

“Are those footprints?” she gasped.

He nodded. “Yeah, and unless you were walking around your house earlier today, you weren’t crazy. Someone was definitely here.”

3

Kelsea thought she was going to lose it. The cheesecake she ate at Cecelia’s house turned in her stomach and threatened to make a repeat performance. She choked back the urge to sob and turned to Jaymes.

“I thought I saw a light outside my bedroom window. This would have been where he would go.”

“Kelsea, we don’t have to go back there. We can call the police now and let them deal with it.”

She shook her head. She had to know if there were footprints leading to her bedroom window. She had to find out if she was crazy.

Jaymes stepped in front of her and reached for his boot. He pulled a knife out of it, the shiny blade glinting in the moonlight.

Kelsea sucked in a breath. Until that moment, everything was in her head. It wasn’t real. But this? This was very real. She was following a man she’d only met a handful of times around her house at night, in the dark, to see if a psycho was waiting for her, watching her.

Jaymes walked slowly and carefully, avoiding the footprints that were already in the calf-deep snow. When they got to the corner of the house, he paused and took a deep breath.

She held hers, waiting for him to make his move.

He peeked around the corner and brought his head back just as quickly. “I don’t think anyone’s here anymore,” he whispered.

He peeked out again but didn’t pull his head back right away. He stepped forward, sweeping the line of trees that separated her house from the ones behind it with his eyes, and moved around the corner.

The footsteps in the snow led all the way to her living room window. There was a small circle, like the person who was out there was watching her for a little while. Another circle was under her bedroom window.

A shiver ran down her spine, fear choking her. She glanced toward the trees, seeing dots of light from the houses behind her. She always loved that she couldn’t see the homes on the other side of the trees, but standing behind her house, looking at footprints on the ground, she hated that her house wasn’t closer to others.

“Let’s go,” Jaymes said, pulling her back the way they came.

She followed behind him blindly, stumbling in the snow and stomping onto the driveway.

Jaymes pulled her right to his truck and unlocked it. “Get in.”

“What? No. Why?”

“You’re coming home with me.”

She shook her head. “I can’t. I barely know you.”

“I’m not leaving you here alone when someone was outside your bedroom window watching you.”

She sucked in a breath, the reality crashing down around her. She was close to tears and ready to pack it in. She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t stay in her house. But she couldn’t go home with a guy she barely knew either. She’d never done that before, for a really, really good reason, or a bad one.

“This is my home. I need to call the police.”

“I agree. Then you’re coming with me.”

He pulled out his phone and dialed 9-1-1 before she could say anything else. They waited inside for a police officer to show up. He prowled her house, checking out windows and looking around before he paced again.

The officer knocked on her door nearly an hour later. He asked her a bunch of questions, made some notes, and offered her a placating smile.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Arnold, but it’s highly unlikely we’ll ever catch whoever this was. And it’s probably an isolated incident. I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Jaymes asked in a soft, menacing voice.

“Excuse me?” the officer said, raising to his feet to square off against Jaymes.

“This woman has had someone following her for weeks. Someone watching her, standing outside her bedroom window. And the best you can do is say it’s probably isolated. I repeat. Are. You. Fucking. Kidding. Me?”