SARA
I pacedthe guest room at Sam and Alex’s house like a maniac. I had lied to Theo. I’d lied to the police. I mean, it was a lie of omission. Sort of. But what on earth was I thinking?
I’d been trying so hard to prevent the past from rearing its ugly head. Tried for years to forget I even had an ugly past. I was Sara Lowell, local business owner. Friend. Environmental activist. Cat owner. Nothing else mattered but this life I had cultivated.
Unless my past life came back to haunt me. And try as I might to wish it away, it looked like that was exactly what was happening.
I thought back to anything else—any arguments, any disgruntled customers, any problem neighbors. But I could think of none. I had no problem speaking my mind when I needed to, but I made a point to get along with everyone as well as I could. As a business owner, it was the smart thing to do. As a human, it was what kept my mind and heart clear.
So who could have sent me such a grotesque and terrifying message? Theo was really the only person I ever sparred with, but that wasn’t in an angry way. And obviously he didn’t send it.
No, there was really only one answer. And it didn’t matter that I was terrified, that I was trying to protect myself, used to doing so for as long as I could remember. This was out of my hands. I needed to talk to Theo.
Now.
* * *
Theo lived in a townhouse-style apartment downtown, just north of the harbor. I’d only ever been to his place a couple times for group get-togethers. So as I stood on the stoop of his building, it felt strange to be ringing his doorbell alone. It felt even more strange that I was excited by the prospect of being inside his home, just the two of us. That was a complication I didn’t need, so I shoved the feeling down and pressed the doorbell again. Ugh, twice in ten seconds, I seem crazy.
After a minute, the door opened and Theo stood in front of me, shirtless, in gray sweatpants. The scent of him, something woodsy and masculine, found its way to my nose. I looked down and saw the V shaped cut of his abdomen, leading down into those pants. And that’s when I almost fainted.
He looked past me to the dark street, then back at me.
“Did you come here alone?”
“Yes.”
“What the hell, Sara?”
He grabbed my wrist and pulled me inside, shaking his head, shutting the door, and locking it. And that’s when I noticed his cute little butt, all muscular and tight. When he turned around again, I took a step back. In theory, it was a good idea, because being too close to him had me off kilter. But as I backed up, I now had a view of the whole package. The whole delicious, muscled package and everything those gray sweatpants were showing off, which was, well, everything. Did it just twitch?
I looked away. “Um, could you put a shirt on or something? Like maybe a really oversized one?”
When he didn’t answer, I chanced upon a look back and found him smirking at me.
“Stop.”
He laughed. “Stop what?”
“You know. God.” I turned to walk farther into the living room. It was surprisingly clean and tidy. I looked back again. “Okay, I came here for a reason.”
His face immediately lost its smirk.
“Yeah, you want to tell me what that is? Or how about first, you want to tell me why the hell you came here after midnight, on your own, when you’re staying at Sam’s for a reason?”
“You’re really obnoxious sometimes.”
“Sara—”
“Okay, I’m sorry. But I was careful. I borrowed Alex’s car and came straight here. No one saw me.”
“That you know of.”
“Anyway, I needed to talk to you.”
“Why didn’t you call me?”
That was a good question and I was horrified to realize I didn’t have an answer for him.
“I mean, it’s kind of just… I didn’t want… Um.”
“Sara.”
“What?”
“It’s okay to admit you wanted to see me.”
“That’s not it.”
“Really?”
“It’s not. But maybe, it’s part of it.” I sighed and looked at the couch. “Can I sit down?”
“Of course.”
I sat at the corner of the couch and he sat down on the chair to the side of it. Close enough for an intimate conversation, but not in my personal space. I respected that.
“So what’s up?”
“I didn’t tell you the whole truth today.”
Theo shifted in his chair and a look crossed his face. I couldn’t tell what it was. Part surprise, part inquisitive, part anger, maybe. But he didn’t speak, just motioned with his hand for me to continue.
“It’s true I don’t know who sent that… package… today. But there are people who might want to hurt me. They do want to hurt me. So it could have maybe, probably, been them.”
“What the hell… you have people—people, plural—who might be after you?”
I cringed at the way that sounded.