Bossman (Dirty Office Romance 1)

“Thanks, Sam.” I swallowed. “Take good care of Chase.”

Chapter 34

Reese

I finally had a hot date.

At least I thought my brother was handsome. After a week of self-pity for all of my stupid man mistakes, I decided to take the one man I trusted with my love up on his dinner invitation.

We ate in the Village and rode the subway back to my stop. Even though I told him it was completely unnecessary to see me home, he always insisted.

When we came up the stairs from the subway, my phone buzzed in my purse. There were five missed calls, all from an out-of-state number I didn’t recognize. Figuring it was a spammy sales solicitation, I ignored it. Until it rang again as we turned the corner onto my block.

My heart began to race as soon as the caller said he was from my security company, and my alarm had been tripped. It was then I noticed a police car parked outside of my building. The alarm company put me on hold and checked in with the police, who said they were upstairs, and it was safe to come up.

Two uniformed officers were talking to my neighbor in the hallway when I stepped out of the elevator.

They turned toward me. “Ms. Annesley?”

“Yes.”

“I’m Officer Caruso, and this is Officer Henner. We responded at your alarm company’s request since we weren’t able to reach you to determine whether things were okay.”

“What happened?”

“Seems like it was a false alarm. Your building lost power for a few minutes, and the surge when the backup generator kicked in might have sent a false signal. It’s not uncommon. Your apartment is still locked, and there’s no sign of breaking and entering.”

I felt Owen stiffen next to me when the policeman said breaking and entering. His arm had been on my shoulder as the officer spoke, and he pulled me to him, protectively.

I turned to him. “Did you get all that?”

The officer’s brow furrowed.

“My brother is deaf,” I explained. “He was reading your lips.”

Officer Caruso nodded. “If it’s all right with you, we’d like to take a look inside and just make sure everything is okay.”

They had no idea how all right that was with me. The officer took my keys and asked us to wait outside while they did a search. A few minutes later, they opened the door.

“It’s all clear in here. Like we said, it’s pretty common for power surges to trip these alarms. We just need to fill out a report and get you to sign it, and we’ll be on our way.”

“Thank you.”

Inside, even though the officers had inspected the place, I still needed to do my own search. While they sat in the kitchen and filled out the report, I discreetly did my usual routine. I was good at concealing it, having concealed it from every date I’d ever brought home. Except for Chase.

I took off my shoes as an excuse to open the hallway closet, then shut myself in the bathroom and ran the water to cover my shower curtain check. Finding all clear in the bedroom, I returned to the living room just as Owen opened the front door.

Chase stood in the hallway, bracing himself against the wall as his chest heaved. He looked at Owen and then found me over his shoulder.

“Chase. What are you doing here?” I asked.

“Is everything okay?” He was really winded.

“Yes. Why? What’s going on?”

“The alarm company called. They weren’t able to reach you, and I’m listed as your backup contact. I told them to call the police and came as soon as I could get here. Are you sure everything is okay?”

I opened the door wider so he could see the police in the kitchen behind me. “The police inspected, and they think it was a false alarm from a power surge. The building is old and loses power occasionally. There’s a backup generator, but it takes a few minutes to kick on, and apparently that can cause a surge and a false alarm.”

“Do you want me to double check for you?”

I gave him a reassuring smile, even though I didn’t feel very sure of myself at the moment. His presence was making my already racing heart palpitate. “I’m good.”

Chase looked at Owen, then back to me. His jaw was rigid. “If you need me, just call.”

It would do him good to wonder, so I didn’t mention that the man he was eyeing was my brother.

Instead, I said, “We’ll be fine. But thank you for coming. I appreciate it.”

And just like that, he was gone.

After Owen and the police left, I spent the night tossing and turning, trying to figure out what Chase’s appearance tonight had meant. It was nothing. He probably had a sense of obligation because he was listed with the alarm company. He would have done that for anyone, I was sure. Yet…there was no mistaking the jealousy in his eyes when he’d looked at Owen.