Billionaire Mountain Man

"What's wrong? Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

"You could at least announce yourself, you know. Don't go sneaking up on me, please! Now is not the time for getting frights."

"I know, and I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sneak up on you like that. I was just moving quietly through the house in case Simon was, in fact, hiding out somewhere. I guess I forgot to turn my stealth setting to 'off,'" he said with a goofy grin.

His smile, at least, managed to lighten the mood a little. I gave him a kiss and a tight hug.

"Thank you, Everett, thank you so much for everything you've done for me."

He embraced me tightly.

"No problem. I just want to see you happy – and like I said, we're not gonna rest until that creep is behind bars. Nobody harasses and threatens my woman and gets away with it."

His referring to me as "his woman" sent a swell of joy through my heart. I felt as if the bond between us was growing with every passing moment.

"Well, I still want to say thank you. I owe you a lot, Everett James."

"And I owe you even more," he said softly. "Maybe one day I'll make you a list."

We kissed slowly, the intensity of it igniting a fire in my blood that he seemed to be able to do with just the slightest touch – but now wasn't the time for this, and he knew it as well.

We disengaged, and then he looked at me and smiled. "Alright, well I guess you've got your own stuff to do for a while. Remember to keep everything locked up tight, and don't give any signs to the outside world that you're in here, alright? Mrs. Dobbins be watching from across the street. If there's any sign of trouble, or anything strikes you as being off, even some minor thing, let me know right away. Got it?"

"Thank you, Everett. I will."

"Okay, I'll see you later, then?"

"You will," I replied.

He kissed me goodbye and walked across the street to his house, and as he reached his front door, he turned around and gave me a parting smile and a wave. I waved back and closed and locked the door behind me. It felt strange being back in here; so much had changed in such a short span of time.

I needed to talk to someone, so obviously, my go-to was Kerry. I went to my study, turned on my laptop, and logged on to Skype. Kerry was already showing as online, so I gave her a call. She was on her cell phone.

"Hey, girl, how's everything?" she asked as she answered.

"Well... things are... interesting," I replied.

"Hmm, interesting huh? That can be good, or it can be bad. So, which is it?"

"A bit of both."

"Why don't you start with the bad? Get that out of the way, and then we can move onto the good."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking, too. Well, remember last time we talked, and I had to cut our conversation short because the cops called me about a break-in at my daycare?"

"Yep. What was it all about, did you find out?" she asked.

"I did. And guess who was behind it?"

"It can't be him... It can't be."

"It was him."

She looked totally shocked. "How... how do you know it was him?"

"Who else would have written a message saying 'I've found you, Alicia' on the bathroom mirror?"

"Oh my god... so it really is him. Well, listen, I'll tell Carl right away that Simon is somewhere in Irvine. You've explained everything to the cops about him, right?"