Chapter 6

Chapter

Six

L indy stood under the warm water of the shower and let it cascade over her, hoping it would wash away the events of the last twenty-four hours.

Wishful thinking at its best.

After Chris had walked her to the building and she'd fought with herself not to kiss him, she'd gone up to her office and called the locksmith. The idea that someone could access her house chilled her blood and she wanted to get the locks changed as swiftly as possible.

Luckily, the locksmith could get to her house in thirty minutes. It probably helped that she told him she'd pay him double his going rate if he got to her place quickly. Sometimes having an endless supply of money was helpful.

Without her phone she couldn't access the drive share app she always used, but she went down to the foyer and had the guard on duty call a cab for her and she arrived at the same time as the locksmith.

Now the locks were changed, and she had shiny new brass keys in her possession. Once she finished showering, she was going to get her spare car key so she could get her car. She'd head to the dealership to arrange for the locks to be rekeyed so no one could steal it.

She'd also canceled her credit cards and called the security firm to request additional drive-bys by their patrol team. Again, that hadn't been an issue either.

The morning had been busy, but all she wanted to do was sleep. Sleep to forget about the troubles she was having with the business. The lack of support the board was giving her, after they'd assured her at her father's funeral that they believed in her. Most of all she wanted to forget that she'd been a coward and hadn't taken the plunge and kissed Chris when he'd given every indication he wanted to kiss her, too.

The phone by her bed rang, shocking her with the loud shrill of the ring tone.

Who was calling her on the landline ?

No one used landlines anymore, but her parents had never got rid of theirs, saying they liked the security of having it because cellphones ran out of battery at inconvenient times. Or get stolen like hers, another thing she needed to do—cancel and change her number.

Why hadn't she thought of that earlier?

Her mind had been on getting the house safe. The second the locksmith had opened the door; she'd been worried that someone would be hiding behind every wall ready to jump out and do something horrendous to her.

"Hello?"

"Lindy, it's Chris Swanson."

She plopped down on her bed, gripping her towel with one hand while clutching the phone to her ear. "How did you get this number? It's unlisted, and I don't recall giving you my number this morning, or last night." Her words were sharp, as the fear that had been lurking within her, sparked to life again. Last night she'd thought Chris may have been involved in her bag snatch and he'd assured her that he wasn't.

Had she been wrong? Had she been too trusting?

Yes, she had and with good reason. If he'd wanted to hurt her, he'd had plenty of opportunities while they'd been sleeping together. She'd spent the whole night in his arms and he hadn't tried to do anything to her.

God, she wished she could stop overthinking things. It would make life so much easier for her, but so much had happened in the last few months that overthinking was second nature to her now.

"My friend Steve, is a security specialist, he was able to get it for me."

Now this sounded creepier and creepier with every passing second. "Why did you call?"

Chris sighed and Lindy imagined he was running his fingers through his hair. It had been deliciously rumpled when they'd woken up this morning. Her fingers had itched to straighten it out, but she'd clenched them into a fist under the covers to stop herself from following through on her actions.

"Lindy, this isn't going to be easy, but before I explain I have to ask, did you get your locks changed?"

"Yes, I did. I called them the moment I got up to my office after I left you."

"Good. And what about your car?"

"I'm going to do that once I get off the phone from you and get dressed."

Why, oh why, did she tell him that she needed to get dressed?

Chris didn't need to know that .

"Right." He cleared his throat, as if he was embarrassed, which was impossible. No way a big tough Delta, that he said he was, would be embarrassed by that.

"And before you ask, I've contacted my bank to cancel my credit cards and spoken to the security company about their patrol cars driving past my house more often."

He chuckled, her bones turned to jelly and Lindy was glad she was sitting down, otherwise she'd been a heap on the carpet.

"Good. I'm glad you've done that. I was going to tell you this over the phone, but I think it might be better if I told you face-to-face and you can watch what I've watched this morning." His voice had turned serious, losing any hint of humor from a few seconds ago.

Every word ratcheted her fear up even further. "You know if you thought that would make me worry less, you're dead wrong. I'm more worried and scared now."

"Shit, sorry. Damn, I'm really messing this up. I'm usually better at this."

"How many times have you had to give bad news?" Considering what he'd done for a living, what he still did, the likelihood of him passing on bad news on a regular basis, wasn't beyond the realm of possibility.

"More times than I care to admit." He sighed again. "How soon can you get here?"

Her plans to go to the dealership could wait. Lindy had to go into the city to pick her car up from under her building before she could fix the keys. If Chris was still there it would enable her to kill two birds with one stone.

"Are you at your hotel, because I have to go to my building to grab my car. I could swing by and see you before I do that."

How the heck was she sounding so calm when what he had to tell her and make her watch wasn't a fun romantic comedy?

"I'm at Steve's office and he's in South Perth. Is that going to be hard for you to get to?"

"No, I can call a cab."

"Don't do that. I'll borrow a car and come and get you instead." The urgency of his words radiated through the phone.

Did she want Chris to know where she lived?

Oh, what did it matter, he probably already knew, especially if his security friend was able to get the landline to her parents' unlisted number .

"That sounds fine. I'd give you my address but I suspect you probably already have it."

Again, he chuckled and she wanted to hear that sound more often from him. "You'd be right. Hang tight, Linds, I'll be there soon."

"Bye."

She hung up the phone, not wanting to admit how comforting his parting comments were. How a tiny thrill swept through her as he shortened her name for the second time. She'd always been Lindy to everyone, but to Chris she was Linds.

As much as she tried to deny it, the idea that he was going to be at her house in the very near future, brought her a lot of security, and happiness.

More than it should.