CHAPTER7
JACKSON
She’s got man trouble.That much is obvious. Bell was terrified when she woke up with my body pressing her down. It wasn’t the response I’d expected or hoped for, and it leaves me wondering if there’s a connection between Marly’s chicken problems and seeing someone in all black in her backyard, and this woman’s mysterious past.
Whatever she’s running from, it’s recent. The nightmares are fresh. The boxes are still unpacked. The walls are bare.
“How about you give me a quick tour so I can see where I need to put all the sensors?” I suggest.
“Sensors?” She tilts her head.
“Yeah.” I walk over to the box I brought in and carry over a set of sensors to her. “I drill a hole in the door and ceiling, and then pop one of these into each of the spaces. When the contact is broken between the upper and lower sensor, the alarm goes off and places a call to our command center. Security personnel is dispatched within sixty seconds of an alert.”
I lay the two small cylinders on the table for her to inspect.
“Sixty seconds? Isn’t that overkill?”
“No, Dollface. In security, it’s better to be safe than sorry. I'm also installing breakage sensors for your windows as well.”
“Will I be able to walk around in here without the alarm going off?” she jokes.
“Yeah, but even if you trip it, you can turn it off with this.” I slide a remote toward her. “Outside, we’ll put a sign that says the home is protected by Knight Securities. Ninety-nine percent of the time, that’s all you need to deter someone from breaking in. For the other one percent, there’s the actual system itself.”And me. I’ll be here with you, I silently add. She’s not ready for those words yet, so I keep them to myself.
She gives me a short tour of the two bedrooms upstairs, and then we venture into the unfinished basement. It’s cold and dark and smells musty. She rubs her hands over her arms and lingers near the stairs. I’ll have to clean this up and put more lights down here so she isn’t scared of her own house. The upside to this basement is that the windows are small and hard for a human to fit through. It doesn’t pose a big security risk, but I can tell she’s not at ease. Maybe it has something to do with her past that she’s not ready to share.
After the basement tour, I decide she needs some fresh air.
“How about we go over to see how Marly and her chickens are doing?”
Bell perks right up. “Can we? I’ve never seen them close up. I didn’t even know that my neighbor had chickens when I moved in. They don’t cluck or anything.”
“I think they sleep most of the time.” I load up the dishwasher while Bell cleans off the table. When the kitchen is all tidy, we set off for Marly’s. She squints unhappily at us when we knock on the front door.
“Why are you up so early?” She scowls.
“It’s ten, Marls.”
“Like I said, why so early?”
I can tell she hasn’t had coffee yet. I nudge her out of the way and stride into the kitchen. She slumps into a chair and lays her head on her arms. “I’m sorry I’m not better company,” she mumbles into the table. “It was a late night.”
“Finishing a new project or sudden burst of inspiration? Marly is a knitwear designer,” I explain to Bell.
“Oh, really? I’m an —” she cuts herself off. Out of the corner of my eye, I see her bite her lip as she struggles to cover her slip. “I’m interested in the fiber arts,” she says. “What kind of knitwear?”
“All kinds.” Marly pushes herself upright. “Sweaters, pants, bags, leg warmers are really on trend right now.”
“Yoo-hooooooo,” a call comes from the living room. “It’s your friendly neighbors, David and Ted.” The scent of freshly baked chocolate and dough reaches us before they do. “We brought cookies. I know it’s breakfast time, but what is a muffin but a breadier cookie?”
“I love you,” Marly blurts out. She jumps up and rushes over to the two men and practically rips the plate of cookies out of their hands. “Come over,” she gestures to Bell. Before Bell reaches her, Marly has half a cookie in her mouth. “Oh my God. This is so good.”
Bell hurriedly reaches for the baked good and stuffs it in her mouth. She, too, makes a moaning sound. It goes straight to my cock, and I have to turn to face the counter so no one gets their eye gouged out by my sudden massive hard-on.
“Like her a bit, do you?” whispers a gleeful Ted as he drops a cookie by my hand.
“Didn’t I say I was going to marry her?” I growl.
“Of course, but hets say a lot of ridiculous things to get each other into bed. I think you might be serious.”