Keep Me Closer (A Dangerous Tides Novel)

by Rhyannon Byrd

  “And why didn’t you put this in the report?”

  “Because I wasn’t sure why he had done it. Was it just stress? He’d just been through a traumatic experience, being raped and assaulted by an unknown male after getting drunk at a party, which meant his behavior was most likely in response to that, and could well be temporary. And what he said, it’s not something I wanted to draw attention to.” Crossing her arms, she rubbed her hands over her shoulders, wet her lips, and went on. “I know the guys here in Moss Beach and they’re great. But they’re not the only law enforcement department I work with. There are times when it’s difficult to be taken seriously by some of the officers, and I’ve worked exceptionally hard to build a reputation as a professional. I didn’t want them to . . . to—”

  His tone was clipped. “You didn’t want a bunch of guys standing around, making comments about your ass and tits, when you’ve worked so hard to get them to see beyond the porn star bod. Is that it?”

  She gave him a stunned look. “I wouldn’t have worded it that way, but yes.”

  “I get where you’re coming from. I do. But it was a dumb-ass move. That guy is dangerous.”

  Her shoulders slumped. “I know.”

  “You should have trusted your instincts.”

  “I filed the report,” she argued.

  “Only after he came back and tried to force his way in to see you,” he countered. “And it was a report that no one took seriously, because you held back on the details.”

  “Ben took me seriously!”

  Brushing that off, he lowered his voice and evidently decided it was time to scare the hell out of her. “If I hadn’t been there tonight, it could have been even uglier than it was. You’ve worked closely enough with law enforcement the last few years to know just how ugly I’m talking about.”

  She swallowed, then lifted her chin. “I don’t need you trying to frighten me.”

  “No,” he muttered, pulling into the sheriff’s station parking lot. “What you need is to be put over some guy’s knee and have that little ass of yours spanked.”

  Before she could think of a worthy retort to that shocking assessment—not to mention ridiculous, seeing as how her ass was far from little—he’d parked, climbed out of the Range Rover, and slammed his door. She followed him inside the bustling station, ready to get this over and done with so that she could get home, set her security alarm, and wash the god-awful night away with a scalding shower.

  An hour later, as they left and climbed back into his car, Brit silently admitted that the sheriff’s station hadn’t been as crappy an experience as she’d expected. Scott Ryder had been there, which had made things easier, since she was friends with his wife, Lily. But the last thing she’d wanted to do was go over what had happened with Shepherd. She’d been doing her best not to think about it, focusing her energy on being irritated with Alex instead, since it was easier.

  A bunch of the deputies had given Alex crap for not waiting at the scene of the incident, but Ryder had just given the PI a look that seemed to say he understood and approved. Why, she had no idea. It’s not like she was someone important to Alex Hudson and he’d broken protocol to ensure the safety of a loved one. Yes, she was close to his family. But despite all the time they spent at the same social events, they were relative strangers.

  And that was exactly how she planned on keeping it. If she had to spend any more time with him than she already did, there was a good chance lust would win out over common sense, and she could well end up making a complete and utter fool of herself. She shuddered at the thought, knowing how much Alex would enjoy lording something like that over her head.

  The drive to her house on Cherry Blossom Lane was short, and anything but sweet. Brit used the time to study the rugged PI from the corner of her eye, wishing she could find something about his physical looks that she didn’t like. That didn’t so thoroughly do it for her. But she couldn’t help thinking that the truth sucked—because the truth was that as much as he annoyed her, she’d been hung up on Alex Hudson for a long time. So long that it’d seriously started to screw with her life.

  She’d tried to connect with other men since relocating to the beautiful little beach town, and had given it her best effort. She really had. But when she found herself across the table from a date in a popular restaurant, it didn’t matter how good-looking or charming the guy was, she just . . . lost interest. Whatever attraction might have sparked to begin with simply faded, and she hated suspecting Alex was the reason why. Sure, there had been a few dating disasters where the supposedly great guy turned into a twit the instant he picked her up for their night out. But on the whole, the blame didn’t lie with the men. It wasn’t their fault they paled in comparison to the broody investigator.

  Not that her luck with the male species had ever been all that stellar. But she already had enough depressing shit going on in her life at the moment without dwelling on that particular fun fact.

  “Thanks for the ride,” she murmured, as they pulled into her driveway. Yanking her purse strap over her shoulder, she started to reach down to unhook her seat belt before he’d even come to a complete stop, determined to get inside before they ended up in another argument.

  Alex, however, obviously didn’t plan to let her escape so easily. Hitting the button to activate the parental locks on the doors, he said, “Don’t start, Doc. I’m going inside with you.”

  Struggling not to screech like a madwoman, she strove for a calm tone that was completely at odds with how she felt. “I said I would be fine. Seriously. I have an alarm and everything. Ben even made me upgrade after what happened with Reese last year. So I’m all good.”

  “Like hell you are,” he ground out, shutting off the engine.

  “Alex, listen. You’re off the hook, okay? I know you don’t want to be here, and I don’t need you here. So go home.”

  * * *

  ALEX CLIMBED OUT OF THE RANGE ROVER AND CAME AROUND THE back, opening her door while she was still sitting there, her hands clenched in her lap, looking like a pressure cooker about to blow. But he couldn’t back down. Not about something this important.

  “Have you even listened to a word I’ve said?” she asked, when she finally climbed down from her seat.

  “About how you’re fine and don’t need any help?” He shut her door. “Yeah, I heard. I just don’t care. I don’t even give a shit what you want,” he admitted, being brutally honest. “I saw you get attacked by some psycho asshole tonight, which means our personnel wants to have nothing to do with this situation anymore. You understand?”

  He could have sworn she went a little green. “Are you trying to tell me I’m stuck with you until I hire my own bodyguard?”

  Pushing his hands in his pockets after he’d activated the alarm on the Rover, Alex locked his hard gaze with hers and made himself perfectly clear. “You’re stuck with me, period. There’s no sense hiring someone when I can do the job better.”

  “Ego much?” she sputtered.

  “It’s only ego if I can’t back it up. And since you know damn well that I can, this conversation is over.”

  She huffed in annoyance, but gave up the fight, apparently conceding that she wasn’t going to win. He tried not to stare at her ass as he followed her to the front door of the house, but failed miserably. The dress she wore was professional, but curves like the doc had could manage to make even the classiest of outfits look like they’d been designed to make a man stiff.

  Tearing his gaze off her ass, he reached down to shift his dick into a more comfortable position behind his fly, and waited as she unlocked the door. He stayed right behind her as she punched in the alarm code on the panel in the entryway, then made sure she locked the door before turning his attention to the house.

  If anyone had asked him, he’d have been lying if he’d said he wasn’t curious about how she lived. This was the first
time he’d ever been inside her home, having only ever made it as far as the driveway before, when he’d been with Ben dropping her off. He’d hoped her taste in decorating would be loud and girlish, with too much pink and flowery shit all over the place, but should have known better, judging by the way she dressed. Yeah, she was feminine and sexy as hell, but her style was simple and sophisticated when it came to her clothes, and her home reflected that. Pale cream walls set off the dark, nearly black hardwood floors that stretched across the open floor plan. In the middle of a large antique-looking carpet, two cappuccino-colored sofas faced each other over a low, square coffee table. Oversized throw pillows in shades of cream and burgundy sat in the corners of the sofas, while a large arrangement of fresh, colorful flowers decorated the middle of the table, and a beautiful stone-faced fireplace took up the far wall.

  Taking a deep breath of the citrus and clove scented air, Alex hooked his thumbs in his pockets as he made his way over to the fireplace that probably didn’t see a lot of use in South Florida. The mantel held several framed photographs of Brit with an older couple he assumed were her parents, as well as ones of her and Ben, and newer ones that had Reese in them. Brit looked gorgeous in every photo, whether she was dressed up or wearing jeans, and he was surprised by the bite of jealousy he felt when he noticed the small frame on the end of the mantel held a picture of her and Mike at the Christmas party Ben and Reese had thrown last year. If he ever found out that Mike had slept with her, there was a good chance he’d have to kick the bastard’s ass, no matter how much he loved him.

  At the sound of the doc setting her keys down on a small table in the entryway, Alex turned around, watching as she set her purse down as well, then just stood there, staring back at him, looking a little flustered, a bit lost, and a whole lot irritated. “I’m, um, going to put on some coffee. Feel free to take a seat until I get back, at which point we’re going to finish this argument.” She started to head toward the archway he assumed led to her kitchen, then stopped and glared at him over her shoulder. “Don’t touch anything,” she warned him with a chilling stare. “I hate assholes messing with my stuff.”

  Thinking that she really needed to see someone about having the stick removed from her backside, Alex waited until she’d disappeared into the kitchen, then started touching all the knickknacks on the end table that was closest to him. Then he stopped and shook his head at himself. Seriously, what was he, two?

  “Woman’s already driving me crazy,” he muttered under his breath, a scowl forming between his brows as he took a seat on one of the comfortable sofas. But he was too wound up to just sit on his ass, and by the time she came through the archway carrying a tray with two mugs on it, he’d moved back to his feet and was pacing before the fireplace. Flicking him a distracted glance, she walked over to the adjoining dining area, where a table and chairs that looked like something out of a Pottery Barn store were placed. Alex started walking over as she set the tray down on the table, watching her as she turned and flicked the wall switch that controlled the wrought iron light fixture hanging from the ceiling. A warm glow filled the space, and then she suddenly let out a startled cry.

  What the fuck?

  Instantly on alert, Alex was already reaching for his gun as he followed her gaze, his stomach knotting when he realized what they were looking at. The French doors leading to her patio had several splotches of a thick, creamy substance dripping down the panels of glass. Though he had no proof or forensic evidence yet to back him up, Alex was positive that he knew exactly who was responsible. He had no doubt Shepherd had come to the doc’s house and jacked off all over her windows, his semen splashed across her French doors in what had to have been more than one shot. It made his blood run cold, thinking of the guy standing out there with his pants around his ankles, pumping himself off while staring through the glass into the doc’s personal space.

  “Son of a bitch,” he growled, slipping his gun back into his shoulder holster as he moved to her side. “That sick fuck needs to be locked away.”

  “He’s . . . ill,” she whispered, her voice cracking at the end. “He needs help.”

  “He’s dangerous, Doc. You need to stop trying to protect him and fucking accept it.”

  “I’m not trying to protect him. I just . . .” She took a deep breath, then looked at him with big, fear-filled eyes that were like a punch to the gut. “He was here. At my house. How the hell did he know where I live?”

  “He’s been following you.” Alex stepped over to the doors and flicked on the outside light. The soft glow illuminated her open backyard, and he realized she probably wasn’t allowed to enclose her property with fencing, as was the rule in a lot of Florida housing communities. There was no sign of Shepherd, but then it would be only too easy for the guy to hide out in the thick line of trees that bordered the back of her property. He was damn tempted to go out there and search for him, but wasn’t willing to leave her alone in the house.

  “This day just couldn’t get any worse.” She looked back over at the French doors and shuddered, an expression of revulsion sliding over her pale face. “I need to clean that up,” she murmured distractedly, turning toward the archway to the kitchen.

  Flicking off the outside lights, since he didn’t want them being lit up like a fishbowl in there, Alex walked over and gently grasped her shoulder, catching her before she could leave the room. “You can’t touch anything, Doc.” Her worried, troubled gaze shot to his, her fear somehow hitting him even deeper this time. “Let’s just turn the light off and head over to the sofa, okay? I need to call Ryder and get a forensics team over here.”

  “R-right. Sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”

  When he had her sitting on the edge of a sofa, Alex took his phone from his pocket and scrolled through his contacts for the number he wanted. A moment later, he said, “Ryder, yeah, it’s Alex. Look, I just got Brit home and that sick fuck has been to her house. No, I don’t think there’s any chance he got inside. Her alarm was still set when we came through the door. But he’s left a hell of a mess all over her French doors from the outside.” He paused, listening to the furious deputy, then went on. “Yeah, that’s what I think. It looks like he went at it a couple of times, so forensics is definitely going to have some samples.” Ryder started talking again, but he cut him off, saying, “No, I’m getting her out of here. If you have any questions, you can reach her at my place. That’s where I’m taking her. But this should be pretty simple for you guys. The techs don’t even need to get in the house, and there’s no fence blocking the back of the property. Later.”

  The instant he slipped his phone back in his pocket, she said, “I’m not going home with you.”

  Completely ignoring that statement as if she hadn’t even spoken, he told her, “Pack enough to last for at least a week. If you need more, we can always come back.”

  She moved to her feet, and he was glad to see some color in her face again, even if it meant she was getting ready to lay into him. “Alex, please listen to me. I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but it isn’t necessary. I’m not going home with you.”

  He gave her a look that must have conveyed what he was feeling pretty well, because she scowled. “You’re not an idiot, Doc. You know you can’t stay here.”

  “Why not at the safe house, then?” For a moment, he wondered how she even knew about the safe house that had belonged to the county, then remembered that she’d visited Lily there last fall, when Ryder had been trying to protect the woman who was now his wife from a terrorist.

  “The safe house was sold two months ago.”

  “Oh.” She took a quick breath. “Well, I really don’t think—”

  “Listen,” he said, stepping closer and getting right in her face. Yeah, it was rude, but he wanted her attention and for her to stop wasting time when there was only one way this was going to play out, whether they liked it or not. “Anyone else you know, this fuckhead
could have seen you with. Could have easily followed you to their homes. Lily and Ryder. Ben and Reese. Your work friends. Hell, you even went to Mike’s apartment for that Halloween party he threw, and we have no idea how long this guy might have been watching you before he snapped. But you’ve never been to my house, and I know how to make sure we’re not followed. So pack a fucking bag and let’s stop wasting time.”

  He could tell that she wanted to keep arguing but was sensible enough to know he was right. He scrubbed his hands over his face as she stiffly moved around him and started climbing the stairs, then cast another sharp glance at the now shadowed dining room. It made his skin crawl, fear slithering through his veins when he thought of that bastard being here at her house. What if he’d just dropped her off and hadn’t come inside with her? What if the asshole was hiding out there in the woods somewhere, waiting for her to come home alone, after his failed attempt to nab her on the parking deck?

  Cursing under his breath, Alex headed up the stairs close on her heels, needing to keep an eye on her to assure himself she was safe. He usually had nerves of steel, but they were a knotted mess at the moment, coiling in his gut, and he refused to look too closely at the reason why.

  With his shoulder propped against the doorjamb, he watched her collect various pieces of clothing from her closet and a tall chest of drawers that sat on the far wall. She’d been meticulously folding and placing everything into a neat pile on her bed, when the house phone on her bedside table started to ring. The shrill sound startled them both, but Brit damn near jumped a foot.

  “Hello?” she said, after taking a deep breath and grabbing the receiver. The instant she turned her head and gave him a wild look, Alex realized who was on the line. Closing the space between them, he took the phone and quietly punched the speaker function, then set the phone in her open hand.