Dangerous Embrace (Embrace #1) (6 page)

“No, she didn’t know how to use it yet,” Mark said from behind her.

“And what time did you leave?”

“A little after nine. I got here about nine,” Mark said.

Brian shot Mark an exasperated look before asking Sarah, “How long were you gone?”

“All morning,” Mark answered.

“Mark, shut the hell up before I throw you outta here. I’m not questioning you. I’m trying to talk to her.”

“Don’t shout like that. She’s nervous and scared. I’m trying to help.”

Sarah turned to him and said, “Thank you, Mark, but it’s okay...”

“Mark, shut up!” Brian pointed his pen at him. “Don’t act like you’ve never done this before.”

Mark gave him a sullen look and leaned down to rest his hands on the sofa behind Sarah.

“Sarah, how long were you in the driveway before Mark showed up?”

“About ten minutes.”

“What were you doing out there?”

“Trying to leave, but it’s pretty damn hard to drive with one hand.”

“You’re not supposed to be driving. The ER doc put you under restrictions. No driving for at least three weeks.”

Ignoring the pain, she crossed her arms over her chest. “I didn’t know that.”

“Your release papers are on your kitchen table. It has all the information,” Mark said.

“As a cop, I have to warn you not to drive while under those restrictions. Do you have someone to call who can stay with you...or is Mark staying?”

She raised her eyebrows. “No—”

“I can stay. It’s not a problem.”

But it could too easily become a problem if she got any closer to him. She didn’t need to complicate her life with a good-looking, yet overprotective man like Mark.

She turned to look at him. “I can’t ask you to stay here. You’ve already done too much.”

Brian leaned over and grabbed the Ziploc bag with the note inside. “What if he tries to carry out this threat? You’re not exactly in the condition to fight him off again.”

Her pulse kicked up at the thought, but she would not—could not—continue to rely on Mark. It was too much. “Why do I need someone here when I have the alarm?”

“The alarm will alert the police, not provide physical protection. There is a delay in response,” Brian said. “Maybe you can stay somewhere else for a few days.”

She stared at him, not sure what to say.
Dammit.
No way in hell was she calling her family. She’d rather chew off her own arm than call her parents, and her best friend, Ava, was out of town for work.

“No, I can’t call—”

“I’ll stay. It’s no big deal,” Mark said.

Her eyes swept the room before focusing on Mark again. He looked determined to stay. It was convincing too, but she just couldn’t put herself in that position with him.

She glanced back at the note in the Ziplock. What if her attacker made good on his threat? She closed her eyes at the throbbing pain in her shoulder, knowing Brian was right. If her attacker came back, she couldn’t fight him off now.

“Um...I can call my brother, Devon.”

“Does he live nearby?” Mark asked.

“San Diego—he’s the closest.”

“He can’t get here before tomorrow,” Mark said.

Sarah’s lips quirked into a smile. “You haven’t met my brother.”

“I would rather not leave you alone in this house,” Brian said again, as if she wasn’t grasping the severity of the situation.

“Okay, I know. I’ll call him.” She stood up, retrieved the phone handset, walked into her bedroom and closed the door behind her.

She sat on her bed, still debating. “It’s Devon,” she whispered, not her mother. She missed him anyway, and she could get Devon to swear not to tell Mama.

She blew her bangs off her forehead. God, she hated asking for help. He didn’t want to take care of his little sister. He’d spent most of his young life taking care of her. She smacked her palm to her forehead and squeezed her eyes shut.
He’s going to kill me when he finds out that I didn’t call him right way.

“Fine, might as well get it over with,” she mumbled, dialing his number.

When her call went directly to voicemail, she hit the off button without leaving a message.

Sarah waited for another few minutes before dialing the number again. No answer. She was absolutely not calling Mama. She dialed Ava’s number, praying Ava came home early from her trip, but it went directly to voicemail.

“Now what?” she whispered.

She thought about the nightmares she’d had the night before. No way was Mark staying when she couldn’t sleep more than an hour without screaming awake. The new memories from the hospital coursed through her. God, she could not allow herself to get close to him, no matter how easy he made it for her...or how incredibly inviting it was.

She walked over to the nightstand and pulled open the drawer. Her gun sat directly on top of the case. She picked it up and checked the rounds. Between the alarm and the gun, she should be fine.

She turned and left the room. When she entered the living room, Mark and Brian were standing just outside the front door discussing the yard layout, pointing to the tall hedges, and judging the distance from the front door to the street.

“What’s wrong?” she asked at the low murmurs.

Brian glanced back at her. “This place isn’t very secure, too secluded. It wouldn’t hurt for you to put a couple of cameras out here,” he said. “Is your brother coming?”

“He’ll be here sometime tonight.” She looked at the clock. “He said he could be here by midnight.”

“Good,” Mark said, nodding his head. “I’ll sleep better too if you have someone with you.”

“Problem solved. I need to get this to the lab. It was nice to see you again, Sarah. I’ll let you know what I get off this letter.” He reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a business card. “Please don’t hesitate to call if you need me for anything.”

“Thank you, Brian,” Sarah said, fingering the card. “I appreciate you coming.”

He waved one last time and stepped down off the porch.

Mark followed, but turned to Sarah first. “I’ll be right back.”

She nodded and returned to the sofa, plopping down, overcome with guilt. She’d lied to a police officer and possibly put herself in more danger, but at this point, she had to decipher who was more dangerous—the attacker or Mark. She’d leave catching her attacker up to the police, but she had to protect her heart all on her own, and that meant distance from Mark.

When Mark came back inside, her nerves kicked into overdrive. It was the whopping lie she had told them. She sucked at lying. Ava had always told her that. Her best friend was a master at making stuff up, but Sarah had too much of a guilty conscious to outright lie to someone.

“Are you all right?” he asked, sitting across from her.

“Please stop asking me that.”

“All right, I’ll lay off.”

She rested her head back. “It’s been a long day. I’m tired.”

“Go lie down. I’ll wait for your brother.”

“No, you don’t have to stay...although I need to learn how to use the alarm system.”

“Oh right.” He stood and walked over to the unit on the wall. “I’ll show you.”

She stood and joined him.

“I put a code in for you already, which you can change anytime you like.” He pushed a button and made the system beep. “You have thirty seconds after you arm the system to exit and another thirty seconds to disarm when you enter. If you can’t disarm it in thirty seconds, the alarm will sound. If the alarm sounds, you can still turn it off, but the monitoring company will call and ask for your password.”

He punched in the passcode and pressed the off button. The beeping stopped.

His face lit as he explained the system, and Sarah couldn’t help but feel a little lighter as she watched him—his excitement was contagious. He looked like a kid with a new toy. It was so cute. “What password do I use when the monitoring company calls?”

“Summors,” he said, looking a little embarrassed.

She tilted her head. “Using the name of the company is pretty obvious.”

“Well, the likelihood of someone guessing your password is slim, but like I said, you can change it.”

“Okay, let me get this straight, if I accidentally set off the alarm, the password I give the person over the phone is Summors?”

“Exactly,” he said, smiling. “Another great feature is the ambush code. If someone jumps out at you with a weapon and forces you to disarm the system under duress—this is important so pay attention.”

When his grin disappeared, she held her hands up. “You have my full attention.”

“If you’re ambushed coming in the door, you must remember to type your code in backwards. This will disarm the alarm, but will send an emergency signal to the monitoring company. The monitoring company will immediately call the police. Your intruder won’t know the police have been alerted. The monitoring company will not call the house to ask for the password, and the intruder will assume you entered the code correctly.”

“Is that everything?”

“You need to understand, Sarah, the police often treat these calls as if they’re false alarms or accidents. To get their attention, you need to use the ambush code. Otherwise, they assume it’s breaking and entering, not home invasion.”

“Okay.” His stony expression made her a little uncomfortable, especially after his animated lesson. “You are really worried, aren’t you?”

“Did you hear anything Brian said?”

“Yes, I heard and I understand.”

“I should stay,” he said, exhaling heavily. “I can sleep on the couch and make sure nothing happens.”

She rested her hand on her chest, feeling a little overcome with his concern. “Thank you so much for thinking about me, but I have already taken too much of your time. Don’t you need to get back to work? How can you run a business from here?”

“The security business practically runs itself.”

She turned back to the sofa. “No business runs itself.”

“True, but I have a couple of great managers. I only go into the office a couple of days a week. I do all the contracting for large accounts and agent contracts. I teach during the summer. That’s my busy season.”

“You teach? Really?” Surprised, she said, “What do you teach?”

“An academy for private security agents.” He leaned back against the front door and crossed his arms over his chest. “It’s a two-month intensive program covering everything from fighting to surveillance.”

“What are security agents?”

“Basically, private bodyguards.”

“Oh, well...,” she said with a raised eyebrow, “that explains a lot. You seem to enjoy it. I’ve never seen anyone get so excited over an alarm system before.” She curled her legs under her and sat back into the full sofa cushions.

“I do love my job. I used to be a cop, but my wife didn’t like the constant worry.” He shrugged. “I quit and started this company.”

“You were a cop?”

“Yeah, actually Brian and I entered the police academy together with Shane, one of my best agents.”

“And you quit for your wife?” This really surprised Sarah, never had she heard of a man putting his wife’s concerns before his career. Mark was turning out to be quite an anomaly. “Brian isn’t married?”

“He’s married. Has two kids. His wife, Julie, is one of Ali’s best friends. We all grew up together.”

“Who is Ali?” she asked, confused.

“My ex-wife.” He pushed off the door and walked over to sit on the sofa across from her. “Did you go to school here, in Santa Rosa?”

“I was born here, but we moved around a lot. I came back a few years ago. My oldest friend sucked me in and made me stay.”

“I guess you like it here.”

“Well.” She looked around her house and wanted to cry. “It looks like my days in Santa Rosa are numbered...especially with everything that’s going on.”

“No, no, no, I recommend you don’t make any life-altering decision right now. Besides, Brian will have that guy locked up in no time.”

She ran her fingers through her hair. “I hope you’re right.”

“Who’s this friend anyway and why isn’t he here with you?” he asked, his eyebrows rising a little. “Maybe I know him.”

“He is a she, and I don’t think you know Ava.”

He grinned wide. “Ava, as in Ava Mitchell?”

“You know her?” She couldn’t believe it. What a small world.

“She was a few years behind me in school. She hung out with my sister, Angela.”

“No kidding?”

“Why didn’t you let me call Ava on Friday? She would’ve been here for you.”

“She’s out of town working. She’s an international flight attendant. She’s usually gone for weeks at a time.”

“Right.” He nodded. “I think I did hear that somewhere.”

“Is it safe to say you don’t make a habit out of rescuing damsels in distress?”

He laughed. “Only the ones who tackle me in parking lots, although, if I could, I would.”