Page 76 of Talk Birdie to Me

And he liked it.

He really liked it.

But the moment was cut short by a loud alert sound. It wasn’t a text notification because he’d heard that one earlier when Taylor messaged him to see how things were going.

“Do you need to get that?” he asked with his lips still grazing her mouth.

“No,” she said a little breathlessly. Then her whole body stiffened and she pulled her head back.

“What is it?”

“The security alert.” She reached for the phone in her back pocket and relaxed a bit before tapping at the screen. “I’m sure it’s nothing. It went off the other day when there was a storm. Probably a leaf blowing past the sensor with all this wind.”

It hadn’t been that windy before the rain started, but maybe it was rougher over at her townhouse.

When her eyes widened, he knew it wasn’t a leaf.

With his heart racing now from more than that kiss, he asked, “What’s happening?”

“The feed.” Then she stared at him with an expression of panic blanketing her face. “It’s gone.”

19

“What do you mean, it’s gone?” Cody struggled to keep his voice steady, so she wouldn’t pick up he was as panicked as she seemed. “Is the app not opening?”

Geena held up her phone and aimed the screen at Cody. “The app is open, but it isn’t showing anything.”

His heart continued to race. This was exactly what he’d been worried about. Why he’d installed the security device in the first place.

Geena shrugged, seeming to calm a bit and brush it off. She put her phone in her back pocket. “Probably just a glitch.”

“Maybe.”

Cody’s brain spun in a hundred different directions, manufacturing plausible scenarios that could account for the technology error.

If it was an error.

“I should go anyway,” she said. “The roads might get bad again.”

The week of heavy rains had caused flash flooding in areas, and the rivers were all reaching flood stage. With the ground already saturated, additional rain wouldn’t have any place to go.

Geena was right about the roads. Driving would be dangerous soon if the darkening sky had anything to say about it. But he was less worried about the rain than what danger might wait for her at home.

Sure, it could be just a glitch.

But it could also be something else. Something that terrified him to let her discover on her own.

“I’ll go with you.”

“I’m sure it’s fine,” she said. “And if anything looks off, I’ll call the police.”

Cody didn’t have much confidence the police would show up to a potential birdnapping situation. They’d certainly taken their sweet time getting to the zoo the other night.

“I’ll feel better if I go with you to check it out,” he said, making it sound more like an offer than an insistence. But he knew for certain he was following her to make sure she was safe. “If everything is fine, I’ll leave.”

“It really isn’t nec?—”

“I’m going with you, Bourque.” He was just getting used to the idea of having her in his life long-term. He wasn’t about to let anything happen to her. “End of discussion.”

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