Page 64 of The Cowboy’s Intriguing Love

“Shay’s Guy?” she asked incredulously. “I have no idea who this is.”

From the way her hands were shaking, and the freaked out look on her face, Ty was inclined to believe her.

Her eyes were huge when she looked up at him. He felt like he’d been sucker punched when she met his gaze and whispered, “Oh my god, Ty!”

“What, sweetheart?” He was across the bed and had his arm around her before he knew what he was doing.

“Who is it? What did he say?”

She handed him her phone.

Shay’sGuy: Where are you? I miss you. Come home.

Where did you go? I went to all your jobs this weekend – you weren’t at any of them. You need to get your sweet little ass back home. I miss you. If you can take time off work, you can make time for me. I’ve been patient for long enough.

Ty scowled. “Who is it?”

“I have no idea.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously, Ty. I …” She froze, and in that moment, the expression on her face shifted from fear to anger – and hurt. It was the hurt that felt like a dagger in Ty’s chest.

“Oh my god! You think I’m talking to some other guy on there?”

“No! Shay, don’t get mad at me, please. I just … it’s … I’m trying to understand what’s going on.”

She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. “Okay. I can see how it must look, but honestly, Ty. I’m not talking to anyone else – on that site or anywhere else. I … I don’t know who it is, but I do know that it’s freaking me out.”

“Yeah.” If this was someone she didn’t know, the message was enough to freak Ty out, too.

“What do you think – do you want to answer?”

She shook her head rapidly. “No! I …” She visibly calmed herself again. “I probably should, shouldn’t I? – try to figure out who it is.”

“Yeah. If some guy knows where you work – all your jobs – and has noticed that you’re not there this weekend.” Ty scowled as he reread the message. “We should try to figure out who it is – and how to make him leave you alone.”

She shuddered and he wrapped both arms around her. “I’ve got you.”

His heart sank when she gave him a small, scared smile. “I know, and I love it, thank you. And …” She gave a shaky little laugh. “Alexis says I’m her star student, so that should help.”

“What do you …?” And then he remembered – Alexis was teaching her self-defense.

“Why’s that your first thought? Is there something going on that you haven’t told me about?”

“No! Well, not exactly. I … the only thing I can think of is that there was a guy who was following me around. It was a while ago. I thought it was over with, but that’s part of why Davin and Alexis rented me their apartment, and why Alexis set up the self-defense classes. Everyone was looking out for me for a while – because I was on my own. But …” She shook her head slowly. “I haven’t seen him in ages. To be honest, I’d started to wonder if I made the whole thing up.” She looked up into his eyes. “When people heard about it, everyone started looking outfor me. Kenzie, who manages the bar at The Boathouse, follows me home after work to make sure I get there okay. Davin and Alexis made me promise to always close the garage door before I get out of the car – the entrance to my apartment is inside the garage so …”

Ty scowled. “So, you’ve got some kind of stalker?”

“No! It was just some creepy guy. He followed me home once. He hung around outside the gym a couple of times while I was teaching. But like I said, that was ages ago, and I haven’t seen or heard anything of him since.”

“Because it sounds like your friends have been making sure that he couldn’t get near you.”

“I guess.”

“And you have no idea who he is?”

“No.” She looked down at her phone. “Do you think I should ask him?”

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