Page 111 of Nanny for the Firefighter

It’s still wet, which suggests that the car leaking the stuff was just here.

That’s what you did, you asshole.

Jai waited in a car for me to arrive, dropped off the rose, and then took off. The venom coursing through my veins surges.

I know exactly what he’s trying to do. He’s trying to scare me. But fuck that noise. I’m not afraid of him, and his little tricksaren’t going to keep me from doing everything I can to get his sorry ass thrown in jail.

Turning around, still holding that damn rose, I walk back inside my office, making sure the door closes behind me.

I go back up to the reception desk and look at the note again.

Jai thinks he owns her.

Bridget belongs to exactly no one, least of all Jai, and I crunch the note in my fist before I can think better of it.

Dammit, I need that fucking thing for the police.

As much as I want to destroy the rose, I can’t. I can’t just toss it in the garbage and be done with it. But I don’t want to worry Cassie either.

I slip the thing into one of the canvas bags I give out with new homeowner information, and I bring it back to my office.

Cassie passes by on my way there, and I offer a tight smile, trying and likely failing to look like I didn’t just find a tangible threat left at my place of work.

“What did Mr. Smith want?”

I almost trip as Cassie speaks, clutching that bag in my fingers, and ready to explode like some kind of molten inferno. But Cassie does not need that in her life.

“Just directions. He was lost.”

“Oh, weird that he asked for you.”

Shrugging, I nod, still trying to keep up appearances. “Yeah, I think he was one of those sexist assholes. Didn’t want to take directions from a woman so he asked for the boss.”

Cassie scoffs. “Prick. Well, I hope you sent him the wrong way.”

I laugh. “Yeah, sent him right out of town.”

“Good.”

My assistant walks back to her desk, and I have to bite my tongue. I do it hard enough that I can taste copper because all Iwant to do is scream to the damn rooftops that he is a prick and one that’s trying to hunt down my girlfriend.

THIRTY-FIVE

Bridget

It’s been a few hours since Mason left for work, and I’m starting to feel more like myself. Nothing more has happened this morning, and I’ve been sure to keep the windows and doors locked.

I have the alarm set for us being home, too, which means the front door is currently being monitored.

I even went outside to check on the gate that surrounds Mason’s property. It’s locked, which is great, but Mia noticed, and she begged me to play outside.

I’m not entirely comfortable sitting outside with her, but I want to give the kid as normal a day as possible.

We sit in the shade beneath one of the tall trees that hangs over Mason’s backyard, and I’m playing with her in the sandbox that’s set up in the corner.

We’ve built a number of structurally questionable sandcastles, and little Mia is covered in sand. I can’t help but laugh as she plays in the stuff so happily, and it just hammers home my concern for her.

I love Mia like she’s my own daughter, and I won’t let anything happen to her.

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