Page 70 of Obsession

“I’ll check before I lock the gate.” If she wasn’t around, Emma didn’t have time to hunt for her. She had decided to return to Mount Locust for a few hours tomorrow anyway, so feeding Suzy wouldn’t be a problem. But she did want to get the cat checked out by a veterinarian while she was off.

Sam pulled into the empty parking lot, and Emma checked around the restrooms for Suzy. No cat. She turned to leave when a plaintive meow came from behind the building.

“Come here, kitty,” she called and walked through the open passage. Suzy sauntered toward her, and Emma scooped her up. “I don’t have a carrier, so you have to ride in my lap, okay?”

Emma wasn’t certain how this would work out. Maybe she could wrap Suzy in her jacket until she got home. She wished she’d picked up a carrier. And a litter box. And litter. She’d have to go to the store after her dad left.

“You found her,” Sam said. He was waiting by the passenger door when she approached with the kitten in her arms.

“Would you hold her a minute while I take off my jacket to wrap around her?”

“No need. I have an old shirt in the back we can use.”

Once Emma was settled in the passenger seat, Sam placed the T-shirt across her lap and wrapped the cat in it. “That way she won’t scratch you if she gets scared.”

At first Suzy tried to escape, but as Emma crooned to her, she settled down. It wasn’t long before purring sounded in the SUV. “Think you can take me to the store after Dad leaves? I need to buy a few things for her.”

“Why don’t I pick up what you need before I come to dinner?”

Emma gladly agreed, and it wasn’t long before they pulled in front of her apartment building. “There’s Dad’s car,” she said, pointing to a white Toyota. “He’s here already.”

Sam helped her get the cat upstairs and unlocked her door. “Be back in an hour, max,” he said.

She shut the door and set Suzy down. A faint scent she didn’t recognize tickled her nose. Her dad must be using a new cologne.

“Dad?” she called, but there was no answer. The hair on the nape of her neck raised. Maybe that wasn’t her dad’s white Camry on the street.

37

He jogged to his car, his heart pounding in his chest. That had been close. He’d checked the GPS reading on the tracker on Ryker’s SUV, and from what he’d seen, the ranger’s vehicle had still been at Mount Locust. That would have given him plenty of time to plant the listening devices, but he’d barely hidden the first one in her bookcase, when a key turned in the front door. He’d fled out the back and down the stairs, surprised he hadn’t gotten caught.

His heart had almost returned to normal by the time he reached his car on the next street over. Once safely in the driver’s seat, he opened his glove compartment and stashed the lock picks he’d used to gain entry to her apartment.

It couldn’t have been Emma who unlocked the door. There was no way they could’ve made it home that fast. So who was it? Who had a key to her house? Using his phone, he dialed the number for the SIM card, activating the listening device. Soon he heard someone whistling and dishes rattling.

“Now where would Emma put her seasonings?” It was an older male voice. Jack Winters, maybe? “Ah, here they are...” More sounds, this time paper rustling, then the sound of a door opening and closing.

He disconnected from the call. No need to run the battery down on the bug, not when he wanted the battery to last untilhe took Emma to the cabin. He glanced in his rearview mirror. Emma and Ryker shouldn’t pass by where he was parked, but there was no need to take a chance of being seen. He started his truck and pulled away from the curb.

While he’d wanted two listening devices in her apartment, he’d have to be satisfied with one. It would be too much to hope that the stars would line up again like they had this evening with all her apartment neighbors away.

He hated that he had to resort to planting the bug, but he’d had no choice. She should have told Ryker to leave her alone, but that wasn’t her way. Emma was like him, too kind for her own good. That’s what made their relationship so perfect. He’d even decided it was wrong to kill Ryker unless he did something horrible. Emma lovedhim, not the ranger. Unless the listening device confirmed that the ranger was a threat to Emma or that he was pushing her into a relationship, he would let him live.

Ryker would never have her. Emma Winters was destined to be his. And soon.

And that meant he had to stock the cabin. His heart raced at the thought of showing her what he’d created for her. A quick glance at the back seat confirmed the framed photograph was still there. It was his favorite of all he’d taken of Emma, and she would be so surprised. And pleased. He had the perfect place for it in their love nest. He would take it to the cabin tomorrow.

38

She called again, and her dad didn’t answer. Maybe Sam should have checked her apartment this time. Movement on her balcony caught Emma’s eye just as she spied the white butcher paper on the counter, and she released the breath she’d been holding. The tension in her shoulders eased as well. Her dad always bought his steaks at a little shop in town where the butcher wrapped them in white paper. Then she saw him bent over the grill.

Emma hated how all this stalking made her paranoid. Suzy rubbed against her leg, and she knelt beside the kitten. “It’s okay. This is your new home,” she said, smoothing her left hand down the cat’s bony back. “We need to get you fattened up.” She filled a bowl with water and set it on the floor.

“You stay here,” Emma said to the cat as she crossed to the back door and stepped out on her balcony, flipping on the outside light. The balcony was one perk she really enjoyed about the apartment. She could relax out here and come and go on the stairs leading down to the back parking lot—if she ever parked back there. Her dad looked up from the grill.

“Hey, honey. Didn’t know you were home yet,” he said, closing the lid.

Even in his midfifties, Jack Winters had very little gray in his hair, just a little around his temples. Wearing jeans that coveredhis rich brown cowboy boots and a pullover under his denim jacket, he looked nothing like the hospital executive he was, or even the nurse he used to be. Put a cowboy hat on him, and he looked ready to round up a few head of cattle.

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