Page 30 of Fury

Like I do?

Frustrated with the thought, he rammed it away.

“Hey,” Hollyn crooned to Fury. She looked drained. Gorgeous, but drained. Ran a hand down the shepherd’s head before glancing up at Davis. Her eyes widened. “Why do I suddenly feel the need to drop and give you fifty so I don’t get sent to the brig?”

Davis roughed a hand over his face. Tried to replace the scowl he could feel. Didn’t work. He sank onto the couch adjacent her with a sigh. “Don’t tempt me.”

A weak grin tugged at the corner of her delicate lips. Ones he should stop staring at. Good grief, she was beautiful. Davis shifted his gaze to the windows overlooking the backyard. Crossed his arms.

“Still a grizzly in the morning, I see. Rough night?”

“Something like that.”

“Want some coffee or pancakes?”

“Just coffee, thanks.”

Hollyn slipped off the couch and returned a couple minutes later with a steaming cup of dark roast. “I figured you Army men take it straight, but I can add creamer or something if you want.”

“This is fine.”

Truth was, he wasn’t a huge fan of the stuff in general. But he was counting on it changing his mood this morning.

She situated herself in the chair again. Crossed tan legs that were more than a little distracting in her lounge shorts. In his peripheral vision, he could see her slippered foot bouncing up and down as she went back to reading her book.

Noted that, though minutes passed by, she didn’t turn the page.

For the thousandth time since high school, he mentally kicked himself for never having been man enough to ask her out. He’d come close but had always talked himself out of it. Dating meant the possibility of falling in love. Love meant marriage. Marriage meant responsibility he had no interest in. The day he’d left for bootcamp, he’d shut the door on all things relational and hadn’t looked back. It figured she’d be the one to sink a crowbar into his resolve.

Focus on the coffee.

Piping hot liquid ran down his throat. The burn felt good.

Fury pressed into his leg now. Stared him down. That was his cue.

“Okay, come on,” he said to the RMWD.

Fury snapped to attention, and Davis let the lug out into the backyard. Stood at the wall of windows, waiting.

Ansel’s warning came to mind again. Davis mulled it over. Scanned the perimeter for anything unusual. He’d give his life to protect Hollyn. Didn’t have to think twice about that. But could he find the person responsible for all of this before they hurt her?

He played the security footage through in his head. Had to be missing something. Anything that could point him in the right direction.

“You look like something’s on your mind,” Hollyn said.

Understatement of the year. “Just going over things.”

“I’ve been doing that too. I didn’t get much sleep last night. Or really any night this week.”

No one would be able to guess that from the way she looked.

“How you holding up?” He was surprised. Usually he wasn’t much for talking about feelings. Or talking at all. But Hollyn had a way of turning his world upside down. Probably didn’t have a clue that she had that kind of power.

She peered over the top of her book. Gave a one-shouldered shrug. Played with the corner of the hardcover. “I’ve been running through things in my head, but I still can’t figure out how that guy got in the house. I’ve run security checks, and no tampering with the system was detected. It doesn’t make any sense.”

“The fingerprint scanner can’t be hacked?”

Hollyn bit her lip. Shrugged. “Any piece of technology is technically hackable. But the locks use an optical scanner, not a capacitor, and the system uses AES 256-bit encryption.”

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