Page 36 of Recklessly Yours

Chuckling, he twisted his hands on the wheel, making the leather creak. “Sure. Told you you’d be hooked.”

“Intrigued, yes. Not hooked.”

“If you say so.”

After stopping by the bank, we picked up our to-go order from the sushi place, and as we stepped out onto the sidewalk, Dylan yanked me back and pressed me to his side, his arm tightly around my shoulders.

Heart racing, I glanced around, looking for the danger he must have sensed, but nothing stood out to me. His protectiveness was comforting, and his touch heated me from the inside.

Did he feel the same thing from my touch?

I relaxed against him, hoping he did. “What are you doing?” The words came out breathier than I intended as I stole a glance up at him.

He looked one way, then the other, taking in the people milling about on Main Street. “My job,” he whispered as he slowly led me to his car with his arm still secured around me.

Right. Thiswashis job. And I was his friend’s sister. He was protecting me from a stalker. Nothing more.

It didn’t matter that his embrace caused butterflies to riot in my stomach. My body needed to shut the hell up. Nothing would ever happen between the bossy detective and me.

Chapter Fifteen

DYLAN

I pouredmyself a cup of coffee and leaned back against my kitchen counter, waiting on Hattie. Though she’d only been here for a couple of days, we’d already fallen into a routine. For the last three nights, we’d eaten while we chatted and then moved into the living room to watch a true crime documentary. For someone who claimed she didn’t like that type of show, she was as enthusiastic as I was about figuring out the mystery.

I checked my watch, wondering if I could predict the exact time she’d appear. I appreciated routines, although I never could obtain that with Becca. We had lived together for almost a year, yet I never could get a handle on what to expect and when. She swung from sweet to passive aggressive quickly, making it impossible to keep up with or anticipate her moods. Yet it had taken only a few days to figure Hattie out.

Until now.

When she appeared, still in her tiny sleep shorts and an oversized sweatshirt, unease settled in my gut.

“Why aren’t you ready?”

She looked down, her face expressionless. That look only made the disquiet inside me more acute. Had she not realized that she was still in her pajamas? I didn’t think that was plausible. Sure, she was a bit unaware at times, but not in a chaotic sort of way.

The desire to snatch the phone out of her hand and demand she tell me what was wrong pulsed violently in my chest. She’d done the same thing for three mornings in a row. She’d get up, take a shower, get dressed, and then come down for coffee before going back up to do her hair and makeup. Yet today, she’d completely deviated from that routine.

Maybe I’d been wrong about her. Maybe Hattie really was unpredictable like Becca.

She looked up at me, her expression a mix of confusion and fear. “I thought…I mean…How…”

I set my coffee on the counter and closed the space between us. “What’s wrong?”

She blew out a shaky breath. “He texted me.”

“Who?”

“The stalker.” She tucked her chin to her chest and studied her phone, then looked back up at me again.

A wave of relief rushed through me. This was exactly what I had been hoping for. He knew she’d blocked him, or at least assumed it. That meant he was watching her closely.

“That’s good.”

“Good?” Her eyes widened. “I don’t understand. How is that a good thing? Didn’t you block him?”

I nodded. “I blocked the original number. If he sent you another text, that means he bought a new burner.”

Gently, I pried the phone from her hand. I needed to get this new number over to Aiden. Hopefully the burner phone had been purchased at the same gas station and we could get the surveillance recording.

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