Page 15 of Hot & Bothered

Holy shit, this woman was cool.

“Okay, then. Nine o’clock it is.”

“You sound exhausted. So hang up and get some sleep. You need to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to fight crime in the morning.”

He snorted. “Okay, then.”

“Goodnight, Jace.”

“Goodnight, Peyton.”

They ended the call, and he plugged in his phone on the nightstand, double-checking that the alarm would go off at four-thirty, then he rolled over and was asleep in seconds, dreaming of a red-haired woman with gray eyes, freckles and who was definitely a Gemini.

Another fairly uneventful day at work, Jace pushed himself hard at the gym for those two hours. Not so hard that he’d pass out and be shit company for Peyton, but hard enough to earn any carbs she might cook for dinner. Not that he really needed to worry about that, but he made sure his legs were Jell-O by the time he climbed into his truck and headed home to shower.

After his shower, still with wet hair, he put on a dark gray Henley and some dark jeans, his boots and a winter jacket, then headed out the door.

He was just stepping off the elevator when a guy in a hoodie darted past him and down through the doors to the stairwell that took you to the parking garage.

Was it the same guy from Christmas Eve? Something about the dude and the whole situation just itched at the back of Jace’s neck like a fresh mosquito bite.

But his instincts had never let him down before, so rather than heading out the front door to Peyton’s condo building across the street, he followed the man in the hoodie down into the stairwell.

It was decently lit, but eerily barren, with nothing but concrete walls, concrete steps, and metal railings.

He hesitated long enough in the lobby that the guy in the hoodie had already exited into the parking garage. Jace entered the garage and had to dive out of the way when the squealing of tires echoed through the low-ceilinged place, and a black sedan with overly tinted windows came screaming toward him.

The main garage door was already open, and the car disappeared, red taillights and all, into the dark city night.

What the fuck was that?

Unhurt but a little shaken, Jace jumped to his feet and took off through the garage to the big main door, hoping to at least catch a glimpse of the license plate. But the car was already long gone.

He glanced up at the security camera in the corner and shot off a text to his building manager about getting the footage.

His knee smarted from how he dove out of the way onto the unforgiving concrete, but at least he was still in one piece.

Still shaken, he climbed the stairs back up to the lobby, then limped a little to the front door and across the street to Peyton’s. She buzzed him up.

By the time he reached her door, he wasn’t limping anymore.

He refused to let whatever just happened in the garage ruin his evening, so he tossed on a big smile, shoved the situation to the back of his mind, and knocked on the door.

She greeted him with an enormous sexy smile of her own and the scent of chicken parmesan and garlic bread. His belly grumbled.

But either he’d done a shit-job of hiding his unease, or she was crazy-intuitive, because just as soon as her beautiful smile came, it vanished and worry flashed behind her gray eyes. “What happened?”

He pinched his brows together and stepped into her warm apartment. Alternative rock played quietly from some portable speaker. “It’s nothing.”

“Jace Shepherd, don’t lie to me.” She plunked her hands on her hips. That’s when he noticed she was wearing a cute apron covered in strawberries on a blue background.

Huffing out in exasperation, he accepted the glass of wine she offered him. “Remember that guy from the elevator on Christmas Eve?”

She nodded and sipped her red wine. “Yeah.”

“I think I saw him again in the lobby just now. And when he saw me, he ran. Ducked quickly down into the stairwell and the parking garage. When I followed him, I nearly got run over by some speed demon in a black Elantra.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh my god, are you okay?”

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