Page 20 of Found By Him

Guilt flashes through me.

Me: I don’t want to interrupt your day. It doesn’t have to be right now. Just whenever you’re free.

Almost instantly, my phone vibrates again.

Jack: I am free. See you in a few.

Me: Do you need my condo number?

Jack: I remember it from the paperwork you filled out.

I stand and rinse out my coffee cup. To help alleviate the anxious energy, I pace my apartment until my phone vibrates with the notification to buzz Jack in downstairs. I resume nibbling on my nail until the loud knock echoes through my apartment.

Unsure how to act after last night, I pull open the door nervously, and my breath catches. Jack’s casual outfit is reminiscent of the day he dropped off the vehicle to me. The worn grey t-shirt looks like it was made for him. When my eyes raise to his face, his mouth is pulled into a half smile, his beard a little thicker than usual, like he didn’t bother trimming it on a Saturday.

“Hi.” My greeting is breathy and much more sexual than I intended. Clearing my throat, I move back to let him enter.

He steps through the door, his hand grazing the side of my waist as he passes by. I squeeze my legs together to ebb the wetness gathering. Goosebumps run rampant across my skin at his touch, so simple but wrought with heady undertones.

I follow him to my living room, trying not to focus on how nicely his jeans hug his ass.

Crossing my space, he takes everything in. For some reason, I’m suddenly self-conscious that he might disapprove of my home. He gives me a probing gaze as he turns toward me, his lips turned up in a small smile. “I’m not complaining, but I’m very curious. What is this question you have to ask me in person?”

I gesture to the couch. “Do you want to sit down?”

He shakes his head but doesn’t say anything.

I fidget with the hem of my shirt. “Right, okay, well, I think I need your advice on a, uh, situation.”

His face sobers. “Go on,” he gruffly prompts.

I start to pace again while I spend the next ten minutes relaying the events of the last ten months. As I finish telling him about last night, I stop to face him with my hands on my hips. “Now, I don’t know if that guy down the sidewalk was actually the same person who sent that text. It seemed odd to have a hoodie on and your hood up when it was crazy warm out. The person was definitely a man, and who knows, maybe my stalker is a woman.” I know I’m rambling out of anxiousness, but I can’t stop. “Statistically speaking, that is unlikely, but I don’t want to be sexist...” I shrug as I trail off and meet Jack’s gaze.

Jack is still. Like, deadly still. His muscular arms are crossed over his chest, fists clenched. The muscle in his jaw jumps.

I continue, wanting to break the tension. “So, my question is, as a security professional, what do you think I should do?”

He finally moves to drop a hand to his hip and pinches the bridge of his nose with the fingers of the other. “Fuck.” His curse is resounding in the uncomfortable silence.

I feel instantly more guilty that I have brought this to him. An embarrassed flush burns my skin as I mutter, “I’m sorry, Jack.”

His head pops up, and he steps toward me. With a finger to my chin, he raises my eyes to his. “Gisella, you didn’t do anything wrong. Except maybe assume that all I would give you is advice.”

I shake my head. “Jack, I don’t think I can afford anything else.”

His eyebrows push together as he searches my face. “Let me make some calls.”

With that, he walks out of my condo and into the hall, pulling his cell from his pocket.

My breath stutters as I inhale. Unsure if it’s the man himself or the fact that my gut is telling me this is a man I can trust, but I feel the vice that has been compressing around me start to loosen, even if just slightly.

13

Jack

When I hear her door latch behind me, I select the contact I need.

Nate answers on the second ring. “Jack, what’s up?”

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