Page 67 of Raging Inferno

“My dad was a judge. He had his fair share of enemies. I upgraded when I moved in.”

“How are your parents?”

“My mom passed from cancer six years ago. Dad died the next year in a skiing accident.”

Presley placed a hand on his arm and squeezed. “I’m sorry. That’s rough to lose them close together. They were always so nice to me.”

That made him smile. His parents had been the greatest. “They were incredible people. I miss them every day.” He wished Gia had been old enough to remember them. He’d made sure to tell her stories and show her pictures.

“Has anyone tried to break into your place before?”

“Once. Dad had sentenced a teenager to six months in jail for repeated offenses, including theft and drug possession. When he got out, he tried to climb the front gate, but the cameras captured his image. When the cops found him, he had a gun on him. He admitted he wanted to shoot my dad. Another judge sent him away for seven years.”

“Did he finally learn his lesson?”

“He got into a fight his second year in and was killed.”

“It’s a shame he couldn’t be rehabilitated. He was young.”

“Yeah.”

Presley shifted into drive and pulled back on the road. As they were motoring up Kurtis Ponds’s driveway, his phone buzzed. It was the monitoring company. “Hello?”

“Mr. Bianchi, it’s Clay from SecureStar. The police checked out the alarm. There was no one around. We’ve reviewed the security footage leading up to the alert and picked up an image of a person. It’s impossible to distinguish features or details. I’ll email it to you anyway.”

Dom thanked them and opened his message. He played the video, but Clay was right. He couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman. They had been wearing all black with a hoodie and sunglasses. He showed it to Presley after she backed into the garage and turned off the engine.

“Forward it to me. I’ll see if my office can clean it up.”

He did so, and she tapped out a text before sending it on.

Dom’s gut tightened as they entered the house, thinking about how they’d spent the afternoon and evening. He should be exhausted. He wasn’t a spring chicken any longer. Instead, hefelt rejuvenated and alive. Dominic winced. Poor choice of words when Charmaine had died tonight.

That sobered him. Presley needed to mourn the loss of her old friend.

Presley ensured the alarms were set, and they climbed the steps together. He was prepared to part ways at her door, but she grabbed his hand and tugged him into her room.

#

Presley woke, acutely aware that she was naked and not alone. She wasn’t used to it and panic shot through her until she realized it was Dominic’s muscular arms wrapped around her. She relaxed into his hold.

He hummed and gripped her tighter. She wanted to stay like this all day, but something had awoken her. Her watch beeped again, and she shot up, dislodging Dominic’s arms and the blanket simultaneously.

“Presley? What’s wrong?”

“My coworker is here. Get up.” She smacked at him. “I don’t want him to find us like this.”

“You want to save water and shower together?”

“Dominic! Stop. Go.”

“Which is it? Stop or go?”

That wicked, dimpled smile, along with the mouthwatering view of him in all his very impressive naked glory, almost did her in. She could stare at him all day. Those muscles begged to be touched.

Presley shook her head and shoved him. “Both.” Leaping out of bed, she darted into the bathroom and showered in record time. After drying off, she brushed her teeth and tried to run a comb through her hair, wincing at the knots. Sticking her head out the door, she was relieved to see Dominic had listened to her and returned to his room.

Her supply of clothes was dwindling fast. She’d either have to do laundry soon or hit up a mall. Shopping was one of her favorite things, but she preferred doing so online instead of in person.

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