Page 36 of Single Mom for the Firemen

“Headed home to get started on work for the night,” he replies. “And I guess Mason is already there?”

The mention of the man I spent the day tangled up with brings a slight flush of heat to my neck, but I do my best to brush it off. I nod.

“Yeah, he headed off about an hour ago,” I reply, shifting my weight from one foot to another. Ever since then, I’ve had this sick feeling that someone is watching me, and I can’t shake it—can’t shake the certainty that they might have been spying when we were together too. The thought makes my stomach turn, and I guess Jake must notice it.

“You okay?” he asks softly, lowering his voice and shifting slightly toward me. I nod—then shake my head.

“No,” I confess. “I…I can’t help but feel like…”

I glance around. This is going to sound crazy to him. He has no idea what I’ve been through, everything that’s brought me to this point. But after what he shared with me, I guess I have a duty to be honest with him.

“Feel like I’m being watched.”

He frowns. “You’ve got reason to think someone might be watching you?”

I nod again. “Yeah, I—I was working on this story, back in the city,” I admit. “Helping to expose this cartel who were trafficking people. I knew it was a risk taking it on in the first place, but I couldn’t just stand by and let it happen. And when the story came out, there were some…threats. To me, to the newspaper. That’s why I came out here for the summer. Let the heat die down and get them to lose interest in me so I can get on with my life.”

He stares at me, taking it in. I can’t tell if he’s pissed that this is the first he’s hearing of it, or concerned that I might be in more danger than I know.

“Shit, Vanessa,” he mutters, shaking his head. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because I didn’t want to worry you when I felt like there was nothing to worry about.”

“And you felt like acartelon your ass wasn’t enough for you to worry about?”

He sounds incredulous, almost angry. I retreat into myself, shaking my head.

“I thought they would just lose interest in me,” I protest. “I thought—fuck, I don’t know what I thought. I just thought that Iwould be safe out here, that Callie and I both would be, but these last few days…”

I peer around. “I don’t know. Maybe I’m just paranoid.”

“Better safe than sorry,” he replies, snapping into action mode at once. “We should put up some cameras around the property. Make sure we catch anyone who might be lurking around and taking the place in.”

My heart flips. I don’t like that idea, not one bit. Partly because I know they’ll be able to see me whenever they want, and I don’t like the thought of them catching me when I’m looking my worst—but partly because I’m worried that they might actually find something I need to be worried about.

“I don’t know about that…”

“Not inside the house,” he assures me. “We’re not trying to spy on you or Callie. Around the edges of the property, looking out into the woods. We have a few spares that we can rig up that lead to a feed in the house that’s triggered by movement. We won’t see anything unless there’s something there to see, okay?”

I stare back at him, chewing my lip. I guess he has a point, but I can’t shake the feeling that this is too much—too much for me to ask of them, and too much for me to go through with, especially with Callie around. This place was meant to be a safe haven for us, a sanctuary, and the thought of dotting it with security cameras doesn’t really feel like the best way to go about that.

“Vanessa, please,” he murmurs to me. “I want to do this. To help you.”

And I can see in his eyes that he’s not going to back down on this. Something in me shifts. He just doesn’t want us to get hurt. Thisisn’t about spying on us, this is about making certain that we’re both okay—protecting us, in a way he didn’t get to protect his foster parents before.

And when I frame it like that, I guess it doesn’t seem quite so bad. If I can make this about soothing his fears rather than mine, I can handle that.

After a long pause, I nod. “Yeah, I suppose it’s not a bad idea,” I agree. “Keep an eye on things…”

“Exactly,” he murmurs, and before I can say another word, he leans forward and draws me into a tight hug. There’s something about the grip around my shoulders that draws tears to my eyes, out of nowhere. Someone caring about me this much, it’s not something I’m used to. But when I pull back, I swiftly blink them away, and smile.

“Anyway, I should get in and make Callie some dinner,” I reply. “You want to come around and visit later this week…?”

“Tomorrow night,” he replies. “I’ll bring the guys with me. We’ll get the cameras rigged up.”

“And maybe stay for something to eat too?”

I don’t like the thought of them being here just for the sake of putting up the cameras—it seems like something Callie would clock on to way too easily, and I don’t need her worrying about everything that’s going on.

---