Page 31 of Sachie's Hero

“No use going tonight, if he’s not going to be in the office until morning.”

Sachie shook her head. “I can’t stay here. Bycoming here, I’ve brought my troubles with me. What if Kalea had been out there?”

“He’s not after me,” Kalea pointed out.

“Not yet,” Sachie said. “What if he goes after people I care about to get to me?”

“You’ll be fine tonight,” Kalea said.

“The security detail is on high alert. They’ll remain vigilant through the night,” Hawk assured her.

“They didn’t see the drone coming,” Sachie said.

“He could be out there waiting for you to leave the ranch in the dark,” Kalea argued. “It would be better if you waited until morning to head for the airport. Then at least you have a better chance of seeing the threat before he hits you broadside.”

Sachie’s gaze met Teller’s.

“It would be better to wait until morning,” Teller said. “It’s already getting dark outside. If he’s waiting, he has the advantage and will see us coming sooner than we’ll see him.”

Sachie bit down on her lip. She wanted to leave immediately, afraid that the longer she stayed, the higher the probability her stalker would find his way onto the property and hurt Kalea and her baby.

Against her better judgment, she said, “Okay. We stay one night and leave for the first flight in the morning.” And if her stalker tried to hurt Kalea,Sachie would be there to stop him. She even considered sleeping outside Kalea’s bedroom door.

“Now that that’s settled, let me show you to your rooms,” Hawk said.

With a great sense of dread, Sachie followed Hawk up the staircase to the room where he’d left her suitcase. “Teller is in the room beside yours if you need anything.”

Sachie could think of something she needed from Teller, and it wasn’t a glass of water or a piece of Ule’s pineapple coffee cake.

The instant the thought popped into her head, she fought to shut it down. She shouldn’t get used to having Teller in the same room with her twenty-four-seven. They had both been up all the previous night and needed sleep.

Sachie grimaced. What chance did she have of actually going to sleep? She hadn’t had a full night’s sleep since Luke’s death. Every time she closed her eyes, the nightmare started.

She squared her shoulders. “I’ll be fine. I think I’ll get a shower and call it a night.”

“It’s still early,” Hawk said. “You could come hang out with us in the family room.”

“Thanks, but I’m tired,” Sachie said. “I just want to go to bed, get up early and leave before anything else happens.”

Hawk smiled. “Then good night.” He pulled the door closed with Sachie inside.

She’d wanted to spend a little more time with Teller but felt it would’ve been awkward to say so in front of his boss. So she waited near the door, listening to the conversation between Hawk and Teller. Then, the footsteps faded away, followed by the click of a nearby door closing.

Sachie fought the urge to throw open her door and march over to Teller’s room to ask if she could visit for a while to get over her jitters. As if she wasn’t already embarrassed enough. He might go running in the opposite direction or think she was a whiny baby who couldn’t stand the pressure of someone stalking her, which would be true.

No. She was better off getting that shower and lying down. Having been awake for almost thirty-six hours, exhaustion should have been dragging her down.

The drone attack had spiked her adrenaline, making it really hard to settle in for the night.

Sachie sifted through her suitcase, found her best lace panties, an oversized T-shirt and a pair of shorts. She didn’t understand people who slept nude. What if something happened in the middle of the night necessitating a hasty evacuation of their home? Maybe a fire or a tornado blowing the roof off. They wouldn’thave time to grab clothing. They’d have to bug out in their birthday suits.

Hell, Sachie had now proven the ridiculousness of sleeping through the night nude. If she’d been nude when her home had been invaded, she might have been one of those people forced to run out into the yard as naked as the day she was born. She could imagine the look on Mrs. Henderson’s face had she run over and banged on her door, begging to be let in, wearing nothing but the fear on her face.

Her lips quirking at the image in her mind and clutching her clothing to her chest, Sachie opened her door. Her panties chose that moment to slide out of her grip and drift to the floor. As she bent to retrieve them, a bigger, tanned hand beat her there.

She glanced up into Teller’s face, straightening at the same time as he did.

“Headed for the shower?” he asked, laying the scrap of lace across the top of the other clothing she held.

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