Page 49 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

Thomas was watching him. For everybody else, this was all a big joke, but Thomas was serious. He’d pursue Aspen unless Garrett asked him not to.

So fine. He leveled his gaze at his friend. “I’d rather you didn’t.”

Thomas nodded once. “Fair enough.” He turned his attention to the game.

The rest of the guys chuckled, and the conversation resumed, though Garrett didn’t take part. Now that he’d admitted it, he couldn’t stop thinking about Aspen. He was attracted to her. She was beautiful, but it wasn’t just that. He liked her. He went out of his way to spend time with her not because he wanted to be a good neighbor but because he wanted to be with her.

All things considered, he needed to get over it, or it was going to be much harder when she moved away.

Or, God forbid, if she found out he was spying on her.

Which he wasn’t. And wouldn’t, even if Dean thought he would.

Fitz’s phone rang, and he snatched it from the coffee table. He listened, then met Garrett’s eyes. “What time?” He waited through the answer, then said, “Tell her to wait until one of us comes to get her. Nobody should enter until the police do a thorough search.”

Considering Fitz’s gaze hadn’t wavered, Garrett had a very strong suspicion that theherin question must be Aspen.

He got that acid-drop feeling in his stomach. “What happened?”

But Fitz spoke into the phone. It must be Tabby. “No. You stay there. In your—” His eyes widened, and he averted his gaze. “With all that company, you need to stay home. I’ll be there soon.” He hung up the phone.

“What happened?” Garrett said.

“Aspen’s alarm is going off. She’s at our house, so?—”

He lurched to his feet. “She’s waiting for me?”

“She doesn’t have a car. She was trying to get one of the women to drive her home, but Tabby thought?—”

“I’ll get her.” Garrett dug his keys from his pocket on his way out the door.

Six minutes later, Garrett pulled up outside Fitz and Tabby’s house. Before he shifted into park, Aspen stepped outside and hurried to the passenger side. He pushed open the door, and she climbed in. “Thanks for?—”

“Do you know what happened?”

“The alarm company called and asked if I was at home. They said my alarm was going off. This happened about twenty minutes ago. They sent the police.”

Thank heavens he’d gotten the alarm installed.

A cruiser idled in her driveway. Aspen’s SUV wasn’t there. “Where’s your car?”

“I moved it to the garage.”

Her front door was wide open, and a cop stepped onto the stoop as Garrett parked.

Aspen hurried up the walk, Garrett right behind her.

The uniformed officer asked, “Do you live here?”

“I’m Aspen Kincaid. I own the house.”

He stepped aside for her to enter, and Garrett followed, pulling the door closed. No fire smoldered in the fireplace. She’d need one, considering how cold it was in the house.

“I’m Officer Tyler. The front door was wide open when we arrived, so we went ahead and searched. Nobody’s here.”

Aspen nodded but said nothing.

Garrett asked, “Any chance you didn’t get the door closed when you left? Maybe the wind blew it open.” His hopes that this was all a mistake fled when Aspen shook her head.

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