Page 39 of The Alpha's Second Chance Mate

“It was,” Ashton said, then turned to me. “Oh! Did you bring any leftovers? I’m starving.”

“I ate all of mine, but I got you a bagel sandwich. It’s in the fridge, you just need to heat it up.”

“Yes!” Ashton pumped his fists in the air. “Food.” He ran for the door, but stopped at the last second to wave at Cole. “Bye. See you tomorrow?”

Cole grinned. “Sure thing, bud. We’ll work out a time.”

“Sweet,” Ashton said, and vanished inside.

I smiled. “Looks like you made an impression today.”

Cole gave me a self-deprecating shrug. “It really wasn’t that great. It’s because he’s getting close to his shift. Every emotion is cranked to ten. Just be aware that he may come crashing down later. It’s to be expected.”

“Cole, can I ask you something?”

He eyed me, obviously worried I was going to say something he didn’t want to hear or make some judgment on him.

“I guess so. What’s up?”

“Do you know a man named Kyle Alexander?”

From his confused frown and the way he looked up at the sky to rack his brain, I was pretty sure I already knew the answer.

“Not that I can remember. Who is he?”

A chill crept up my spine. The man had made a point of saying he was a business associate of Cole’s. That meant he was lying, and it made me worry aboutwhyhe’d have lied about something like that.

“He introduced himself to me a few days ago at the hardware store. Kind of a bulky, ugly guy. Bald head, big nose, kinda looked like an ogre.”

Cole’s eyes narrowed. “What did this guy have to say?”

“He told me he knew you, that he was a business partner of yours. Said he and your family went way back or something.”

“I have never met or heard of this guy in my life.” Cole looked more anxious than I’d ever seen him. “Did he say anything else? Like why he was approaching you?”

I shook my head, at a loss for what this all meant. “No. He said he’d heard through the grapevine that an old friend of yours was back in town, and he wanted to say hi. Cole, I have to be honest, he was creepy as shit. He made some lewd comments. It was gross.”

Cole’s eyes changed then, going from confused to fiery. “What did he say to you?” he growled, a deep, rumbling sound, his voice taut with barely contained anger.

“Just stupid shit. The kind of stuff a drunk asshole would say at a bar. Don’t worry about that. Is this a guy you should worry about?”

The wrinkles on his forehead soothed as he relaxed a fraction. “It doesn’t sound good,” he admitted. “It’s a little disconcerting that this guy knows me and found out you were in town so fast.” He glanced at the house. “Does this place have a security system by chance? Cameras? Alarms? Anything?”

“Uh, no. The TV is probably from the ‘60s. Grandma was old-fashioned, and I never had anything installed while I was away.” The thought of my grandmother trying to program a wall-mounted security system keypad was so ridiculous that I nearly laughed.

Cole took a slow, deep breath, filling his lungs until I thought they might burst. I remembered him doing it whenever he was about to ask someone something he thought they might say no to—as if girding himself with oxygen for an argument.

“What do you think about me having one installed here?”

I blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”

The fact that Cole had no clue who this guy was concerned me even more, but having him take care of securing my house wasn’t in my plans.

“A security system,” Cole said. “Let me call Trent. We had a security business together. He came back home with me, but he’s still got contacts. He can order all the stuff and have it shipped overnight. We can take care of installation, too.”

I opened my mouth to tell him I could handle my own security, but he held up a hand.

“Don’t look at this as some charity thing or me trying to get back in your good graces. Some creepy guy is sniffing around you and my son. The least I can do after everything is make your house secure. Please let me do this for you. I won’t be able to sleep, knowing you guys aren’t one hundred percent safe.”

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