Page 81 of Deadly Attraction
Chapter Seventeen
Emma tripped over her feet as Mitch and Will practically threw her back inside. Will caught her arm and kept her upright as Salt and Pepper hovered.
The shades were already drawn, the curtains closed, but Will went to the nearest window and checked the lock. Mitch blew in, slamming the door behind him and locking it.
“Where’s your vehicle?” he asked.
His jaw was set. Anger burned in his eyes.
Beside her, Salt whimpered.
Will moved to another window to check its lock. “I have Emma’s truck at the cabin. I run most of the errands for Emma and I don’t have a vehicle.”
“Go get it,” Mitch said. He was dialing someone on his phone. “And watch your back. Whoever this is, they obviously aren’t afraid to kill. They’re amping up their game, and it looks like they’re closing in fast.”
Emma shivered, not only at his words, but at his tone. He looked ready to murder someone.
Bad choice of words, perhaps, but still accurate.
“Yeah, Coop,” he said into his phone as Emma heard Will sneaking out the back door. “Got more trouble.”
While he explained what was going on, Emma went to her candy drawer in the kitchen. M&Ms. She needed a handful.
Hell, she needed the whole damn bag at this point.
Salt and Pepper followed, finding their normal spots on the floor. Their warm, brown eyes watched her, mouths open and panting.
It was silly, but the simple feel of those little candies in her palm calmed her. A tactile crutch. She threw several M&Ms into her mouth, closed her eyes and chewed. Her speeding pulse slowed a tiny bit. She drew a deep breath, went to her kitchen table and bent down.
Blood from Danika had dried in spots on the floor. Ignoring it, she tipped her head to look at the underside of the table. Her backup pistol was there, still duct-taped to the wood. It had been over a year since she’d stuck it under the table, only taking it out once in a blue moon to check it.
She had her trusty S&W in her suitcase, but she wanted—needed more. Ripping off the tape, she palmed the .380 in one hand, the M&Ms in the other. Chocolate and cold, hard steel. Along with the quiet equanimity of the dogs, the combination settled her nerves.
Mitch strode into the kitchen and stopped abruptly when he saw her kneeling beside the table. The Beretta rested in her lap while she pitched candy into her mouth, one after the other, and ground the chocolate shells to bits with her molars.
His gaze lingered on the handgun. “You okay?”
“Do I have a choice?”
After a slight hesitation, he kneeled beside her. “I’m going to get you out of here.”
“I know you are.” She met his worried gaze. “But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t freaking out.”
“You don’t have to lie to me. About anything, you hear?”
She bobbed her head, threw another M&M into her mouth. Sweet, sweet chocolate. Sexy, determined Mitch. “I know what you said about Carla and Danika—that it isn’t my fault—but it sure feels that way. If anything happens to you or Will, I…”
She couldn’t finish the sentence, couldn’t even bear to think about it. Everything she cared about was here at the ranch. The dogs, the horses, her house. Add Mitch and Will to that, and she had a lot to lose.
Mitch took the gun from her lap and set it on the table, then drew her to her feet. “Will and I have both been in more dire circumstances than this. We know how to handle ourselves. Instead of worrying about the two of us, I want you to concentrate on the man outside. The one who hurt Danika. We don’t know for sure who he is, but we know what he wants. To scare you. Analyze him, Emma. Tell me what motivates him, what kind of person he is. What are the chinks in his armor?”
The feel of his hands holding onto her was as satisfying as the chocolate, but he was right—she needed to do something. Worrying about whatcouldhappen wouldn’t prevent Mitch and Will from getting hurt. What might help was figuring out how to outthink the bastard who was screwing with her world.
Sitting back, she rustled up her conviction, her mind seizing on the productivity of evaluating her stalker. Everyone had telltale methods, approaches, and techniques, especially established criminals. If she took each incident and broke it down…
The couple of M&Ms still in her hand were melting, smears of green, red, and blue on her palm and fingers. “I need a minute to think. Some paper and a pencil too.”
Mitch released her and she rinsed her hand in the sink, then took the gun and let him escort her upstairs to her office.
