Page 30 of Allie's Shelter

“Did you go in to work that afternoon?”

“Yes. It was so late it was hardly worth it, but I’m glad I did. My office was in perfect order, but not quite right. Several little things were off. I’m not OCD,” she added with a weary chuckle. “But I couldn’t shake the feeling someone had searched my desk. That night, there was a sedan parked outside my apartment and all those spy movies wouldn’t stop running through my head.”

“Understandable.”

She appreciated his compassion and willingness to withhold judgment. On a deep breath, she spilled the rest. “Roberts and I had a good relationship—”

“I beg your pardon?”

She blinked at his icy interruption. “Working relationship,” she clarified, watching his scowl ease a fraction. “Because of that, I wanted to try and reason with him when I went in the next morning, but he was at some offsite meeting all day.”

She paused, thinking it over, looking for what she might have done differently.

Ross’s big palm rested on her shoulder. “So what finally made you run?”

“The money and the computer.” She let herself be soothed by his touch as he gently kneaded at the tension in her neck and shoulder. “Figuring I’d take a couple personal days, I went to my office and ticked through the urgent things on my list. That’s when I saw the email about failed login attempts on the bank account. I ran a keystroke report and knew someone had been in my office, looking for evidence. Or in hindsight, maybe they were planting it.”

“So you ran.”

“No. Getting mugged in the parking garage was the last straw. That made me run.”

“What?”

She leaned away from his sudden rush of temper. “It was a bump and run thing. They snatched my briefcase right off my shoulder. My work laptop was in it. That’s when I knew Bradley wouldn’t change his mind.”

“How so?”

“My purse, the black backpack?”

“Yeah?”

“Any random street thief would see the quality difference there and go for the cash and credit cards.” Ross was nodding. “There was nothing random about taking my briefcase. They wanted the laptop because they didn’t find what they needed on the desktop.”

“You didn’t leave the evidence on the laptop.”

“Of course not. Which explains why someone’s been on me ever since. Well, until you stepped in.” She felt his hand tense up for a moment before he resumed the soothing kneading.

“This might be the gang connection. Would you recognize the mugger?”

“No. He wore one of those oversized hoodies, came up from behind me, and was off like a shot with the laptop.”

Ross shifted, stretching his legs under the table and raking a hand through his hair. She managed not to lean over and dive into that rich brown silk with her own hands. She wondered if he wore it longer now because he’d had to keep it regulation short for the Army.

He finally looked at her again. “Is that everything?”

“Isn’t that enough?”

“Only if you aren’t hiding anything else.”

Exasperated and weary of sitting, Allie tried to get up. She needed to move, to breathe air that wasn’t scented with him. Sitting next to Ross and thinking about everything she couldn’t have anymore was one more frustration she didn’t need piled on top of the rest of her rocky circumstances.

“Wait.” He caught her hand, urging her closer to him on the window seat and looping his arm over her shoulders, leaving nowhere for her hand except his thigh.

He was so warm and solid she sighed despite herself. She should resist, but tucked into his embrace, she felt safe and surrounded, sensations she’d gone too long without. “I’m not hiding anything else, Ross.”

“Good.”

“I wish I thought so. Knowing all of this makes you a target too now.”

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