Page 44 of Serve ’N’ Protect

Blue-and-red lights ricocheted off the trees across the street. Behind him, Cassidy’s cane thumped on the landing, and he watched as she turned left at the top of the stairs.

If something had happened to her today, I… He what?

In the span of a few days, he’d come to like and care for her more than most people he’d met in his entire life. That was saying something. And holy hell, that kiss. He’d wanted to savor and taste her sweet mouth for as long as it took to quench the emotions escalating inside him. The only thing that had stopped him was the sure-as-shit knowledge that he sucked at relationships. Women needed to talk about stuff—feelings and emotions, the very things he was incapable of expressing. Given how much she liked to talk, Cassidy would need that more than most.

Normally, knowing his limitations didn’t bother him and he just moved on. Today, it left him edgy, unsettled, and wishing he could be the kind of man a woman like Cassidy needed and deserved.

Facing facts was something he was good at, something that kept him grounded. The fact he had to face was that he could never be that man.

Chapter Sixteen

With her long blue robe securely in place and covering all her essential girlie parts, Cassidy joined Markus and three stern-faced state troopers in her living room. Huge, all of them. Even the female officer had to be pushing five-foot-eleven. Markus looked completely comfortable with them. Not that she should be surprised. He was one of them. Even if they didn’t know it.

Outside, red-and-blue lights flashed, illuminating the street and her front yard, reminding her, in a morbid kind of way, of Christmas decorations. The living room was like an icebox, thanks to the busted window. Shards of glass lay all over the rug, some landing as far away as the sofa. Wonderful. One more thing in her money pit of a house to be fixed.

Cassidy held back a snort. Now they both had broken windows. She shivered then tightened the belt on her robe.

While introductions were made, Markus handed her a gel pack he must have retrieved from her freezer. She held it to her bruised cheekbone and flinched, partly from the pain but mostly from the cold.

“Ma’am.” The female cop taking notes, Trooper Collins, gave a slight nod. “Can you tell us what happened?”

Sensing her discomfort, Markus put a comforting arm around her shoulders, while Ghost padded to her other side and leaned his head against her thigh in a show of canine support that she sorely needed.

“I woke up and heard a noise. I thought it was a bat. Turned out to be a burglar.” Briefly, she shut her eyes, remembering the horrifying moment when she realized she wasn’t alone. “It was dark, but with the Christmas tree lights I could see a man in the living room. I tried sneaking back upstairs to call 911, but I don’t move very fast these days.” She held up her cane. “He caught up to me, grabbed my ankles, and dragged me back down the stairs.”

Markus’s hand tightened a fraction. When she glanced at him, his stubbled skin tightened over his jaw.

“And then?” Trooper Collins asked.

“And then”—she took a shaky breath—“he punched me in the face.” Every bit of Markus’s body that was snugged up against hers went as rigid as a steel beam. “I didn’t pass out and no, before you ask, I’m not going to the hospital. The next thing I knew, Mar—” Whoops. “Alex and Ghost broke in and scared the guy off.” She sent Markus a silent I’m sorry at nearly calling him by his real name. His only reaction was a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders.

Ghost huffed.

“I take it that’s Ghost?” The trooper indicated with her pen.

“He’s mine,” Markus said. “We heard her scream and rushed over. I broke in through the window and by the time we got inside, he’d already escaped out the back door. We chased him down the street to a black cargo van. I didn’t get a look at the tag. Looks like he jimmied the lock on the kitchen door. It’s pretty old.”

“Can you describe him?”

“Some, but I didn’t see much,” Markus said. “He was about five-eleven, 180 pounds, wearing jeans, a dark blue or black shirt, and a ski mask. Blond hair was sticking out from under the mask.”

Trooper Collins stopped scribbling, her pen poised over the pad as she regarded Markus. “For someone who didn’t see much, that’s pretty specific.”

Markus didn’t miss a beat and shrugged. “Yeah, well. I watch a lot of cop shows.”

Despite the gravity of the situation, Cassidy had to roll her lips inward to keep from laughing.

Trooper Collins lifted a sculpted brow and shifted her attention back to Cassidy. “Do you know if anything’s missing?”

“I haven’t checked. May I?” she asked, uncertain if she was allowed to touch anything yet.

The trooper nodded. “But try not to touch anything. The tech team will want to dust for fingerprints. They’ll want a sample of both your prints to rule them out.”

Cassidy and Markus exchanged looks, and he winked at her. Actually winked. As though pointing out he’d been right about everything.

“Wait!” she blurted out, remembering something critical. “There’s no need to look for fingerprints. He wore gloves.”

Trooper Collins frowned. “How do you know? You said the only lights on were from the Christmas tree?”