Page 9 of Honor ’N’ Duty

The damage was bad, but material objects could be replaced. Someone had broken in and touched nearly everything that belonged to her and Rosa. Not for the first time since coming home to find her house ransacked, she fisted her hands, her emotions vacillating between anger and the undeniable sense of having been violated.

Kade tipped his head. “Let’s go upstairs.”

Again, Sergeant Braden led the way, leaving Officer Padkin guarding the door. Laia followed directly behind Kade, getting a view of his rock-hard ass as he climbed the stairs. Smoke’s claws clipped on the bare wood steps as he took up the rear, his limp becoming even more pronounced.

The doctor-to-be in her wanted to help the dog and wondered if Kade had taken him to see a vet yet.

The tiny duplex was only a two-bedroom, with hers being at the top of the stairs. When they went in, her face heated more than it had earlier at the beach.

Like every room in the house, her bedroom had been thoroughly searched, including her bureau drawers. Satin and lace lingerie sat on the top of the pile, the only remaining pieces of her wardrobe that she actually wore anymore. Everything else she’d given to Goodwill. Since gaining her independence for essentially what was the first time in her life, she much preferred bright, colorful clothes and long, dangly earrings to conservative skirt suits and traditional pearls.

Having Officer Garcia and Sergeant Braden see her undergarments hadn’t bothered her, nor did it when the department’s forensic unit had clinically tagged and photographed every inch of her room. Knowing Kade could see her undies was an entirely different matter.

He glanced at the pile of silk and satin, his gaze lingering a moment longer than necessary. The heat in her face blasted higher than the temperature inside the brick oven at Pizza Man, Rosa’s favorite place to order pineapple pizza. Again, she questioned her decision to call Kade in the first place. But she’d had no choice.

“She might want to stay at a hotel tonight,” Officer Garcia said, and it irked her that the comment seemed to have been directed to Kade, not her, as if he were making all the decisions here.

“Maybe,” Kade muttered, his frown deepening as he took in the rest of the room, including the raspberry-red walls and colorful, modernistic prints she’d hung up right after painting the place.

“Mommy, I’m hungry,” Rosa said, parking that adorable pout on her lips again.

When Rosa reached for her, Laia plucked her from Kade’s arms. As she did, her hands grazed the sides of his broad chest, and she tried to ignore the warm, steely strength beneath his shirt and how the fabric stuck to his torso, outlining a defined set of abs.

She kissed the top of her daughter’s head, then set her on her feet. “As soon as we’re done here, we’ll get something to eat.” Given that the kitchen was a disaster zone, they’d have to grab something out.

Wordlessly, Kade went back into the hallway. Smoke followed him as he turned left in the direction of Rosa’s bedroom. With his hands on his hips, he surveyed the damage, looking repeatedly from the floor to the ceiling, then to the pile of books and toys that had been emptied from a shelf onto the circular Peppa Pig rug.

He began stroking his chin, calling attention to the beginnings of a sexy five o’clock shadow gracing his square, chiseled jaw. His brows lowered so much they seemed on the verge of touching the fringes of his thick lashes.

“What is it?” she asked, automatically reaching for Rosa’s hand.

“I don’t know,” he answered.

“Uncle Kade?” Rosa picked up her favorite book—Cinderella—one that Josh had given her and from which he’d occasionally read to her. “Can you read me this tonight before I go to bed?”

For a moment, he stared at the book in Rosa’s hand, as if still in deep thought. Then the corners of his mouth lifted, revealing those devastating, deep-set dimples. “Sure thing, Cream Puff.”

Rosa giggled, hugging the gently worn book to her chest.

Cream Puff?

Kade’s expression sobered. “Has anything else unusual happened lately?”

The burglars had taken apart all the window air conditioners in the house, and the upstairs was quickly turning into a sauna. A bead of sweat trickled down Kade’s temple. The clear-as-sin image of her licking it off his hot, wet skin flashed before her eyes.

Oh. My god. Stop it. Just…stop it.

“Laia?” Kade repeated. “Has anything else unusual happened lately? Strangers hanging around outside? Weird phone calls, anything like that?”

Huh? “Uh, maybe.” Neither Braden nor Garcia had asked her those questions, so she hadn’t thought about it until now. “Yesterday, after I left work to pick up Rosa at daycare, I could swear I was being followed.”

“Is that the first time that’s happened since…?” He let the unspoken end of the sentence linger, but they both knew what he was referring to.

Since Josh was murdered in prison.

“No.” She shook her head, which had begun to pound from mounting stress and anxiety over what might really be happening here. “Well, I don’t know. I’m just not sure.”

Kade’s tone went hard. “What do you mean?”