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Beckett took her hand in his warm grip. “I care about you, Savannah. More than you know, more than I should since you’re still married. I have to guard my feelings right now. It wouldn’t be right to move in a more serious direction yet. Do you have a time frame of when you hope to finalize things with Hez?”
She shifted in the chair and pulled her hand away. “Let’s stick with being friends for now, okay, Beckett? I have too much to worry about to think about anything else.”
Her phone dinged with a message. She snatched it out of her purse with relief she struggled to hide. It was from Hez.
You okay? I spotted an addict watching you. I’ve seen him before, but I can’t think where. Wavy brown hair, glasses, dark brown eyes, thin nose and lips, early thirties, about 5’2”. Want me to check out your house?
No thanks, I’m still with Beckett, and he will make sure I’m safe.
The way her pulse blipped when she hit Send told her she wanted to upset him. Sometimes she didn’t understand her own behavior.
She exhaled and told Beckett about the man Hez had spotted. “It’s probably nothing.”
“I’ll walk you home,” he said. “Let’s get out of here before he comes back.”
Ten minutes later, they were outside her cottage. Things seemed normal from the sidewalk. The porch light pushed back the shadows, and the lamp she’d left on sent out a welcoming glow from the window.
Beckett held out his hand for the keys, and she dropped them into his palm. “I’ll unlock the house and check it out. You wait here.”
She hugged herself against the chill while he opened the door. Marley darted past Beckett’s legs and raced to her side. He stared up at Savannah with an outraged expression as if to ask what she’d been thinking when she brought this man home.
When Beckett disappeared inside her house, she put her hand on Marley’s head. “He’s just making sure I’m safe. I know you would have warned me if there was an intruder.” What was she doing explaining her behavior to her dog? Marley crouched on his haunches and tipped his head to one side. “You should like Beckett more than Hez, you know. He doesn’t have a dog, so you don’t have to share his attention.”
Marley sneered in the way only a dog can, and she sighed. “Yeah, I know that’s a crazy thing to say. You adore Hez and always have. I’m sure he loves you more than Cody. A guy never forgets his first dog.”
Marley laid his head on his paws as if he was finally content with something she said. Boo Radley roared from the pond across the road, and the dog jumped to his feet with his ears pricked forward.
“Stay,” she said.
The door opened, and Beckett gestured for her to join him. She loosened fists she hadn’t realized she’d clenched. “All clear?”
“I didn’t see anything out of order after checking the bathrooms, closets, and under the beds. The back door and windows are all locked down.”
She exhaled at the realization she wasn’t in danger here. Her neighbors on one side were professors who gardened every free moment, and the ones on the other side were joggers. One of them would have noticed an intruder, so she’d been stressing for no reason. Her quiet street was safe, no matter what Hez claimed to have seen.
Her self-talk bolstered her confidence, and she smiled up at Beckett. “I’m sure it’s fine. And I have Marley too.” The dog lifted his head at the mention of his name and gave an assertive woof. “Thank you, Beckett.”
“Anytime.”
He hesitated and his gaze searched hers. It was easy to guess his intention, but she hadn’t kissed anyone but Hez in years, and now wasn’t the time to start. She took a step back. “I’d better get inside.”
His strained smile didn’t reach his eyes. “I sure wish you were single, Savannah,” he said in a husky voice. He went down the two steps on the porch and walked away without looking back.
She rubbed her forehead and went inside. The investigation had enough drama on its own without adding more.
Chapter 16
Work was more fun for Hez than days of a painful postmortem on yet another failed attempt to score points with Savannah—though it was tough not to do one. How did those attempts always go wrong? Had he caused her so much pain that she could never let him close again? Was her heart so seared that she could feel nothing toward him except regret?
He shook his head and forced his thoughts back to the task in front of him. He’d been given the law faculty’s collective least favorite course: legal writing. The other professors hated it because there were no interesting cases or legal theories to discuss, just piles of bad writing to fix. Most of the writing really was terrible, but Hez got satisfaction from the work. He knew that good—or even just competent—writing would be a lot more important to his students’ careers than understanding the development of international human rights law or one of the other ivory-tower topics his new colleagues loved.
Hez’s students seemed to be learning—and one in particular caught Hez’s attention: Eduardo Hernandez. Ed was a varsity swimmer who was only in law school because he had an extra year of athletic eligibility. Hez originally wrote him off as a jock just using up his scholarship, but Ed had turned out to be a surprisingly good student with a strong interest in criminal law. He was smart, paid attention, turned assignments in on time, and was never late to class. He also spoke Spanish fluently, which made him perfect for what Hez had in mind. And when Hez had asked for volunteers to help with the Morales case, Ed had been the first to sign up.
Hez pulled up Ed’s number on his class chart and sent a short text, asking him to call.
Hez’s phone rang just as he finished grading papers. He could hear locker room noise in the background. “Hi, Professor. I just saw your text. What can I do for you?”
“Hi, Ed. You said you’re interested in helping with that pro bono case I mentioned in class. You would help with the interviews and investigation. We can even get you some courtroom experience, too, though you wouldn’t have a speaking role. What do you think?”
