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He checked the time, and it was past when Jordan was to get off work. Hopefully SWAT hadn’t been sent out on another call. If so, there would be no going out tonight. He opened the phone and searched for her name. He hit the ‘call’ button and brought his phone to his ear.
It rang twice before she answered.
“Hey,” Jordan said.
The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Something was wrong. He could hear it in her voice. Rhys knew Jordan well enough by now that he could hear the low pitch in her tone.
“We still on for tonight?” he asked. His senses were screaming for him to grab his keys and go to her.
“Um, yeah. We should be. I just have to make a quick stop at my house and then I’ll be on the way.” Her voice still sounded off. Maybe she’d had a hard day at work.
He was sure she would share with him what had happened on the call at the mansion. It sounded as if it was going to be a mess if the mayor was involved. Election season was fast approaching, and Mayor Kennedy was sure to want to be visible to the public so voters could see how involved he was in making sure their town was safe.
Rhys relaxed somewhat, but his gut was still telling him something was wrong. He didn’t like how she’d responded:We should be.
“Why don’t I meet you at your house and pick you up. Make it an official date,” he said softly. They would have to travel past her side of town to get to the restaurant he had chosen for them to go to. It would make sense for him to just grab her and then they could go.
“Um, no. I won’t be long,” she said.
The warning alarms in the back of Rhys’s mind sounded again. This time blaringly loud.
“I promise. I’ll be right there,” she said.
“Okay, if you need me, call me,” he said. Rhys wasn’t sure what the hell was going on, but he didn’t like it one bit. She was hiding something, and he felt it all the way to his bones.
“It’s nothing.” She chuckled.
Even her laugh was off. Jordan was a woman who was a professional at keeping secrets, but Rhys was slowly learning how to read her. He glanced down at his watch and took note of the time.
“I promise. I’ll call you when I’m on the way.”
“You better,” he warned jokingly, but in all reality he was serious. If she didn’t call, he’d be on the way. The woman may be able to fend for herself, but she was going to have to learn that she didn’t have to fight her battles alone anymore.
She had him.
“I love you, Rhys.”
Rhys inhaled sharply. It still almost brought him to his knees to hear her say the words.
Maybe he was overreacting. It had been a while since he’d had a vacation. He and Honor had been working a lot of overtime lately. He pushed off and went back over the fridge. He pulled out a longneck beer. He needed to relax. He had to believe that if she needed him, she would tell him.
“I love you, too, babe. Now hurry and get your butt here.”
Jordan staredat the front of her house and hit the ‘disconnect’ button on the phone. Rhys had guessed something was wrong. The man knew her, and that’s why she loved him. No one else knew her the way he did. She could hear it in his voice that he thought she was lying. She reached over the console andgrabbed her purse and slung it across her chest. She would make quick work of checking out her house and then she’d be gone.
She exited her car and quietly closed the door. It was still light out for a late summer day. Fall would be approaching soon, which Jordan loved. She always enjoyed watching the leaves change colors and the cool days. Sweaters and knee-high boots were one of her favorite outfits for fall.
Jordan’s heart hammered as she walked toward the back of her home. She wanted to check out the perimeter of her property. Making her way to the back porch, she didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Her small yard was manicured, thanks to the lawn service she employed to come out every other week to cut her grass. Her mother had been in charge of planting little shrubs and flowers along the back of the home. Jordan didn’t have a green finger like Irene Knight. That woman could get anything to grow. The only request Jordan had made of her mother was for whatever she planted to be low maintenance and hard to kill.
“In and out,” she murmured. She headed up the stairs and pulled her keys out of her bag. Her hand connected with her small Ruger. She took it out as well and flipped off the safety. She gripped it tight in her hand while she unlocked the back door with her other. She blinked, and a calmness washed over her as if she were sweeping a house with her team.
But only she was going into her home.
Alone.
She stepped into her little mudroom and quietly walked over to the keypad of her alarm.
“That’s weird,” she murmured, eyeing the screen. It was disarmed. Had she forgotten to set it when she’d left? She racked her brain and felt as if she had but couldn’t remember for sure. She had rushed out of the house when she’d left. She slid her keys back into her bag. An unsettled feeling encompassed her.
