Page 25 of The Rebel Billionaire

Unlike them, I didn't have a gun and I wasn't trained in self-defense or any of the other sneaky stuff they knew. Also, there was no one out there, so creeping around in the dark was just foolish,right?

With more confidence than I felt, I flicked on the hall light, jumping a little at the bright glare. The hallway was empty, and I wasalone.

Ofcourse.

I strode toward the kitchen, rounded the corner, and reached for the lightswitch.

I screamed.Loudly.

There was someone on the porch. A dark, narrow shadow filled the glass panes of the back door. It was too dark to identify whoever it was. At the sound of my startled scream, the dark figure whirled and disappeared into thenight.

My breath strangled in my chest, I flicked on the kitchen light, rushed to the back door, and turned on the porchlight.

A sickly yellow glow illuminated the space outside thebackdoor.

There was no onethere.

From what I could see of the yard, there was no one back thereeither.

Peering through the window, I saw no evidence that anything had been disturbed on the porch. My flip-flops sat at the top of the stairs exactly as they'd been when I'd kicked them off. My painter's tarps were still neatly folded to the right ofthedoor.

Dragging air into my tight lungs, I tried to think. Had I really seen someone at the back door? I thought I had. I'd heard noises. But it was dark, a moonless night, and my eyes had been adjusting to the light from thehallway.

Every nerve in my body strung tight with tension, I reached out to touch the knob of the back door. My fingers closed around the cool metal and I turnedmyhand.

The knob moved a millimeter before stopping. It was locked. I gave it a tug. The door didn't move. In the bright light of the kitchen, I could clearly see the gleam of the deadbolt crossing from the door into thedoorframe.

I dropped the doorknob and stepped back to the center of the kitchen, studying the windows. All closed, all undamaged. Mostly to prove to myself that everything was fine, I made my way down the hallway from the kitchen to the front door, passing the dining room on my right and the living room onmyleft.

Both were quiet and dark. The front door was locked, just as I'd left it. When I peered through the bay window of the dining room, the front porch, yard, and street were as quiet and dark aseverythingelse.

Just as I had thought, I was overreacting. I made my way back to my temporary bedroom, with a quick stop in the bathroom, and sat on the side of the futon, staring at the dimmed screen of myphone.

When I'd thought there was someone at the back door, it had occurred to me to call Lucas, but I didn't have his number. I could callAiden.

For that matter, if I was going to be such a scaredy-cat, I could justgohome.

This was what happened when you never moved out of your childhood home. I'd traveled all over the world, been a vice president of a major corporation, and I'd never spent the night in a house bymyself.

Even when Aiden was traveling, Mrs. Williamson was always home and there was security on the property. I didn't go on vacations often, but when I did, I was with family orfriends.

It was only to be expected that I'd feel a little jumpy and off-balance my first night sleeping in the house by myself. The night before didn't count, considering that I'd been insulated by half a bottle ofwhiskey.

A herd of elephants could've come through and I doubt I would've crackedaneye.

If I was going to do this, live here, renovate this house, and everything else I'd been thinking about, I was going to have to learn to be onmyown.

And I would. But for tonight, I was going to compromise. I wasn't calling anyone, and I wasn't running home to Aiden. There'd been no one outside the door and no one trying to break into myhouse.

Still, I was too nerve-wracked to fall back asleep. But that's what books were for. My tablet was tucked into the side of my duffel bag. I pulled it out, got back in bed, and opened the book I'd beenreading.

I was still a little freaked out. Every time the house creaked, I flinched. I'd half convinced myself that I'd imagined the shadowy figure outside mybackdoor.

But what if I hadn'timaginedit?

There was nothing I could do about it in the middle of the night. I'd think it over in the morning. And in the meantime, I was going to power through it,Goddammit.

I was an intelligent, capable woman, and I did not need someone else in the house to make mefeelsafe.