Page 106 of Sterling Heat

We don’t do single order deliveries other than to fellow merchants, so I’m out on a run with afternoon coffees when Enya returns, and my brother has stopped by.

“Your brother said to call him. And that girl is upstairs.”

“Rena,” I warn. I do not appreciate her tone or her slighting the woman of my dreams.

“Are you two a thing now?”

“A thing?” I counter.

“You know, friends with benefits or something.”

While I didn’t want to see it, I cannot deny the way my employee looks at me. I am not attracted to her despite my awareness she is a good-looking woman in a rough and tumbled sort of way. After a stern look the day she dumped flour on me, and then tried to feel me up, we haven’t mentioned the situation again. However, the subtle touches are adding up and her present attitude is too much.

“Rena, you got a problem with Enya?”

“No problem.” Her tone suggests otherwise.

“Because if you do, then you and I have a problem.” I point between us because there is no Rena and me. I’m her boss and I’ve been ignoring her getting handsy with me, but that shit needs to stop. And I won’t tolerate anyone disrespecting Enya. We’re more than friends with benefits but that’s none of Rena’s business.

“Got it.” She nods once and looks away from me, but she’s side-eyeing me like she’d like to knife me.

When I enter my apartment, Enya has her things packed up. The portable bassinet is closed and in its travel bag. The diaper backpack sits on the floor beside it. Enya has an additional tote full of things Stone let her take from her house.

“What’s going on?” I ask a little too roughly.

“Stone wants me to meet him at the house. He says I’m free to come home.”

“But I don’t want you there.” The admission doesn’t surprise me other than I said it out loud.

Enya stops moving and stares at me. Her mouth falls open like she’s ready to ask a question but then clamps it shut. She sighs before saying, “I was hoping you’d come with me.”

“Of course.” But does she mean come with her to meet my brother or come with her to stay the night, because there is no damn way she will be alone in that house until whoever broke in is caught. “Give me ten minutes.”

I need a shower to wash off the bakery and collect my thoughts.

When I’m ready, I drive Enya back to her place in her SUV. We pull into her driveway and find Stone already present, waiting in his sheriff’s car. He steps out of the vehicle when we park.

“Enya,” he greets her, opening the passenger side door while I work on removing Adara from the backseat.

“Let’s go inside,” Stone suggests.

Enya waits for me and I take her hand, squeezing it as a reminder she’s okay. Nobody is going to get to her or Adara.

However, I don’t feel half as confident today as I’m trying to portray. I’m on edge about everything. Like a new day has shifted everything off kilter. How did we go from making love on my rooftop to her home being broken into? Then fucking in my shower to her shutting down at a portable crib in my apartment? The past twenty-four hours have been a topsy-turvy ride and I want everything to stop tilting sideways.

Once inside the house, Enya offers Stone something to drink. I don’t miss how her voice catches when she looks at the back door. Whoever was in here, it was like he walked right in. Only the coward rushed right out once he was at risk of being caught.

Stone declines a drink and takes a seat at the kitchen island. I set Adara’s car seat down and remove her from it. Enya is at my side, and I pass over the baby, assuming she needs to hang onto her daughter, grounding her in whatever Stone has to say.

“First, let me assure you that a sheriff’s vehicle is going to be parked out here twenty-four seven.”

“Is that necessary?” Enya asks, pressing a kiss to Adara’s head. “It won’t be that Andy guy, will it?”

I’m honored she thinks so little of Andy, especially since he might have been the one to shoot at me. I still can’t believe how she stood up to him last night for me.

“Andy’s been put on a leave of absence. It’s fortunate he’s a poor shot but hot pursuit doesn’t mean shoot first, ask questions later, especially if you don’t know whether you’re shooting at a victim or a perpetrator. Andy knows better. He really does.”

I didn’t have any faith in Andy Whitehall, but I deferred to Stone as his boss.