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“Never again,” she said, shaking her head.
“You fixed it and tried to make sure it didn’t happen to anyone else. You have nothing to be ashamed of or feel guilty about. Nothing.”
She allowed herself to relax back into his embrace with her head in the crook of his neck. “Thank you.”
“For what? Basically, stalking you?”
She laughed. “No; for understanding I needed to tell you and for you to understand how it happened.”
“Here’s the way I look at it. We all make mistakes. You learn from them and move on. I’ll tell you something else I know.”
“What’s that?”
“You took that book, re-wrote it with full disclosure of what you did, and released a much bigger, better version of it. I also know it was highly praised and several of the best seller lists singled it out.”
“It was a good book. I felt like I needed to give those characters and their story their day in the sun, so to speak.”
“You did good.”
“I tried.”
“If that isn’t good enough for some, fuck ‘em.”
She laughed and burrowed in closer. “Thank you. I l…”
Her heartfelt confession was interrupted when a very quiet and soft alarm went off.
“Kitchen. Now,” he said. “You get Sudie and Tracer and stay there.”
She rushed to do as he’d told her, grabbing Tracer and Sudie and closing the pocket doors into the kitchen.
“You asshole,” she heard him say through the door. “That’s a good way to get shot. It’s all clear, babe.”
“Hey, I wanted to check out the system. How’d you’d know?” said an unfamiliar voice.
“There’s a sensor at the end of her driveway. I got the alarm as soon as you crossed it.”
She walked out and saw several tall, muscular men standing in her foyer.
“We didn’t hear anything,” said the one as he moved past Thorn. “You must be Jessica. I’m Slade Rafferty.” The man oozed charm.
“The alarm was on stealth mode, and you’re trespassing.”
Rafferty turned and looked at Thorn. “Seriously. You just met her… oh wait, she was in Kennebunkport.” He turned back. “Has he told you he has a serious obsession with you? I mean, serious.”
The other three men were quietly amused. Thorn seemed to be amused but moving toward annoyed.
“He told me it bordered on stalking.”
Rafferty laughed. “Oh, I like you. You sure you want him? I’m a much better catch. For one thing I have more money.”
She tipped her head to the side. “I don’t care. I am fabulously wealthy, and he has a sailboat.”
“Damn it. I always knew someday that damn thing would tip the scales in his favor. But have you seen it? The Sea Siren is gorgeous. He has that damn boat and a vintage roadster that he drives unless he’s using one of the State-issued SUVs.”
“A vintage roadster?” She looked past Rafferty at Thorn. “What kind?”
“1961 Shelby Cobra that he re-built himself. Most of it is authentic, but he wanted air conditioning, a sound system, and I think he put in a GPS navigation unit last year.”
