Danger Next Door (Red Stone Security Series) (7 page)

Next to him Carlito hissed in a breath but Grant ignored him. He didn’t have a claim on Belle. Stalking toward her, he stopped when he was right in front of her and kneeled down.

“Why the fuck were you outside?” He cringed the moment he barked the question. She blanched as if he’d struck her and he wanted to kick his own ass. “I’m sorry. That came out wrong… How are you doing?”

She took a shuddering breath and to his complete and utter surprise, lunged at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Her blanket sagged and before he could shoot Travis a beseeching look the other man had grabbed it and was holding it against her back. Belle mumbled nonsensical words as she started crying. Real, gut-wrenching tears. Shit. Carlito and Travis had both told him she’d been keeping it together. His heart ached at seeing her falling apart like this. Sweet, funny Belle in tears made him want to kill whoever had done this. Grant had always been in control of his emotions but right now he felt positively murderous.

Lifting her up in his arms, he glanced around to find everyone staring at them. He wanted to shout at them to mind their own business but had a feeling that would upset Belle even more. Travis draped the blanket over her and Grant held onto it as best he could while holding her. He could barely understand what she was saying as she cried into his neck, but he was pretty sure she was apologizing. For what, he couldn’t imagine.

He headed back for his house, only stopping to talk to Carlito and tell him to make sure everyone was gone as soon as possible. Considering the paramedic had left Belle he figured she wasn’t going to the hospital, but he needed to confirm it anyway. As he hurried up his stairs he asked, “Did they say anything about you needing to go to the hospital?”

She shook her head almost violently and pulled back, her green eyes shimmering with tears. “I’m not going.” There was a bite of attitude in her words and he was glad.

“They’ve taken the DNA from under your fingers, right?” he asked for clarification.

When she nodded he figured that was all he was getting from her. Striding to his bedroom, he shut the door behind them and put her on her feet. She wrapped her arms around herself but she seemed steady enough to stand on her own.

Grant nodded toward his open bathroom door. “I think you’ll feel better if you take a bath or a hot shower. Are you okay to start it on your own?”

She just nodded again, her green eyes huge and terrified, her face an ashen gray and panic punched him in the chest. He wondered if she’d gone into shock. “Belle! You’ve got to give me some audible answers.”

Belle pushed out a long sigh. “I’m…fine.” Her breath hitched once. “When I saw you I guess I lost it. I’m so sorry. I’m officially the worst neighbor ever.”

Frowning, he reached out and pulled her into a gentle hug, resting his chin on her head. He was just glad she was all right. Her hair smelled like chlorine and something fruity. “Honey, you have nothing to be sorry for. Some asshole attacked you in the middle of the day. There’s no way any of us could have seen this coming.” He refrained from giving her hell about going outside. It would be cruel and unnecessary considering what she’d already suffered.

She rubbed her face against his chest and wrapped her arms around him. When she did, the blanket that had been barely hanging on pooled at her feet. He wanted to make a grab for it, but didn’t want to take his arms away from her. Gently he rubbed her back until she eventually stepped away, sniffling but not crying.

With strength he didn’t realize he had, he kept his gaze averted from her mostly bare body. Looking over at his king-sized bed—which actually made things worse because all he could think about was her stretched out on it, completely naked and his face between her legs—he rubbed a hand over his face. “I’m going downstairs to talk to Carlito and get everyone cleared out of here. You’re sure you’re okay to take a shower on your own?”

“I’m good, I promise. Just sore, but that’s okay,” she said softly.

Throat tight, he nodded once then let himself out. He’d never experienced such raw terror in his life. He and Belle had just started getting to know one another. She was gorgeous, sure, but she was so sweet and funny. Imagining a world without her in it was impossible. He grabbed the door handle, not wanting to leave her, but when he heard the shower start he froze. The image of her completely naked was too much for his brain to handle. After getting his breathing under control, he headed downstairs.

One thing was clear. Whoever had attacked Belle hadn’t picked her randomly. And the fact that her attacker had come after her in the middle of the day said a lot about his arrogance and his intent to kill her.

Grant had officially taken a job at Red Stone Security today after ironing out all the details with his father and brother, Harrison. Now he knew what his first job would be. Belle might not be a dignitary or have any political pull and definitely wasn’t their normal type of client, but until they figured out who was after her, she was officially under his protection. Whether she liked it or not.

That wasn’t why he’d left Belle today though. His brother Harrison had needed to talk. Grant had never heard his brother sound so damn desperate but something was going on with him and his new wife, Mara, so Grant had gone to talk things out with him. Dealing with his new job stuff had been secondary and now he hated that he’d been gone when he should have been watching a woman who was starting to mean way too much to him.

Chapter 5

Belle stared almost blindly at the row of feminine products. While she’d been a little leery of leaving the house only two days after her attack she’d realized it was the best thing for her sanity. She started back to work the upcoming weekend and needed a sense of normalcy in her life before then. Plus she was
not
sending Grant inside the grocery store to buy her tampons.

He’d been a little edgy about her going into the store by herself, but he’d dropped her off right at the front and it was the middle of the freaking day. Well, that didn’t mean much anymore considering someone had tried to drown her during daylight hours, but at least here she was surrounded by a ton of people.

When she spotted her normal brand, she grabbed the pink box and tossed it into her basket. While she was here she might as well pick up some chocolate too. Her refrigerator was nearly empty but she always had to have that on hand.

As she neared the end of the aisle she jerked to a halt when Paulos Balis strode around the corner. He headed right for her and there was no mistake she was the reason for his presence.
He
certainly didn’t need anything from this aisle.

Stopping when he was only a foot away, he glowered down at her, his dark eyes blazing with fury. She hated that he was so much taller and bigger than her. “You called the fucking cops on me?” he growled.

Oh, hell no. “Are you
stalking
me? How’d you know I’d be here?” Belle glanced around, fighting the nervousness shimmying through her. The aisle was empty but she could hear people the next aisle over. One good scream and Paulos would back off. Or maybe she’d strike him in the face with her basket if he didn’t leave her alone.

He ignored her questions and took another subtle step closer, clearly trying to intimidate her with his size. “Why the hell did you call the cops?”

She held her basket in front of her, using it as a barrier. Even though she wanted to, she refused to take a step back. Paulos was a bully and she wasn’t going to put up with his crap even if it did feel like her insides were actually shaking. “
Someone
tried to break into my house, which you already know.” The cops had no doubt told him.

At first she’d been absolutely sure that Paulos hadn’t been involved in the attempted break-in, but after nearly being drowned by a strong,
tall
—according to Vincent and Travis—assailant so soon after she didn’t trust anyone. Especially not the very tall, angry man standing in front of her.

“And you think I had something to do with that?” he snarled, reaching out as if to grab her arm.

She tensed and actually took a step back. At the last second he dropped his hand, clearly thinking better of it. Before she could respond, he continued. “My fucking parents are giving me so much grief about the cops showing up to question me. What the hell is wrong with you?”

Her eyes widened. “
Me?
You show up at my house uninvited and try to manhandle me into…I don’t even know what your intentions were. You’re lucky my brothers don’t know about what happened.” This time she didn’t hold back any of her anger.

His glare transformed into a sneer. “I never would have hurt you. Looks like you don’t mind getting roughed up a little though,” he said nastily as he nodded to her bruised jaw, obviously curious about it. There was such a dark edge to his words it took her off guard. As if he liked seeing her hurt.

Belle had used cover-up, but there was only so much makeup could do. She narrowed her eyes at him, wanting to lash out. Somehow she managed to hold onto a sliver of her control. She hadn’t told her family what had happened in Grant’s pool and she couldn’t let her anger get the best of her. If she did, Paulos would gleefully tell her entire family what had happened. He knew how much she hated her family’s constant hovering and would take great pleasure in annoying her out of spite. “I don’t have time for your crap. The cops will leave you alone as long as you stay the hell away from me.” She steered things back in the original direction of their conversation. To the reason he’d apparently ambushed her in the middle of the feminine hygiene product aisle. “And you never answered how you
knew
I’d be here?”

“I was on my way to your place when I saw you leaving the neighborhood with that guy.” Paulos’s face darkened at his reference to Grant.

“That guy? You mean my neighbor?”

“Yes! That bastard had no right to interrupt us during a private conversation. So now what? You’re friends with him? Is he the one who smacked you around?” There was no concern in his question, only scorn and contempt.

“You’re an idiot, Paulos. Now get out of my way before I scream or call the cops. I bet your mother would love to come bail you out of jail because you’re stalking her friend’s daughter.”

His face turned a mottled red. “I swear to God, Belle—”

“You swear, what, Mr. Balis?” Grant strode up behind Paulos so quietly Belle hadn’t even heard him move.

They were about a quarter of the way down the aisle and she’d been so focused on Paulos that she hadn’t been paying attention to anything else. Paulos was tall and he’d blocked Grant from her line of vision. She sucked in a quick breath at the sight of him now. Though she was a tiny bit annoyed Grant hadn’t listened to her about shopping on her own—but really, she hadn’t expected him to—she was so relieved to see him she wanted to throw her arms around his neck. Instead she stood stock still, watching Paulos warily.

He had the look of a caged animal as he glanced back and forth between them.

And Grant appeared as if he was ready to strike. His eyes seemed a shade darker and his entire body was tensed in anticipation. He had that fighter stance thing going on. Though they were similar in height Grant was broader and Belle had no doubt he’d win in a fight with the other man.

Finally Paulos brushed past her instead of heading in Grant’s direction. She stepped out of the way, keeping her basket up to block him as she watched him leave. Once he reached the end of the aisle and rounded the corner she breathed a sigh of relief.

Grant’s strong hand settled on her shoulder, his fingers flexing as he gently massaged her shoulder. “Stay away from that guy, Belle.”

She swiveled and looked up to face him. “You think I went looking for him?” The anger still burning inside her popped fiercely at his words. His
order
.

Immediately Grant’s expression softened and he rubbed a hand over his face. “No. I just…I didn’t even want to bring you here in the first place. Then to see and hear that asshole talking to you like that.” His jaw clenched and that scary edge of anger she’d witnessed the first time he’d seen Paulos in her backyard crept into his eyes.

It suddenly registered that he was barely holding onto his control. If they hadn’t been in a public place and if Belle hadn’t been with him, something told her that Grant would have had more than words with Paulos.

Reaching out, she placed a gentle hand on Grant’s forearm. “Come on. Let’s get out of here so you can cook me dinner.” She kept her voice light, teasing.

Grant chuckled under his breath, most of the tension dispelling from him, and nodded. “All right.”

Linking her arm with his after he took the basket from her, she tried to ignore the butterflies that had taken up residence in her stomach whenever Grant was around. They’d spent almost every second with each other since her attack, but things were definitely platonic. Well, he looked at her with unmistakable lust when he thought she wasn’t paying attention, but for the most part Grant was very contained. Too contained. She wanted to break that control, see what happened. Belle sighed, wondering if tonight maybe she’d get a repeat of the one kiss they’d shared, but knew if it was going to happen it would be up to her to make the first move.

* * * * *

Sitting in his van, he watched the pretty nurse step outside the supermarket with her arm loosely linked with Grant Caldwell’s. They looked like such a happy couple it was nauseating. But it was also a miracle in a way. The good detective would never admit it, but this woman’s presence in his life had brought him out of his pseudo-depression. He couldn’t be completely sure, but it had seemed like Caldwell had been on the brink of falling into an abyss and now he was a changed man. For the last six months he’d lived like a hermit after leaving the hospital—only going to his physical therapy sessions and necessary places like the grocery store. Now he was acting like the man he’d been
before
the accident that ruined everything.