Till Death(33)

“And what do you do if the guests aren’t back?”

“The doors are locked at ten o’clock, no matter what. Guests have to use the keys they’re given upon checkin if they stay out later,” I explained.

Cole moved ahead of me. Motion detectors kicked on, lighting up the path. As we rounded the back of the house, I stepped around him and headed for the flight of stairs hidden behind the tall oak. Of course, Cole was right behind me. Once we were in front of my door, I already had my key in hand.

“Thank you for the dinner and for helping out with the whole . . . truck thing,” I said as I opened the door, keeping my voice low just in case Mom was in her apartment. “If you could just text me and let me know when I could pick it up, I’d appreciate—”

“You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”

Stopping, I turned around and faced him. The balcony light cast deep shadows along his cheekbones. “What?”

Cole stepped inside my apartment, forcing me to take another step back. “I’m staying here.”

I blinked, knowing I didn’t hear him right. “What?”

Crowding me in, he grabbed the door and closed it behind us. There we stood near the kitchen, my mouth hanging open in what was probably the most unattractive manner. “I’m staying here.”

My hearing must be experiencing technical difficulties. “Why?”

“There are a couple of reasons.” He paused, squinting as he glanced around my apartment. I’d left the lamp on by the sofa, and since the room wasn’t large, it was fairly lit up.

I stood my ground. “How about you start explaining those reasons?”

Busy checking out my apartment, which I thought was a totally cute space, but nowhere near as nice as the house he owned, he stepped around me. Dumbfounded, I turned toward him. “Can I help you?” I demanded, dropping my purse on the small table by the door.

He faced me, one side of his lips kicked up, and the look on his face was nothing like the way he’d looked at me earlier. It was teasing and mischievous. My belly flip-flopped. “That is a loaded question, Sasha.” He tossed his keys onto the kitchen counter. “There are a lot of things you could help me with.”

Our gazes met, and a tremble coursed down my arms. Was he . . . flirting with me? I sucked in a sharp breath, needing to focus on the fact that somehow Cole had ended up in my apartment. “Why do you think you need to stay with me?”

“I think it’s pretty obvious.” He turned and walked toward the couch, and I stood there, sort of shell-shocked as he sat down . . . in the center. “Someone is messing with you.”

The words sent a very different kind of shiver over my skin as I walked over to the couch. “That might be the case, but that doesn’t explain why you think you need to be here.”

He tipped his chin up, staring at me as he scooted forward. “I don’t like you being here alone when someone is messing with you.”

I opened my mouth, but there were no words, because okay, that was sweet of him. That was actually very sweet, but he couldn’t stay here. “You being here is unnecessary.”

“How is it unnecessary?” he challenged as he reached down, lifting the hem of his shirt. What was he doing? Undressing? I didn’t know if I should tell him to stop or just let him continue. My heart rate kicked up until I realized he had a gun holstered at his right hip. Had it been there the whole time? I needed to be more observant.

“Because I’m not alone,” I whispered-yelled. “Obviously. I live above an inn, and my mother is literally a room or two away.”

He smiled, and my heart did another jump. Perhaps a cartwheel, because damn it, he was so incredibly hot just sitting there and breathing, but when he smiled, he was beautiful. “Let me ask you a few questions.”

I crossed my arms and waited.

“Are all your guests in the hotel?”

My brows knitted. “I don’t know. I haven’t been here.”

“Correct. So it’s entirely possible that anyone could’ve come into this inn while you were gone, hidden away until everyone is asleep, and then have free rein of the hotel.”

I locked up as my stomach dropped. “Oh my God, do you think—?”

“I don’t think that’s happened, but it’s a possibility.”

I gaped at him.

“My next question for you is do you have an alarm system?”

“We have one—”

“I know you have one for the inn, but what about for your apartment?” he corrected, unhooking his holster.

I shook my head. “No, but—”

“But you need to get an alarm in here stat, and I have a friend who installs them and owes me a favor. I’ll call him tomorrow.”

There was a good chance my face was frozen with my mouth hanging open. Getting an alarm for the upstairs made sense. The way the main one was wired, it would be cheaper setting up a separate one than adding to it. We’d need a brand-new system for the upstairs, a wireless one. “I don’t even know what to say to you.”

“Thank you?”

A surprised laugh burst out of me. “Those are not two words I am thinking of right now.”

“I can imagine what those two words are,” he said dryly, placing the gun on the coffee table.