Ready for You (Ready #3)(16)

“Garrett? I’m sorry. I didn’t know who else to call.”

“Mia?” All remnants of sleep fell away at the sound of her panicked voice.

“I think someone just tried to break into my house,” she said.

“Did you call the police?” I was already standing, pulling on a pair of jeans over my boxers.

“No, I think they’re gone. A car drove by, and it might have scared them off, but I’m frightened they might come back. I didn’t want to call the cops. What if it was a cat? Or a drunk frat boy? I’m sorry. I’m being stupid…and I woke you up…” she trailed off.

“Look, I’m already dressed.” I paused, throwing a shirt over my head. “I’ll drive over now and check things out for you. Then, you’ll at least be able to go back to sleep.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll be there in ten.”

I ended the call, grabbed my keys, and threw on a pair of shoes. I ran toward my front door, and the small mosaic mirror next to it caught my eye. Clare had bought the mirror for me while on her honeymoon a few years ago. I took a quick look at my refection as I undid the lock.

It was two in the morning. My ex-girlfriend—ex-fiancée, if I wanted to get technical—had just called. And what had I done? I had jumped out of bed to be her knight in shining armor.

“What the f**k are you doing, Garrett?”

My reflection had no answers, so I just turned toward the door, opened it, and walked out—toward Mia, which is where I always seemed to go. The irony wasn’t lost on me that in an entire city filled with thousands of people, Mia and I lived less than a few minutes, a few city blocks really, from each other. The one person I needed to be the farthest away from was basically my neighbor.

In the time it took the radio DJ to run a few commercials, I was knocking on Mia’s door, impatiently waiting for her to answer. My eyes scanned the area, looking around for anything out of the ordinary. I was planning on walking around her house, but first, I needed to make sure she was safe.

The door creaked open, and there was Mia, standing in pink boy shorts and a tank top. My eyes quickly swept down her body, remembering how she’d felt under me, over me—

Fuck.

She’d just been scared out of her mind by an attempted robbery, and here I was, practically drooling at her door like some pervert, trying to figure out if I could see her ni**les through her top.

And I could.

My hungry gaze obviously gave away my thoughts because she hastily covered her exposed body with the matching robe that had been hanging open.

Mentally shaking my head to clear away the  p**n ographic thoughts, I asked, “Are you okay?”

She nodded. “Yeah, I haven’t heard anything else. I’m sure it was nothing.” She looked embarrassed and flustered.

“You don’t know whether it was nothing, Mia. Why don’t you go make yourself some coffee or something? I’m going to go check everything out. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

She agreed, and I turned to make my way around her house. I checked her window locks and gate. I found footprints near the entrance of the locked gate at the side of her house. They weren’t mine or hers. Of course, I couldn’t tell if the owner of the footprints had sinister intent, but it was enough to piss me off.

I walked back through her front door and turned to lock it behind me.

“We’re replacing all your locks tomorrow. You’ve got twenty-year-old locks out there, Mia. And you’re getting a dog.”

She was just sitting down with two cups of coffee at the kitchen table as I made my announcement. She turned and gave me a dumbfounded look. “I’m getting a what?”

“Locks. You need new locks.”

“No, the other part,” she said.

“Oh, you’re getting a dog.”

“Says who?” She crossed her arms over her chest.

I’d noticed it was a common trait of hers. The thin robe she was wearing did nothing to cover up her round br**sts. Her pouty stance only pushed them higher, making them strain against the thin pink fabric.

“Says me. You are a single woman in the middle of the city, Mia. You need protection.”

“So, rather than being rational and getting something like—oh, I don’t know—a security system, you decide I need a dog?”

“Yes. Security systems are expensive and can be dismantled. Dogs can be trained, and they are good companions.”

Her eyes narrowed, and she threw her hands up in exasperation. “You are exhausting. I am not yours to boss around, Garrett.”

“Oh, I know that, Mia. You made sure of that a long time ago,” I practically spit, venom lacing my words.

I regretted the words the second they had left my mouth. I saw the hurt on her face as she looked ashen and gutted.

“I’ll look into the dog. Thank you for coming over,” she whispered.

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I turned away. The coffee she’d made was still sitting on the kitchen table. It was probably now lukewarm from my icy words.

“Hey, why don’t you head upstairs? I’ll make sure everything is locked and secure,” I offered.

She didn’t even argue. She just retreated upstairs. As I listened to the soft sobs echoing down the hall, I took a deep breath and tried to center myself. I didn’t understand her. I couldn’t comprehend why a girl who had left me looked so destroyed.