Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Emelia couldn’t stop the tears from flowing as she trudged up the stairs to her apartment. Titus was right behind her. Despite her protests that she was fine, and the damage was only on the outside, Titus told her that he’d spend the night just to make sure someone didn’t break in.
The police came. Liam McBride, Joy’s husband, was first on the scene. He was appalled, but there was nothing he could do about it until the morning when they could try to identify the person from security cameras.
Emelia unlocked the door and stepped into what had been her place of comfort and joy. She turned on a light and placed her purse in the kitchen.
“Can I get you anything?” she asked Titus, who wandered around and looked out the windows. “I have water, wine, beer. Or maybe you’d rather have a cup of coffee. I know I have cream and sugar. Cookies, maybe.”
“Emelia, take a deep breath,” Titus said. He placed his hands on her shoulders. “I’m fine. I’ll sleep on the sofa. You’ll be safe. Tomorrow, we’ll figure out what happened.”
“I don’t understand how someone could be so mean.” Emelia sighed. “My customers will see that and probably not come back.”
“Let’s not worry about that right now. Why don’t you try to sleep?”
Emelia wasn’t sure she’d be able to, but she didn’t want to stay awake either, thinking about the destruction. Had Wyatt found her? Did Patty graffiti her bakery to get back at her? Was it kids? Had other shops been targeted?
“It’s a sofa bed. It’ll be more comfortable. I’ll get you sheets and a pillow.”
“Not necessary. I’ll be fine.”
Emelia shook her head. “No. That’s why I bought it. Let me get you the linens.”
The apartment had limited storage, so her linens shared the closet with her clothes.
She watched Titus poking around, checking out the small apartment.
“Here you go.” She handed Titus the linens. “There’s an extra toothbrush and paste in the cabinet.”
“Emelia,” he said firmly. “I’ll be fine. Please try to get some sleep. Everything will look better in the morning.”
“Yeah, I’m sure ‘go home’ and ‘bitch’ will look just fine and dandy in the sunlight,” she sarcastically replied.
Titus took the linens and placed them on the sofa. He turned to Emelia and pulled her into his chest. “Everything will be fine, I promise. We’ll find out who did this and deal, okay?”
“Okay,” she whispered into his shoulder. Damn, why did the man have to smell so good? Like outdoors in a forest. What was wrong with her? Something horrible had happened. Titus was still a stranger, and she was sniffing him like a dog in heat.
She stepped away from him. “I’ll see you in the morning. Thanks for staying here.”
“No problem, sweetheart. You’ll be safe.”
No problem, sweetheart.
Did those words come from him?
They barely knew each other. However, after spending the evening with Emelia, Titus understood why his friends and the women liked her. She was funny, warm, easy to talk to, and she laughed—big belly laughs. How many women did that?
He’d never felt this comfortable with any woman.
Tonight had been fun until it wasn’t. Who could have defaced her windows? It made no sense. The one thing he knew for sure was that Emelia wasn’t going to wake up tomorrow and face that shit.
He took out his phone and called Will and several other guys. Satisfied with their responses, he unfolded the sheet and lay down.