Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
M elissa opened her eyes extra wide at Shiloh, sending a silent message of alarm.
Shiloh eyed Luca, who stood precariously on a ladder that seemed to barely hold his weight, as he tried to tighten the screw on a camera. “You sure you don’t need help?” she asked for the thousandth time.
Luca grunted, but didn’t turn around. He’d been very polite in his answers an hour ago…it appeared he was now getting tired of being asked.
Shiloh grinned. An angry Luca would be frightening if she wasn’t so positive of his gentleness. Shiloh would never have entrusted her best friend to him otherwise. “Luca…” she cooed.
Luca glared over her shoulder. “Shiloh…”
She laughed softly. “We’re just a little concerned for the ladder.” Shiloh used her pen to point to the device. “It seems a little…unsafe.”
Luca looked down, his eyebrows pulled together over his eyepatch. “It’s held up this long.” Luca shrugged. “If I fall, I fall.”
“Serenity will never forgive me.”
Luca snorted. “She’ll probably say ‘thank you for making my husband slow down.’” With one final yank that nearly sent him off balance, Luca finally climbed down, his heavy booted feet landing on the carpet with a thud.
“Slow down?” Shiloh made a face. “Luca…are you working too hard?”
“There’s no such thing as working too hard,” Luca said, studying the camera and not looking at Shiloh. “But getting the gym ready has taken a lot of time, and I think Seri’s ready for it to be done.”
“Speaking of,” Melissa chimed in. “When’s the happy day?”
Luca lifted one shoulder. “Soon.”
Shiloh tapped a fingernail on the desk. “That’s vague.”
“Yep.”
“Are you always this loquacious?” Shiloh retorted.
“Yep.”
Shiloh laughed, and Luca chuckled.
“Okay…I think that last one did it.” He walked toward Shiloh and held out his hand.
Shiloh put her phone in the large palm. “The app is on the second page.”
Luca found what he needed and began tapping her screen. Slowly, he walked away, heading from one camera to the next, then stepping outside, still focused on the phone screen.
Melissa huffed. “The least he could do is keep us up to date.”
“You’re too used to working with a girl,” Shiloh said with a soft laugh. “We communicate everything.”
Melissa stuck her nose in the air. “How are we supposed to know what’s going on if we don’t share it with the world?”
Shiloh shrugged. “Men seem to do just fine.”
Melissa put her fists under her chin and her elbows on her desk, leaning toward Shiloh. “Speaking of men…” She pumped her eyebrows up and down several times.
Shiloh hoped Melissa couldn’t see the heat in her face. “No rulebook ever said communication had to involve all parts of my personal life.”
Melissa scowled and slapped her desk. “Honey…how are the rest of us boring people supposed to survive if we don’t have at least occasional updates?”
Shiloh shook her head and went back to her laptop. She only needed a few more minutes and this contract would be finished. Another house found another family, and it had been so sweet.
She scrunched her nose. If only she didn’t have to send the file to Arthur. It would be a lot better to just cut off all ties with him, but how was a person supposed to do that when they met professionally?
“Uh, uh…trouble in paradise?”
Shiloh looked up. “What? Oh…no.” She shook her head. “I just was thinking about how I have to send this contract to Arthur, and I’m not thrilled about it.”
Her secretary scoffed. “Man ought to be behind bars.”
“We have to catch him first,” Shiloh muttered, though she felt the same way. She was still waiting to hear from Grady about how the visit had gone. When Shiloh and Granger had picked up Zane last night, Serenity and Luca had been appalled to hear what was happening.
After a firm scolding from Serenity, Luca had promised to have a system up and running at the office at sunrise.
The sun was up, but Luca had been as close to his word as humanly possible. The large, ex-military man had been setting up the outside cameras by the time Shiloh pulled into her parking lot, and Luca had been hard at work ever since. He’d endured Shiloh’s teasing and Melissa’s staring and simply stayed focused throughout everything the women had thrown at him.
“All done,” Luca announced, coming back through the front doors. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and grimaced. “It’s gonna be a warm one today.”
Shiloh reached to the side and opened her mini fridge, grabbing a bottle of water. “With my compliments,” she said with a grin.
Luca chuckled and took the cold bottle. “Thanks.” Handing back the phone, he screwed off the lid and drank half of the water in one large gulp.
“Easy, Tiger,” Shiloh joked. “You’ll drown yourself.”
“Easier said than done.” Putting the top back on, Luca pointed to the phone. “You already know what the app looks like. These buttons down here allow you to pick what camera you want to see through.”
“Can I see through all of them at once?”
Luca nodded. “Yeah. On a phone screen, they’ll be tiny, but you can.”
“And the alarm?” Shiloh asked.
Luca spent the next fifteen minutes teaching the two women how to run the alarm and how to set notifications on the phone. By the time he left, Shiloh’s head was swimming.
“How in the world are we supposed to remember all that technical mumbo jumbo?” Melissa squawked when Luca was gone.
Shiloh stared at her phone. “I’m…not sure. But…” She wiggled the phone in the air. “Whoever’s leaving those notes is about to get their comeuppance. Vengeance shall be mine!” She held the phone in the air.
Melissa raised both hands and bowed forward. “Oh, great Shiloh. I bow to your wisdom and ability to read the magical device.”
Both women cackled before settling back down to work. Shiloh, however, was struggling to concentrate. Her eyes kept darting to her phone, as if something crazy would happen in the first few minutes and she could go back to her normal life of falling in love.
Her fingers froze above the keyboard. Since when did falling in love become normal? Snorting softly through her nose, Shiloh shook her head and pushed her wayward thoughts aside.
She was safe. The cameras were up. Grady was on the case. Granger was the best boyfriend a woman could hope for, and even with a nutty stalker, Shilohhad good things on the horizon.
Now she just needed to convince her mind to relax and her heart to be brave. Every piece of happiness she’d ever wanted was within her grasp…soon…very, very soon.
Granger’s phone buzzed in his back pocket, and he leaned back on his knees, wiping at the sweat on his forehead before pulling it out. Today was shaping up to be a hot one, and he’d been planting things in Shiloh’s backyard for a couple of hours now.
After lunch, he might call it a day just to avoid melting like an ice cube in summer.
“Dad?” Zane called from his spot in the shade. Only one more week before they could get that cast off. The poor kid was bored out of his mind.
“Hm?” Granger tapped on the text.
“What’s Shiloh doing?”
Granger chuckled and waved his phone. “Texting me. Should we see what she has to say?”
Zane jumped to his feet and rushed over just as Granger told the phone to call.
“Hey, handsome.” Shiloh’s perky voice came through the line.
Zane made a face.
“You’re on speaker,” Granger announced, holding back another laugh. “Zane doesn’t particularly like your adjectives.”
“Zane…” Shiloh said, tsking her tongue. “Your dad is the most handsome man ever. Aren’t you proud of that?”
“Why would I be proud of that?” Zane asked, his nose scrunched tightly.
“Because that means you’re going to be the most handsome man ever when you grow up,” Shiloh explained. “You’ll love that when you start dating. The girls won’t stand a chance.”
Zane poked his finger in his mouth and gagged. “Yuck.”
Granger shook his head, a wide smile sitting on his face. Geez, Shiloh almost made him feel giddy. It was ridiculous.
Still acting disgusted, Zane left, apparently having lost interest in what Shiloh had to say.
Granger took the call off speaker and propped it against his ear. “He’s gone. You ran him off with your mushy name calling.”
Shiloh laughed. “My apologies. I meant the words for my boyfriend.”
Those words sent a hot shock to Granger’s sternum, and he nearly melted under the heat.
“Boyfriend?” Granger asked, his voice a little hoarse. “Anyone I know?”
“I should hope so,” Shiloh continued, playing along with him. “He’s the man who called me just now.”
“I’ll have to add that to my resume,” Granger joked. “Shiloh’s boyfriend. Has a nice ring to it, huh?”
“It’ll get you in any door,” Shiloh quipped.
Still laughing softly, Granger twisted and let himself sit down on the grass. “How’d things go this morning?” he asked, changing the subject. “Did Luca get the security set up?”
“Of course,” Shiloh replied breezily. “He was here before I was, and that screenshot I sent you was taken from the camera inside my office.”
“And you can see outside as well? Around the whole building?”
“Yep.” Shiloh huffed. “Though you need a masters in IT to understand it all. I’m not sure how a guy with one eye and massive muscles became so skilled in putting up security systems. We should have had Luca open a bodyguard firm rather than a gym.”
Granger ticked his head back and forth. “He’d probably be good at that too, but I doubt Serenity would enjoy having him gone that much.”
“Yeah…funny thing about that,” Shiloh hedged. “I can totally understand that point of view. It seems the more you like someone, the more time you want to spend with them.”
“Is that so?” Granger’s grin grew. Good thing Shiloh wasn’t here to see it. He probably looked crazed. “And who do you want to spend time with?” He plucked a piece of grass and toyed with it between his fingers.
“Again…my boyfriend,” Shiloh said with heavy emphasis. “Who else would I want to spend time with? I can barely eat a meal by myself anymore. The man has made me completely dependent, and I’m not sure what to do about it.”
“I see what you mean. It can be rough to go from being alone to having such fantastic company.”
“Indeed,” Shiloh agreed.
“Maybe we could fix that.”
“Hmmm…and just how would you go about it?” Shiloh asked.
“Maybe your boyfriend and his wingman could come visit you for lunch. Would that make your day easier? They’ll even pick up your favorite ice cream flavor on the way.”
“Company and ice cream?” Shiloh sighed. “I think you just spoke my dream words.”
Granger found himself relaxing more and more through their joking conversation. That was one thing he’d never quite expected from Shiloh. She was a tease, she was blunt…but she was also just plain fun.
Fun was something that had been missing from Granger’s life for a long time, and he was surprised to notice how much he’d missed it. Fact was, he’d hadn’t even known it was gone until Shiloh brought it back.
As a single father, Granger spent so much of his time trying to keep Zane from being left behind by kids who have two parents that Granger was never able to catch his breath. But Shiloh was breathing new life into him, and it was needed more than ever.
He glanced at his watch. “Say…about an hour from now? I’m putting in some plants and want to get that finished before we take off.”
“That’s perfect. I’m in the middle of paperwork,” Shiloh responded. “I’m looking forward to seeing Zane when he’s awake.”
Granger chuckled. Zane had been sound asleep when they picked him up last night. It had made it easy for the adults to have a conversation about Arthur, but it meant Shiloh had to wait for her hug goodnight.
“Just don’t call him handsome, and I think he’ll be happy to see you too.” Granger’s smile fell when he heard several loud sounds on the other end of the line. “What’s going on?” he asked.
Shiloh didn’t answer, and Granger stood to his feet.
“Shiloh? What’s going on?” he demanded again.
“Sorry,” she breathed. “Something’s happening on the street.” More noises cut her off.
“Shiloh!” Granger shouted. He waved Zane, who’d turned at the shout, toward the truck and began to run. “Shiloh, don’t leave the office, okay? Stay where you are.”
His phone began to beep, and Granger bit back a curse, shoving it in his pocket.
“Dad?” Zane asked, his voice shaky.
“Come on, bud,” Granger said, picking Zane up and rushing toward the truck. “We’re taking an early lunch break.”