Chapter 10 #2
“I had to talk him into it, but he finally agreed to let me,” Sammy replied. “He’s a little bit cranky today. He didn’t sleep good last night.”
“Does he breathe fire when he gets angry?” she asked.
“Nah, his fire doesn’t work anymore. It got broken, and so he doesn’t have fire anymore.”
“How did it get broken?” she asked.
“He got a sore throat, and he didn’t take his medicine like he was ’sposed to. So his throat got better, but his fire never came back.”
By the time he had shown her all the pictures, Seth had awakened. The three of them spent the rest of the afternoon playing games. They stopped to have pie and then resumed the game playing.
Once again Suzanna was struck with a longing to have this warmth of family forever.
It broke her heart that it wasn’t going to be with Seth and Sammy.
But when she left here she was determined to open herself up to the dating game in hopes of finding the kind of love she’d once shared with Davy.
But more than anything, she wanted Seth to reciprocate her love and make her a part of his family forever.
However, two men she would never date were Ray and Boone.
They were still upset about her giving their names to Dallas after the knife attack.
They continued to punish her by giving her the silent treatment.
It made for some tense lunches and the continued realization that they really hadn’t been her friends in the first place.
Her arm and collar wounds had healed up nicely. The doctor had used self-dissolving stitches, so she didn’t need to go in for a follow-up appointment. She was going to have some scarring, but it wouldn’t be too bad.
They continued playing games until they stopped to eat turkey sandwiches for dinner. Then it was time for Sammy to take his bath and head to bed. Every night he wanted her to tuck him in, and each night she did, her love for the little boy grew.
It was time for her to go, she thought as she left Sammy’s bedroom. She couldn’t stay here with Seth and Sammy forever. It had already been far longer than either of them had expected.
Surely, she could be safe in her own home now that she was on notice that somebody wanted to harm her. The knife attack had been so unexpected, especially since she’d come to believe the car accident had probably been the result of a drunk or high driver.
With Sammy in bed, the two adults sat in the living room.
She didn’t tell Seth all the thoughts that filled her head.
Instead, they chatted about how nice the day had been and how the weather was supposed to remain cold.
The rain had moved out, and there was no more precipitation expected for the coming week.
As always, it was the easy conversation of two people comfortable with each other. It was the conversation that a husband and a wife might share before going to bed.
Thankfully, with Sammy’s presence, there had been no more lovemaking between them. She yearned for it. She wanted it, but she knew it was better if they didn’t go there again.
By nine o’clock they were both ready for bed. He got Lady to take out one final time, and once he was back in, he locked the doors, grabbed his gun from the top of the fridge and then walked her down the hallway.
She watched as he placed the pup back into bed with Sammy and then half closed the door behind him. She smiled at him. “Good night, Seth,” she said softly.
“Good night, Suzanna.” He held her gaze for a long moment, and in the depths of his eyes she saw tiny flames of desire. She broke the gaze and went into her bedroom and closed the door behind her.
If he’d asked her to come to his room, she would have gone. She was helpless against her love…her absolute desire for him. That was why she’d broken his gaze so quickly and escaped into her room.
She now released a deep sigh and began to undress. This arrangement of protection was beginning to feel like sheer torture. She grabbed her nightshirt from the drawer and pulled it on over her head.
She went across the hall to the bathroom and quickly brushed her teeth and took off her makeup. It was only when she returned to her room that she realized her curtains were open. She’d opened them first thing that morning to see what the weather might be doing.
She now walked over to close them. Before she could, a person’s face appeared there. The Peeping Tom wore a ski mask, and at the unexpected, shocking appearance, Suzanna released a scream.
The scream shot Seth straight out of bed.
He grabbed his gun from the nightstand and ran to Suzanna’s bedroom.
He threw open the door. She stood pointing at the window, her eyes wide with fear.
“S-somebody is out th-there.” Her voice was breathless.
“He had on a-a ski mask and was wat-watching me,” she said haltingly.
Adrenaline pumped through his veins. “Follow me,” he said tersely to her. He rushed into his bedroom, where he quickly pulled on a pair of jeans and a flannel shirt. He stepped into his shoes and then headed for the front door.
“Stay here and lock the door after me,” he said.
“No, Seth. Don’t go out there,” Suzanna exclaimed. Lady had begun barking and Sammy came out of his bedroom, obviously frightened by the commotion.
“Take care of Sammy and maybe I can catch the bastard,” he replied and then ran out of the house.
The cold night air nearly stole his breath away, but the fire of determination quickly warmed him.
There was an intruder on his property. More than that, the ski mask let him know with a fair amount of certainty that it was the person who was after Suzanna.
There was nothing Seth wanted more than to catch the attacker.
It took his eyes only a few moments to adjust to the darkness. Thankfully the clouds that had plagued the skies all day long had left, and faint moonlight drifted down.
He moved stealthily, his gun leading the way. All his muscles tensed as adrenaline shot through his veins. He went around the first corner of the house, and his gaze scanned the area. He saw nobody. His heart beat wildly as he moved through the wet grass as quietly as possible.
Turning the next corner would put him in the back of the house where the bedroom windows were.
He whirled around that corner, and his gaze shot to Suzanna’s window.
There was nobody there. He drew closer and saw where the wet grass was downtrodden in front of the window.
His stomach muscles tightened. Somebody had definitely been there.
He turned around and stared out over the landscape, looking for the trespasser who didn’t belong on his property, a trespasser who he was certain had deadly intentions.
A flash of movement at the edge of his lawn drew his attention. Somebody all in black was running toward the wooded area behind his house.
He took off running in that direction. Desire to catch the perp surged up inside him. He was positive this was the person who had forced Suzanna’s car off the road…the same person who had attempted to stab her to death.
He’d only gone a few yards when he realized he’d lost the perp. He stood still and slowly searched the area. He had no idea if the person was now hiding behind one of the big trees or if he had run completely off the property to the road beyond where a car might have been waiting for him.
Seth remained there for several long minutes, listening and watching for any indication that the perp remained somewhere nearby. Seeing and sensing nothing, he finally turned and headed back to the front door.
Dammit, but he wished he would have been able to catch whoever it was. A capture would have brought the answers that Suzanna so desperately needed and would have stopped any more danger coming toward her.
Instead, he returned to the house with an edge of defeat hanging heavy around his neck. When he reached the front door, he knocked. “Suzanna, it’s me. You can open the door.”
The door flew open, and as he stepped inside, she instantly filled his arms. “Thank God, you’re okay.” She buried her face in the hollow of his throat. “I was so afraid for you.”
He welcomed her warmth after being outside in the cold, but it was more than her warming his body. She warmed his heart, his very soul. He couldn’t remember the last time a woman had worried about him. He didn’t want to examine the emotions that momentarily swept through him.
She finally stepped back from him, her beautiful eyes dark and troubled as she gazed up at him. “Did you find anything?”
He relocked the door and then motioned her to the living room, where he sat next to her on the sofa. He put his gun on the end table and then turned back to look at her. “First of all, is Sammy okay?”
She nodded. “I got him settled back into bed and he’s sleeping now.”
“I saw in the grass where somebody had been standing at your window,” he began. “And when I turned around, I saw somebody running away. I chased the person, but I lost him in the darkness.”
He clenched his hands into fists of frustration. “Dammit, if I could have just caught him, then you would have gotten some answers and the danger to you would have been over.”
She placed a hand on one of his. “You could have been killed,” she said somberly.
His hands relaxed beneath hers. “May I remind you that I was the one with the gun.”
“But that creep could have crept up behind you and stabbed you to death,” she countered.
She shivered and he knew she was remembering her near-death encounter with the knife-wielding culprit.
“I’m just glad you’re okay. I’d much rather have you here alive and well than have any answers I might need. ”
Once again, his heart swelled up with an emotion he didn’t want to acknowledge. “We should call Dallas.”
She frowned. “There’s really nothing he can do about it right now. I doubt if the person will come back since you chased after him.” Her frown deepened. “I just wonder what he was doing peeking in the windows. God, whoever it was, he saw me naked.”