Page 83 of Dare to Love Again

This time when she blinked, it was to clear the tears from her eyes. She didn’t have time to dwell on his words for long because his kiss demanded a response and sent the butterflies in her stomach into flight.

Chapter 18

MONDAY TURNED OUT TObe a slow, lazy, perfect catch-up-on-her-sleep kind of day. After Finn left, she closed her eyes and didn’t open them again until late morning, when Phin got in her face, his paw nudging her cheek insistently as he demanded his breakfast. While he ate, she poured a glass of juice and took it out to the back patio.

With a contented smile on her lips, she curled up on the lounger in the shade and slept away half the afternoon. After a light supper, a not-so-light call from Finn who made her feel warm and fuzzy, and a whole lot turned on, she was in bed by nine and didn’t crack an eyelid until her alarm went off at six a.m. And wonder of wonders, she didn’t dream once.

Rather than being refreshed and energized, Tuesday started out as a double Dew morning, needing more of a caffeine kick-start than usual to overcome the surprising sluggishness she felt.

Was there such a thing as too much sleep?

The dread of going back to work brought it on, more likely. Already leaning toward finding something else, Finn pointing out the unsafe neighborhood and Gerald’s lax security—a symptom of his disregard for his employees in general—convinced her that giving her resume a good dusting off was past due.

The decision to begin job hunting turned out to be the highlight of her morning. Things went quickly downhill thereafter. A four-car pile-up on the freeway put her twenty minutes late, though she’d left a half hour earlier than usual. Mr. Reinhart’s crappy alarm system blaring for the first ten minutes after her arrival had brought on a headache.

The police officer who responded wasn’t happy since it was the third complaint of the day. He’d ordered them to unplug it, or his next stop would be with a noise citation.

Things had calmed down for an hour or so, but that didn’t mean Esme had smooth sailing. Her computer wouldn’t start for some reason. She crawled around on the floor, checking to make sure plugs were firmly in sockets and cords securely plugged into jacks. After searching on her hands and knees in the cramped, dusty space, she crawled out, unable to find anything wrong.

“I have a directory with the IT consultant on my computer, but a lot of good that does me,” she grumbled.

About to call Jasmine to see if was having issues, too, male laughter made her look up.

She could hardly believe her eyes. Of all the people she might have guessed she’d find standing in her doorway, Carlos wasn’t one of them.

“Looking for this?” he asked, while holding up what looked like a computer component of some kind.

The sound of his voice made her cringe, and the smell of his overpowering cologne in her tiny office made her stomach roll. She couldn’t forget the feel of his rough hands on her wrist, leaving a painful ring of bruises. She had hoped never to see him again, and certainly never expected him to show up where she worked.

“What is that?”

“Your hard drive; I’m not taking any chances.”

“Chances with what?” He didn’t answer, giving her a smug grin, icy contempt in his brown eyes. A chill crept up her spine.

When he stepped into her office and closed the door, the soft snick of the lock seemed deafening. Esme’s alarm rose to panic levels. He had no legitimate reason for being here, let alone sealing them in an office alone, and compounding that, tampering with her computer.

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