Page 79 of Breaking Free

Chapter 20

TRISTAN PULLED HIStruck into his parking space and glanced over at Piper. She was fast asleep, and he hated to disturb her. She looked adorable in his oversized shirt. Her cheeks still had a rosy glow from their session, her lips temptingly puffy from his kisses and taking his cock. Damn if he didn’t ache to have her again. He’d have to settle for having her warm and soft in his arms as he carried her in.

When he opened the door and the dome light came on, she stirred, squinting at him like a sleepy kitten. “Are we home already?” she asked in a sleep-husky voice then her body suddenly tensed. “Is that my alarm?”

He looked toward the gate, surprised he hadn’t heard it. The woman messed with his senses and was damn distracting.

When he slid out from behind the wheel, she didn’t wait for him to come around. “Jaxx!” she cried in alarm and hopped out, too. He’d rather she stay in the truck where she was safe but decided since he was armed, she might be better off with him.

He met her on the sidewalk. “Stay behind me.”

The gate stood firmly locked, the courtyard empty, but he could see the flashing lights of her alarm through the half-circle window in her front door.

Piper breathed a sigh of relief. “Looks like another false alarm.”

She started to move past him, but he caught her arm. “Not so fast. Let me check it out first to be sure.”

He pulled out his phone and called the control room. David, one of their regulars who didn’t mind taking the mind-numbingly dull surveillance shifts, answered. “The alarm was tripped at Piper’s place.”

“I know. An upstairs window triggered it seven minutes ago. Axyl is en route since he was closest. His ETA is two minutes. I also alerted the Santa Monica police. They should be there by now.”

“There’s no sign of them yet. Did the surveillance video capture anything?”

“I checked,” David replied. “There was no activity at the gate or at Piper’s door. On a hunch, I tapped into your door camera. It picked up a guy, around six feet tall, maybe 200 pounds at most, running through the courtyard and scaling the back fence about thirty seconds before you arrived. He was wearing a hoodie and never looked back, so we don’t have a shot of his face, not even in profile. Sorry, man. It’s not much to go on. Hopefully, you find something inside.”

“I’m on that next. Send me the video. Maybe Piper will recognize something about him.”

“Will do.”

Tristan ended the call and moved forward, Piper close on his heels. As they neared her steps, the motion detector lights, which had done nothing to intimidate the burglar, came on.

“What’s going on? Did the cameras see something?” she asked.

“Someone broke in through an upstairs window.”

She glanced up at her two front windows, at least fifteen feet above her head. “How? He’d have to have a ladder.”

“Or climb the tree on the side. The same one I requested to have topped and cut away from the building two weeks ago.”

She shivered visibly and wrapped her arms around her middle. “Do you think it was the stalker?”

“I don’t know, but maybe he left us a clue. I’ll have a look around.” He pulled his weapon from his belt. “But I can’t leave you out here alone.”

“You’d better not!” she exclaimed shrilly.

“Stay close,” he ordered. “And do exactly what I say.”

Footsteps pounding on the pavement preceded the screech of the hinges on the front gate. He pushed Piper behind him as he turned to face the potential threat. Axyl appeared out of the darkness, along with a uniformed officer.

“Freeze,” the cop barked, drawing his weapon.

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