Page 22 of Shadow

Olivia glared at him. “I’m driving this time.”

Ripley frowned but agreed. “Fine. But for future reference, I hate not driving.”

She gave him an incredulous look. “You just said you took a ride share over here dummy.”

“You are so lucky you’re not mine. I took a ride-share because I haven’t been home long enough to buy a car. Now let’s go before I decide to spank you.”

Chapter 7

RIPLEYwatchedOliviaoutof the corner of his eye while she navigated traffic to Peter’s house. It had taken hours to deal with the police over the incident at her house, and one of Peter’s employees was now parked in her driveway for the night. Another was pulling surveillance footage for Ripley and the police to look at in the morning. When the police left, Olivia had packed a bag, scooped up the cat, and once again insisted on driving.

She was exhausted. That much, he could tell. So, he would do his best to make sure she got plenty of rest. Other than that, she was being closed off with her emotions, and he couldn’t tell how the evening’s events were affecting her.

For a minute at Exposure, he thought he was getting somewhere, but then she’d broken their kiss and told him she was going home. And he got the feeling he wouldn’t be hearing from her about dinner.

He was in no way happy that someone had thrown a bag of rocks and dog shit through her window, but he wouldn’t pass up the opportunity the universe was handing him to spend more time with her.

They pulled into the driveway at Peter and Carrie’s, and Ripley pressed a button on his phone to open the garage door. “Peter said park inside. Don’t want anyone to target your truck on the street.”

“Jesus. Do you think they’re following us?”

“I’m not sure, baby girl. It’s possible, though, and we can’t be too careful.”

She pulled into the garage and shut the engine off. Then laid her head back against the seat and closed her eyes. Ripley climbed out and grabbed their bags from the backseat of the extended cab.

“Come on, Liv.”

He chuckled when she didn’t respond. Poor thing was already asleep. After setting the bags inside the house, he came around to the driver’s side door, pulled it open and unbuckled her. She didn’t open her eyes until he’d scooped her into his arms and lifted her out.

“Put me down, you oaf. I’m too heavy.”

“Nope. You’ve never been too heavy for me. I’m putting you to bed. No argument.”

She must have really been exhausted because she didn’t argue. He carried her down a hall until he found a guest room and laid her on the bed.

“Where’s Jade?”

“I’ll bring her in here. Kick your shoes off and get under the covers, Liv.”

“You’re not sleeping with me.”

He cupped her cheek. “I didn’t say I was, baby girl. I’ll behave and find the other guest room or crash on a couch somewhere. They must do well for themselves because this place is massive. It didn’t look that big when I was here the other night.”

Olivia gave a tired laugh. “Carrie sold a book. Made lots of money. Peter’s always been loaded.”

“Good for her. Shoes off.”

He reached for her foot, but she batted his hand away and bent to do it herself. If she weren’t so tired, he might chide her for hitting him again. When her shoes were off and she was under the blankets, he headed back to the kitchen to get the cat out of its carrier. The little jerk hissed and tried to scratch him.

“Come on now, Jade. That’s no way to treat me. I’ve always been good to you.”

He scratched the fur ball’s ears, and she settled down enough to let him take her to Olivia who was already fast asleep. “Keep an eye on our girl,” he whispered, giving the cat one more scratch behind the ears.

Backing out of the room, he headed back to the truck to bring the rest of the cat supplies into the house then went in search of a shower and a bed. He wanted to set up watch outside her room but knew that was ridiculous. Peter’s house was secure. Still, after he finished in the shower, he opted for sleeping on the couch near the front door. Just in case.

When he woke a few hours later, sunlight filtered in through the curtains. He picked up his phone. No missed calls. That was good. He didn’t hear anything coming from other parts of the house, so hopefully Olivia was still sleeping.

He wandered into the kitchen and found the cat sitting in front of her bowl. It had food in it. Something Ripley hadn’t done. So maybe she was awake.

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