Page 21 of Welcome Home for Christmas
He didn’t move away.
She swallowed. “You could be right.”
“Excuse me? Did you just say I was right?” He pulled back finally and started walking again, seeming to know exactly where she’d parked her car.
“It’ll be busy at the party, though. My mother will be running around like a headless chicken. And then she’ll interrogate you.”
Allison noticed that his truck was parked behind her car. “You knew I was here?”
He shrugged. “Saw your car and decided to find you.”
“Why?”
He lifted her keys and unlocked her passenger door, heaving the bags inside. “Maybe I just wanted to see you again.”
—
Okay, he admitted that he’d been driving around Seaside on a Sunday morning, as he sometimes did to get coffee and just run thoughts through his head, and looking for Allison’s blue sedan. Not consciously or in a stalker kind of way. But he’d been looking, hoping to run into her. And usually if he went looking for something, or someone, he found them.
Allison turned to him outside her car. “Thanks for carrying my bags.”
“Anytime.”
She waved and got inside her car to drive away. He was tempted to ask when they’d see each other again. She’d told him she wanted to know each other well enough to fool her family next weekend. He was sure he could do that—he’d pulled off a lot more difficult operations in his line of work. And, if he was honest with himself, he wouldn’t mind getting to know Allison Carmichael a little better. Not that he needed the kind of complication that knowing a beautiful woman like her better could bring. Aside from the rift between him and his brother, life was relatively smooth right now. He wanted to keep it that way.
He got inside his truck and drove over to the base to take Bear for a run. Afterward, he headed to Shelby Summers’s home to look at her security needs as promised. With Shelby’s husband deployed, she needed a little extra protection, especially with the recent break-ins. Allison lived around the corner from Shelby. He hoped she was taking necessary precautions, too. Not that Allison was his to worry about.
He pulled into Shelby’s driveway and grabbed his supplies. These jobs had never been money makers for him. He just enjoyed making people feel secure in their own homes. There was a satisfaction in knowing he’d helped out a neighbor.
Shelby opened her front door and, if he wasn’t mistaken, she looked a lot more pregnant than the last time he’d seen her.
“Do you need me to take you to the hospital instead?” he teased.
She patted her tight, round belly and laughed breathlessly. “This baby is waiting for my husband to get home.” She looked down at her stomach. “Hear that, baby? Stay put for another week.”
Troy shook his head. “I’m so glad God made me a man. I don’t think I could handle something living inside me.”
Shelby smiled as she opened her front door wider for him to enter. “It’s amazing. Which is why we’re on our fourth.”
Troy wiped his feet and looked around Shelby’s living room. Then he turned to the front door and inspected the current lock system. “I have the basic home security alarm that I can put in today. This one will just notify you if someone is breaking in, but not the police. If you want the one that alerts law enforcement, I can get it, but it won’t be put in today.”
Shelby nodded. “There was another break-in last night. Did you hear?”
“No. Everyone okay?” he asked.
“Yes, but all of the Mavericks’ Christmas gifts were taken. And their flat screen TV…No, I want the alarm system tonight. If it alerts me, then I can call nine-one-one myself.”
Troy patted the black bag hanging over his shoulder. “Give me an hour and you’ll be secure.”
“Thank you. Robert told me to thank you as well.”
“Oh, yeah? How’s he doing over there?”
“He hates the desert and never wants to see sand again once he gets home. Not even on the beach.”
Troy knew the feeling. “Sounds about right.”
“Can I get you some tea while you work?” Shelby asked, breathless from just standing.
“How about you just get off your feet and rest? Focus on making that baby wait.”
An hour later, Troy found Shelby asleep on the couch. He left her a note that the alarm system was up and running and locked her door behind him. At least one more house in this area would be secure tonight.
Allison crossed his mind again.
Not my concern, he told himself, taking the long way home and driving by her town house just to make sure all was hunky-dory. His patrol was only on base. Not Seaside and definitely not Allison’s home, fake boyfriend or not.
He went home, showered, and grabbed a beer, feeling a jab of loneliness that he hadn’t felt in a while. He liked being home alone usually. He considered going to Heroes to share a drink with one of the guys, maybe even buy a drink for a pretty lady and have fun flirting.
Allison was the only pretty lady he was interested in flirting with, though. This whole boyfriend thing was playing with his mind. But after Christmas, it’d be over. He couldn’t wait.
