Page 12 of Survive the Night
As she filled her glass from the tap, Grace gave a small shrug, shooting Hugh a sideways look. “Of course you do, and of course I am, but that’s not why you’re not meeting Sarah. You guys will pick on her.”
“Will not.”
“Will too.”
“Will not.”
Otto cleared his throat, knowing from experience that Hugh and Grace could go on like that for hours. “Can I meet her?”
The kitchen grew quiet again. Grace and Jules had a silent conversation involving meaningful stares and contorted eyebrows and a few scrunched noses.
“Fine,” Jules finally said, and Theo and Hugh made protesting sounds. “Otto only.”
“Why Otto and not us?” Hugh asked.
“Because Otto’s nice.” Putting her glass on the counter, Grace moved toward the doorway. “Come on, Otto.”
“Get her name,” Theo said, not looking pleased to be excluded.
“A driver’s license number would be nice,” Hugh added. “Maybe she could stop by the station sometime, and you could get a full set of prints.” He laughed as Grace raised a mock-threatening fist.
With a neutral grunt, Otto followed Grace out of the kitchen. If this houseguest was anything like Jules and Grace, she was running from something. Theo and Hugh were blinded by the need to protect Grace, Jules, and the whole horde, but Otto didn’t see the value in interrogating their newest arrival. He’d get an impression and trust his instincts to lead him well. If his gut told him the stranger was someone to worry about, then he’d worry. Until then, he’d ignore Hugh’s and Theo’s meddling.
“Pay no attention to them,” Grace muttered as they headed for the stairs. “Sarah is a sweetheart.”
“We’ll see.”
Glancing over her shoulder, Grace gave him a hard look and then snorted. “It’s good that you’ve had years of practice ignoring those two.”
Otto made a noncommittal sound. Even though she wasn’t wrong, he wasn’t about to say anything negative about his partners, even to Grace, who was head over heels for one of them. Having known Hugh since they were kids, Otto had rescued his friend from too many badly-thought-out plans to count. Theo was more even-headed, although the past year had been a rough one for him. The effort of keeping his partners and their new loved ones safe, especially over the past few months, had been exhausting, and Otto hoped that the upcoming season would be as boring and uneventful as winter in Monroe tended to be. The arrival of this new “old friend” of Jules’s wasn’t a good sign, however.
As they moved down the hall, Otto looked around with interest. He’d never been to this part of Jules’s house before. The floor groaned under his steps, but Otto was pretty sure it was solid enough to hold his weight. The doorways weren’t standard, smaller than in modern houses, and the knobs were many-faceted crystal. The walls had been recently painted. For as quaint and character-filled as Jules’s house was, Otto knew it was a rickety money pit. It didn’t help that Jules’s absentee landlord never seemed to fix a thing. Theo helped, but Jules and her siblings did most of the repairs…with mixed results. Otto had to smile at the sight of a hall light fixture held together with duct tape.
Grace stopped at the last door on the left and knocked.
The door swung open so suddenly that Grace jumped back, startled, as Dee darted out of the room.
“Sorry, Grace!” she yelled as she ran for the stairs. “I’m in a hurry. Jules and I have to go to the store for cat things. My new kitty must be starving.”
A soft laugh came from inside the room. “Hey, Grace. Did you need something? I hope it’s nothing that involves moving. I’ve been enlisted as a cat-sitter, and he—or she—has taken that very literally.”
Otto moved around Grace and pushed the door open all the way so he could see the mysterious new houseguest. As he took in the woman sitting cross-legged on the bed, the cat sprawled bonelessly across her lap, Otto suddenly found it hard to breathe.
She was beautiful. Light-brown hair loosely curled over her shoulders, just a few shades darker than her olive complexion. Something about her slight, fine-boned frame and delicate features reminded Otto of a fairy, a woodland creature who would disappear if he looked at her too hard. He blinked several times, confused and a little alarmed at the unusually whimsical path his brain had taken. The stranger’s head was tipped down as she looked at the cat, but then she glanced up at Grace—and saw Otto.
Her sweet smile dropped away, and her already huge dark-brown eyes widened even more. Immediately all expression disappeared, and her face smoothed into a polite mask. Her gaze only wavered for a second, when she darted a look toward the window. With the door blocked, Otto assumed she was checking for another escape route.
Otto knew that look. That was the look of someone who was terrified. Worse, that was the look of someone who was so used to being terrified that she’d learned to hide it. This woman was obviously an expert at masking her fear. She tugged at her shirtsleeves, pulling the material so far over her wrists that half of her hands were covered. Otto had seen that gesture before. He’d be willing to bet money that those long sleeves hid bruises.
Damn it.
The sight of this beautiful, frightened woman kicked his protective instincts into high gear. The intensity of his reaction startled him. Although he was a sucker for animals in need, there weren’t many people he allowed into his life. This fist-to-the-gut attraction—this instant magnetic draw—was unfamiliar…and uncomfortable. He’d just met Monroe’s newest and most mysterious resident, and he already wanted to be near her, to help her. The longer he looked at her, the stronger the urge grew to protect her, to reassure her, until her fists unclenched and the tight muscles in her neck and shoulders relaxed.
He wanted to make her smile again.
Unwillingly fascinated, Otto took in every detail, from her clenched jaw to the tiny twitch of her left eyelid to the rogue strand of silky hair that had slid forward to frame her face. Her mouth was full and pink and completely distracting…and with a sinking feeling, Otto realized that he’d been staring much too long.
Grace cleared her throat, dragging his attention away from the house’s newest resident. Looking back and forth between the two of them, Grace said, “Sarah, this is Otto Gunnersen. He’s a cop. In his spare time, he rescues stray cats from windmills. Otto, this is Sarah. She’s an old friend who will be staying here for an indeterminate amount of time. You, Theo, and Hugh are not to bother her about insignificant details, including her full name, criminal history, date of birth, or anything else along that line.”
