Page 3 of Risk Assessment
“Raleigh?” he said in a quiet voice.
She hesitated then nodded.WTF? Her heart was still hammering in her chest. He released a breath, his body relaxing slightly.
“Who are you? How did you get in here? Who called you?” she asked in rapid-fire succession as she tried to sink farther into the mattress. She was totally vulnerable in her current position, cop or no cop.
“I’m Dylan Black. We spoke on the phone about your stalker.” His deep voice didn’t have a New York accent. “Your kitchen door was open. I saw you standing in the hallway. I knocked and called your name, but you didn’t seem to hear me. You looked…terrified, and then you disappeared into this room. I came in to check on you.” He took a beat and lessened his grip on her. wrists. “Now, I’m going to reach into my pocket and pull out my ID, okay?”
Raleigh nodded. Relief washed over her in one big wave. It all came back in a flash. Dylan Black. Her friend Lauren’s cousin, the cop. She’d arranged for him to protect her at the event she had to cover for work this weekend. She’d been expecting him this afternoon but had forgotten everything the moment she saw the knife.
“You could have done something else to let me know you were here. I thought you were my stalker. I could have hurt you if I reached my stun gun in time!”
“I apologize for not finding a better way to alerting you to my presence.” His speech was oddly formal. “After calling your name several times and seeing the outright panic on your face, I thought… I guess I thought you might be in real danger. I didn’t see anything or anyone as I approached but you seemed…scared shi—uh, terrified. I shouldn’t have touched you.” He grimaced. “I really am sorry.”
She nodded her head slightly, acknowledging his apology.
“Just so you know I’m not lying to you, and I am who I say I am.” With slow and steady movements, he reached into his pocket and brought something out. He kept his eyes on her the whole time. He flicked open his wallet so she could see his driver’s license.
She cursed under her breath. His lips turned slightly upward. Well, at least he wasn’t super pissed or freaked out. He probablyjust thought she was off her rocker. Still, he should’ve found a better way. Her reaction was his fault. Mostly.
Still being cautious, he slowly eased off her. “Can I let you up now? You’re not going to try to hit me if I let you up, right?”
“I, um, I… Yes. No.”
Dylan cocked an eyebrow at her and waited.
She cleared her throat and tried again. “I’m sorry. Yes, it’s okay to let go of me. I won’t hit you again.” Although the idea was tempting and he deserved it. Maybe not a thousand volts of a stun gun but the smack to the jaw definitely.
Releasing her hands, he rolled off her and stood, all in one graceful movement. He put his wallet back in his pocket, straightened his t-shirt, and offered her a hand up. She noticed how easy it was for him to haul her to her feet. She hadn’t stood a chance against him. She drew a shaky breath.
Her first impression had been spot on. He was big, well over six feet, with wide shoulders tapering to narrow hips. Under the tight sleeves of his shirt, his arms were well defined. He was lean and obviously in shape. She trembled as she remembered the hardness of his body—all muscle from head to toe. His dark blond hair had a bit of a wave, and softly curled around his collar.
Raleigh glanced down at herself and attempted to fix her red, V-neck summer sweater and her black pants, so they were straight again, hoping they hid her wobbly knees. She tried to straighten her hair, but it was hopeless. Her hands still shook. She was just making it messier.
“You want to tell me what’s going on?” Dylan asked in a quiet, steady voice.
She nodded. “Just give me a minute.” She stumbled into the hallway. He’d been telling the truth. Her kitchen door was wide open. She’d left it open when she was bringing in the groceries.Leaving her door wide open in the middle of the day in New York was not the smartest move at the best of times.
Now, with her stalker lurking, a dumb thing like that just invited trouble.
She went and quickly shut the door, throwing the deadbolt. Raleigh bit her lip again. If only that was enough to keep her stalker out. Turning around she saw Dylan leaning against the doorjamb of her bedroom, his blue eyes studying her.
His expression was inscrutable.
Great.She really needed him to be at the event with her this weekend. If he backed out now, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to make herself go. And then her stalker would win.
Focus, she reminded herself. She needed to keep her focus. If she let her mind go there, she would fall apart.
Walking past him, down the hallway to the living room, she indicated the sofa as she sat in the chair across from it. She carefully avoided looking at the flowers that sat on the windowsill, knowing what was there.
Dylan took a seat on the sofa.
“I, um, I thought you were my stalker.”
He nodded. “Again, I apologize for startling you. But why did you think I was your stalker at that moment? I mean, has he approached you physically before?”
She still struggled to get a read on him. He looked blank. Maybe it was a thing they taught at the police academy. How to look impassive all the time.
“No. Never. I don’t even know for sure my stalker is ahe.” Raleigh sighed. This was the part where people went from being sympathetic to thinking she was a psycho. “I just came home and discovered my knife on the wrong side of the sink and the yogurt in the fridge is alphabetized.” Raleigh waited, but his face didn’t change. “My bedroom door was closed. I always leave it open. When I opened it, I saw the impression of a head on my pillow.I’m a creature of habit and I always fluff them when I make the bed.”
