Free Come by Becca Jameson Page B

this time.”
    “And how is paradise? Is he still making your vibrator work overtime? Or has he taken matters into his own hands?”
    Katy smiled. “He’s charming and sweet and kind and sexy. I think I’m in love.” She was kidding. Sort of. “But he hasn’t made his big move yet.”
    “What?” Jenna stepped closer. “That’s unheard of. I mean I could understand if you were putting him off for a few weeks, but the other way around. Is he gay?” Jenna smirked.
    “Hardly. But believe me, I asked him that point blank.”
    “You didn’t.” Jenna’s mouth gaped open.
    “I did.” Katy nodded. “And besides, he kisses like a professional. Leaves me weak in the knees every time.” Well, both times… But she didn’t need to share every gory detail with her friend.
    They took off down the path on their regular loop around the park.
    Katy looked over her shoulder as they began. She had watched her rearview mirror closely on the way to meet Jenna. She’d seen nothing out of the ordinary. Although she was loathe to admit it out loud, she was nervous. And she hadn’t slept well. She’d held her phone in her palm all night. In fact, she’d programmed 9-1-1 into the speed dial so one button would get her help in an emergency.
    Every single noise in the night startled her awake. Not that she’d ever tell Rafe. She didn’t want him thinking she couldn’t take care of herself and she didn’t want anyone to scare her into leaving her home.
    It was easy to distract herself with Jenna. All she had to do was ask a stream of questions about her friend’s floral shop and the miles slipped away. In the last half mile, they came to a spot where they jogged across the street. There was a pedestrian crosswalk and it was inside the park, so rarely did they encounter traffic.
    But the coincidences in Katy’s world kept piling up. She entered the road two paces ahead of Jenna, barely glancing in either direction. The next thing she knew, Jenna had shoved her hard from behind, sending both of them into the grass on the far opposite side of the street.
    The squeal of tires made Katy twist her head to see over her shoulder. All she saw was a car speeding away.
    She gasped for air, straining to breathe from both the run and the unexpected tumble to the ground.
    “Shit.” Jenna jumped to her feet and peered down the road at the disappearing car. “What the fuck? That asshole didn’t stop. He nearly ran us over.”
    Katy scrambled to stand also. “What color was that car?”
    “Brown.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “Yeah. Why?”
    “Just curious.” She bit her lip as she followed Jenna’s line of sight, deciding not to tell Jenna about her stalker. No sense turning her best friend into a worrywart on top of everything else.
    Surely this incident was a coincidence. The car looked older, at least what little Katy managed to see of it. And it wasn’t black. She agreed with that assessment. Probably some asshole not paying attention.
    If she kept the stalker insanity from Jenna and the pedestrian accident from Rafe, neither one of them would freak out on her.
    She wiped her hands on her shorts and glanced down at her knees. Oh, great . Her knees were skinned. How was she going to keep that a secret?
    She almost laughed out loud when she considered the likelihood of Mr. Prude trying to get her pants off her in the foreseeable future anyway. If she wore jeans on their next date, maybe the scrapes would disappear before he ever saw her knees again.
    When had she gotten so devious? And why did she feel the need?
    As they returned to their cars, Katy worried about her sanity. Was she taking a huge personal risk being so blasé about the various encounters she’d had in the last week? Or was the entire stack of odd occurrences just that—random acts that had nothing to do with each other?
    Katy hugged her friend and got in her car. She gripped the steering wheel tighter than usual and scanned the area harder than ever.
    She saw