Free The One Nighter by Shauna Hart Page A

deep breath before plunging forward. “Connor was the mystery man.”
    Jill’s gaze drifted around the room as she tried to make sense of it. “So, you’ve been seeing each other the whole time?”
    Melanie shook her head. “No, just that one night. I never thought I would see him again.”
    Jill’s eyes widened. “Wow! I’ve heard of bad karma, but this takes the cake! Are you telling me that the man you spent a hot night with suddenly showed up here? And is now your boss?”
    “That’s one way to put it,” she conceded.
    A look at Jill’s face left little doubt that her friend was enjoying the comedic value of the situation. Unable to stop herself, she began to laugh. Their shoulders shook as they gave themselves up to the moment.
    Jill finally held up a hand. “I’m sorry. It’s not funny.”
    Melanie’s giggles finally subsided as she looked at her friend. “I wanted you to know. I never would’ve…if it wasn’t for the fact that I already knew him. That’s why I was going to leave,” she admitted.
    “And now? Are you still leaving?”
    She drew her lower lip beneath her teeth. “I don’t know,” she answered honestly.
    For a moment, they were both silent. Then, Jill spoke.
    “Well, I wouldn’t be a friend if I didn’t put my two cents in,” she started to say. “Mel, I’ve known you for a long time. In all the years I’ve known you, I’ve never known you to let yourself get carried away with anything, least of all a man.”
    “So?” she replied a little defensively.
    Jill smiled as she shook her head. “So, maybe it’s time you did. Maybe you should give this thing between the two of you a chance?” she suggested.
    When she hesitated, Jill put a hand on her shoulder. “Isn’t he worth it?” she reasoned.
    She thought of this morning, when she’d found him in the kitchen trying to make breakfast in bed.
    Yes, he was worth it.
    No matter what happened.
    * * * *
    Connor hung up, his forefinger and thumb coming up to massage his temples. He still couldn’t believe it. He had tried to comfort Melanie, but deep down, he was really worried. The incident in the parking lot had been no acc i dent. Someone had deliberately tried to hit her. As if that wasn’t enough, someone had broken out the floodlights. Which meant that whoever was doing this was much closer than they thought. Luckily, the contractor would be there today to fix the lights. Still, he didn’t like the idea of her b e ing there alone.
    If he hadn’t been there last night…
    Well, he didn’t even want to think about what would have happened.
    And that wasn’t the only thing that had him befuddled. His feelings for Melanie were more powerful than he ever could have expected.
    He couldn’t lose her.
    He wouldn’t.
    He would find whoever was doing this and put a stop to it.
    In theory, it sounded perfect.
    There was only one problem.
    Who was it?
    Who would want to hurt her?
    Running down a list of potential suspects was proving to be a daunting task. After all, Melanie had already told him that she didn’t have any enemies or ex-boyfriends who might have a grudge.
    That meant that whoever was doing this was someone he knew.
    Unfortunately, he had a pretty good idea of just who that might be. It wasn’t an easy pill to swallow, though. Thinking that Miranda might be capable of what happened in the parking lot made his jaw clench painfully.
    Still, he couldn’t take any chances.
    Last night, he had made some hard decisions. He planned to see Miranda today. If she was guilty, he would know it. He would see it. Pulling out his cell phone, he quickly selected her name from the list of contacts before putting the phone to his ear. It immediately went to voic e mail. For a moment, he considered leaving a message, but hung up instead.
    If Miranda was the one doing these things, he sure as hell wasn’t going to give her any warning that he knew.
    Grabbing his jacket off the back of the chair, he hit the intercom