it.
But no, as he looked into her sweet, worried face, his baser urges retreated. For the time being anyway .
“Someone is after me,” she murmured, almost to herself.
“Yes,” he grunted.
He placed the new bugs into the Tupperware too. His bear was all for destroying them – destroying anything at that moment was appealing. But who knows, maybe he could trace them back to who bought them. Doubtful, the bugs were a dime a dozen, but he needed to do something.
Zane placed a hand on her shoulder, and she smiled weakly at him. His thumb rubbed her collarbone, and he found the tension inside him easing a little. He wanted to comfort her, but honestly, touching her was more for his benefit than hers. His arousal ratcheted up a few notches, but the desire to go out and kill something diminished. He had a more dominant desire at that moment.
“I was kind of hoping I was just off my nut.”
“Me too.”
Sky raised an eyebrow.
“No offense,” he added quickly.
“I know. But if it was in my imagination, wouldn’t that detract from your fee, not that we’ve even discussed fees yet.”
“No – well you know, pay me what you can.” Hell, she couldn’t pay him to stay away from her.
“Seriously? I’m not great with money, but I can’t help but feel that’s not a good way to run a business.”
“Well, we can come to an arrangement.”
That elicited two raised eyebrows.
“That sounded dirtier than I thought it would,” he admitted.
She giggled. Although if she was up for that kind of thing they could be naked within thirty seconds… His bear howled excitedly.
Zane cleared his throat and counted to ten, ignoring his lust. The last thing she needed was a horny bear slobbering all over her. Shouldn’t she be given the choice? asked his bear. Ignoring him too…
“Okay,” said Sky, a look of determination on her pretty face. “How do we catch this son of a bitch?”
That stopped his lust and shut his bear up. “We, oh no, there is no we.”
“Oh yes, we. Someone broke into my apartment and listened to me. They listened to me. They need to be stopped.”
“And they will be – by me, while you are safely away from all this – preferably in another state.”
Sky cocked her head to one side. “You’re joking?”
His grim countenance didn’t suggest he did.
She frowned at him. “Look, even I know we need to try and flush out this guy… or girl. Men don’t have the monopoly on being perverts.”
Yeah, he knew that from experience.
“Okay, you’re getting way ahead of yourself here. First things first, I am going to get some new locks for your windows and doors because your security is severely lacking. Next, I’m going to check out your ex-boyfriend – Edward.”
“Ethan, and I can’t imagine he did this.”
Zane grunted in disapproval.
“Not that I think he’s above it,” she amended. “I just can’t imagine he’s organized enough to do it. Plus, I can’t imagine he’d spend any money on me. Didn’t when we were going out.”
“Sounds like a real winner.” Perhaps Zane should pound him on principal for his poor treatment of Sky. Actually, his bear was pushing for pounding him based on the fact that he dared to touch Sky in the first place. “Does he have a key to your apartment?”
“He did. He kept showing up after we broke up, so I changed the locks.”
Grrr . Never mind the pounding, he had a cousin who could make things disappear… “Have you noticed anything out of place in your apartment?”
“No, and that does bother me. Someone must have broken in to plant those bugs, and I had no clue.”
“Maybe Elway…”
“Ethan,” she corrected, amusement dancing on her lips.
“Planted them after you broke up. Maybe that’s what he was doing when you found him here after you dumped his sorry ass.”
She mewled doubtfully. “I suppose it isn’t completely out of the realm of