Free Naked Risk (Shatterproof #3) by Jordan Burke Page A

Whatcha need, dude?”
    I stopped near the window at the end of the hall, looking out over the parking lot. “I need you to get into a dating site.”
    “Wow, this really is personal.”
    “I can’t take any jokes right now, Justin. This is life and death shit here.”
    “Okay, okay, fine. Tell me more.”
    I gave him the website and the lawyer’s username. “ He goes by Jim, but that could be a fake name. See what you can find out about this guy. Name, address, phone number, anything.”
    “On it now,” he said. I could hear him typing. “I’ll call you when I have something.”
    I hung up and stayed out in the hallway for a few minutes. I felt my pulse pounding in my ears, felt the tension in my jaw and neck. I was on the verge of rage, thinking about someone violating Catherine’s space, especially in such an overtly sexual way.
    Years had passed since I’d felt this kind of anger, a near fury building in my mind, a desire to set this right and exact some measure of revenge upon this person.
    I managed to cool down, setting my emotions aside, and letting logic do its thing.
    I had serious doubts about the security guard as a suspect. From what Catherine had told me, he sounded like a guy with poor social skills who was even worse at hiding his gawking of women. Some guys never learn how to look without getting caught.
    Her story of the date with the lawyer made him sound more boorish than dangerous, but the fact that he hadn’t talked about being an attorney struck me as odd. I’d never heard of a lawyer who didn’t like to talk about their profession, and I’d rarely known a guy who didn’t like to talk about himself in general, especially about their work. It seemed shady to me. Thin evidence, if it was evidence at all? Yes. But still I was skeptical.
    Of course, there was always the chance that it hadn’t meant anything.
    And there was a chance it was someone who wasn’t on her radar at all, a stalker who had noticed her in the dog park and followed her to find out where she lived. She thought she had a secure bubble of privacy and security, and it made her feel good to think that, but it wasn’t anywhere near the truth.
    I felt bad that she had apologized for not telling me about meeting the lawyer from the dating site. I had told her all manner of things about my rendezvous with women—some true, some purely fantasy, which she was aware of now—but that didn’t mean she was obligated to tell me everything. Or anything.
    It wasn’t any of my business.
    Until now.
     

 
     
    Chapter Fifteen – Catherine
     
     
    By the time Watts came back into t he room, I was in bed. “Everything okay?”
    “Everything’s fine,” he said, walking over to the window and drawing the curtains closed. The room darkened. A thin line of light peeked through the space between the curtain and the window, backlighting Watts, making him appear almost like a silhouette.
    I wanted to ask about the phone call. I knew it had to have something to do with the questions he had asked me. It wasn’t hard to figure out that he had begun to track down the lawyer.
    I knew Watts was tired so I said, “Why don’t you get some sleep?” I looked at the clock. It was almost 4:30 in the afternoon.
    “I’m going to try.” I watched as he undressed, only able to see the outline of his body due to the lighting.
    He slid into bed next to me. He was naked, warm, and pulled me close to him.
    “I promised nothing would happen to you,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
    I put my hand up to the side of his face. “It’s not your fault.”
    “It is,” he insisted. “I don’t know what it was, but I had a feeling that everything wasn’t okay. That’s why I’d been driving around the dog park and your place—”
    “You drove by my apartment? When?”
    “A few times last week.”
    “Was I home?”
    “Sometimes. But I mostly drove by during the day while you were at work.”
    Under any other circumstances, I would have been