LITMIR.BIZ

       Chapter Five

      Summer felt like she had set women’s lib back a hundred years. What sort of grown female called a man over to her house just because the electricity went out?

      She walked into Chloe’s room to check on her again. Found her daughter sleeping peacefully in her crib just like she had been the last two dozen times Summer had checked.

      And that face at the window had just been a figment of her imagination. Nobody was standing outside her condo.

      Right?

      Summer was willing to cut herself a little slack. The last time the power had gone out, a psychopath had drugged and kidnapped her and Chloe and trapped them in a burning building.

      So she had reason to be wary of her power being out. Of course, Ashton didn’t know any of this. He was just going to think she was a coward.

      Or maybe he was going to think she wanted to see him. Seduce him or something.

      She wasn’t sure which was worse. At least if he showed up here and she was waiting in some kind of negligee, he wouldn’t think she was terrified of being alone in the dark.

      But would he be interested?

      She pushed the thought away. That was not why Ashton was on his way over.

      But she promised herself this was the last time she would allow herself to call. She was taking advantage of him. Of his politeness.

      The knock on the door startled her out of her thoughts.

      “Summer? It’s Ashton.”

      She opened the door. “Thank you again for coming over. I’m sorry. It was totally unfair for me to ask you to come back again today. Especially so late at night.”

      He completely surprised her by putting a finger up to her lips. “It’s okay. Don’t apologize.”

      He dropped his hand back to his side almost immediately, but Summer still felt shocked. She didn’t think Ashton had ever touched her except to shake her hand or in passing Chloe between them.

      And more than that. He looked different.

      She opened the door farther to allow him entrance, shaking her head. How could he possibly look different when she’d seen him just over twelve hours ago?

      But he did. Just in how he carried himself. How he was looking her in the eyes without looking away.

      How he’d just touched her.

      “Are you okay?” he asked.

      She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “I know you must think I’m a hot mess, but the last time the power went out something...” She swallowed. She really didn’t want to get into the details. “Something bad happened.”

      Ashton cocked his head sideways, studying her for a long minute, but he didn’t ask her what she meant. “It’s always better to be safe than sorry. Let me double-check the fuse box, then I’ll go to the main breaker near the street.”

      She stood at the top of the stairs as he made his way down into the basement/laundry room of her condo. He was back up in just a few minutes.

      “You were right. There weren’t any fuses tripped in the box,” he said softly, making her appreciate his awareness of Chloe’s sleeping state.

      She smiled at him. “I’m glad. If you had been able to come over here and fix the power in under ten seconds, I would’ve never been able to show my face in this town again.”

      He smiled. “It looks like you’re free to show that beautiful face whenever you want to because there’s nothing you could’ve done about the power.”

      Summer just stood staring at him. Not only did he just speak an entire sentence to her without stuttering, but did he just flirt with her?

      “Oh. Oh, okay. Good.” Now who was stuttering?

      “Let me go check the larger fuse box out by the street.”

      Summer watched him walk back outside, trying to get herself under control. Maybe Ashton was just more confident and talkative at night.

      If she thought she was attracted to him before, now she felt like she was smoldering inside.

      Maybe she should’ve met him at the door in a negligee.

      She needed some water to cool herself down. She turned away from the window—because staring at him probably looked a little desperate—and walked into the kitchen.

      And found the same hooded face pressed up against her kitchen window.

      This time she knew it wasn’t any figment of her imagination.

      She ran to the front door, then stopped. She couldn’t leave Chloe alone in the house.

      “Ashton!” she yelled.

      He looked up from where he crouched at the fuse box by the street. He got one look at her face and began immediately running toward her.

      He grabbed her arms. “What? What happened?”

      “The face in the ski mask. It was back. At my kitchen window.” She could hardly get the words out around her own breaths.

      “Go inside and lock the door, okay? Don’t open it for anyone but me. Call the police and tell them what happened.”

      “But—”

      “Summer, just do it, okay? I’ll be alright. I promise.”

      She nodded and did what he said, locking and dead-bolting the door. She grabbed her phone and called 911.

      * * *

      ASHTON PUSHED AWAY all physical discomfort from his injuries as he bolted around the building and into the woods behind Summer’s unit, Glock in hand. He knew how much she loved the privacy these trees provided. He hoped this incident wouldn’t change her opinion.

      The electrical box near the street had definitely been tampered with. The lock on the outside was broken, wires inside had been hacked. Someone wanted the power out in Summer’s home, maybe the entire condo unit.

      Ashton didn’t know if it was some punk kid playing pranks or someone with much more sinister intent. If he was still around here, Ashton would catch him.

      He wished he had his sniper rifle with him. Not because he planned to shoot the guy outright, but because looking through the scope for an enemy target was Ashton’s forte. Hiding from Ashton when he was in a secure location with his riflescope to his eye was damn near impossible.

      But instead, Ashton got to the cover of the trees and stopped. He held himself still, looking for any sign of movement in the darkness. One thing Ashton had learned as a sniper was patience.

      But nothing moved. After long minutes of holding himself completely still, he felt sure he was alone in the trees. Whoever had peeked through Summer’s window evidently had taken off as soon as he’d realized Summer had seen him. Which was good. That probably meant it was some sort of sick Peeping Tom or burglar, not someone who meant true harm.

      Although who would mean true harm to Summer? Bailey Heath, the woman who had kidnapped Summer and Chloe, had died that day on scene.

      Stupid

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