The sky started to open up, and small droplets of rain fell.

“Thanks for your advice,” she said.

“I’ll be in touch.”

Grace went straight to her condo after the city meeting and changed. She packed her mud boots and parka for her drive to Dameon’s canyon home. She had started to pack an overnight bag and decided against it. As a rule, she wasn’t a woman afraid of the dark, or being in a house alone. But the canyon house was isolated without a lot of traffic going by. Heeding Carson’s advice, she didn’t think it was in her best interest to be there alone once the sun went down.

As she drove through town, Grace paid close attention to the cars behind her.

Nothing out of the norm stuck out. Outside of the slapping of her windshield wipers, the drive was uneventful.

Grace waited until she was inside the house before calling Dameon using his landline.

His phone went to voice mail after the third ring. “It’s me. I wanted to tell you how everything went today. And bring you up-to-date on a few things. I’m at the house, so call the landline. You know how bad the service is out here. I’m going back to my condo in a couple of hours. Before dark. I don’t want you to worry. Oh, and if I don’t answer right away, it’s because I’m outside. Now I sound paranoid.” She laughed and then had to stifle the urge to tell him she loved him.

When she hung up the phone, she realized how easy the thought rolled through her head.

She’d fallen in love with Dameon Locke. He’d somehow become the person she wanted to talk to every morning and every night. There wasn’t a single red flag warning her that loving him was wrong. She smiled into the thought.

She walked over to the thermostat to turn up the heat and decided against it. She wouldn’t be in there long enough to need it. And that disappointed her. She’d actually looked forward to staying the night, even if Dameon couldn’t be there with her. Being in his space and seeing the few memories she’d shared with him made her feel more connected. Like she belonged.

But Carson’s advice sounded in her head. “You wouldn’t be the first person to get harassed after filing a lawsuit . . . Tell Dameon. Tell your family.”

Grace stared at her phone and thought of who she should call. It was the middle of the day, so she knew Colin was working. She was pretty sure Matt was home, but telling him about the car thing would go straight to Erin. And yeah, Grace didn’t need the pregnant woman worrying. So Grace called Parker.

“How did it go?” Parker asked the second she picked up the phone.

“They want to give me my job back.”

“That’s great.”

Grace sighed. “I don’t know if I want it.”

“That’s fair.”

“Listen, I’m at Dameon’s. I have about an hour of work to do here, two at the most, and I’m headed back to my place.”

“I thought you were going to stay through the storm.”

“I was, but I don’t think it’s wise to be out here by myself right now.” She took a few minutes to tell Parker about the car that followed her and was quick to say that it hadn’t happened twice.

“That’s scary,” Parker said.

“I don’t want to be paranoid, but I really don’t want to be stupid.”

“I think you’re smart to get out of there long before dark,” Parker told her.

“Yeah. I’m still sensitive after Erin.” Although Grace had to admit, if only to herself . . . Erin’s ex and all the insecurities he’d created were fading into her past. She had to credit Dameon for that. For showing her that there were good men out there.

“We all are. I have you on Friend Finder. Call before you leave the house.”

“I will. And I’ll call when I get home,” Grace said.

“I’ll keep my phone handy.”

Grace hung up and bundled into her rain gear.

She took a good look around once she stepped outside. There weren’t any strange cars parked on the road or driving by. In fact, there weren’t any cars on the road directly in front of the drive.

She walked through the mud and the rain off Dameon’s fenced-in property and onto the larger part of land he would be developing. It was raining enough to run down the hillsides and into the uncontrolled wash. She kept her distance to avoid being swept away. Unlike other places in the valley where rain funneled into flash-flood danger zones, this particular area wasn’t that dramatic. But that didn’t mean it didn’t come with its own set of challenges. Grace took pictures from every angle she could manage. She used voice-to-text to write notes for herself. Controlling what Mother Nature brings would have to be a high priority for Dameon’s project. More than once she really wished he was there to see firsthand what the property looked like during a storm.

In addition to pictures, she let a video run for quite a while.

It had been a little over an hour before she traversed the route back to the house.

By now the rain was pounding the already soggy roads, and she’d taken on enough water to resemble a duck.

She shook off her rain gear and hung it on a hook by the front door. Her mud boots stayed on the tile.

A message from Dameon was waiting for her on his answering machine.

“Hey, hon. I just spoke with Carson. Why didn’t you tell me about someone following you?”

“Oops.”

“I get it, you’re my fiercely independent, take-no-prisoners woman . . . it’s one of the many things I love about you. But please don’t keep these things from me. I’m leaving the office now. Traffic report says I will be there in an hour and a half. Call me if you leave the canyon and I’ll go straight to your condo. Okay?”

Grace double-checked the time stamp on the message and looked at her watch. He was less than thirty minutes out.

She lifted the receiver and dialed his cell.

“Hello, Wonder Woman” is how he answered.

“I know. I’m sorry. I should have told you.”

She could tell he had her on a speaker through his car. The muffled sound of the rain and swish of the windshield wipers had her straining to hear everything Dameon said. “Yes. You should have. When Carson told me . . . it scared me, Grace.”

She leaned against the kitchen counter. “This sharing of my life isn’t something I’m used to,” she said in her defense.

“I’ve met your family. And the whole lot of you overshare everything.”

Grace laughed. “If I told them about this, they’d have me locked in a room somewhere.”

“Maybe that’s wise.”

She couldn’t argue. “How far out are you?”

“Traffic sucks, but it’s moving. I’ve got another thirty minutes.”

She walked over to the thermostat and turned it up. “It would take me at least twenty minutes to drive to my place, so I’ll just stay here.”

“All right. Lock the doors.”

“I already did.”

He chuckled. “Good. I, ah . . . yeah, I’ll see you soon.”

“Drive carefully.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Using a towel from one of the bathrooms, Grace patted down her soaked pants and attempted to dry her hair. She pulled back the shades on the front window and peered outside. The rain was really coming down and the sky was dark with clouds. But it was still a couple of hours until sunset, so even though she knew Dameon was on his way, it was a relief to know he’d be there before dark.