Unlocked!

He found a ladder and returned to the yard. He set his laptop up on the patio table and moved the camera back where he wanted it. He cleaned the dome of the motion detectors and checked the lines.

The new neighbors had placed a hot tub in the center of their small yard. Wood was stacked around it, letting him know that there were probably going to be more people around, maybe even a small construction team.

Neil made a mental note to swing around the block and check out a few cars…and their license plates.

“Finished up there?” Gwen asked from below. Neil hardly noticed that she watched him from the doorway.

Once both his feet were on the ground, he asked. “Have you met the new neighbors?”

“Not yet. Up until today, I haven’t seen anyone there since it sold.”

“It was a foreclosure, wasn’t it?”

Gwen nodded. “That’s what Eliza told me. I never met the old neighbors.”

More eyes, so long as they were friendly eyes, were better than less. A nosy neighbor was more likely to call the police if they saw anything suspicious.

“So what’s all this really about, Neil?”

“Doing my job.”

“You sure that’s all?”

He was about to answer when Gwen crossed her arms over her chest in a sign of defiance. “This doesn’t have anything to do with the possibility of Karen leaving, does it?”

He set the ladder back down. “Karen’s leaving?”

“Maybe. You hadn’t heard?”

“Heard what?” He really needed to eavesdrop on the Tarzana conversations a little more often.

Gwen lowered her voice. “I might have found a match for her. If it all works out Karen could be moving in a couple of months…maybe sooner.”

“You’re serious.”

“It’s what we do.”

A muscle in his jaw started to twitch. He tried to relax and failed.

“You’re staring at me, Neil.”

He rubbed his chin, set the ladder back up, and checked to see if another feed had been placed in the wiring so he could install another camera. To make damn sure he could see every inch of the small backyard.

He spent the next thirty minutes checking and rechecking the security equipment. There was static in one of the external audio feeds, and he made a note tell the electricians to replace them.

The entire time he moved about the house he kept thinking of her living there alone.

Lady Gwendolyn Harrison, a pampered daughter of a duke, and the most stunning woman God ever graced the earth with, had no business living alone in this cheap neighborhood only blocks away from murderers, ra**sts, and thieves. Neil had listened to the police scanners enough to understand the neighborhood demographics.

No wonder writers crafted tales of keeping captive princesses safe in ivory towers.

“You’ve tested that lock three times.” Gwen graced him with her pristine white teeth and brilliant smile.

“It sticks.”

“Ah, huh.”

“When will you know about Karen?” He twisted the lock a fourth time.

“We’ll finish the background check, and then have them meet. We should know if it’s going to work in a couple of weeks. Maybe sooner.”

Enough time to add a couple of cameras…update a couple of things. He didn’t like the amount of motion the outside detectors were picking up. He stood in the yard, completely still, and the damn things were going ape-shit crazy. Glitches like that made people ignore the signals.

He tapped the control panel used to set and unset the alarms. “What’s your distress code?”

“Zod.”

“What numbers?”

“Nine six three.”

“When do you use that code?” He was drilling her, but he didn’t know what else he could do.

“If someone was here threatening me and telling me to turn off the alarm. I know the drill. Nothing is going to happen. I’m a big girl.”

“You’re a tiny girl the neighborhood paperboy could snap like a twig if he wanted to.”

“Tommy would do no such thing. He’s a good boy.”

The edge of his lips lifted ever so slightly.

“Is that a smile I see on Neil’s lips?”

He forced his lips to a thin line.

“Oh, my mistake.” Gwen hid her own grin.

“I’ll call tomorrow with details about who will come to fix a few things.” He returned his equipment to his bag. “Lock the door behind me.”

“Yes, sir.” She gave him a mock salute.

“I’m serious, Gwen. Your security habits suck. Your brother isn’t going to let you live here alone if you don’t start taking things seriously.”

Her playful grin fell and Neil knew he’d used the wrong words to get her to move over to his way of thinking.

“My brother is not my keeper.”

“He owns the house.”

“Samantha owns the house. And she’d never make me leave.”

Neil’s jaw started to twitch again.

“Perhaps I need to remind you that I’m not a child.”

His eyes did a quick sweep of her body. “You don’t have to remind me of that.”

She took a step toward him, placed her hand on his arm. “I’ll try and be better about locking the doors.”

He nodded, not willing to let her know how much the thought of her living there alone distressed him. He opened the door to let himself out and called over his shoulder. “And park your car in the garage.”

“Oh my God, Gwen, get up here!” Karen laughed as she yelled from upstairs. “Quick.”

Gwen hustled up the stairs and found Karen hovering over her bedroom window. She’d pulled the curtains back enough to peek out.

“What is it?”

“Look!”

Gwen switched positions with her roommate and narrowed her eyes. It was late at night and the neighborhood was dark…except for the light coming from the new neighbors’ hot tub. A couple of days had passed since their arrival. In the Jacuzzi sat two people, and from what she could see one was a woman and the other a man. If Gwen had to guess, she’d say that they were an older couple. Maybe retirement age. “What am I looking for?”

“Just keep watching.”

Gwen was about to leave her spying perch when the woman stood to move to a different spot.

“She’s naked.”

Karen started laughing. “Ewww!”

“We have naked neighbors…” I never saw this back home.