Parker: A Reed Security Romance

alarm, which meant that he wasn’t in the habit of setting it to begin with. After he pulled out of the driveway, I hurried across the lawn to the side door of the garage. Making it through that door, I grinned at the realization that I was just seconds from entering his house. Most people didn’t lock the door that led from the garage into the house, and he was no different.
Quietly, I slipped into the house and made my way to his study. The moonlight cast enough of a glow throughout the house that I could see where I was going without having to use my flashlight. Once in the study, I went immediately to the safe, and pulled out the equipment that I needed. I was inside the safe just a few minutes later, pulling out all of his paperwork to go through. I didn’t have time to look through all of it now, and taking it would only notify him that someone was in his home and looking into him. I quickly snapped photos of everything and then ran over to his desk to start going through all his drawers.
The top drawer was locked, so I moved on to the others, finding typical things you’d find in a desk, but nothing of interest. That top drawer, though, that really nagged at me. If it was locked, there was a reason for it. I pulled out a lock pick set and got to work, just getting it open when I thought I heard a creak in the house. My head snapped up and I paused, listening for any other sounds. Another creak down the hall had me slowly opening the drawer. I needed to find out what was in there and get out. I slid the drawer open, finding only a small key inside. Without thinking twice, I snatched the key from the drawer and moved silently to the door. Peeking into the hallway, I caught a shadow moving through the house.
Shit. I glanced around the room and decided that my best option was leaving through the window. I ran over and unlocked the window, popping the screen out with a quick shove. Once the window was shut, I laid low and watched for a few seconds. When no one showed, I popped the screen back into place and took off across the yard. When I hit the tree line, I hid behind a tree and pulled out my binoculars to see who was inside. A man stood at the window, staring straight at me. I couldn’t make out his features, but hard eyes seemed to look right through me. I jerked back with a gasp, not expecting him to have seen me. But when I put the binoculars back to my eyes, the man was gone.
I kept an eye out the entire way back to the motel, but I didn’t see anyone following me. Still, I couldn’t get those eyes out of my mind. I could tell that the man was built. He was definitely strong and I could see his muscles bulging through the black shirt he had on. I licked my lips as I thought back to the way his pants hugged his thighs. Tingles shot through me, making me shiver and clench my thighs together.
I shook my head, irritated with myself that I was turned on by a man that was obviously at the house when he shouldn’t have been. Then I laughed at myself because I had been at the house, and I had no right to be. As I pulled into the motel, I checked the rearview mirror one last time. It was clear, so I pulled into the back of the lot and walked around to my door. Slipping the key in the lock, I felt a prickle of unease shoot through me. I glanced around at the darkness one last time, but I couldn’t see anything that would set me on edge. I shoved inside and locked the door behind me. I pulled the curtains closed and watched from the side of the curtain for a good ten minutes before huffing in irritation and walking away. I was way too paranoid for my own good.
I slid the key out of my pocket, staring at it for just a second, trying to figure out what it belonged to. It wasn’t the size of a regular key, so I would guess some kind of security box at a bank. I tossed it on the table and stripped out of my clothes, tossing them on top of my bag.
The door burst in behind me and I spun around, getting in a fighting stance immediately. Shock spiraled through me when I saw the man from the window standing in my door. It had to be. He was the same build and he was the only one that would come bursting through my door so soon after I broke into a senator’s house. How did he get here? I had watched for a tail and I didn’t have one.
He charged at me, tackling me to the floor. I was so shocked that he was here that it took me a moment to respond. When fight or flight kicked in, I maneuvered underneath him, flicking my legs up into the air and wrapping them around his neck. I jerked my legs, flinging him off me as I kept my legs wrapped around him. In the next second, he had me off him and was tossing me across the room. I slammed into the wall, my head bouncing painfully off the cheap drywall. I felt the dust fall down around my face as I shook off the stunned feeling.
He came at me again, but this time I waited until he was right in front of me before I spun away, slamming my knee into his chest. He moved quickly, dodging the worst of the blow and grabbing my leg. I twisted away and used the