Cyrus by Kenzie Cox Read Free Book Online Page A

brother Chase, and I couldn’t ignore him. He’d done me a favor and was on call for Melinda’s case. He wouldn’t be calling unless there was news. Not wanting to wake Claire, I silenced the phone and gently slid out from under her as I got up.
    Being as quiet as I could, I grabbed my jeans and pulled them on, deeply regretting leaving her alone in the bed. She was lying on her stomach, the sheet bunched at her waist, exposing the creamy skin of her naked back. Flawless.
    My lips ached to kiss every inch of her. But the phone started vibrating again.
    Dammit. I took off down the stairs and finally answered. “What?”
    “We’ve got a situation over here.” Chase’s tone was all business. “Someone tried to break into Melinda’s house about an hour or so ago. The first two levels of security you installed were breached, and the perp nearly made his way into the house. If she hadn’t had that panic button you’d given her, who knows what would’ve happened.”
    “Two levels?” I echoed. Son of a bitch. Melinda Greyson had hired me a week ago when her college friend, Katrina Craig, had shown up after being assaulted by her husband. And because Katrina’s husband would more than likely be looking for her, Melinda had asked me to beef up her security and look into the asshole’s background for anything Katrina might use in the court case.
    So far I’d found nothing but bad debts and a couple DUIs. But if the intruder had been him and he’d gotten past two levels of security, he wasn’t dicking around.
    “Is everyone okay?” I asked Chase.
    “Sure. Melinda hit the panic button and scared off whoever it was, but both women are shaken up. We need to secure the house and do some investigating. When can you get here?”
    “I need to shower, get some coffee. How about an hour?” I glanced at the stairs, hating to leave Claire, but there was no choice. Two women who’d hired me were in danger.
    “I can work with that.” Chase ended the call, and I reached for the coffee pot.
    Five minutes later, I was upstairs waking Claire and then loving every inch of her in the shower.
    ***
    C hase made a show of glancing at his watch right after I walked into Melinda’s house. “Looks like your hour turned into almost two. What the hell were you doing?”
    “None of your business.” I brushed past him and strode into the back of the house to the sunroom, where I knew Melinda would be waiting.
    I found her and Katrina each holding mugs of coffee while they huddled together on the loveseat, sharing a blanket. I sat across from them on the coffee table and clasped my hands together. “Want to tell me what happened?”
    Katrina averted her eyes and turned her head, hiding the fading yellow bruise beneath her eye that had been black a week ago.
    “That bastard almost got in,” Melinda said. “The flood lights didn’t come on and the alarm didn’t go off when he broke the window in the guest room. What kind of security place are you running when a window is broken and the alarm doesn’t go off? If the dog hadn’t scared him off, who knows what would’ve happened.”
    I turned and eyed her small shih tzu. The tiny thing was curled up in her dog bed, snoring softly. “Peaches scared him off? I thought you used your panic button?” The dog couldn’t have been more than twelve pounds and wore a dog dress and a bow in her hair.
    “Peaches is vicious when she’s upset. She got to him first, and then I hit the button.” Melinda held a hand out to the little dog. “Come here, sweet girl. Give mama loves.”
    The dog continued to snore.
    “She’s worn out after her excitement.”
    “I can see that,” I said, making no effort to hide my sarcasm as I stood and motioned to Chase.
    “Where are you going?” Melinda demanded.
    “To inspect the property. No one short of a security expert should’ve been able to get past our systems.” I glanced at Katrina. “You said your ex is a delivery driver, right?”
    She