You Belong With Me by Kristen Proby

Author:Kristen Proby [Proby, Kristen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781633500532
Publisher: Ampersand Publishing, Inc.

“And then we got new mountain lion cub triplets,” I say as Archer drives me home from work. “They can’t be more than three weeks old. Absolutely adorable. We don’t know where their mama is. Probably poached.”

I feel the heat creep up my face. Whenever an animal is lost to the greed of humans, it pisses me right off.

“Why people feel the need to illegally kill animals is beyond me. There are seasons for hunting, for the love of Moses. But we’ll take care of them. The goal is to release them back into the wild.”

“That’s pretty incredible,” he says with a nod. “I’m glad it turned out to be a good day. Now, about moving in with me.”

“It feels silly to do that.”

“Why?”

“Because I have a home.”

“Yes, but if I’m going to be your chauffeur, it makes sense that you base out of my place until the car is fixed.”

“It’s not that I don’t enjoy being with you, or even want to be with you. I hope you know that.”

“But?”

“But it feels fast, and it feels like I’m taking advantage of you.”

“You’re not. There, we solved that problem.”

Okay, he does make a good point. And, frankly, I missed him last night. And didn’t I decide that I was going to enjoy every minute with him that I could get?

“You’re awfully sure of yourself.”

“I’m just positive that I want to be with you. If you’d rather I move into the cottage, I can do that. I don’t mind.”

“It seems like a waste to not stay in that gorgeous beach house,” I reply.

He pulls into my driveway as I bust up laughing. But the laughter dies when I see my front door standing wide-open.

“I’m going to assume you closed that when you left this morning.”

“I always double-check the locks,” I confirm as dread spreads through me. “They found me. Oh, God, they found me.”

“Don’t jump to conclusions. And stay put.” He pulls out his phone and dials 911. His hand reaches for mine as he waits for someone to answer. “We believe we have a break-in.”

He rattles off my name and address, and within five minutes, the cops show up.

There’s been no movement inside.

I get out of the car, but the officers motion for me to stand back.

“We’re going to do a sweep, make sure no one is in there. Then we’ll get your statement, miss.”

“Of course.”

Archer moves up beside me and wraps his arm around my shoulders as we watch the cops go inside and around to the back of the house. Less than two minutes later, they reappear, holstering their weapons.

“There’s no one here, but someone definitely ransacked the place.”

Bile rises in my throat.

“Can I go in?”

“Yes, ma’am. We need you to tell us if anything is missing.”

There’s only one thing of value in there.

I run inside and up to my bedroom, wanting to sob at the sight of my little cottage. I hurry to the dresser, open the bottom drawer, and breathe a sigh of relief when I see the photo of my grandmother, exactly where I put it days ago.

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