Her CEO Stalker and Her Second Chance Mate Chapter 18

Carter

I had stopped my truck up the drive and meandered down to Jake’s truck. Watching her fuss with the truck was comical. When she started swearing, I stepped in. She gripped the damn screwdriver like a weapon, her heart and her breathing like a doe ready to take flight. Her eyes were a mix of fear and fury. Easy, sweet thing, I thought, first seeing her hands tighten, before I could properly assess the situation. She was most definitely not my typical assignment. Once I had measured the threat of her hands, all I could see were the angry bruises that marred her pretty face, streaked with oil and grime. It caught me in the chest and my teeth gritted. Her mass of white-blonde hair piled up in a messy bun with tendrils escaping every which way, took my breath away. She was a beautiful skittish mess.

Only a few things could have caused the way she reacted to my sudden presence. Usually, a law officer brought a sense of ease, as long as you were a law abiding citizen. Based on the state of her face, the strings on my heart pulled twice. She needed protection, not eviction. 

When she finally grasped my hand for a shake, the entire world seemed to implode around us. The only thing I could see was her, as I stared into vivid aqua blue eyes. Holy shit! That, I wasn’t expecting. She cocked her head and I managed to swallow hard as I forced myself to release her hand.

“Jake rarely used the truck. You probably need some fresh gas.” I managed to keep my words steady.

“I don’t really want to go into town, but the power is off, so I need to get that sorted out, and I need a few things to get by until it’s up and running,” she said, stepping too far away from me, and holding the hand I had just touched to her chest. I shook my head to attempt the one clear thought from sounding off in my head.

“Go pull yourself together. I'll take you to get what you need and get your power turned on.”.”

She stared at me confused, still holding her hand to her chest, a few moments passed before she nodded, took a few steps away and headed into the house. What the fuck was I going to do with this woman? What was I going to tell him? I sighed and began the walk down the drive to retrieve my truck and bring it up to the house while I also tried to sort out my head. She’d be a few minutes at least. I pulled out my phone and dialed Amber at the power office.

“Carter?” she asked, surprised I had called her.

“Hey, Amber, I need a favor.”

“What’s that?” 

“I need you to stay open till I get there, and don’t ask too many questions. Just play along. I’m sorry, I know it’s asking you to be late closing up, but it’s official business.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, I need you to make it a priority, and keep it quiet, please.” I heard her sigh on the other end.

“Okay, but when Blaze has a hissy fit because he has to do daycare pick up duty, I’m sending him to you,” she stated her terms.

“Roger, that,” I agreed to her terms. Blaze would cuss me out, no doubt. Then he would give the kids ice cream for dinner and chaos would ensue. I wasn’t ignorant of what I was asking the mom of three to do, nor how it would affect her family. Blaze could suck it up and I’d make it up to Amber later. No doubt a night of babysitting was in my future.

I spent ten minutes pacing around my truck, contemplating how to handle this situation, before I pulled up ten minutes later to find her standing on the porch, her hair pulled back in a high ponytail, her bruises covered with layers of makeup, barely visible; if I hadn’t seen her twenty minutes before, and had that image burned into my memory, I wouldn’t have known. It continued to play back over and over again as my anger ate at me from the inside out. Now she wore a pair of short-as-hell shorts, where the pattern pockets peeked out of the bottom, and a tank top that left little to the imagination, as she went braless. Shit! She was a fine piece of tail, if I ever did see one, but my manly reaction halted the second I glimpsed the yellowing bruises on her arms. I wanted to kill something now.

My hands clenched as she pulled on a hoodie, covering the bruised skin, and placed a pair of sunglasses on her face, concealing those pretty eyes from me. She seemed so frail, yet her personality didn’t know whether to be warm or frigid. For the first time in my life, I didn’t know what the fuck I was doing. I had no plan and no trajectory.

She bent down and rummaged through the backpack, before handing me another piece of paper. I skimmed over the legal jargon. Until I got to the part where she was listed as sole heir to Jake’s estate, including his business. I looked up to see her crossed arms and scorn in her eyes. She knew I didn’t believe her. I glanced at the signature of the man who had notarized everything and sighed. 

She was telling the truth. I stared at her slack-jawed, not knowing what to say. She snatched them out of my hand.

“Satisfied, Sherriff?” I closed my eyes, so many thoughts racing through my mind, I just nodded and opened the truck door for her. She got in, with a grimace before placing the backpack protectively between her legs. I forced myself to gently shut the door. I wasn’t mad at her, I was just blindsided. Jake had secrets, ones he probably knew about. This assignment had just gotten as complicated as it could get.