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“Is it okay if I take your phone?” he asked, forcing himself to focus on the task at hand. “I want to download the conversation and the metadata to match up the timestamps.”
Star nodded immediately. “Anything you need.” Her eyes were soft and inviting, her voice low and warm as she added, “Anything you want, actually.”
Ethan’s brain short-circuited for half a second. Oh, the things he could imagine wanting with this woman.
He gave her a crooked smile and shook his head. “We’ll leavethatfor later. For now, I need to get to work. I’ll bring the phone back when I’m done.”
She wrapped her arms around herself as he stood. “I might not hear you if you return while I'm working. I have office hours from nine to three. I do dictation and transcription work, so I'll probably have my headphones on.”
“Not a problem.” Ethan slung his jacket over his arm. “I’ll keep it with me if you don’t hear me.”
She nodded. “Okay. Whatever you need from me, you've got it.”
“Good.” He pointed toward the door as he headed toward it. “Lock the front and back doors after I leave. Not because I think you're in danger. Just … because. The world’s full of crazies.”
Star tilted her head and gave him a curious look. “You really do think the worst of people, don’t you?”
Ethan smiled. “And you really think the best of people, don’t you?”
She gave a sheepish shrug. “Well, I did. Until last night. That freaked me out so badly I actually watchedThe Godfatherto see if I could gain any pointers for protecting myself from a hit.”
Ethan rolled his eyes. “The Mafia isn't stalking you, Star. And if it were the Mafia, it wouldn’t be over some random conversation at a hardware store.”
“But they were talking about killing someone!” Her voice pitched higher. “That’s Mafia-ish, right? I mean … the Mafia's a thing.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, it's still a thing. But these days, they’re more into illegal gambling, prostitution, and drug trafficking than hardware-store hits. Most of the old-school enforcers are retired or behind bars.”
She huffed out a breath, clearly not reassured.
“Lock the door,” Ethan said again as he reached the kitchen door.
She gave him a thumbs-up. “On it, boss.”
Ethan opened the door and stepped out—right onto a rotted stair board. The wood gave way beneath his weight with a sickening crack, and his leg plunged through the step.
“Ah, damn it!” His knee caught the splintered edges, halting his fall.
Star bolted to the door. “Oh my God! Are you okay?”
Ethan grimaced and looked up at her. “Yeah. I’m fine.” He braced his hands on the porch floor and carefully hauled his leg free. “Looks like I’ll be replacing these boards today, too.”
“You don't have to do that,” she said, wringing her hands. “I mean, I knew they were rotted. I was avoiding them. I was going to get to it eventually. I can go grab some lumber and fix them.”
Ethan rubbed his aching knee and held up a hand. “Star. We’re dating. You're going to let me help you with stuff now. And today, that starts with these stairs, the security system, and tracking down the guys from the hardware store. Understand?”
Her mouth opened. Then closed. Then opened again. “Okay. Okay. It’s just … I’m not used to anyone doing things for me.”
“Well,” Ethan said, carefully descending the rest of the steps, “you’ve got someone now.” He called Thor, who deftly leaped the broken stair and trotted after him.
CHAPTER6
Ethan returned to his house without further disasters and headed straight for the shower, scrubbing away the stairway stain residue and the lingering scent of caramel macchiato that clung to his clothes. After changing into clean jeans and a soft, worn T-shirt, he went downstairs to his secure workspace.
Before entering the room, he placed Star’s cell phone into a Faraday box. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her—it was protocol. Every electronic device had to be shielded before it entered his secure area.
He powered on his system and waited while the monitors came to life and the encrypted programs initialized. His Guardian phone buzzed softly in his pocket as the monitoring app confirmed all systems were operational. The Guardian controllers were running dynamic missions globally, but all systems remained firmly in the green in his little corner of the world.
Ethan settled into his chair, logged into the system, connected the wires to Star’s phone and accessed her information. Within moments, he downloaded the transcription and associated metadata. He then added several layers of firewall protection to her device. The new security protocols wouldn’t stop a determined, high-level hacker but would certainly block the opportunistic amateurs who prowled the digital landscape for easy targets.