Page 66 of Colton On Guard

“The point of entry,” she said out loud. She spun around so quickly, she almost lost her footing. To her shock, she realized Parker had followed her and was standing a few feet behind her.

“See?” she asked, gesturing toward the still-open window.

“I do.” His furious expression at odds with his calm tone, he moved past her and shoved the window the rest of the way up.

“Should we notify the police?” she asked.

“And tell them what? That nothing was taken? No, if someone broke into my home, didn’t touch anything, and left the front door open so the dogs could get out, they only had one intention. To harass us.”

She nodded.

“I agree with you a hundred percent,” he continued. “Mess with our dogs and you’ve gone too far. This means war. We’re going to find out who is doing this. They need to be stopped.”

“And pay for what they’ve done,” she finished. “Now we just need to figure out how.”

He touched her shoulder. “Let’s get out of here. Camping will help clear our heads. Surely, we can come up with a plan.”

CHAPTER 14

After making sure all the windows in the house were now locked, Parker and Genna loaded up his truck. They’d packed the dogs’ blankets to sleep on, as well as their food and bowls. As usual, he’d been able to fit everything in his oversized backpack.

“What about the tent?” she asked, looking around. “Honestly, I don’t know how we’re going to carry all the stuff we need.”

“I’ve packed it.” He patted his gear. “Over the years, I’ve mastered the art of filling this. I think we’ve got everything we need.”

Her eyes widened but she nodded. “No ice chest?”

“Nope. There’s a stream with fresh running water near the campsite,” he replied.

“I guess that’s good.” She didn’t sound too certain.

Eyeing his pack, she looked at her significantly smaller one. “How heavy is that?”

“A little heavy,” he said. “But not too much for me to carry.”

Once they were settled in the truck and had driven off, the righteous indignation that had fueled Genna earlier appeared to dissipate. She put JB in the backseat so the two dogs could sleep and then heaved a sigh. “I need this more than I realized.”

“I know you do,” he said, aching to touch her but keeping his hands on the steering wheel. “I do, too.”

Her answering smile stole his breath. For a heartbeat, he considered telling her how he felt, but decided not to. Not yet. Incase she didn’t feel the same way, he didn’t want to make things awkward on the camping trip.

“You were pretty impressive back there, figuring out how they got into the house,” he said instead.

Just like that, the smile vanished from her face. “If you don’t mind, can we not talk about that for a little bit? I’d like to forget, even if just for a few hours.”

“You got it,” he replied, mentally kicking himself. Fiddling with the radio, he asked her what kind of music she wanted to listen to.

“Hip-hop or rock,” she said, surprising him. “Though I usually tend to listen to country music, I need something fierce and loud to go with my mood right now.”

This made him laugh. “I do something similar. I don’t know why, but it helps.”

“It does,” she agreed. “Once I get this out of my system, I’ll be fine.” She glanced back at the dogs, now sleeping. “Unfortunately, we can’t blare it. I don’t want to hurt their ears.”

He found the only station that played what they called “Hit Music and Classic Rock.”

“KVAK, 93.3,” he said. “Hopefully there’s something on their playlist that will hit the spot.”

A country song was playing. They exchanged looks. “Hit music,” she said. “It’s fine. Any music is good.”