Page 26 of Legends: Easton (Legends of Fire Creek #3)

Doubt was a foreign emotion for Easton. He’d experienced fear, jealousy, rejection…but never doubt. That was a new one. But when it came to Bailee Maxwell, new experiences were becoming the norm.

Neither spoke on the drive back to his house.

The silence was fueled by a sexual tension so thick, he needed a sword to cut through it.

Being with Bailee was a no-brainer. She was beautiful, sexy, smart, funny, and easy to be around.

Their kiss had been pure fire, lighting him up from the inside out, intensifying his need and making him yearn for more.

Yet from the time he kissed until he was parking in his driveway, he started to second-guess his plan to strip her naked, throw her on his bed, and ravage her until the sun came up tomorrow.

Once he made up his mind to be with a woman, he was usually speeding toward the finish line.

He wasn’t changing his mind about being with Bailee, but he was wondering if taking things to the next level was the right move.

“I’m sure Roxy is anxious to head outside after being cooped up all day,” Bailee said softly, stepping out of the Jeep.

Roxy…riiiight. He’d forgotten the dog was holed up in his house while they had the meeting at the police station. His only thought afterward was to put a smile back on Bailee’s face. He’d managed to do that, but he could feel the shift between them now that they were back in reality.

Easton followed her to the door and braced himself for the enthusiastic greeting from Roxy.

Only, the giant furball didn’t meet them at the door.

Bailee attempted to step past him, calling Roxy’s name, but Easton’s arm shot out to stop her.

He placed a finger to his lips, warning her to stay quiet.

He listened intently, but only silence came from inside.

Nudging her back from the door, he reached for his SIG Sauer from the holster hidden by his shirt. He motioned for her to return to the Jeep, but she shook her head, withdrawing a Glock from her purse. Of course, she was armed.

Using hand signals, he told her to stay behind him while they cleared his house. With quiet steps, they moved as a unit, checking every corner and looking for any sign of an intruder or a break-in. Everything looked just as he left it, but there was no sign of Roxy either.

“Clear,” he shouted as he stepped from the guest bedroom. He returned his gun and walked into the hallway to meet Bailee.

She had disappeared, but he could hear her calling to him from the kitchen. He quickened his pace until his path crossed with hers in the living room.

“She was here long enough to eat most of her food and drink a lot of water. How could she have gotten out?”

“I don’t—”

His response was interrupted by a furious barking coming from outside. Bailee’s eyes widened, and she started to rush toward the door. He pulled her back immediately.

“Could be a trap.”

Drawing his gun again, he stepped cautiously on the porch, his head twisting back and forth to study his neighborhood.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. There were no strange vehicles on the street, and he detected no movements in the neighborhood, outside of the large dog running at a breakneck speed toward his house.

“Roxy!” Bailee moved past Easton to the edge of the porch and knelt in time to catch the dog. Roxy’s tackle sent them both to the ground, but Bailee didn’t seem to mind. Roxy licked her face in a slobbery welcome while Bailee felt in her fur for any injuries.

“She okay?” Easton pulled the front door closed and engaged the lock. Using an app on his phone, he noted the alarm system was working and didn’t show any alerts regarding a disruption in the system.

“She seems okay.”

He helped Bailee to her feet. “Good. We’ll have a vet check her out just to be sure, but first things first.”

“Get out of here?”

“Roger that. Come on, Rox.”

“I need to check on Gran.” Bailee held the Jeep door open for Roxy to hop into the back. Then she slid into the passenger seat.

“Do that. Put the call on speaker.” Easton threw the Jeep in reverse, the tires squealing as he backed out of the driveway and sped down the street.

“Where are we going?” she asked as they waited for the call to connect.

“Barlowe Auto Repair.”

The call connected.

“Hello?” The familiar voice carried through the Jeep, and Roxy barked in response.

“Gran. Is everything okay?”

Easton admired the calmness in Bailee’s tone when he was sure she was anything but.

His eyes shifted from checking out his mirrors to checking the side streets and parking lots he passed.

The last thing he wanted was to be followed or blindsided while getting Bailee to safety.

He didn’t believe for a moment that Roxy had somehow found a way out of his locked house or a way to bypass his security system. Not without help anyway.

“Yes, of course, Bailee Anne. Are you all right?”

Bailee’s shoulders relaxed. “Yes, we’re fine. I just wanted to check in. All of this has me jumpy.”

“No need to worry about us. Becky and I have spent the day baking goodies for everyone watching out for us. Just to say thank you. Jackson’s friend sent over the sweetest boy to keep us company.

His name is Turner. He was raised by his grandmother who was an elementary school teacher.

He bought her a condo in Florida so she could retire to warmer weather.

Isn’t that sweet? She used to make him fried apple pies all the time, so Becky and I whipped up a batch for him.

The house smells like Christmas with all the cinnamon in the air. ”

Easton shared a quick glance with Bailee, who was fighting a laugh. He knew Turner Drake with Atlas Security, and sweet wasn’t a word he would use to describe the man. Tough, maybe dangerous, definitely cocky. But sweet? That was a new one.

“I’m glad you’re enjoying your time with Becky. I’ll check in with you again later. Love you, Gran.”

“I love you too, Bailee Anne. And you Easton. You two be careful, or you’ll be answering to me.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Easton responded, and Roxy barked again.

“You be good, too, Roxy girl. See you soon.”

Bailee ended the call and leaned her head back against the seat. Roxy leaned forward, sniffing her owner’s face until Bailee scratched behind the dog’s ear.

“I have a bad feeling, Easton.”

He made a sharp turn and watched his rearview carefully. “Me, too. I’m not sure what we walked into, but I intend to find out.”

He slowed down as they approached his family’s garage.

He pulled into an empty repair bay, and when he stepped out, he closed the automatic doors to the bay, hiding his Jeep.

He met Bailee and Roxy at the front of his Jeep and shouted a greeting to his brother’s main mechanic, who worked under a hood in one of the other bays.

“Hey, Chum. Where’s Luke?”

Peter Chumley peered around the hood, unfazed by the sudden appearance of his boss’ brother or by Easton closing the garage doors. “His office.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem,” the man responded before going back to work.

The repair shop had a front office that was used for handling customers and general business.

Further back, away from public access, was a secondary office that was Luke’s alone.

He often used the space for research purposes when the Legends were on a case, and Easton guessed that’s what his brother was doing now — researching Bailee’s case.

“Hey, Luke, it’s me,” Easton called through the closed door after knocking a couple of times.

He heard a muffled response and took that as permission to come inside. Roxy began sniffing around the room, conducting her own canine investigation.

Luke scowled as he looked up from his laptop.

His eyes rested a moment on Easton and Bailee’s joined hands before traveling up to meet his brother’s.

Easton didn’t realize until that moment that he had grasped Bailee’s hand as he led her to the office and hadn’t let go.

He rather liked the feel of her hand in his and decided that’s where it would stay for now.

“What’s up?” Luke’s demeanor changed when he looked in Easton’s face.

“Pretty sure someone broke into my house while we were gone. Either that, or Roxy has learned how to unlock the door and lock it behind her before going on a run of the neighborhood.”

“Roxy okay?” Luke asked as he watched the dog sniffed every nook and cranny.

“Yeah, we think so, but I’d like a vet to check her out to be sure.”

“Alarm system?”

Easton shook his head. “Nothing.”

“Cameras?”

“Didn’t take time to check them. We just got out of there. The house looked intact, but I didn’t stop to take inventory either.”

Luke went back to his computer. With Roxy continuing her investigation of Luke’s office, Easton rounded his desk with Bailee in tow so they could see his screen.

In no time, Luke had the video feed to Easton’s security system playing.

After several minutes of nothing out of the ordinary, the figure of a man appeared at the edge of the frame.

“Come on. Show yourself, asshole,” Easton murmured, his eyes transfixed on the screen.

As if on cue, the stranger stepped into view and turned to stare directly at the camera. There was no mistaking the bearded face or beady eyes. The guy raised an aerosol can of some kind, and soon the camera went black.

“Melvin,” Bailee said. “So there’s no way to see what he did after that.”

“Hold on.”

Luke went to work, and soon a view of the back of Easton’s house came on the screen.

“Is that camera from Gran’s house?”

Luke nodded before he explained to her. “We upgraded her system so we could have complete access to anyone coming or going from the area. We didn’t want to take any chances with Melvin. Mrs. Maxwell gave us the okay.”