No surprise. She’d heard nothing but praise when she’d called the company and checked up on him. “Congratulations, but helping me isn’t necessary.”
He stopped short right in the middle of their driveways and she nearly barreled into his chest. She sort of wished she had.
“Necessary or not, that’s how it’s going to be, Abby.”
The way he said her name made her feel like a completely different person. It made her want to step away from official roles and just be...herself. At least a slightly more relaxed version of herself. More like the person she’d been before the fallout from the drug bust.
“I wouldn’t do anything differently,” she said.
“Do you have a picture of how you did things before?”
“Yes, but I didn’t mean the decorations,” she clarified. “I was thinking about the drug bust.”
He rocked back on his heels and crossed his arms. She didn’t understand how he could look so comfortable in the chill of the evening in only his thermal and flannel shirts, jeans and boots. Maybe the tool belt had a heater built in. The thought that maybe he was the heater made her shiver.
Every time she saw him, he reinforced her growing opinion that he was a friendly, competent and kind man. The type of man a woman would be lucky to know. And that was the crux. Knowing her, being around her, could prove extremely unlucky for him. “You should just go on inside and take a break. I can handle it.”
“No.” He shook his head resolutely.
“Riley, please.”
He leaned down into her face until they were nearly nose to nose. “You’re stuck with my help. Deal with it.”
She could see the flecks of gold in his brown eyes. Her gaze drifted lower, to his mouth. His lips tipped up at one corner and she forced her eyes back to his before he could tease her with that wicked grin. It didn’t help. He was staring at her mouth. She licked her lips, wondering how he would kiss. Slow and easy? Quick and hard? She’d be happy with either. Both even.
She stepped back before she gave in and found out. She didn’t want him to get hurt because some unidentified terrorist wanted to make her suffer. But he wasn’t backing down. Did that make him foolish or her careless for appreciating it?
“Okay. Fine.”
He straightened. “Glad you understand. Now, will you show me where you store the decorations?”
She tipped her head back toward the garage. “In the loft.”
“All right.” He walked to the bed of his truck and unlocked the storage bin on one side. “I’m grabbing a couple of work lights.”
“Good idea.” It would be dark as pitch in that garage loft.
She walked on back to the garage and tested out the key he’d given her for the new lock. It felt solid and worked smoothly. She expected nothing less. Everywhere he’d been in Belclare, people commented on his friendliness as well as his expertise with all kinds of odd jobs.
Inside, she flipped the switch, grateful for the light. The narrow space was big enough for her car, but she rarely parked in here, thinking it offered her neighbors a sense of security when she left the official sedan out in the driveway. After what happened to Calder, her neighbors probably felt differently now.
“Thinking about this morning?”
She wanted to kick something but checked the urge. “I don’t understand why anyone would so obviously plant evidence like that.”
“To get under your skin.”
“Well, it’s working. But I’m not letting these scumbags make me doubt what’s right.”
“Good.” He walked past her and reached for her stepladder, carrying it over to access the loft.
The clatter of the aluminum as he opened it and the legs settling securely on the cement floor made her swear.
“You okay?”
“I’m angry.” She drew in a big, deep breath. Didn’t help. “Calder’s an innocent bystander. Why don’t they just come at me?”
“A broken lock and planted evidence sounds to me like they are,” Riley said, climbing up a few rungs of the ladder until he could read the labels on the plastic boxes stored there. “Which ones do you want me to bring down?”
“The red box of wreaths and the green box of lights should do it.”
“You’re sure?”
“I can always add more when things settle down.”
His laughter bounced around the garage. “All things considered, I wouldn’t count on that happening anytime soon.”
She took the red box he handed down and set it on the floor. “Meaning?”
“Don’t jump all over me for stating the obvious.” He propped the green box on his shoulder as he came down the ladder. “Someone wants to get even with you or at least make a point that they’re above your attempts to enforce the law.”