"What?" he growled, not in the mood for this conversation.

"Now, Wade," the voice on the other end sneered, "is that any way to talk to your wife?"

He debated throwing the phone out the window. His emotions were already out of control, and she was like gasoline on a fire. Always had been, but he'd been too stupid to see it back then. Wade braced for the explosion. "Ex-wife, Tara. What do you want?"

She tsked him under her breath. "Why are you so crabby? Am I interrupting something?" When Wade didn't answer her voice went up an octave. "Are you with her?"

Her games were getting tiring. "I'm working, Tara." He missed the turn to Sydney's because he was so annoyed. "You have thirty seconds, and then I'm hanging up." He pulled into the nearest driveway and wheeled around to backtrack.

"Who is she? That little waitress who's caught your eye. Did you forget my parents are still in the area and I hear things?" He wanted to ask her if she forgot the part where they got divorced, but he learned a long time ago to not engage her in an argument or that would simply draw things out longer. She kept griping then finally exploded. "d.a.m.nit, Wade. Answer me!"

He knew it would p.i.s.s Tara off, but he didn't care. Sydney's house was up ahead and he was done dealing with her insanity. "Your thirty seconds are up. Bye, Tara." As soon as he hung up, the phone rang again. He let it go to voicemail. Wanting no part of Tara, he tucked his phone into the cup holder and put it on silent. Parking his car in the shadows, Wade watched Sydney and Faith move through their house and begin their nighttime routine.

Once darkness fell, Wade could make out Sydney's silhouette at the kitchen window, washing the dinner dishes. The blinds were closed tight, the house he knew was locked up like a vault, but on occasion she would stop and listen. While her protective mother was watching everything around her, Faith ran around the house, flitting from room to room, without a care in the world. She liked to leave a trail of lights blazing in her path which made her easy to track, the shadows of her dolls' heads bobbing up and down as she played.

Wade stretched his legs out under the dashboard as best he could, trying to get more comfortable, but it was nearly impossible. A man his size should not spend this much time in a car. It was getting to be pathetic and borderline stalker-ish. However Sydney was already edgy and if she knew that he had dug into her past, she'd vanish. The only option he had left was to spend hours in his truck, watching her. Or that's what he told himself to justify his growing obsession. His phone buzzed against his thigh. Tara, again, but this time it was a lengthy text going into great detail about how little she thought of him. He scrolled through to get her latest threat and then, as the ultimate sucker punch, she attached a picture of Max.

He should have deleted it and not even looked, but when he saw the cake covered face, he couldn't help himself. Max had turned three years old yesterday. It didn't take a picture sent in anger to remind him. He couldn't possibly forget the little boy, even if he wanted to. The boy's birthday marked a beginning and an end for him. His thumb swept over the image with longing. Could he have done something differently? Beating himself up wouldn't change the past, he needed to remember that. He tucked the phone away and returned to his vigil. His body froze and went on high alert when he saw a hooded shadow move through Sydney's kitchen.

It wasn't Sydney, it couldn't be. The height was all wrong. He quickly scanned the house, looking for her shadow. Dinner was over so she would be upstairs with Faith. The figure was much taller and definitely bulkier than Sydney. There was also no tell-tale ponytail hanging down her back. The roll of the shoulders, the stance, were all masculine. No way were those movements Sydney's. He'd studied her body enough these last few months to know how the woman moved through a room and that was not it. His heart began to pound with worry. It looked like Sydney's troubles might have finally caught up with her.

"s.h.i.t," he growled, leaning forward in his seat to get a better look at the home and confirm his suspicions. The trail of lights Faith had started downstairs was now off, and the only illumination came from the upstairs bathroom where Sydney was probably giving Faith a bath.

There was a second of pause where his jealousy had him wondering if it was possible that this man was an invited guest in her home. A lover. Wade saw red at the mere thought of another man kissing Sydney, or making love to her. His possessive nature and past betrayals clouded his thinking but he forced all of that out of his mind. He had been watching her for over an hour and seen no contact between Sydney and this individual. Whoever it was, Sydney and Faith had no idea he was there. And with two unsolved murders in the area, irrational or not, Wade needed to check it out.

Even if he ended up looking like a fool.

Wanting to be prepared for anything, Wade grabbed his gun and slipped out of his car, taking great care to remain camouflaged. All he needed was a neighbor coming out and drawing attention to his presence for this thing to go south, and quick. He approached the house and immediately found signs that someone had tampered with the security system around back. It wasn't a high tech approach, but it had gotten the job done.

Wade slipped inside, gun in hand. It was a challenge entering a house where there was at least one unknown intruder as well as a woman and a young child. If he wasn't careful, this could end badly, very badly. Common sense told him to call for backup, but he had rushed out of his car without his phone. In his annoyance with Tara, he'd taken it out of his pocket: a careless mistake he hoped wouldn't be fatal.

The house was meticulously kept with no extraneous things in sight. The furniture was minimal, with very few personal items decorating the s.p.a.ce. It made it easier for him to move through the unfamiliar house without knocking things over or missing potential hiding places for the intruder. He could hear the soft sounds of Sydney and Faith's conversation upstairs. Occasionally the gentle splash of water would break the silence as he crept through the house, clearing each room. From the stairwell, he heard a creaking noise and went on high alert.

The kitchen still smelled of the pizza Sydney had baked for dinner. A small plate of uneaten vegetables sat on the otherwise empty counter. Wade slipped past the bar stools and cautiously approached the stairs. When a switchblade struck out at him from the darkened stairwell, he let his instincts take over.

In a flurry of motion, Wade reached into the shadows, making contact with flesh and bone as he grabbed the attacker's wrist and wrenched the person to the floor, landing on top. Once he immobilized their hands over their head so there was no chance of them drawing another weapon, Wade paused, until a knee landed hard on his inner thigh. Years of discipline kept him from budging. He tightened his grip and growled, "Don't move." When he felt the body beneath him shudder, he paused.

There was little muscle on the person pinned beneath his chest. Instead of the hulking form he saw in the window, soft feminine flesh pressed against his straining muscles. Something wasn't right. It didn't even dawn on him that could have been Sydney until he heard her whisper his name.

"Wade?"

"Shh, don't move," he whispered in her ear, now more concerned than ever about the intruder. Faith was unprotected upstairs.

"I swear I would have made you that pie. You didn't need to break in and take it by force." She tried to laugh off his rough handling but he could feel her body trembling beneath him. She was terrified.

He lowered his head until his lips were pressed against her ear. "Someone is in the house."

"Faith," she gasped and with a rush of adrenaline, she gave a shove to try and get him off of her, but her effort was futile. She was pinned there until he wanted her to move. "Let me go." The desperate tone in her voice was like a punch in his gut. When he moved his leg, she scurried to the wall and pressed herself tightly against it.

"Listen," he said, his voice leaving no room for doubt or question of who was in charge. "I want you to get Faith and..." Their conversation was interrupted by a wet little girl in a towel who appeared on the stairs beside them. Wade hid the gun behind his back and tucked it into the waistband of his jeans so Faith didn't see the weapon. Sydney took his hand and he felt her press the cool steel of the blade to him.

"Mommy? Why did you scream?" Water still dripped off her wet curls as Sydney pulled her into her arms.

"That's my fault, honey," Wade said softly hoping if he kept his voice quiet, she would follow suit. "I wanted to surprise your mommy, but I think I scared her instead."

"Oh, okay." She settled into Sydney's arms and put her head on her shoulder.

Wade had to get the two of them someplace safe so he could check the rest of the house. There was a noise upstairs that made them spring into action.

"Let's play a game," Sydney said quickly, picking up Faith and moving away from the stairs. "How about hide and go seek? Faith, let's hide and Wade will come find us." He could see there were tears in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She had her daughter to think about. "And we have to be quiet because Wade is very good at this game."

Oblivious to the fact she was soaking wet and in a towel or that their lives were in danger, Faith's head bobbed up and down, then she pointed a finger in his face. "Count to twenty before you come looking," she said in a stern voice as she wiggled out of Sydney's arms, but her mother kept a death grip on her wrist.

Sydney made it look like she was casually hugging Wade but her body was taut with fear. "You cleared the downstairs, right?" Wade gave a curt nod. "We'll be in the bathroom. The door is solid oak with a deadbolt. The window is gla.s.s block so we'll be fine." As Wade turned to leave she grabbed his arm. "Be careful." Again he nodded but she held him in place a second longer. "When things are clear, you need to identify yourself and say 'zyxt' or we're not coming out."

There wasn't time to ask all the questions that came to mind from that exchange, so he simply touched her cheek because he needed to rea.s.sure her in some small way, and then he leaned back against the wall and gave the appearance of closing his eyes as he started counting softly. All that mattered was their safety. There was a rustle of noise and then they were gone. He waited until he heard the click of the deadbolt sliding shut before he drew his gun and headed upstairs.

There was a trail of little wet footprints along the stairs and down the hall from the bathroom. There were four doors in all upstairs, limiting the options for the intruder. Wade carefully entered the first door, which was Faith's room. The tiny double mattress sat on the floor, the pink bedspread neatly made. The floor was covered with all the dolls he had watched her play with earlier. The only area that a man could conceal himself would be her closet so Wade slowly approached, ready for anything. He opened the door, pointing his gun inside but there was nothing more than clothes and a tiny pile of shoes.

From Faith's room, his next stop was the bathroom, the mirror still fogged over from Faith's bath. With just two doors left, he knew it was only a matter of time before there was a confrontation with the intruder. He tightened his grip on his gun, ready to extinguish the threat.

As he nudged the door to the next room open, he knew it was Sydney's bedroom. He could smell her in the air. It was neat and tidy with little to mark it as hers except for that scent unique to her. He'd know it anywhere, the way his body responded to it. With all the times he had imagined himself in her bedroom, it was never with a gun drawn. That sobered his thoughts and brought him back to the task at hand. He had just cleared her room when he heard footsteps on the stairs followed by a loud crash from downstairs.

Wade took off down the hall, taking the stairs two at a time. Sydney and Faith were still silent which was good because it allowed him to follow the smallest of noises. He slowly crept into the living room and he was immediately hit by a cool breeze. The middle window sash was thrown open wide, the curtains dragged through to the outside where the intruder had made his escape. Wade stepped around the overturned coffee table and looked out the window. There was no sound except for the distant barking of a neighbor's dog.

Out of habit, Wade grabbed a towel from the kitchen and used it to close and lock the window, then he went and quickly searched the house again to make sure the man was gone. Only after he cleared the house was he willing to bring Sydney and Faith out of the bathroom. He went to the door and gave it a sharp tap. There was no reaction from the other side.

"It's Wade, Sydney." Still no sound. "Zyxt." At the mention of their safe-word Faith let out a squeal.

"You found us!" The little girl hurled herself into Wade's arms. "That took you a long time. We were really quiet." Behind her, a visibly shaken Sydney stood up and collapsed against his side. He wrapped his free arm around her shoulders and held her close. He needed the contact more than he wanted to admit.

"Why don't you go get a snack in the kitchen?" He let Faith down and watched her run off, unaware of the danger she had been in. "Zyxt?"

Sydney gave a half-hearted smile. "Agnes' suggestion. It's the last word in the dictionary." A shudder went through her body. "What the h.e.l.l just happened?" Sydney asked as Wade wrapped both his arms around her, nearly crushing her.

He didn't want to share the whole truth about how and why he was there, so he edited. "I wanted to talk to you, and as I approached the house, I noticed the side door was ajar. I saw a shadow of a hooded man pa.s.sed in front of the window downstairs while you were upstairs." Her face paled. "I thought maybe you had company until I saw the sensors from the security system tampered with and the side door wedged. I think you know the rest."

"D-Did you see him?" Her voice trembled. "The guy. Did you get a good look at him?"

Wade shook his head. "He went out the window."

"What am I going to do?" she mumbled to herself, but Wade decided to offer a solution.

"How about you tell me what's going on?"

Her brown eyes were full of fear and he could tell she wanted to tell him, but she didn't trust him enough to do it. Instead she shook her head and moved away from him. "I need to go check on Faith."

Wade didn't bother to hide his displeasure. In a rougher voice than he intended he said, "The b.a.s.t.a.r.d knocked over the coffee table so I'm going to run out to my car and grab an evidence kit. I'll see if he left any prints on that or your window then I'll be out of your hair."

Sydney reached for him but he moved faster. "Wade, wait."

"Go check on Faith," he said as he walked out the door. The walk back to the car was good because it gave him time to clear his head. He was angry at Sydney, scared for Sydney, and tired of thinking about Sydney, period. But he had a job to do. From the trunk he grabbed his evidence kit. Before he went back to the house, he stuck his head into the front seat to grab his clipboard when he stopped short and a string of vile curses flew from his mouth.

From his evidence kit he grabbed a pair of gloves and a plastic bag. He carefully opened the door and reached to the pa.s.senger's seat where he picked up the edge of a piece of paper. Once it was inside the bag and sealed, he stripped the gloves and tossed them onto the ground.

Inside the evidence bag was a picture of Sydney at the diner, her throat with a large red slash across it.

MORNING CAME FAR TOO soon. Or maybe Sydney had been up far too late. Either way, the sun was up with all its blinding brilliance and it meant she had to get out of bed and face the day. And her troubles. The urge to bury her head under the pillow was overwhelming until she remembered she still had a visitor camped out downstairs. In the morning light, her curiosity got the better of her and she crept downstairs.

With one eye open she made her way into the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee. She couldn't believe it was already seven. Last night, when Wade came back to the house and showed her the picture, she had crumbled onto the couch and cried. Amazingly, Wade said nothing, and simply took charge as he always did. He scooped Faith up in his arms and somehow managed to get her to sleep, which was impressive. She had countless excuses to stay up if something was going on she was interested in. Sheriff Jenkins in the house was big time excitement, by Ross standards. She shouldn't have been able to sleep for weeks, but Wade had her dreaming peacefully in record time.

Overachiever.

The temptation to see him called to her as the coffee pot began to brew. Knowing he was only a few feet away was killing her. Sydney tried to fight the urge, but the gentle snores she heard coming from the living room were too much to resist. Before she could stop herself, she was standing in the doorway. From there, she could take her time and observe him.

There were no words to explain how uncomfortable the poor man looked, sprawled across her couch in the early morning light. His arms dangled off the cushions as his subconscious searched for more room. His ma.s.sive body easily swallowed up the length of the secondhand couch. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, maybe it was her overactive libido. Either way, she found it incredibly s.e.xy to see him like that.

Most men would have run for their lives with the hysterics last night promised. Others would have stormed off the second she wouldn't tell them anything more than, "it's a long story." But Wade had patiently waited until the tears had pa.s.sed. After Faith was asleep, he called one of his deputies over to take the evidence in and start the paperwork on the break in. The one thing he didn't do the entire night was leave her side.

Sydney's last memory before she fell asleep was sitting on the couch and mumbling that she didn't want any of this to hurt Faith. That she had to protect her. From there, he must have carried her upstairs, her exhaustion so deep that she didn't even wake up during the move. It was a kindness she didn't deserve from him after all the half-truths she had told him. She felt guilty about it, but she also felt herself falling more for him, which was dangerous for both of them.

"You need a new couch, Sydney." Wade opened one eye and winced as he sat up.

Sweet Jesus, he's shirtless, she gasped in her head as she clutched the door jamb for support. The light dusting of hair trailing down his chest had her mouthwatering. Especially where it dipped beneath the waistband of his well-worn jeans. The man looked like s.e.x and sin in the morning. Sydney clenched her jaw to keep it from gaping open as she continued to ogle him as he stood.

Oblivious to her dirty-minded thoughts, he arched his back and stretched his sore muscles. "Where'd you get this thing, a toy store?"

She had been able to form words seconds earlier, but now, with a gorgeous, shirtless man in front of her, she was reduced to a ball of Jell-O.

"You okay?" he asked, taking a step in her direction. Sydney's hand flew out to stop him from coming any closer. If he did, she couldn't be held accountable for her actions.

"I need a shirt. I mean coffee. I need coffee, you need a shirt. Don't get me wrong you look fine without it, but..." His lack of a reaction made her temper flare. "Oh, just put on a shirt."

"Who has to put a shirt on?" Faith peeked around from behind Sydney scaring her half to death.

"Sheriff Jenkins, honey." Sydney picked her daughter up and carried her toward the kitchen to give Wade some privacy, which of course he didn't take. He grabbed his shirt off the back of the couch and followed them. Half naked.

"What's he doing here?" The little girl craned her neck toward the living room. "Is that my old blanket?"

Sydney looked to Wade for some help but he just busied himself slipping the tight fitting T-shirt back over his head. The sight of his muscles flexing completely distracted her and made her b.u.mp into a kitchen chair.

"Mommy?"

"c.r.a.p. Sorry, yes, it's yours. Sheriff Jenkins borrowed it. He slept here last night."

Her brow furrowed. "He slept in your bed with you? Isn't that how babies are made? Am I gonna be a big sister?"

"Faith Ross!" Sydney felt her face heat up and flush with color. If it was possible to die from embarra.s.sment, Sydney was going to find out. "No, no, and no! Where on earth did you hear that?" Sydney asked as she pulled a box of cereal out of the pantry.

"Anna Jacobs. She told me all about making babies."

"I-I don't even know what to say." She looked to Wade for help, but he was doing his best not to laugh. "I swear I'm going to home school her."

"I get to do school at home today? Cool."

"No, you need to eat breakfast and then get dressed for school."

None of this awkward conversation seemed to faze Wade or Faith. The two of them moved around the kitchen like they were talking about the weather while Sydney felt like she was on the verge of a panic attack. Faith couldn't reach a bowl, so Wade picked her up and stood her on the counter. Once she had the biggest mixing bowl she could find in her hand, she tapped him on the head and he returned her to the floor.

Sydney busied herself by grabbing the eggs, cheese and some ham from the refrigerator to make omelets. She knew what Wade liked for breakfast and figured after he spent the whole night crammed on her couch to watch over her and Faith, the least she could do was give him a decent breakfast.

As she moved around the kitchen, she could feel Wade's eyes on her. Any time she snuck a peek his direction, he was giving her a long, lingering look that made her skin feel hot. There was something so sensual about the way he looked at her that she could almost feel his hands on her. She stuck her head into the refrigerator to cool off when Faith called her.

"Can you get us the milk?"

"Sure, I-" Sydney stopped short. On the table between Wade and Sydney was a large mixing bowl that Faith had filled, pieces of cereal spilling over onto the table. Faith held her hands out and wiggled her fingers toward the gallon of milk in Sydney's hand.

"Gimme the milk."

"What in the world is that?" Sydney motioned to the enormous mountain of bran flakes.

Faith waved a finger between herself and Wade. "We're gonna share. He's big, so I made a big bowl of cereal."

"You know I'm making eggs, too. Right?"

"I like eggs," Wade said with a wolfish smile.

"Me too," chimed his newest admirer. There was something adorable about the way Faith had taken to him overnight. She climbed into Wade's lap and made herself at home. Not once did he protest or seem uncomfortable. "Want to share some of Mommy's eggs?"

"Sure, princess. I'd like that."

The two of them dug into their trough of cereal, Wade doing his part to eat as much as possible so Faith wouldn't get in trouble, if Sydney had to wager a guess. Faith chattered on and on about school and what she liked to do. When Sydney slid the eggs in front of them, Faith was busy trying to convince Wade to come in as her special guest next time she had show and tell.

"Thank you." The deep rumble of his voice washed over her. It was so strange having a man share the table with them, but with Wade it was much more comfortable than she would have expected. He dug into the eggs, still hungry even after all the cereal he had stuffed himself with.

Sydney shrugged. "They're not as good as Pete's, but they'll do."

She leaned back against the counter and took a breath. Having a man spend the night was a completely foreign thing to her, but Sydney had to admit, his presence allowed her to close her eyes and get some rest. Watching the interaction between him and Faith had distracted her for a while, but the events of last night were a clear warning, Sydney could feel it in her gut. Nothing that happened to her over the last few years was an innocent coincidence. Each marked when it was time for her to pick up Faith and move on to the next city and now, things were escalating way too fast. He'd never gotten this close before. They had stayed too long.

This time it was going to be harder to leave. Elton felt different and so did Sydney for the few short months she and Faith had spent there. It was going to hurt to leave, and the man sitting at her kitchen table was a big reason why.

Over the next ten minutes, Faith filled in Wade about her upcoming birthday party and ran around the house showing him everything from the decorations to a picture of the cake Sydney was going to make. She even badgered him until he agreed to come. Wade was attentive to the little girl, but it was hard not to be when she was climbing all over him. Sydney had never seen her be so animated with a man, and Wade had this tender smile when he spoke to Faith that further melted Sydney's heart. If he just would have been put off by the shared cereal, or the climbing, or her daughter's incessant talking it would have been easy to ignore her feelings for him, but now, with him genuinely appearing to enjoy breakfast with a rambunctious five-year-old, she knew she was a goner.

"You better go get changed," Sydney said as she collected the plates from the table. "Your clothes are on your dresser."

"Okay." Faith spun around and placed a big kiss on Wade's cheek, startling him. "Will you come visit us again? I want to play more hide and go seek. You didn't get a chance to hide yet."

Wade glanced at Sydney, so she kept her expression neutral. "You bet, princess. You and your mommy still owe me some pie, as I recall."