“Thank you.”

He took off for the bedroom, and I walked into the kitchen to wet a paper towel so I could wipe all the gross-ness off my face. By the time I was walking back into the hallway with a wet washcloth to clean anything else that had been sprayed, Kash was jogging back down the hall in a clean shirt while putting his gun in the holster, his badge hanging around his neck.

Grabbing my chin, he pulled me close and kissed me hard. “Be back soon, love you, Rach.”

“Love you too.”

After he was gone, I finished cleaning and called Candice back as I dumped the banana splits Kash had made.

“Did you hurt him?” she asked in way of greeting.

“Ha. No, he got called in.”

“Bummer.”

“Tell me about it, it was just about to get good too. He told me he was going to clean all the whipped cream off me, I was picturing us in the shower . . . yeah, no. Didn’t happen.”

“That sucks. He should have told them to give him half an hour.”

I laughed out loud and hung my head. “I’m just saying, whipped cream wars are not as fun as they portray them in books or movies. They’re usually all sexy and whatnot. Ours? Not so much. I got whipped cream up my nose, I was running away from him and fell over Trip and hit the hardwood really hard. Like, I think my hip and elbow are going to bruise from it because Kash was on top of me when I went down. When I knocked the can out of his hand it somehow hurt me more than anything, my hand is throbbing. Then when I’m about to get one good hit in, nothing comes out of the can! I’m all sticky and gross, it was just one massive fail.”

Candice was laughing so hard she was snorting, and I couldn’t help but laugh with her. “I would have paid to see that!”

“I’m pretty sure I looked like the abominable snowman on crack. You didn’t miss anything too thrilling.”

“Uh-huh, sure sounds like it.”

“I miss you, Candi. I can’t wait to see you.”

“I know!” I could hear her happy clap through the phone and smiled. “Just a couple weeks and then it’s me and Rachie time!”

“You’re such a nerd.”

A few days after the big blowup Kash and I’d had after the family dinner, he’d surprised me with tickets to Texas for Candice’s graduation, and then to California for the two weeks after. He could only get two weeks of vacation blocked off, so after we spent the remainder of the time with Candice’s family, he was flying Candice back here for the month leading up to the wedding. I’d tackle-hugged him when he told me about everything. He was always doing whatever he could to make sure I was happy, and though I hated that I knew a big part was still because of guilt for what had happened last summer in Austin, I was so in love with him for the gift of time with my pseudo-family.

“I know, I— Oh, hey! Mike just got here, I gotta go.”

“Have fun,” I said in a singsong voice. “Be safe!”

“Always!”

I looked down at Trip licking my ankle after setting my phone on the counter. “Yeah, I bet I taste real good right now.”

Grabbing one of Trip’s treats, I headed toward the bathroom to clean myself from the dessert war. After he was all settled with a toy and treat on the bathroom mat, I stripped out of my clothes and turned the water on as hot as it would go. I washed my hair and body twice to get any lingering stickiness off, and tried not to frown at how differently I’d seen this shower going.

Once I was done and dried off, I let Trip out before going around the house and locking up. From experience over the last few months, I doubted Kash would be home anytime soon. It was close to midnight, so there was no way I could wait up for him. Placing Trip on the bed, I crawled in after him before grabbing my phone.

Just so you know . . . cleaning up from a whipped cream war without you isn’t nearly as fun. See you when you get home. Love you.

I knew better than to wait for a response, he probably wouldn’t get the text until they were done. But I couldn’t help but sit there and stare until my screen went black, wishing for anything from him.

I was proud of him, and I knew he loved what he was doing. But nights when he was gone were really lonely. With a sigh, I turned off my lamp and plugged my phone in to charge before pulling an already snoring Trip close and closing my eyes.

MY EYES FLEW OPEN and my body stilled. I didn’t know if I’d been dreaming or if Kash was home and I’d heard him, but my arms were covered in goose bumps and I held my breath as I waited for another sign of what had woken me. I started to think it was a dream when I didn’t hear anything else, but my body locked up again when I noticed Trip standing at the foot of the bed growling low and as fiercely as a puppy could. Sunlight from the windows was filtering into the bedroom, and I quietly reached behind me for my phone. Kash always texted me when he was on his way home for this exact reason . . . he didn’t want me to freak out if I was asleep.

My text from last night had gone unanswered.

“Trip,” I whispered and sat up, my eyes widening when I saw the ridge of raised hair along his back. “Trip, come—”

A loud boom sounded from the front of the house, and Trip began barking. I froze for all of three seconds before grabbing him and shutting his mouth as I failed miserably at dialing 9-1-1. It shouldn’t be that hard, three numbers and the CALL button, but it took me four tries before I got it. In that time I heard two men talking low in the front of the house as I turned in circles, trying to figure out where to go. Closet? Under the bed? Out the window?

“Tampa Bay, dispatch. Do you need fire—”

“Police! Please send police.” I quickly and quietly spouted off our address as I tried to keep Trip in my arms. “Someone just broke into my house. This is Rachel Masters, my fiancé is Detective Logan Ryan, and he’s out on call right now for a double homicide, and I don’t—”

“Ma’am, ma’am, I need you to calm down and speak slowly. Someone broke into your house? Is he or she in there right now?”

“Yes, I hear at least two males.” I inhaled sharply when I remembered the fake wall in our closet. Thank God for Kash being paranoid!

“Ma’am, are you okay? What just happened?”

“Nothing! Are you sending someone?” I hissed as I quietly ran to the large closet in the master bathroom.

“I dispatched officers as soon as you gave me the address, Miss Masters. Do you have somewhere you can hide?”

“Yes, I’m getting in there now.” My entire body was trembling as I strained to listen for the men. I couldn’t hear anything anymore, but that didn’t mean much. “How far out are they?”

“About eight minutes. Are you in your safe place now?”

“Yes,” I whispered and set Trip down next to me. Please hurry, please God, hurry.

“Can you still hear the men, Miss Masters?”

“No.” All I could hear was my breathing, which sounded disturbingly loud, and the pounding of my heart. Thank God Trip was staying quiet as he huddled back into the corner.

“Okay, well I need you to stay where you are until officers get there, just in case.”

I jumped back into the wall and slid down to a sitting position when a loud crash came from the bedroom, followed by more sounds of furniture being flipped over. My body was vibrating and it took everything in me to keep quiet and keep the phone to my ear. Tears were pricking the back of my eyes, and when Trip softly growled I threw my hand over his nose and mouth, praying he understood my silent plea.

“Miss Masters, are you still there?”

“Y-yes,” my voice so breathy, it was barely audible.

“Is that you making the noise?”

I knew she couldn’t see me but I couldn’t do more than shake my head back and forth as the tears spilled over. I looked in front of me, and my heart skipped painful beats when I saw the edge of the fake wall had caught on one of my shirts. I quietly leaned forward and strained to hear absolutely everything as I reached for the corner of the material.