If he was honest, and he was, he’d admit that he wanted to keep Angelina. On his own terms. He wanted to keep her on a shelf, away from his heart but close enough that he could take her out whenever he liked. And that made him the most selfish asshole alive.

The best thing he could do for her would be to let her go so she could have a decent life. A family. Babies. All the things he knew she wanted.

All the things you could have.

He shook his head and continued down the stairs. His cell phone rang as he hit the bottom step, and he pulled it out of his pocket.

“Hudson,” he said without checking to see who it was.

“Micah, we’ve got a problem,” Damon said grimly.

Micah didn’t like the alarm or the anger in Damon’s voice.

“What’s up, man?”

“The bastard threatened Serena.”

“What? How the hell did he get to her? When did this happen?”

“She went into her office early this morning. Sam drove her, walked her into the building. She came out without calling to let Sam know so she was alone for about two minutes. She never saw him coming. He got in behind her, put his hand over her mouth and said, ‘You can’t hide her from me forever.’”

“Son of a bitch,” Micah bit out. “Is she okay? Did he hurt her?”

“She’s shaken up. It scared her to death, and it pissed her off, but she’s fine. Guy ran off as soon as he saw Sam coming.”

“Did Sam get a look at him?”

“No. He was too concerned with Serena’s well-being. By the time she told him what had happened, the guy was long gone.”

“Fuck,” Micah swore.

“We’re at the police station now, but I thought you’d want to know.”

“I’m coming that way,” Micah said. “I’ll see you in a few.”

He switched his phone off then turned around to head back up the stairs. Angelina was still asleep when he entered the bedroom. He hated to wake her. She looked so peaceful and content. He didn’t want to spoil that for her with news of her stalker.

He touched her shoulder and followed the smooth surface of her skin to the curve of her neck.

“Angel girl,” he said in a low voice. “Wake up.”

She scrunched up her nose and frowned. “Go away.”

“Hey, wake up for me. I need to talk to you.”

At that her eyes flew open and she pushed herself up on one elbow. “What’s wrong?”

“He showed himself today.”

He hated the way her eyes went wide with fear. Her hand flew to her throat, and her breathing sped up.

“Did they catch him?”

“Unfortunately not. He threatened Serena outside her office this morning.”

“Oh my God! Is she all right? He didn’t hurt her, did he?”

“Shh, baby. Serena is fine. Scared and shook up, but she’s fine. He didn’t hurt her. I’m going down to the police station now.”

She flung the covers aside. “I’m not staying here by myself.”

“Okay, but take your time. Get dressed and meet me downstairs. It’s going to be fine, Angelina. I need you to believe that.”

Her troubled gaze met his. “I brought him here, Micah. And now innocent people are paying the price. How am I supposed to feel about that?”

“You’re innocent in this too, Angel. You don’t deserve this. We’ll find him.”

He dropped a kiss on her hair and then turned to go. “I’ll wait for you outside.”


“This makes me nuts,” Serena muttered. “Damon is beside himself. I won’t be able to so much as take a piss by myself for the next year.”

No one laughed. Angelina, Julie and Faith sat with Serena in one of the conference rooms at the police station while all the men did God knows what in the next room.

“I’m sorry this happened to you, Serena,” Angelina said. “I never meant for anyone to become involved. I shouldn’t have—”

Julie held her hand up. “Don’t say it. Don’t say you shouldn’t have come and all that bullshit because I’ll have to hurt you if you do.”

Faith smiled then, but she reached over and took Angelina’s hand in hers and squeezed. “She’s right. Don’t say it. It’s completely wrong anyway. I’m glad you came. You’re good for Micah.”

Angelina sighed.

“Oh, come on, girl. It can’t be that bad. You’ve been shacked up with the man for several weeks now. Surely the sex makes up for any cabin fever,” Julie said.

“Sex is good. Great. No complaints.”

“Huge but in there,” Serena said.

“Yeah, huge,” Faith agreed. “What’s going on, Angelina? Is he still being a butthead?”

Angelina shifted forward in her chair and put her hands on her cheeks. “You guys don’t need to hear me whine. We’re here for Serena. Let’s forget about Micah.”

“We’re waiting for the but,” Julie drawled.

“Micah’s great,” Angelina said gloomily. “He’s tender, very loving. Great in bed. Very generous lover. But...”

“Ah, here we go,” Serena said.

“He’s still holding a part of himself back. It’s almost as if he’s pretending to play house with me and loves it in theory but he only loves it because he knows it’s not permanent.”

“Whoa,” Julie said. “My head is spinning after that explanation. Way too deep for my limited brain power.”

“I wish I knew what to say,” Faith said unhappily. “Gray resisted at first. He resisted hard. I just had to keep after him.”

Julie nodded in agreement. “Nathan was a stubborn bastard as well. I sorta did give up on him. Well at first anyway. But I’m glad I didn’t, so you definitely shouldn’t give up on Micah if you love him.”

“I’m afraid I was the difficult one in my relationship with Damon, and I can’t tell you how glad I am that Damon didn’t give up on me,” Serena said softly. “He’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and I cringe every time I think of the way I tried to drive him away.”

Angelina’s lips curved into a rueful smile. “In other words, I should shut up and quit whining. Do what I need to do.”

“Whining’s good. We do whining,” Julie said. “It’s sort of required when dishing about men.” She reinforced her statement by wrapping her arm around Angelina and squeezing. “You’ve got a lot on your plate, hon. Micah isn’t going anywhere. Not yet. Take it one day at a time and focus on staying safe. I don’t care what the man tells you or doesn’t tell you, he’s gaga over you. He probably doesn’t even know it, and he’ll probably want to cut out his tongue before admitting it. You just have to be the bigger person and wait for him to pull his head out of his ass.”

“Very good advice,” Serena said with a nod. “It was pretty much the same advice she and Faith gave me when I was busy fucking things up with Damon.”

Faith and Julie both laughed, and Angelina smiled at the three of them.

“You’re lucky to have such good friends in each other,” Angelina said.

“Yes, they are extremely lucky to have me,” Julie said smugly.

“Good grief,” Faith said with a roll of her eyes. “What a huge ego.”

“We’re your friends too, Angelina,” Serena said, her blue eyes somber. “You’re not alone anymore. No matter what happens with Micah, we’re your friends. Okay?”

Julie and Faith both nodded their agreement. Angelina smiled but couldn’t speak around the knot in her throat.

“How much longer are we going to be here?” Julie muttered. “I’m going insane.”

“Chad was faxing over his reports from Miami. Micah talked to him on the way here. Other then that, I don’t know anything,” Angelina said. “They’ve been at this for hours. He’s smart. He’s not making any mistakes. How can they catch him if he doesn’t make mistakes?”

Faith sat down on the other side of Angelina and put her arm around Angelina’s shoulders, sandwiching her between Faith and Julie.

“Gray said sooner or later they all fuck up. There’s no such thing as the perfect crime or the perfect criminal. Eventually they either get desperate or stupid, and either one gets him caught.”

“I hope you’re right,” Angelina said wearily. “I hate this. I hate it for all of us.”

“Oh, I don’t know. I’m kind of liking the twenty-four-hour bodyguard thing Nathan’s got going on,” Julie said with an appreciative grin. “He’s made it his mission to make sure my body is guarded at all times.”

Serena sighed in exasperation. “Like he needs an excuse? You two fuck like rabbits.”

“Why, Serena. I’m shocked,” Julie said in mock horror.

“The day something shocks you is the day I become a nun,” Faith muttered.

Angelina giggled and then they all broke into laughter.

The door opened and Micah stuck his head in.

“Angel, you ready to get on out of here?”

She surged to her feet and crossed the room to stand in front of him.

“What’s going on, Micah? Did you hear from Chad? What did the police here say?”

He put a finger over her lips and then tucked her hair behind her ear. “We can talk about it on the way home. It’s been a long day. Everyone is tired and frustrated.”

Her face fell. Obviously it wasn’t good news.

He put a finger under her chin, tilted her neck back and lowered his mouth to hers. His kiss was sweet and comforting, and it infused her with courage.

“We’ll get him, Angel.”

He put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed and then he looked beyond her to the others.

“You girls okay? Need anything?”

“Our husbands?” Faith said in exasperation.

Micah smiled. “Coming down the hall now, if I’m hearing right.” His gaze lingered on Serena. “You okay, doll?”

Angelina turned to see Serena smile at Micah.

“I’m fine. Really. Damon has taken the episode personally. I won’t be able to leave the house without a full security detail until this guy is caught.”