Page 7 of Second Chance for the Grump

“I am,” Rowan said, running his hands through his hair again. “What else has he done? And don’t lie and say nothing because I’ll find out eventually, so you should just tell me.”

Yes, he was this insufferable the first time I’d been around him. I’d just never figured out why it turned me on so much. Apparently, it still worked.

“Honestly, Rowan, it really hasn’t been much.” I squeezed my pillow. “A few threatening phone calls.”

“Threatening phone calls!” His face turned red. “What kind?”

“Well, the angry kind, of course.” What other kinds were there? “And one note.”

“A note!” He ran his fingers through his hair, and a vein in his forehead twitched. “What did you do with it?”

Oh, he’d hate this answer.

“I threw it away.”

He stopped pacing to stare at me. “You threw it away? Why would you do that?”

I shrugged. “It’s not like I wanted it.” Who kept proof of the mean things people said about them lying around? It’s not like I planned to stick it on the fridge.

Rowan sucked in a deep breath. I opened my mouth to say something else, but he held up a finger. So I closed it. He held the breath for what felt like a full minute before releasing it. “How long has this been going on?”

“Not that long. Just a couple of weeks. I wasn’t really worried until he took Charlie.”

Rowan dropped his pillow on the floor beside my feet and sat on the couch next to me. He grabbed my hands, his warmth radiating through my icy fingers. His presence told me that things were going to be okay. I didn’t know when or how, but Rowan was here now, and a piece of me just knew he’d fix it.

“Maisey, this guy sounds like trouble. He’s escalating his violence, and he stole our dog. You should always take threats made by a man seriously.”

My stomach tumbled. “I know, but he wasn’t like this when we were dating.”

Rowan’s face pinched. “Please stop mentioning the dating part. It makes me nauseated.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re right. I should have taken it seriously and called the police.”

“Or me. You should have called me earlier,” he said. “You should have called me two years ago.”

“Can we fight about who should have called whom later and focus on getting Charlie back right now?”

“Sure, babe.” He let the corner of his lips tip upward in a way that made me think he’d already won this fight we hadn’t even had yet. “I need to put out some feelers and run a background check on this asshole. It will probably take a few hours.”

I nodded, putting my full trust in Rowan. “Do you need me to drive you to a hotel for the night so you can get set up? Did you make reservations somewhere? I know the town is probably booked up because of fall fest.”

His eyes flashed, and his grin grew. “No. I’m not letting you out of my sight with a maniac running around.”

“Where are you staying, then?”

Rowan patted the couch. “Right here.”

What?

4

ROWAN

“Explain to me one more time what we’re doing today?” I called to Maisey as she finished getting dressed in her bedroom.

I folded up the thick blanket she’d left me with last night and tossed it on the back of the couch. It wouldn’t have been a horrible night’s sleep if my feet hadn’t hung off her small ass couch. Instead of resting, I spent the night tossing and turning, thinking of all the ways I might not have made it here in time to save her. And trying not to think about how she was sleeping just a few feet away from me.

Maisey’s bedroom door opened, and she walked out saying, “It’s the annual fall festival.”