Page 44 of The Devil's Reward
“Most people aren’t going to climb a window to break in, they’ll go through your door or a window down here,” I explain. “So I would say that a simple alarm system and maybe some cameras would be fine. Have you ever had anything happen here before?”
She shakes her head, her eyes still looking past me, and an adorable blush on her face. I have to force myself not to reach out to her and lift her chin so I can stare into the green of her eyes. “No, nothing. It’s a quiet, safe neighborhood. Most times Macy is outside playing with the neighbor kids.”
I nod. “Then you probably don’t have to worry about this area having a random crime spree, so I would recommend the basics. But, to be sure, I’ll need to see the rest of the house.”
“Of course.” She immediately turns and shows me down the short hall, opening the doors to reveal a bathroom on one side and a small walk-in pantry on the other. I check the window in the bathroom, but it’s far too small for someone to crawl through. Then she leads me upstairs where it’s a short hallway again, with two doors directly across from each other, and a final door at the end of the hallway. “My room is at the end,” she explains. “Macy’s on the left and the other bathroom is on the right.”
I open the bathroom door and note that it’s bigger than the one downstairs, and a bit more updated, but again the window isn’t large. Closing it, I open Macy’s bedroom door. As soon as I walk in, I smile. It’s a stereotypical girl’s room, with pretty yellow walls, lots of dolls, hair ties all over the room, and a simple white bed in the center of the far wall. On the walls are pictures and paintings she’s obviously done herself, but my gaze snags on one photo in particular by her bed.
It’s of a man with blonde hair, brown eyes, and dressed in a military uniform. He’s unsmiling, but it’s clear he’s Macy’s father. Which would explain why Quinn does the work she does. I walk further into the room and check the window, noting that it faces the backyard and not the street, and there is no obvious way for anyone to climb up and use this window as an entry point.
“Sorry for the mess,” Quinn says awkwardly. “Macy was supposed to clean this up before she left this morning.”
I turn around and smile at her. “Don’t worry about it. I think kid’s rooms are supposed to be a mess.”
Quinn gives me a shy smile before quickly looking away. “If you say so,” she laughs softly. She leads me out of Macy’s room and down to hers.
When I walk in, I’m immediately caressed by the scent of vanilla, and while her room isn’t large, it’s clean, and the bed is perfectly made. I walk further in to look out the large window on the right side of the bed, noting that the view of the street is clear. There’s a large tree right outside her window, which could give access to an intruder. I make a mental note of it before I turn and say to Quinn, “The only room you might have to worry about is yours. The tree outside is close enough to the house for someone to climb it to get onto the roof and jimmy this open. Since it’s facing the street, it’s kind of stupid for someone to take that route, but most burglars aren’t that smart.”
Quinn frowns. “So what do you think I should do?” she asks.
“I’d recommend a basic system, with motion sensors for the window when the system is armed,” I tell her. “Simple enough to install, and when the alarm isn’t in use, you can open and close the window as you like. We’d do the same for the windows downstairs. And then cameras on both doors so in case someone does show up, you can see who they are.”
Quinn looks up at me in surprise. “That doesn’t sound all that simple.”
I shrug. “For us, it’s as basic as it gets. We have other clients that want state-of-the-art fingerprint scanners, the works, so this is easy.”
Slowly she nods. “Okay, could you get me an estimate?”
I nod. “If we head back down, I can give it to you now if you like.”
Quinn nods. “Sure, that would be great.”
We head downstairs and I briefly glance over my shoulder before I walk out and shut the door behind me. The only photo of Macy’s father is in Macy’s room. Quinn doesn’t even have one in her room.
Which begs the question, why?
TWENTY-FOUR
QUINN
Being a former soldier, he’ll understand why this is hard.
My stomach is jumping as I sense Shadow following behind me. I don’t know what possessed me to message him, but when I saw the flashing lights and walked down the street to see what happened, well, the only thing I could think of was making sure that Macy and I are safe. Which made me immediately think of Shadow and his security company.
Now, he’s here in my house, looking in every room, and I’m silently freaking out. It’s not fair that he’s so damn hot. How can a man look so damn near perfect after a full day of work? I look like a wreck, and I have to fight back a cringe. No make-up, old clothes, and my hair is a mess.
I won’t be surprised if he cancels our date before he leaves.
When we reach the kitchen, I hand him a pen and pad of paper. He sits down at the table, and I force myself to sit down next to him while he starts writing. This close to him, I can smell the addictive scent of his aftershave, and feel the heat coming off his body. His cut covers his shoulders and back, but it shows off the broadness of his frame and the way his black shirt cuts off mid-bicep. Not to mention, his biceps are far bigger close up than I imagined.
I curl my fingers into fists on my lap to keep from reaching out to touch him. Instead, I force myself to look at the paper he’s writing on. When he finishes, he turns it towards me, and his gaze snags mine. “This is the cost of the system, including the install.”
I look at it but frown when I quickly realize there is no way the cost is right. It’s far cheaper than what I would think it would cost for a system, even one this simple. I look at him carefully. “I think you’re trying to be overly nice and not charge me full price,” I say, forcing myself to hold his gaze.
He shrugs. “Perks of being the boss. It’s within the ballpark of what you’d pay with another company, but since I’ll handle the installation myself, you’ll be saving on the labor. We also arrange monthly payments, so you don’t have to pay upfront either,” he adds.
Why do I feel like he’s still not being completely straight with me? But still, it’s a really good deal, and I can afford a monthly payment at that price. I look back up at him and see him watching me. I try hard to fight back the blush, but it comes anyway. “Okay, well, I think I should go ahead and get it then,” I tell him, looking away and refusing to meet his eyes.
