“Drackett.”
“Steve, it’s Ashton.I’ve got a situation at Summer Worrall’s condo.Curtis Harper just broke in and tried to kill us, and he had a partner on the outside.”
All sounds of sleep erased from Steve’s voice.“Are you secure?Injured?”
“We’re secure.Minor injuries.I’m bringing Summer into HQ.We need a team at her house right away, armed agents before the lab people get there.I’m assuming Harper and the other guy are gone, but send someone armed just in case.”
“I’ll take care of it.You just get Summer somewhere safe.The baby?”
Steve and his wife, Rosalyn, were about to have their own child, so Ashton wasn’t surprised his boss asked.“Chloe is with Joe and Laura.We’re going to need to get a safe house set up for Summer and Chloe.I doubt my house is secure.”
“You’re sure it was Curtis Harper?”
“Yes.And he’s way out of control if he’s breaking into Summer’s house to get to me.”
“Alright, I’ll see you at HQ in a few.I’ll let them know you’re coming.”
Ashton hung up with Steve and turned back to the car.Summer had her legs tucked under his shirt and her arms wrapped around herself.
He wanted to hit a wall.After everything she’d been through in her short life, Summer deserved to live free of all danger.
He would do whatever it took to make Summer and Chloe safe again.
Chapter Twelve
Summer felt like she may never be warm again.Even now, two hours after being inside Omega Sector headquarters, fully clothed, with a cup of coffee in hand, she still felt chilled.She wore a black shirt and cargo pants provided by Lillian Muir, the only female member of the SWAT team and the closest person to Summer’s size.Summer remembered seeing her at the grocery store yesterday.
Yesterday?Was it truly less than twenty-four hours ago?
Summer felt as though her entire life had changed in twenty-four hours.Finding out Ashton wasn’t the handyman, that he worked for Omega Sector, that he knew about Tyler’s death.
That Ashton had wanted her from the first time he’d come to her condo.
Making love to him last night had changed everything, also.She could still feel the soreness in muscles that, before last night, hadn’t gotten much use in the last couple of years.The thought of their lovemaking was almost enough to break the chill inside her.
It had been everything she’d dreamed lovemaking would be with Ashton.And he very, very definitely was not shy.
But then she remembered that man breaking into her house.With a gun.Intending to kill her.That was enough to bring a chill to her bones from which she felt she’d never recover.
What if Chloe had been there?What if she had cried or giggled when Summer picked her up?Would the man have shot at her, too?Summer didn’t know.Couldn’t bear to think about it.
She tried to focus on the fact that she was safe.Ashton had gotten them out relatively unscathed.Chloe was safe, too.She’d already personally talked to Laura on the phone.Summer had decided to just let Chloe finish the night there rather than wake her up and disrupt her routine.They’d bring her when she woke up.
A medic had gotten the few pieces of glass out of her arm, none of them big or needing further medical attention besides a bandage.Ashton’s arm had also been bandaged, the wound more of a burn than anything else.Another wound to match the electrical burns on his torso.
Summer looked across the room at Ashton speaking with Omega colleagues about...stuff.She didn’t know what.She’d basically tuned everything out unless someone asked her a direct question.As if he could feel her eyes on him, Ashton looked up and over at her.
He said something she couldn’t hear to the two men around him and then walked out of the room in a different direction.Summer could feel herself begin to panic with him out of her sight but tamped it down.She refused to become a driveling idiot.She could handle this.Would handle this.As soon as she got warm.
A couple minutes later, Ashton showed up next to her chair.He took the lukewarm cup of coffee she’d been barely sipping out of her hand and helped her stand, then wrapped a blanket around her.
“You look a little cold.”
She shrugged.“I know I shouldn’t be.But I just can’t seem to get warm.”
He trailed his fingers down her cheek.“Part of it is shock.I’ll have somebody bring you more coffee and some food.Getting sugar into your system will help.”
She pulled the blanket more tightly around her and sat back down.“This helps, too.”
