The kittens themselves, I could never regret. They were far too loveable forthat. But Ididregret how distraught Aunt Celia had been when she'd first explained how the kittens had come to be.
Apparently, some guy in her golf league had offered to pet-sit for free, only to bring along a cat of his own, who'd promptly lived up to his obnoxious name by doing the naked tango with the sweetest cat you'd ever meet.
This wouldn't have beensobad, except for the fact that Tango's owner had been totally rude about it. According to Aunt Celia, the guy had blamed the incident onherand told her to pound sand after she'd complained.
In my mind, I could still see the frustration on Aunt Celia's face when she'd relayed the story.She'd called the guy a jackass.
Andshe'd looked ready to cry.
If there was one thing in this world I hated, it was to see people I loved getting abused by bullies or even worse, getting stalked by psychos.
The way it looked now,thisguy had been doing both.
First, he'd been rude to my aunt and now he was skulking around the house when nobody was looking. Hehadto be.
To think, only minutes ago, I'd found the tag near the welcome mat on Aunt Celia's front porch. I didn't know how it got there, but Ididknow that it hadn't been anywhere in sight thelasttime I'd dashed out to get the mail.
So either the guy was snooping where he didn't belong, or he'd left the tag as some kind of twisted joke.
If so, it wasn't funny. And now I was wondering if the guy might be dangerous.
Already, I'd sent a text to Aunt Celia asking for the guy's description. Hoping to spare my aunt some worry, I'd been deliberately casual in the request. Even so, I was desperately awaiting her reply so I could share the psycho's description with Gwen and Lexie sotheycould keep an eye out, too.
Until then, I was trying my best not to worry or jump at every little sound.
It wasn't working.
When the doorbell rang only a few minutes later, I practically jumped out of my shoes before making my way to the front door, where things got seriously strange.
Chapter 10
Harper
The stranger on the porch was tall, blond, and so good-looking, I felt my brow wrinkle in confusion as I asked, "Sorry, what?"
He repeated what he'd just said. "Is Gwen around?"
This didn't make any sense. Gwen was one of my favorite people in the whole wide world, but her taste in men was well established.
It's not that she went for the bad boys.Not her.Shewent for the opposite kind – the blander the better, especially when it came to looks.
Thisguy didn't look bland at all. Oh sure, he was smiling friendly enough, and he was accompanied by an equally friendly dog – a floppy-eared mutt who sat perfectly behaved on a festive red leash. Even so, the guy was most definitelynotGwen's type.
Whowashe, anyway?
I eyed him with renewed suspicion. "Is she expecting you?"
This made him frown. "No."
I crossed my arms. "I see."
The thing about Gwen is that nobodyeverlooked out for her. Her mom was a mess, and she spent more time worrying about others than anything to do with herself.
Just the other day, she'd had yet another bout of mama drama when her mom – who happened to bemyAunt Misty – had gotten busted by hospital security for getting gropy with a guy shethoughtwas a doctor.
He wasn't. Andshehadn't been thrilled to discover that the guy in scrubs was just a big ol' liar –herwords, not mine, at least according to Gwen.
Such things were a common occurrence and went a long way in explaining why Gwen played it so safe. What itdidn'texplain was what the big blond guy was doing on our porch.
