If that alarm was tripped, it was because someone had breached the security of his home. Given everything that had been happening with Ro, he had to assume the shooter had come to finish the job.
Not. Fucking. Happening.
Keeping his focus sharp and his weapon at the ready, Brody moved with speed and efficiency, clearing each room as he came to it…
The spare bedroom he used for storage. Full, separate bathroom. Hallway closet.
When he was finished checking those areas, he began a slow, cautious descent downstairs. At the bottom, he checked the front door, surprised when he found it shut and locked, just as he’d left it after Rocky had left earlier.
He shifted his body so his back was to the wall behind him. Reaching up, he entered the alarm code by memory, effectively cutting off the ear-piercing sound. The space was instantly quiet, the shift from loud to nothing a stark difference.
Knowing there was only one other way inside, Brody used slow, silent steps to first clear the living room and nearby half-bathroom. He checked the kitchen next before moving down a short hallway leading to the back corner of the house.
He crept down the narrow space, a mixture of adrenaline and relief rushing through him when he got to the small mud room and found it empty. Like the front door, the back one was also closed and secure.
What the hell?
The unexpected find was more than a little confusing. Systems like his didn’t just go off for no reason. And yet, it had.
Brody took precious seconds to stop and think, his mind racing back through the alarm’s design. Unable to come up with a valid excuse for the unpleasant wake-up call, he decided to go back through the house one last time, just to be on the safe side.
You’ve checked every room, dipshit. There’s no one here but you and Ro.
But even as the thought drove past, Brody’s stomach was falling, and his heart was leaping into his throat. He’d cleared the house, sure. Except…
My bedroom.
Brody spun around and took off. It wasn’t likely that an intruder somehow made it inside the house before the alarm went off, but he damn sure wasn’t going to risk Ro’s life on assumptions.
He raced out of the mud room and through his kitchen. His gut churned with fear for the woman he’d fallen hard and fast for, but she was okay. She had to be okay.
For him, there was no other option.
Brody made it out of the kitchen and into his living room, his entire focus on getting upstairs. On getting toRo.Because his gut was screaming now that something was very, very wrong.
He was three feet from the bottom of the stairs when the front door facing those same stairs exploded in a cloud of dust, blinding light, and splintered wood. On reflex, Brody turned away to protect himself from the flying debris.
But just as he did, the front door that just had been blown from its hinges flew straight at him. The unforgiving wood struck from behind, the door smacking him in the head on impact.
Brody was out cold before he ever hit the floor.
* * *
Ro didn’t just hearthe explosion, she’dfeltit. And it left her even more terrified than when she’d discovered she’d been shot.
She wasn’t in fear for herself. Well, shewasbut even more than that, Ro was beyond scared for the man she’d spent half the night making love to.
Brody!
He’d left in search of the assumed threat, and now Ro couldn’t help but think he’d walked head-first into danger.
“What the hell was that?” Christian’s worried voice came through the phone.
“I-I don’t know.” Her voice quivered with fear. “I think something just exploded downstairs.”
The house had shaken beneath her bare feet, and she’d heard what she could only describe as a loud boom.
“I’m still fifteen minutes out, but Rocky’s less than ten,” her best friend’s fiancé informed her. “I already texted him while we’ve been talking, and he’s on his way to you now.”