Dare You to Run by Dawn Ryder Page B

picture on the walls, no knickknacks in sight, not a single dust collector on the mantle. Everything in the room had a function. There was nothing superfluous, nothing to give away the personal traits of the man who lived there.
    Of course, that was the way he wanted it. The way he’d chosen to live. In some ways, that had fascinated her, making her think the small things he shared with her were more important than they really were. He liked Tabasco sauce on his eggs and she knew it, even if there wasn’t a bottle of it on the table. No, Vitus would never leave his personal items out. He hid them, concealing who he was because that was the life he’d chosen to lead.
    It would be hers too.
    And she wasn’t sorry.
    Only sorry that this would be the last contact she would ever have with Vitus Hale.
    *   *   *
    His phone vibrated.
    Vitus pulled it free and stared at the screen. His brain didn’t freeze up very often, but obviously there was a first time for everything. He ended up cussing at the security flag from his home system. The thing didn’t make mistakes, so if it said Damascus Ryland was in his house, she was there. He swiped his finger across the screen and selected one of the security cameras he had mounted around his property.
    It was her.
    And the fucking world tilted off-center.
    He stared for another long moment at her face before he cussed and put the phone back into his side pocket.
    *   *   *
    He was home.
    Damascus felt him. Call that what you may, but she was sure she felt his presence registering on her skin. The air in the house fairly crackled as she felt him drawing closer. She sat still, keeping her chin up and her hands on her knees. Her breath was stuck in her throat as she caught the first sight of him, just a quarter of his face as he looked around the doorframe. She was facing down the barrel of his handgun. He had his finger on the trigger, his left hand cupping the butt. His bare forearms allowed her to see the definition that proved he was just as hard and deadly as she recalled.
    She bit her lower lip to keep from talking, her composure flying to pieces like it was being hit by a tornado. All the resolve and self-discipline she’d spent the last three years cultivating was being ripped away in chunks and strips by the sheer force of nature. He finished checking the house before coming back to stare at her. She felt his glare, like it was burning away the layers of the façade she’d built after realizing she had to leave him.
    â€œYou wanted my attention?” he asked at last, his voice a low rumble that suited the nearly dark room. The only light was coming from a red light. It had turned on the moment she entered the room, allowing her to see without killing off her night vision.
    â€œActually, that’s my question for you,” she said as she stood. He’d stopped across the room from her, the gun tucked against his center back behind his belt. She was quivering, being so close to him driving her nearly insane.
    Get a grip … your father plays for keeps.
    His brows lowered. “I don’t follow.”
    â€œYour brother is trailing me,” she informed him. “You bugged my dragonfly, didn’t you?”
    Surprise widened his eyes. It was a momentary loss of control, one he masked quickly but not before she saw it.
    â€œI knew it,” she said. “That was a low thing to do. The dragonfly belonged to my grandmother. It’s important to me.”
    Which was why he’d used it, she realized as the words sailed out of her mouth. What the hell was wrong with her? Vitus sure wouldn’t be sparing much empathy for her bruised feelings. She needed to get back on topic. Fast.
    â€œI did place a bug in the dragonfly.” He lifted a finger and pointed at her. “As a safeguard, when you were my responsibility. I haven’t used it since.”
    â€œWell your brother is