Holiday Treasure (Billionaire Bachelors - Book 10) by Melody Anne Page A

many circuits were being used now that the heating was back on. They couldn’t come in until the next day. Of course they couldn’t. And it was going to be a major expense, another one, to update the wiring of the building and bring the electrical boxes up to code.
    Why did he give a flying whatever? He should just let the tenants live in darkness. Then maybe they’d take a hint at long last and finally leave so he could hire that bulldozer to come in. At this point, he would sit on the ball while it smashed through the walls. The injuries to his body would be worth it — he’d be feeling the damn building crumble beneath his feet.
    “Tanner?”
    Stopping his pacing, he shined his light over toward his front door, where Kyla was standing, shifting on her feet and looking nervous.
    “What?” he growled, and when she flinched, he felt immediately ashamed of himself. “I’m sorry, Kyla. I’m just frustrated.”
    “It’s okay,” she told him as she stepped inside. “I knocked, but I don’t think you heard, so I tried the knob and it was open and…” She was fighting to control her voice. “It’s just that the dark sort of freaks me out.”
    “What? It’s the same place, just a little…darker. And anyway, you have a flashlight, too.” He moved toward her now, until they were standing right there together, facing each other.
    “I know that logically, Tanner, but it doesn’t help much. I don’t like not being able to see who or what is around — me except for in this stupid, narrow beam of light.”
    “In this damn place, who knows what that might be?” he said without thinking, and he felt the shudder pass through her body. “Sorry,” he said again, and this time he was mumbling.
    “No. It’s true. Bad things can happen in the dark,” she said, edging a couple of inches closer. She was practically pressed against him now.
    His bad mood quickly deflated. How could he be angry when her warm body was next to his?
    “I know the breaker box is in the basement, Tanner. I…uh…just don’t want to go down there by myself. I mean, someone else might be thinking the same thing, but then again, everyone might be thinking everyone else is going to go down there.” That rush of words was almost amusing.
    “Breaker box? Do you even know what to do with one?”
    “I’m not some simpering female that doesn’t even know how to flip a switch up and down,” she snapped.
    Tanner had to smile. “Okay, that was an asinine question. Why don’t we go check it out and see if we can do anything about this darkness?” He held out his arm.
    It took her a few moments — she was obviously still irritated with him — but her fear of the dark outweighed her irritation, and she finally gave in. They left his apartment and made their way toward the service door that led to the basement.
    “Where in the hell is security? Shouldn’t they be the ones doing this?” Tanner asked as they opened the door and faced a set of stairs that he didn’t trust to hold their weight.
    “I don’t think this is in their job description. Besides, one of the guards, the one that works mostly nights, kind of gives me the creeps.”
    Tanner stopped moving and turned toward her. Their flashlights were shining downward, though, and he couldn’t see her face. Talk about frustrating.
    But he tried to sound calm. “How so?” he asked.
    “I don’t know. He just seems…oh, I’m being stupid. I’m sure there’s nothing at all wrong with him. I just get the creeps around him. No reason,” she said quietly, obviously focused on the staircase in front of her.
    “Let me know if anything weird happens.” Was it all in her head? That wasn’t unlikely, but still, people usually got a feeling, whether good or bad, for a reason.
    “I’m sure it’s nothing. Are we both stalling on going down these steps, or is it my imagination?” she asked with a nervous laugh.
    “Fine. You caught me. I think I would just about rather do anything