When a Heart Stops by Lynette Eason Page A

stood on his porch.
    He looked down and his eyes landed on a package sitting on the top step.
    Closing the blinds, Dominic said, “Stay here.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œSomeone left a package for me on the step. I’m going out the back door and around the side of the house.”
    He wasn’t about to open the front door and expose himself. Dominic hesitated, his fingers hovering over the speed dial number. Then he looked at Serena. He wasn’t going to place her at risk. He called for backup, then said, “I may be jumping the gun here, but right now I only know one person who’s been leaving packages that look like that. If he’s around here, I want this area searched.”
    â€œDo you think he’s still out there?”
    â€œOne way to find out.”
    â€œYou’re going after him?” Worry creased her forehead.
    â€œYes.”
    If the person who left the package wanted to play sneaky, Dominic would oblige him. “You have your phone?”
    â€œRight here.” She pulled it from the pocket of her shorts, her eyes troubled, scared, yet determined to help him.
    â€œCall my number.”
    She did and he answered. “Now stay on the line. Do you mind standing off to the side here and watching the porch? If you see anything that looks suspicious, any movement or whatever, let me know, but don’t open the door or move in front of the window.”
    She took up her position next to the window. “Okay.”
    Dominic whirled and headed through the kitchen to the back door. After a look through the window, he checked the lock and backtracked, passing a curious—and worried, if he was reading her eyes right—Serena to find himself in his bedroom. No way was he using a door right now.
    He went to the window, opened it, and climbed out.
    He never kept a screen on his bedroom window simply for speed’s sake. He never knew when he might need to get out fast. Or quiet. Like now.
    Landing on the soft earth, he crouched, weapon ready.

    Nerves jumping, Serena peered out the window and kept her eye on the porch and the area illuminated by the light that stretched a few feet beyond.
    Where was Dominic’s backup?
    She saw nothing, but that didn’t stop her blood from humming a little faster in her veins. And then a shadow passed just on the outer edge of where the light reached.
    Serena brought the phone up, her heart thudding a little faster. “Dominic, I think someone’s still out front. Beyond the light, back in the shadows.”
    â€œHeading that way.”
    â€œBe careful,” she whispered. “Please be careful.”
    She kept her eyes on the spot where she thought she’d seen something, then scanned beyond. Nothing else caught her attention. Had it just been her imagination?
    Serena bit her lip and said a prayer for Dominic’s safety. Then considered her options. Did she stand here in wait-and-see mode? Or did she do something to prepare herself for . . . for what?
    For an attack? Was there anything she could do to help Dominic? She shivered as she listened for his voice to come over the line. So far, just quiet stillness echoed in her ear.

    Dominic scoured the area, probing the darkness, examining each shadow. And still he had nothing. He’d investigated the area whereSerena thought she saw movement, but by the time he arrived, if someone had been there, he was gone, leaving Dominic no way to track him in the dark.
    He stopped. Stood completely still, kept his back to a tree, and closed his eyes. And listened.
    Night sounds. The flap of a bird’s wings?
    A branch snapping to his left?
    He spun, started toward the sound.
    But heard nothing more.
    His nerves shivered and the hair on the back of his neck lifted.
    Feeling exposed, he stayed in the shadows, but that didn’t settle his uneasiness, his belief that someone had been there watching his every move.
    The half moon illuminated the area away from the