“What is it?”
“I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before,” she muttered to herself. “I can just check my dashboard and check the log.”
He moved up next to her, ignoring her fresh vanilla scent as he looked down at her screen.
“Someone turned my alarm off in the house an hour before I got home. Manually, according to this.” Her cheeks had gone white as she handed him her phone so he could see the activity log.
It was similar to the one he had, breaking down when the security panels were disarmed, armed, even when her doors opened and closed.
So this was definitely not a random break-in. Because breaking a security system took a decent amount of skill. Unless… “Does anyone know your code? Have you ever texted it to someone, given it to your mom or…anyone?”
Sienna paused, her dark green eyes thoughtful as she looked at him. “I don’t think so, but I can’t swear to it. I change my code every two months or so and I recently changed it. Since then I haven’t given it to anyone. Though I have given my mom the code in the past when I’ve been out of town. She’s the only one though.”
“What about your brothers? Maybe you texted them?”
“No way. I love them, but…” She shook her head as she trailed off.
“Hmm.” Her security panel was in her laundry room on the wall right by the door so the panel wasn’t visible from any windows, which eliminated the possibility of someone spying on her that way. “Do you think this has anything to do with one of your cases? A recent one or a current one?” Maybe something to do with the yacht she’d broken into today.
“It’s definitely possible. But…I don’t know the purpose of breaking in here. Most of my stuff is at my office and I back everything up to the cloud anyway. So hurting me won’t change the outcome of anything else. So…I need to think,” she said, more to herself than him as she strode out of the living room.
He followed her, his gaze trailing down her back, over her perfect ass, and her long jean-clad legs. She moved with an innate confidence that was the sexiest thing about her.
Her dark brown hair was still pulled back into that braid against her head and she moved with purpose, every sleek line of her making him itch to touch, to stroke and kiss.
Even though he was keeping himself locked down now, it was impossible not to want her, not when he’d kissed every inch of her. It was more than physical though. He’d made it clear he wanted to date her. Hell, he’d had to hold back because he hadn’t wanted to scare her, but after three dates she’d told him they would just be friends and had stopped texting or calling him. He was ninety percent sure it wasn’t anything he’d done either. The chemistry between them had been combustible—still was.
“My old laptop is missing,” she said as she shut the closet door of a bedroom she’d turned into a home office. Then she went over to a cabinet and opened it. “So is one of my old cameras. Damn it, my long-range camera is gone too.”
There was no computer on her desk and she’d left her laptop bag in his truck—which was currently locked. “You just have the laptop?”
“A laptop, a tablet, a newer camera, my phone. And my phone and laptop are synced.”
“What about paper files?” He didn’t see any filing cabinets, but wanted to cover all his bases. Even if he wasn’t officially going to be running this case.
“I don’t keep anything like that here. But I use my office when I’m working on a case, getting things organized for my clients. I like having this personal space in case I don’t want to go into the office.”
He nodded, glanced around the small room. It had her stamp all over it. Eclectic art, colorful, gauzy, billowing curtains over the window, a little ceramic hedgehog with a top hat as her pen holder.
“You can’t stay here tonight,” he said as she continued to look around the room, opening more drawers and shutting them.
“I know,” she said absently. “I’m going to call Daniel, see if I can stay with him and Kathryn.”
“Just stay with me.” The words were out before he could think about them, but Carson stood by them.
She straightened at that, her whole body going rigid as she turned to face him. Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly as she watched him carefully. “Seriously?”
“Look, we don’t know who broke into your house. And I don’t like the fact that he was masked, or the fact that he disarmed your security system. This isn’t some amateur hack job. He took very specific things and it stands to reason that he hasn’t got what he wants yet—so he’s not done. He’ll want your current laptop once he realizes what he has is useless.” At least that was what Carson was guessing based on past cases and common sense. “If he decides to come after you, do you want to lead him back to your family?”
Now she full-on glared at him—and he still wanted to kiss her, wanted to smooth away the frown lines. “Well, if you’re going to get all logical on me,” she muttered. “I can stay in the guest room.” She paused, her expression softening as she seemed to lose all her steam. “And thank you. I appreciate it.” She ran a hand down her braid as she looked around her office again, sighing. “I hate that someone was in my space. It makes me feel violated.”
“We’ll catch whoever did this. And you’re going to need to make an official statement to my partner.”
She looked back at him, her braid swishing slightly with the movement. “Not to you?”
“It’s unlikely I’ll be directly on this case. Not with our relationship.” He held up a hand when she started to say something. “You’re my sister’s sister-in-law, and that constitutes a relationship. But Julian will keep me in the loop. Plus…I’ll also be working on it, just not officially.”
She looked as if she wanted to say more, but nodded. “Can I grab some clothes and toiletries?”
“Get whatever you want. Julian will put someone on your house for now, not that I think anyone is coming back after this. At least not anytime soon.”
Expression tight, she simply nodded and headed out of the office for her bedroom.
Instead of following after her, he went to find his partner and update him on what she’d found.
Whoever had decided to mess with Sienna had taken on Carson without knowing it. Because no one was going to mess with her and get away with it.
Chapter 4
Carson’s gaze fell on Sienna the moment she entered the kitchen. Like that proverbial moth to a flame, if she was anywhere in the vicinity, his eyes were on her. She was like a magnet for him. A tall, sexy, smart-mouthed magnet he couldn’t get enough of. “How are you feeling?”
“My brain is a little fried.” She sighed and sat at his kitchen table, crossing one lean leg over the other. She was wearing little shorts and a tank top and her hair was damp against her head. It was the second time that day she’d showered at his place, though this time he thought was more to calm her down than anything else. “Are you sure you don’t mind me staying here?” Her foot tapped nervously as she watched him.