Read Online Intrusion by Cynthia Justlin - Free Book Online

It amazed her how easily she’d let Russ back in her life. Sixteen years of bitterness, of struggle, and suddenly here he was, as if they’d never been separated.
    Stupidity? Maybe. But she needed to believe in this. In them. She needed to trust that Russ really had a change of heart and wanted a place in his daughter’s life.
    “We’re happy to continue providing you with a rollaway bed, Ms. Stanton. But it’s understandable that you may need time away from the hospital.” Dr. Henning slid a small black beeper across his desk. “If anything happens with Noelle—she wakes up, or there’s an emergency—you’ll be paged immediately. That’s my promise to you.”
    Russ plucked the pager off the table and held it out to her. “I couldn’t bear it if you collapsed from exhaustion. It will do you good to get some rest, maybe even go back to work part-time.” He leaned in and pressed a kiss against her cheek. “Noelle is going to need you more than ever when she wakes up.”
    She slid her fingers against her skin. Her cheek was still warm from his lips and she wanted to hold the tender moment close to her heart. Except she’d been here before. Experienced Russ’s gentleness and love only to have him break her heart. She had to remember he was here for Noelle. Not for her.
    She straightened and tugged the beeper from his hand. It slipped into her palm. “You’re right. What good will I be to Noelle when she wakes up if I don’t take care of myself.”

    ***

    Her backyard looked exactly as she’d left it. Audra stared at the golden blooms on her sweet acacia tree from her vantage point inside the pickup truck. How could everything still look so normal when her life was in turmoil? If she stepped under that tree would time cease long enough for her to remember what normal felt like?
    It might be her last chance to experience it.
    “I don’t like this.” Cameron leaned across her to peer out the window, his sandalwood scent catching her breath every bit as much as the press of his hard body against her. “Let’s get in and get out. Fast.”
    She reached around him for the door handle. “Do you want the research or not? It’ll just take a minute for me to grab it.”
    The door emitted a soft creak when she opened it. Cameron made no attempt to move, forcing her to brush against him as she slipped out of the truck. She tamped down her body’s tingling response. Lifting the latch on her gate, she ducked into the yard. In ten steps she was to the door—with Cameron at her back.
    She spun around. “What are you doing?”
    “You didn’t really expect me to let you go in there by yourself, did you?”
    “No, I don’t mean that.” She pressed herself against the door but could still feel the heat of him closing in on her. “You’re…hovering.”
    Laughter rumbled from his chest. “I’m hovering?” He took the smallest step backward, so small it couldn’t even be counted as a step. “Better?”
    “Much.”
    Damn it, he had the tenacity of a pit bull mixed with the irritating tendencies of a hyperactive poodle. Why did she find that unusual combination intriguing? And unsettling.
    She flushed. “I don’t have my keys.”
    “Of course you don’t. The cops weren’t going to take the chance you’d stab them through the eye with it. You being a dangerous criminal and all.”
    He slipped the leather pouch back out of his pocket and withdrew the pick. In seconds he had the lock popped. The door sprang open and she stepped inside. Sunlight streamed through the window, bouncing off the bright colors of her Mediterranean style kitchen. The doors on the cherry cabinets hung drunkenly from their hinges, broken dishes crunched under her feet as she stepped around the breakfast bar and into the living room.
    She attempted a gasp, but somehow a shriek tumbled from her mouth instead. All the books in her bookcase lay in a heap on the floor. Her throw pillows littered the carpet and the doors on her