Nate started to rise as she entered the living room, but she waved him back into his chair. “Don’t waste the effort. I’ll be sitting before you’re up.”

To illustrate that, she picked up her pace and took her seat on the couch, resettling the afghan over her legs.

“I reheated your tea again.” He slid the cup toward her.

“Thanks.” She picked up her mug and wrapped her cold fingers around the warm ceramic. “Where were we?” As if she didn’t know.

“We were talking about why you have an elaborate security system and a gun. In addition to the hard-core locks, I’ve spotted motion sensors, window and door alarms, and glass-break detectors.”

She raised her eyebrows. “You were busy while I was gone.”

“Yes, but I confined my assessment to the living room and kitchen. I didn’t spot any surveillance cameras.”

“I considered adding a few after the lily incident. I’ll definitely do that now.”

He drained the bottle of iced tea and set it on the coffee table. “We’ve talked about what you have. You want to tell me why you have it?”

She inhaled the soothing peppermint scent, but it didn’t work its usual calming magic. “There’s almost no chance my security fetish is connected to what’s going on here.”

“So seeing the results of violence up close and personal in your work isn’t what made you more skittish than normal.”

“No. Not to this extent, anyway.” She waved a hand toward the door and motion detectors. “But you knew that, didn’t you?” It was clear from his decisive tone he’d already toyed with that possibility and dismissed it.

“I was pretty certain.”

She played with the fringe on the afghan. “I haven’t told this story in almost four years. It has to stay between us.”

“Goes without saying.”

Exactly the response she’d expected.

You can do this, Grace—and you’ve picked the right man to tell. Trust your heart.

Taking a deep breath, she dived in. “I’m going to give you the condensed version. During my fellowship in New Mexico, I met a group of colleagues at a bar after a long, late shift. They’d asked me to join them on multiple occasions, and I’d run out of excuses for saying no. I was getting a reputation as an all-work-and-no-play kind of woman, which was deserved. Since that’s not who I wanted to be, I decided to go for half an hour.”

She took a drink of tea, letting the minty flavor chase the bitterness from her tongue.

“I stayed my allotted thirty minutes, but none of my colleagues were ready to leave yet. Two of the guys offered to walk me to my car, but I didn’t want to interrupt their party.”

Nate frowned and leaned forward, clasping his hands between his knees. “I don’t like where this is heading.”

Neither did she.

Bunching the edge of the afghan in her fists, she forced herself to continue. “The bar was a weekend hot spot for young professionals in an older, marginal part of the city, but on the Wednesday night I was there, the area was on the quiet side. To get to my car, I had to cut through an alley between two buildings. Halfway down, a guy appeared at the far end and began walking toward me. I did not get positive vibes.”