Guilt crept in. Why hadn’t she been more careful? She wasn’t suspicious or anxious by nature. But, obviously, in this case, she’d been too relaxed.

Doubt crept in. What if she’d been the one who’d turned the safe that direction? She really didn’t think so, but she wasn’t absolutely sure.

Her insides were shuddering.

Dad was gone. Chase was gone. They weren’t here to comfort her and so she wished, with every cell, that Luke could give her another one of those all-encompassing hugs like they’d shared earlier. She hadn’t experienced a hug like that from a man in a long, long time. It had wrapped her in closeness and security—all the things she longed for now.

However, another hug was the last thing she could ask Luke for at the moment, seeing as how he currently wanted to strangle her.

Someone had, she was almost certain, been in her house.

“Lord God,” she whispered.

Who had been in her house?

CHAPTER NINETEEN

If you don’t do everything in your power,” CeCe stated in the type of ringing tone Abraham Lincoln might’ve used when delivering the Gettysburg Address, “to sweep Akira off her feet, then you’re a fool. And we both know I didn’t raise any fools.”

After church, Ben had gone home to change clothes. Then he’d stopped by his parents’ place. When his mom had learned that he, Sebastian, Natasha, and Genevieve planned to ambush Luke with lunch today, she’d volunteered to make a cake for them. He was only here to pick up dessert, but, of course, she was also serving up her opinions.

“Akira’s great,” he said calmly. The more fired up his mom got, the more patient he became. He’d learned that tactic early.

“And do you agree that you need to do everything you can to sweep her off her feet?”

“She’s been hurt in the past. Pretty badly. At this stage we’re just getting to know each other without an agenda.”

“But you like her?”

“Yeah. A lot, actually.” Enough that he was getting worried. He didn’t want to end up back in the same boat he’d been in—the one where he invested himself in someone who didn’t like him back.

“And you believe you could be good for each other?”

“I do.”

CeCe sucked air through her teeth. “Then don’t wait! I’d known your father three days when I decided I was going to marry that man. But now everybody thinks they need time. Time, time, time!”

“I specifically remember you telling Joel and Rachel not to rush into relationships.”

“That’s when Joel was trying to date that older girl in high school who was much too experienced. And when Rachel wanted to date that awful man who was living off the government’s charity and was named after a Hawaiian island.”