Page 52 of Dear John

I nodded, unable to do anything else right now. He rolled me over, laying beside me on the bed, pressing a kiss to my lips.

“I can get a little overprotective sometimes.”

“You don’t say,” I grinned.

“And maybe I’m a little out of my element since I lost my job.”

“Just a little,” I repeated.

He stared at me with the deepest sincerity as he played with the ends of my hair. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For taking me in. For putting up with me.”

“As you yell at kids for riding bikes?”

“And for what I’m about to do.”

Unease filled me at his statement. “And what’s that?”

But instead of answering, he climbed off me and gave me a thwack on the ass. “I would get dressed if I were you.”

“Kavanaugh!” I shouted as he sauntered out of the room. “Son of a bitch.”

Twenty minutes later, I was downstairs and freshly showered. A hoard of men were in my house, and one woman who looked like she was having way too much fun.

“Rae, what is going on here?” I asked, walking over to where she was yelling at one of Kavanaugh’s old coworkers.

“Additional security.”

I looked up and frowned. ‘There’s a net above the door.”

“Right.”

“Why is there a net above my door?”

“To trap intruders. We put them at all the entrances.”

I shook my head. “It’s a net. Shouldn’t that be in…the forest?”

“It’s not just any net. It’s a…well, to put it plainly, it’s electrified.”

My eyes widened in horror as I slowly faced her. “You put electricity in that thing?”

“Yep!”

“But…what if I get caught in that?”

“Oh, you won’t. You’ll have a secondary code when you come in. Just enter it before five seconds is up and you’re good to go.”

“Five seconds?” That’s all I get?” I shrieked.

“It’s plenty of time. Besides, you don’t want the intruder to get past the net. Once he is, he’s gone.”

“No,” I said firmly. “Absolutely not!”

“But—”