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shouldn’t have—”
    “Of course she should have,” Jack said, his eyes narrowing on her. “Why didn’t you call me yourself?”
    “It didn’t occur to me,” she said honestly. “Besides, the alarm company automatically calls the police. There’s no reason for us to bother you with it.”
    She could see a muscle tighten in his jaw. “When are you ever going to understand that it’s not a bother? I need to know you’re safe for my own peace of mind.”
    Under his scrutiny, Talia suddenly became aware that she was wearing her pajamas, which consisted of a pair of soft cotton pants and a thin tank top that showed off every curve of her braless breasts. Her face heated and she crossed her arms over her chest.
    It was silly to feel self-conscious—the man had seen her naked, for God’s sake—but there was something different between them now, a weird charge in the air.
    And it didn’t help that snippets of her earlier conversation with Rosie kept popping into her brain. Making her wonder if her sister was right, that Jack did have a thing for her after all and had just been biding his time before he called in his favors.
    Stop. Jack isn’t like that and you know it,
she told herself, giving herself a mental slap for even thinking it. After all that he’d done—and more to the point, hadn’t done—Jack didn’t deserve anything but her gratitude.
    “I appreciate that you’re concerned about us, Jack, but I’m sure whoever tried to break in is long gone. No need for you to lose any more sleep over it.”
    “Actually, I don’t believe there was an intruder,” Roberts broke in.
    “Then what set off the alarm?” Jack said.
    “Want to follow me?” He gestured them out to the garage, Jack following Talia so closely she could feel the heat rolling off his much larger body.
    The overhead light was on, illuminating Talia’s silver Honda Accord parked inside. Next to it, a plastic garbage can lay on its side. The bag inside had been dragged out and shredded, and bits and pieces of banana peel, coffee filters, and other assorted trash littered the concrete floor.
    “Looks like the side door into the garage was leftslightly ajar,” Roberts said, picking his way over a Styrofoam container dripping week-old noodles as he walked to the door. “My guess is raccoons pushed the door open, and when they did, they set off the motion detectors in here.” Roberts took a curious look around. “Don’t often see motion detectors in a house this small.”
    Especially not one full of secondhand furniture and cheap electronics. But it wasn’t stuff Talia’s more-sophisticated-than-average security system was protecting.
    She turned to Rosario, who was lurking in the door that led to the kitchen. “You told me you locked the door when you came in.”
    Guilt flashed in her sister’s eyes as she grimaced. “I thought I did, but it’s possible it didn’t latch…”
    Now she really felt like a jerk, having the police show up and dragging Jack out of bed because of a mishap with the neighborhood wildlife. “You need to be sure!” Talia snapped, her unease morphing into annoyance.
    “I’m sorry, okay? Don’t yell at me!”
    Talia took a deep breath and bit back her temper. “I’m sorry I yelled. I know it was an accident. This is a safe neighborhood, but we still need to be careful.”
    Rosario nodded, but her mouth was still pulled into a slight pout.
    Officer Roberts’s radio squawked from his hip and he unclipped it to have a low-pitched conversation full of codes Talia couldn’t decipher.
    “Ms. Vega?”
    Talia turned back to Officer Roberts. “Are you satisfied everything is okay around here? I have a possible two-sixty-one I need to respond to.”
    “What’s a two-sixty-one?” Talia wondered out loud.
    “It’s sexual assault,” Jack said quietly before Roberts could answer. “Right?” Jack asked Roberts as an afterthought.
    “That’s correct.”
    “Yes, we’ll be fine, Officer. Thanks for