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door was open. That wasn’t like him. She turned back and searched the parking lot for his Jeep Cherokee. It was there. Avery put the jewelry box in her purse then fished out her pepper sprayand her cell phone, just in case something was wrong. As she eased in, she called out, but Wyatt didn’t answer. She went toward the kitchen, not knowing what to expect. But her stomach dropped when she saw his neighbor Kelly with her arms around his neck.
    “Wyatt,” she said so softly it was a miracle he heard her.
    He pushed Kelly off him, his eyes wide with shock. “Avery!”
    “Thisis awkward,” Kelly said and smirked.
    “I was dropping something off for Teri-Lyn. I’ll leave it on the coffee table.” She backed away as she fought to hold in her tears.
    “Avery wait.” He walked toward her. “Let me explain—”
    But she kept going. She had to get out of there now. “I don’t want an explanation. I don’t want to talk to you.”
    He caught up with her and gently graspedher wrist. “Avery. Stop.” He turned to Kelly. “Kelly. You need to go. Now.”
    “I’ll talk to you later, Wyatt.” Kelly sauntered past them both and exited the apartment.
    When she was out sight, Avery wrenched out of his grasp. “Now I know why you hurried me out of the guesthouse. Why fool around with me when you have some with way more experience to play with. I can’t believe I wantedto be with you that night.”
    “I didn’t want to fool around with you.”
    Avery furiously dug into her bag and found the jewelry box. “Teri-Lyn asked me to give these to you.” She threw the box at him and stormed out.
    “Avery!” Wyatt reached down, picked up the box, and threw it on a chair. He caught up with her and jumped in front of her to block her path. “Avery, please stop. I needto talk to you.”
    “Now you have something to say? Funny how you like to talk when it’s convenient for you. But I don’t want to listen.”
    She scurried to her car before he could catch up with her. She didn’t want to hear another word he had to say.
     
    * * *
     
    Wyatt was gripping the wheel so tight, his hand was cramping. How had things gone so wrong, so quickly?When he got on the road for his trip home to New Mexico to visit his family, he hadn’t wanted to leave until he’d explained things to Avery. Until he’d set things right. But he’d searched for Avery for the rest of the day after she stormed out of his apartment in hopes of explaining what she’d seen and had no luck finding her. She wasn’t taking his phone calls either. He knew what Avery had seen lookedbad. No, it looked terrible.
    Today he’d caught a break. After some cajoling, Kendrick, Sam’s partner at Regency who also oversaw the security for the Blake family, informed him Avery had gone to see Parker. He assured Kendrick he wouldn’t tell where the information came from and was on his way. He’d called Avery again, but she still wouldn’t pick up. A half hour later and thirty miles outhis way to New Mexico, he made the turn when he saw the Twin Oaks gated community sign on his way to Parker’s house. It figured she’d live on a Blake property. He’d remembered Bo saying this was a property in Connor and Colby’s real estate portfolio. He told the security guard in the shack he was here to see Parker. The man got on the phone and made a call. A few minutes later, the guard raisedthe security gate and gave him instructions to get to Parker’s place.
    Twin Oaks was a nice property with manicured lawns and gorgeous homes. He saw Parker’s car and pulled into the driveway next to Avery’s car. She wasn’t standing outside wielding a weapon and Parker had allowed him through at the gate, so he took it as a good sign he was welcome. He got out of the car and rang the doorbell.Parker opened the door with a bright smile.
    “Hi, Parker.” He hugged her.
    “Wyatt. So nice to see you.” She hugged him back and ushered him into the house.
    He whistled as he surveyed the