False Security Read Free

the office looks great.”
    Satisfaction zinged through Mark
and he smiled. “I appreciate it. Now get out of here.”

  Chapter Two
    Mark locked the
front doors of the bookstore after his long day. Time had dragged its feet
against his ego from the second Rachel gave him the brush-off. He’d been so
sure she would say yes. Girls never said no.
    He flipped a switch and darkness
claimed the store. His eyes adjusted, and he moved through the shadowed rows of
books to a door with a red and white “Employees Only” sign. He entered the
storage room and maneuvered around the racks containing books and supplies.
Searching for anything out of place, he glanced at the shelves, and stopped to
straighten up the cleaning supplies.
    Mark placed a hand over his
mouth and yawned. The past two weeks, he had worked twice as hard to make up
for Greg’s absence. Mark’s body never missed an opportunity to remind him of
its limitations, but the frequent visits of their newest patron kept him going.
    Mark shook the thought out of
his head. At twenty-nine, he reveled in his bachelor status. Greg nagged him to
settle down, reminding him he couldn’t chase women for the rest of his life,
but Mark never listened.
    Commitment didn’t scare him.
Anna turned Greg’s life around for the better, and Mark dove into the role of
best man at their wedding. Yet when Greg tossed the garter belt, Mark thrust
his hands in his pockets. Standing in a crowd of men cheered on by zealous
girlfriends with weddings twinkling in their eyes, Mark stepped away from the
action.
    Mark relished his perfect life,
and he controlled everything the world threw at him. He had no boss looming
over him, no landlord collecting rent, and no significant other monitoring him.
He needed nothing else to keep him happy.
    Though Rachel declined to have a
cup of coffee with him, he shouldn’t have asked in the first place. Out of all
the women in the world, she had the potential to bring complications into his
otherwise uncomplicated life.
    The silver lining of the
rejection cloud bringing him comfort, Mark activated the security alarm and
opened the back door. The chilly night greeted him, and he regretted not
grabbing a jacket at home that morning. The automatic door lock on the backdoor
engaged itself, and he took a few steps outside into the cool night air. He
froze in mid-step.
    Rachel Thomas stood in front of
his old Chevy pickup truck.
    Positive she would disappear, he
closed his eyes. When he reopened them, she shoved her hands into the pockets
of a formfitting black jacket and smiled. Under the glow of the parking lot
lights, a crisp May breeze moved her hair around her shoulders. Moistening his
lips, he started toward her.
    “I assumed this was your truck,”
she said.
    “You assumed correctly.” His
hyperactive nerves made his voice sound foreign. “What are you doing here?”
    “I’ve been thinking about it,
and I’d like to have that cup of coffee with you. That is, if it’s not too late
to take you up on your offer.”
    Mark smiled. “I’d love to have a
cup of coffee. I know this great place on 21st Street—”
    “I live right over there,” she
said, pointing to the neighborhood behind the store, “and I have a coffee
maker.”
    “That sounds fine, too.” Not
seeing another vehicle with his truck in the parking lot, he asked, “Did you
walk here?”
    “Yes.”
    “Then let me drive you home.”
    Following her directions, he
steered his pickup through a sleepy neighborhood and into the driveway of a
light blue house with white trim. The sidewalk led past a willow tree
threatening to overtake the lawn. On the front porch, the wind pushed a wooden
swing along to the tempo of rustling leaves. Each creak of the swing invited
them to sit and enjoy its relaxing movements.
    Rachel pulled a set of keys out
of her jacket pocket. Mark’s curiosity grew with each of the three deadbolts
she unlocked, all requiring different keys. After they entered the house,