Page 27 of Little Ballerina

“I'm not surprised you opened up to Sam.”

Naomi had been prepared to be peppered with questions about the fire that changed her life forever, not talk about Sam. She wanted to talk about Sam almost as much as she wanted to talk about the fire, which was not at all.

“I know he likes you,youknow he likes you. I know you like him,youknow you like him. So, what I don’t get is why you don’t do anything about it. Or why he doesn’t just come right out and ask you out.”

Unfortunately, she had wondered that herself a time or fifty. Sam always skirted around his so-called feelings for her. Today, when he’d said that he cared about her, was the most forthright he’d ever been about it.

“Why won't you go out with him? Why do you waste your time dating guys you know you aren’t serious about?”

She just shrugged. She didn’t want to discuss this right now. She didn’t like lying to people she loved, but she was never going to give an honest answer to that question to anyone.

“You do that on purpose. You deliberately pick them because you have nothing in common with them, and they're just like you, not looking for anything serious either. Sam’s a good guy. Kinda scary, but still a good guy.”

Naomi had never thought of Sam as scary. Well, at least not in the way Rylla meant. Sam was intimidating, and he always appeared to be angry, but she never felt daunted by him. He scared her because he made her want things she didn’t deserve.

“I don’t want to see you end up alone because you're scared,” Rylla said gently. “Clara is getting married in just a few days, it’s just a matter of time before Aggie and Nick wind up married too. I’m not saying you have to get married just because your sisters are or will be soon, but I care about you and I know you're lonely, I just want you to be happy.”

Happy. In her experience, happiness was nothing more than an illusion. “You're alone,” she retorted, primarily to divert attention away from herself.

“Touché,” her friend muttered.

Something in the way Rylla said it had Naomi’s interest piquing. She needed a distraction right about now. She knew about the losses Rylla had suffered, but she sensed there was more to it than she was aware of. Before she could comment, Sam appeared in the living room doorway.

“You're meant to be sleeping, I have everything under control,” Rylla said.

“It’s not that.”

Sam was staring straight at her and she knew. Something was wrong. “What?” she demanded shakily.

“They found another body.”

“Who?” The shakes had left her voice, but she thought that might be because she was quickly falling into shock.

“Oscar Yla.”

Her neighbor. He was only twenty. He was thinking about proposing to his girlfriend. He’d just gotten his dream job. She liked Oscar. They hung out at the gym all the time. She’d put in a good word for him with the gym’s owner to get him the job. He was a good kid. A friend. He had his whole life ahead of him. Now he was dead. Because of her.

“Naomi.” Rylla put a hand on her arm, but she jerked away. She didn’t want to be touched right now.

Without a word, she stood and hurried for the door, needing to be alone. Sam stopped her, his hands gripped her upper arms and he held her in place. His dark eyes were bright with emotion, with pain, for her she realized. He was hurting because she was hurting.

“It’s not your fault, Naomi.”

Of course it was. This man wanted her. Not Nicole, and not Oscar, and not whoever he went after next. How was she going to stop him?

Sam pulled her against his chest. One arm held her securely while his other hand cradled her head. He was being so gentle with her. It was so un-Sam like that it threw her. He was being too nice to her. It was confusing. Confusing and tempting. She couldn’t be around him right now.

Pushing him away she rushed out of the room, ignoring Sam and Rylla’s calls for her to wait. In her room, she locked the door behind her, flopped down on her bed, and curled into a little ball. If the stalker would just tell her who he was, she would gladly give herself up to him. That would solve her problems and everyone else’s.

* * * * *

10:45 P.M.

He was glad Naomi was tossing and turning in her bed.

It meant he was getting to her already.

He liked watching her. He used to do it back then. He’d missed it.