She sighed. “I haven’t painted a wall in many years. I’m going to be sorry tomorrow.” She paused and looked at him sideways. He raised a brow and she admitted defeat. “Fine. I had a lot of things I’d dreamed of. I was ridiculously happy, I can’t lie to you. But something so singularly horrible happened to me that it broke me. It turned me inside out and I will never be the same. Jeremy had a different way to process what happened. Our romantic relationship didn’t make it through. He’s still my friend, you should know that. He’ll always be a part of my life if for no other reason than that he’s Adrian’s manager. Anyway, sometimes things happen. Things you dream of as your worst nightmare but you simply can’t imagine the horror until you’re living them. And you’re so bent, so broken and changed that you have to walk away or you’d . . . die.”

She blinked the tears back as she painted, letting the rhythm of the work soothe her.

“Jesus God. What happened to you, Erin?”

“I lost someone. I can’t . . . I really just can’t talk about it right now. Are your parents happy you’re back home?”

Todd’s hands trembled as he pushed the roller up and down the wall. Her voice, her demeanor—she’d changed and he wanted to comfort her, but he didn’t know how and it was clear she wasn’t ready to reveal more at this stage in their relationship. Whatever it was, it had stolen the joy from her eyes, taken the edge of free- spiritedness from her and put lines around her mouth.

“They are. My mom has been making noises about meeting you, by the way.” He wanted to make it clear to her that he’d been talking about her to his family. Before he’d done the wrong thing, but now he’d rectify that. Now he would put her where she belonged.

“Tell me about your business.” She bent and rolled the brush through the paint before setting back to work again.

He allowed her the space to steer away from the other topic. “Ben and Cope started it four years ago. Both did bodyguard work on the side and finally figured out security consulting was a good idea up here. Loads of rich people who need help with not just personal security like bodyguards, but home security as well. We do office and home security systems and consultations like safety plans when our clients travel. We hook people up with safety training like martial arts and self-defense courses as well as providing bodyguards and security forces. Essentially whatever the client needs.”

“And what do you think? Do you like the work so far?”

“I like it a hell of a lot more than being out on the streets in a squad car every day. I like helping people take charge of their own safety. Speaking of that, do you have a safety plan? I’m not asking as BCT Security Solutions but as Todd to Erin. It’s clear something horrible happened. I want to be sure you’re safe.”

She smiled at him as she stretched to get the top of the wall painted. “Yes. The label hooked me up when I came back to Seattle. My condo has state-of-the-art security and the building is very secure too. They offered me a bodyguard but I don’t want that. I just want to write music, to make coffee and to be left the f**k alone.” She turned to face him. “But it means a lot that you’d ask. Really. Thanks.”

They painted in amiable company for another two hours, until a ruckus at the back door made him groan.

“That’ll be Ben. You may as well meet him now or he’ll just keep on. He’s that way. I wouldn’t have even told him you’d be here today, but he wanted to go golfing and I told him why I had much better plans.”

She looked startled for a moment and then softened. He liked that. Liked when he could tell he’d touched her in some small way. But they couldn’t discuss it, because in moments Ben’s boots sounded as Todd’s best friend shouted out a greeting.

“Hot damn, it is Erin Brown. I was wondering if Todd had made you up to keep his mother from fixing him up with the single daughters of her church ladies.” Ben, well over six and a half feet of burly, used to play football in high school, grinned as he burst into the room. Holy hotness, Batman. This hunk of homegrown Northwest man gave Todd a serious run for his money in the mouthwa tering department.

Erin blinked a few times, blushing. “You’d be Ben, the ‘B’ in BCT Security Solutions, then.” She wiped her hands and held one out for him to take. She wasn’t small by any means, but Ben dwarfed her anyway.

“Hands off now. Why are you here?” Todd put the lid back on the paint after he’d poured the remainder back into the can.

“Room looks good.” Ben turned to look and then bent to help gather the drop cloths.

“Excuse me a moment, gents. I’ll be back.” Erin ducked out, heading toward the bathroom at the opposite end of the hall.

“I should have known you’d come by. Nosy bastard.” Todd took the painting stuff out to the garage and disposed of everything properly, cleaning up while Ben helped.

“Of course you should have. This woman is someone you talk about constantly and in a way I’ve never heard before. Not afraid to get her hands dirty, I like that. She blushes and she didn’t seem to get that I meant Erin Brown the rockstar not just your girlfriend. After Sheila, god knows someone needed to keep an eye on your choices.”

“I still have a hard time believing she’s a rockstar. Or was. Whatever.”

“Did she tell you what happened? Why she came back here?” Ben lowered his voice.