The brunette stepped back once he raised his eyes. Darn, he was in the wrong. She’d nailed it when she’d guessed he never read those condo board letters. They were usually about some stupid rule, and no one expected him to follow every rule.
He should apologize, but it stuck in his throat. He was a big guy, and made his living dominating his opponents physically. This woman had dropped him to the carpet without breaking a sweat. That was troublesome. She had no idea who he was, and that made him all too aware of the year he’d missed playing, and what else he could still miss. And certainly the way she was looking at him like he was a creep wasn’t helping.
But fair was fair. She did belong here, and he’d missed the memo. He probably had more paperwork about the whole deal that he’d ignored.
“Okay. I’m sorry I tried to block you from getting off the elevator. But you didn’t need to pin me to the ground. Maybe say something next time.”
“You think I overreacted?.” She eyed him levelly. “Have you ever been assaulted?”
He squelched the glib response that tried to work its way up. A lot of guys came after him on the ice. He was assaulted pretty well every hockey game. But he was paid for that, and knew what he had signed up for. What she was talking about couldn’t compare. And if she had been attacked herself at some point...
She continued. “I was in the Forces. I learned how to protect myself, and I don’t apologize for that. I have two kids who will be staying here with me. I will protect them, as well.”
And with that she turned and walked toward Mrs. Epps’s door. She inserted the key and walked in without giving him another look.
* * *
TROY LOOKED AT himself in his bathroom mirror. He was dressed only in running shoes and shorts. Some might label this prolonged self-examination as narcissistic. Troy certainly would admit to vanity, but that wasn’t what this was about.
He was fit; more fit than he’d ever been. And as a professional athlete, he was used to being in good shape. There was nothing to concern him in his reflection. But still he stared, trying to drill beneath the skin, down through the blood and muscles to the basic cell structure. It was useless. If the cancer was coming back, he wouldn’t find it on the outside, just like he’d noticed nothing a year ago when it first attacked him.
Still, he looked at himself. He was in peak condition, but knew that as fit as he was, as well as he ate and trained and as much as he checked himself every day, he was no longer invulnerable. He never had been: he just hadn’t realized. Now he did. And while he saw the same body in the mirror now that had made him one of the best defensemen in the league, he couldn’t trust it anymore.
* * *
“ANGIE, THIS IS your room.” Michelle paused in the doorway, letting her daughter peer inside.
“Wow!” Angie said. “This place is awesome! Way better than our old house in Winnipeg!” She pushed past her mother, eager to start pulling her belongings out of the boxes and finding places for them in this larger room.
Michelle smiled. She’d agonized over the decision to move. Leaving behind the city they’d called home for years hadn’t been easy. Growing up an army brat and then joining the Forces herself, she was accustomed to moving. This, though, was the first time she’d relocated entirely on her own, leaving a support network behind without having one waiting for her. Her encounter with the man who apparently lived across the hall had made her second-guess her decision, but that had been the only negative note so far.
She’d just picked up the kids from the airport and was showing them their home for the next few months. They were going from base housing to a penthouse condo. They should be pleased.
Tommy was tight on her heels, following her to the next doorway.
“And this is your room.”
Tommy paused, considering. He’d always been a quiet kid, but during the past year he’d become more so. Michelle tried not to reveal her worry: they each had to work through their grief in their own way.
“It’s nice. Where’s your room, Mom?” he asked.
Michelle wrapped her arm around his shoulders. He kept close tabs on her, and that was only natural. She hoped the new setting might help him come out of his shell.
She led the way to the master suite. She’d never had a room like this in her life. As an army brat, her lodgings had always been geared more to function than comfort or style. But this room had a king-size bed, walk-in closet and en-suite. Which meant she wouldn’t have to share a bathroom with the kids. She couldn’t remember ever having a bathroom to herself before.
Angie soon followed them in to scope out the rest of the place.
“This is wicked. How long can we stay here?” she said, running her hands over the duvet on the bed.
“We’re house-sitting for Mrs. Epps until you get out of school in June. Don’t get too used to it, though. We were lucky Great Aunt Agnes knew her friend was looking for a house sitter. After this we’ll have to find our own place and start paying rent, and we definitely won’t be able to afford anything on this scale.”
Tommy had gone to the windows, providing vistas across the city. “No one could get in through these windows, could they?”
“Of course not, dork,” Angie responded.
“Angie, don’t call your brother names.”
Tommy frowned at his sister. “Toronto is dangerous. I heard Grandma telling Mom that.”
Michelle sighed. The kids had recovered enough from the tragedy in their past to resume their sibling bickering, which was good, but exasperating, as well. She gave Tommy a stern look. “You weren’t supposed to be listening. Toronto is no more dangerous than Winnipeg.”
According to the statistics, anyway. But it didn’t feel that safe. It was big and strange compared to living on the base. For example, the way she had responded to the man in the elevator. That had been a gut reaction. She’d been attacked once, years ago, though luckily her training and fitness had prevented the attack from being more than an attempt. Since then she’d kept herself prepared, physically and mentally.
Michelle wondered if she should warn the kids about their neighbor. She hadn’t run into him since that first encounter, so with any luck they wouldn’t have very many encounters with him. He obviously was well-off, since he lived here and dressed the way he did. But he still made her nervous. He’d said he thought she was following him, but what kind of person suspected perfect strangers of following him home? She hoped her warning would be sufficient and he’d behave if the kids did run into him.
Michelle looked at Tommy, who was still eyeing up the windows for security measures. No. She wouldn’t worry him further by bringing up their neighbor.
* * *
TROY WAS GLAD he didn’t bump into his new neighbor when he left for his workout. He’d missed her yesterday, as well, and he hoped that indicated her schedule wouldn’t sync up with his. He certainly hadn’t seen Mrs. Epps much. He should read that condo letter to check how long she’d be around.
If any of the guys on the team found out how quickly and easily this woman had dropped him to the floor, he’d never hear the end of it. He didn’t think he gave off a scary vibe—at least, not off the ice—and it was unsettling to know he’d made a woman feel threatened. All in all, he would be happy to not run into her very often. He had enough to worry about getting his career back on track.
At the gym he pushed himself like always, did just a bit beyond what he had before—lifting a few pounds more, spinning the bike a little faster. Seeing those numbers rise gave him the illusion that he had his body under his control, and sometimes he needed that. He wiped the sweat off his brow