Settled in the huge soaking tub, glass of wine in one hand and the phone in the other, Erin laughed at the whole situation with Riley.
"Those southern cops can be a little intimidating, but wow, you got the cream of the crop!" Riley said, "I'm glad you got there safe. You set the alarms, right?"
"Yes, I set the alarms the minute I got inside," Erin responded in that "duh" tone she always took with Riley when she tried mothering her.
"Okay, then. Have a good time. Call me if you need anything, otherwise, call when you get back home Friday. Love you."
"Okay, sis. Love you, too," Erin said, then clicked off the phone and set it on the floor.
She hoped someday to have a big garden tub in her bathroom like the one she was in, and the view of the beach from the huge window over it was nice too.
She sipped her wine and leaned back, letting the hot water soothe away some of the tightness in her shoulders that had started with Henry's phone call, and only progressed with getting lost and having the flat tire.
She could laugh about the policeman now that she was safe in her sister's beach house, but at the time, it was super creepy. She wondered if the local police had any remedial customer relations courses she might suggest he sign up for. Still, he was really kind of hot, if she thought about it, dark and broody, with that strong body.
Just thinking about the police officer's body sent a shiver through Erin's body. She stroked her own breasts, wondering what it would be like to have a real man in her life. Her relationships always seemed to end before they moved into the physical phase.
She was pretty embarrassed that at twenty-three she had only reached third base a couple of times, and never actually had sex with a man. Twirling her nipples between her fingers, she felt the warmth gathering between her legs.
Gently massaging her breasts, she looked critically at her body. At five-eight and 136 pounds, she was built pretty well. Her breasts weren't huge, but they were nicely shaped, and a generous handful. Her abdomen was flat and flowed smoothly into her trimmed mound.
She trailed a finger down her belly and into that cleft between her legs. A moan slipped from her lips. She wasn't a prude. She'd love to have a boyfriend that found her irresistible, that couldn't keep his hands off of her.
Rubbing tiny circles around her clit, she imagined the cop strolling in to her darkened bathroom, slipping into the water with her and taking over the actions that would bring her pleasure. Rubbing harder, she imagined him taking her in the water, never saying a word.
Her back arched and she came quickly, immediately feeling silly for fantasizing about a guy that creeped her out, and obviously had no interest in her. She really needed to find a boyfriend that wasn't interested in respecting her.
The hair on the back of her neck started to rise, and her arms, sitting out on the side of the tub, got goosebumps. She opened her eyes, turning immediately to look out the huge window beside her.
She had left the shade up, thinking it was too late in the season for many people to be out on the beach. None of the houses had been lit up on the street when she came in. Now, as she scanned the sand for whatever had given her the feeling of being watched, she wished she had pulled the shade, or maybe just used the shower.
There was no one in the swath of light coming from the spotlights attached to the rear of the house. She squinted into the darkness and thought she saw a dark shape, but told herself it was nothing but her imagination. She blew out the candles that were providing the only light in the bathroom and surveyed the beach again.
A figure, barely visible in the outer reaches of the light, definitely moved toward the water to the south of the house. She watched closely, but it became stationary again, and she started wondering if it was just something blowing in the wind that got caught up on a pier or whatever.
She shook herself. It was just a spooky kind of night for her, and she needed to pull herself together.
She leaned until she could reach her towel, holding it up toward the window as she rose, quickly wrapping it around her and stepping from the tub. She was in such a hurry she slipped, landing hard on her hip. Glass shattered and she wondered through her pain what she had knocked down in her fall.
Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes hoping she would be able to get up without getting cut on whatever she had broken, but there was no glass around her. She pulled herself up, testing her right leg tentatively. It held. She turned to look around the tub for the broken glass.
The window behind the tub had a hole the size of a pizza pan in it. How in the world had she managed to send something flying through the window three feet above the tub?
Shards of glass lay all over the side of the tub. That didn't make sense. If she had sent something flying through that window, the glass would be in the driveway below. Something had come through the window from the outside!
She looked around the tub, but didn't see anything. Reaching in the tub, she carefully swished her hand back and forth in the water, raking the bottom of the tub. She came up with three shards of glass, but nothing else.
She rose, confused. Something came through that glass. She turned, reaching for her robe on the hook. In the dim light, she thought she saw a spider on the wall, and jumped back. Coming closer, she saw it was something embedded in the wall.
Turning, she looked from the thing embedded in the wall toward the window and beyond. It suddenly became crystal clear. The shape on the beach had shot at her!
Fighting dizziness and nausea, she leaned against then slid down the wall. Sitting in the dark bathroom, she tried to piece together what had just happened. It occurred to her, if she hadn't slipped getting out of the tub, she would probably be lying on the floor in a pool of blood right now.
Why? Why would anyone shoot at her? She was a nurse at a mid-sized hospital in a mid-sized city. There was nothing special about her: no money, no intrigue, not even a boyfriend who might be in some kind of trouble!
She suddenly realized she might still be in danger. What if the shooter was breaking into the house to finish the job?
She crawled across the floor to the phone she had put down earlier. When she clicked the talk button, she breathed a sigh of relief to have the dial tone buzz in her ear. She dialed 911 with shaking hands.
"911. What is your emergency?" a nasally, gender-non-specific voice said, almost making Erin laugh, her nerves thrumming.
Whispering, Erin explained, "I was taking a bath and thought I saw someone out on the beach. I was getting out of the tub and slipped. When I got up, I found the window shattered and what I think is a bullet in the wall."
The nasally voice responded, "So you think a trespasser shot through your window at you?"
"Yes," Erin whispered.
"Are you injured?"
"No, I'm fine," Erin hissed, "can you send the police to check it out?"
