Laying alone in her bed at Brendan's place while he was out late on a date, she happened upon the new reality show featuring her ex.

The Riyah Loves Tone Show.

Great!

She rolled her eyes but had to watch the madness. That was when she saw Riyah announce to the world that she was pregnant with his child. That made her sit up in the bed.

What?

He just met the little skank. How were they moving in together when she was pregnant? It had to be fake for the show. She did not look pregnant. She knew that was dumb to think soon as she thought it because you did not have to look pregnant to be pregnant. But really, how did this happen?

It felt like just yesterday she was with Tone, hugging him and kissing him. He claimed to be so heartbroken but he moved on so fast.

She cut the TV off.

She needed to focus on the case anyway. That last note. After analyzing it and finding no prints, they did figure out that the mailman delivered the note. He said it was given to him and he was told to drop it off there. That was against the law for them to do, but he claimed the woman paid him a lot of money to do it.

To protect his job, he agreed to look at pictures of all of Brendan's female co-workers. So far, nothing.

She wondered how Brendan's date with the perky Sara was going. Probably would be his girlfriend soon. And then they would be engaged. Probably have a summer wedding by next summer. She would get pregnant on their honeymoon. Buy a nice big house with a white picket fence and live happily ever after.

Why was she thinking about this?

It was late, but she could not sleep so she went down to the kitchen to see what food she could snack on in the kitchen. Her body was a machine, food was only fuel to her, but she did like the occasional treat. She found a tub of ice cream in the freezer and pulled it out.

Spoon in hand, she leaned over the counter and started to eat it right there. Rocky Road ice cream, which happened to be her favorite. It was a little after midnight when the alarm system beeped acknowledging that Brendan was home and pulling into the garage which was connected to the kitchen.

Brendan walked in and saw her standing there and grinned. He grabbed a spoon and stood next to her to dig into the ice cream with her.

"Found my stash."

"How did the date go?" Why did she even ask because she could care less. Then again, Sara was still a suspect. Hide in plain sight could be what she was doing.

Brenden scooped up a big scoop of ice cream before he said anything. "Just a date with a co-worker. Nothing exciting."

"Well, she is totally into you."

"I am not into her. Not my type."

"Oh." She looked exactly like his type. Nothing like her.

"I like the quiet, broody type that packs a gun."

She turned and raised an eyebrow at him. "Huh?"

"Want to go on a date with me?"

She stood straight up and dropped her spoon on the counter. "You know I can't go on a date with you. I'm here on a case. I work for you, I'm trying to keep you safe from someone harassing you."

"Yes but...until then..." he moved closer about to kiss her, but she moved away from him.

"Don't do that! I'm going to my room. Goodnight Brendan."

No wonder she could not figure out this case. She was falling for the client, and it was clouding her judgment. He was so handsome and she could see herself with someone like him. Maybe if she was ready to date. Why not him?

"Because he is an assignment!" she yelled to herself.

She needed to solve the case and then go home. She did not want to be in St. Louis any longer than needed.

This should be an easy case. She spent the rest of the night going through everything they had. Her number one suspect was Sara, so she dug deeper into Little Miss Sunshine. Twenty-four, graduated with honors from the University of Missouri-St Louis two years ago, born and raised in St. Louis. Her social media did not show any strange obsessions with Brendan or many posts from her job.

Then she cross-referenced her friends list with Brendan's. They shared a few co-worker friends, then there was one that they shared that did not work at KMOV. She clicked on that person's page.

The answer was right there in her face all this time!

She sent Victor her suspicions, and although it was late, she knew Victor would be on the job as quickly as possible. She did further research on her own. Social media was a powerful tool, something that could be used for good or evil.

Putting your life history out into the world for eternity was something wild. Not her. She posted random things around her, but not her life Never anything in her home. Never when she was away or stating that she was in class. She did not even let others know she was training in all her martial arts or shooting.

"Real Gs move in silence," Victor would say to her, quoting Lil Wayne.

When she decided she wanted to go into the FBI, she scrubbed social media of anything unsavory of herself. Including most of the things, she did with her sisters as one-sixth of the Six Sexxy Sisters KStyle fashion campaign.  If she ever needed to go undercover, she did not need her face to be easy to find.

Of course, that did not stop many people around campus to recognize her. She and her sisters were super popular in Springfield. If her small amount of fame could stay local, she was okay with that.

But others used social media as if it was a virtual blog of their lives. When they were going shopping and were and everything they bought, including food hauls and get ready with me videos. They sat in their cars to eat or do mukbangs, giving their location at any time. They posted their kids, their friends, and family, even things like their church.

Nothing was sacred.

Victor got back to her. "Finally, now bring yo ass back here."

She solved the case. This was a no-brainer. She stalled on it because she was caught up in Brendan's charm. This could have been a one-day case had she paid attention.

It could wait till the morning. He was not in any danger.

She was. Her time with Brendan would be ending. What was she supposed to do? Tell him she was attracted to him as well?

And then what?

She still was not ready to be with anyone. Not anything serious, but maybe it would not hurt to go on a date with him. Get to know him outside of serving as his bodyguard.

After sleeping on it, she showered and dressed and made her way into the kitchen. Brendan was still in sweats, standing over the stove cooking something. All she needed was coffee then tell him the case was over.

"I made us breakfast."

She looked into the pan to see what he was making. Egg whites and spinach, turkey sausage already done. She ignored him and grabbed a mug and poured herself some coffee.

"Nola, let me apologize about last night."

"What's to apologize for?" She sipped her black coffee, trying her best to ignore his tall stature near.

"You're right, I have nothing to apologize for. I think you're cool and I would love to see more of you...even after this...whatever this is, stalker thing, is over."

"It's over." She pulled out her phone and showed him the photo from the Facebook page of the woman behind all the madness. "Do you know who this is?"

"Gina, she attends my father's church. We grew up together."

Guys were slow when it came to realizing someone close to them liked them. Gina Riggs was no ordinary stalker. She had a personal relationship with Brendan. Though she did not have an obsessive amount of pictures on her Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, or Instagram page of Brendan, she liked, saved, shared, and retweeted everything he ever posted.

All harmless things. She wanted more than a friendship with Brendan, why couldn't he see that?

"She also works security in your building, Brendan, come on, it's so obvious! I'm slipping! I should have figured this out immediately." Blinded by a cute face. She would never make a good agent behaving this way. She lost her focus and this was a test for her to get it back.

And Victor knew all along who was behind it. He was testing her.

"How do you know it's her? We're friends. I helped her get the job at the building. She dropped out of college when she got pregnant sophomore year. Been having a hard time ever since."

"Did you ever date her?"

"No!" He cut the burner off, moved the skillet from the heat, and started to divide it out onto two plates. "Like I said, we grew up together. Through church. Different schools, so the only time I would really hang out with her was at church."

"How could you not know she is obsessed with you? She knows where you live, where you work, that she could drop a note on your car and no one would see."

"She's harmless. Maybe it's a crush."

There was nothing physically wrong with the woman, she was attractive. Mentally, maybe she needed some help. Then again, it was nerve-wracking having feelings for someone who overlooked you.

"Yeah well, do you want to talk to her, or do you need me to, because you paid for this to stop, and we need it to stop."

He grabbed her hand. "So does that mean you leave?"

"Why would you need me here now?"

"Because..." That was all he could say, and he did not finish the sentence.

But she was done. Case over, no threat, and she realized she needed more work on herself. Brendan was attractive, yes, but she did not want a boyfriend. They could keep in touch, but there was definitely no need to lead him on.

"I think you should give Gina a chance. hear her out, talk to her, see why she held in these feelings for you. We're all adults here but hold in our feelings and may let a good one go. Not saying you two will be anything more than friends, but just listen to her. Look at her in a different light."

She was really pushing Brendan away and into the arms of his stalker.

Brendan nodded. "I can't believe you're so young but so smart."

"You're a good guy, Brendan, I think you need to let someone into your life and share it."

"So...you're leaving now?"

She smiled and looked over at the breakfast he made. "After I smash that, yes, I'm hitting the road."

A/N: When I wrote this in 2010, things were so different. This time around I did not know what to do. Then I realized, this is all a "coming-of-age" type book for Nola, even though she is twenty-one. She is still growing as a person, learning herself. Getting involved with a client would have been a no-no.

Will Nola find love in this book? Yeah, that's the question.