Flashback

9

THE COLLISION SET KENZIE back a step, but Aidan held her upright.

She tilted her head up, up, up…and looked into his face, which was unfortunately indecipherable.

“You okay?” he asked, his voice low and calm, and concerned.

Okay, concern was good. Concern implied that he hadn’t noticed what she’d been about to do. But was she okay? Hell, no.

Not even close.

“Are you?” His gaze swept down her body, then up again, as if categorizing her injuries, which reminded her of last night, when he’d also been categorized her body.

With his tongue.

“Yes,” she managed. “I’m fine.”

“Good. What the hell are you doing here?”

“Funny, I was going to ask you the same thing. Are you following me?”

“No.”

“You’re not driving a gray sedan and going everywhere I go?”

“I drive a truck, a blue one and I didn’t follow you here. I got lucky on the first try. I figured you’d come here and try to do something stupid.”

“I did nothing of the kind.”

“You don’t consider ducking beneath that yellow tape stupid?”

“Only if I’d gotten caught.”

“Hello,” he said, still holding on to her. His fingers tightened. “Caught.”

“Yes, but you don’t count.”

He looked both boggled and irritated. “And why is that?”

“Because what are you going to do, arrest me? Last night you were kissing me, touching me, fu-”

“Okay,” he said with a low laugh. “Now just hold on a second-”

“I’m just saying.” She narrowed her eyes and went for bravado, even though she could hardly breathe while looking at the big blackened sailboat that less than two days ago had been Blake’s Girl.

Aidan had saved her.

He’d saved her and she was poking at him because she was all twisted up inside. So she let out a breath and looked into his face, where she found a surprising blend of sympathy and old affection mixed in with the frustration and fear.

“I came here to talk,” he said. “Not arrest you. Jesus. Now what the hell is this about a gray sedan?”

“Nothing.”

He just looked at her for a long moment. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“Nothing.”

“More like everything.” He let out a breath. “Tommy expects you to let him do his job.”

“I’m not going to get in his way. I’m going to help him.”

“Now see, I don’t think he likes help.”

“Too bad for him.”

“It’s going to be too bad for you if you piss him off. He can and will have you arrested if you don’t stay out of his way.”

“Believe me, I plan to stay out of his way.”

“Okay.” He nodded. “New subject then.”

Uh-oh.

“Last night…”

Kenzie didn’t know how she felt about last night. And because she didn’t, she absolutely didn’t want to talk about it. “Yeah. Now’s not a good time for me.”

“You don’t think so?”

She shook her head.

His eyes lit with something that might have been wry humor. He’d been just as beat up as her yesterday, but unlike her, today he did not look like something the cat dragged in. No, he looked tall and fit, and in his loose cargoes and T-shirt, he seemed very in charge of himself and his world.

She, on the other hand, was in charge of exactly nothing at the moment. “Maybe later.” And maybe not.

He hadn’t taken his hands off of her arms, and if asked she’d have said she wasn’t sure how she felt about that, but that would be a lie. At the moment, his support felt like a lifeline.

Her only lifeline. “Tell me something,” she said very quietly, her eyes on his so she didn’t miss any little nuance, because this was very, very important to her. “Arson. It’s a well studied crime, right? The people who do it, most of them belong to a particular character type. Aggressive. Violent. Repeat offenders.”

“Yes,” he agreed. “How do you know this?”

“We did a whole plotline about an arsonist last year. Would you characterize Blake as aggressive or violent?”

“Not even close.”

“Exactly,” she said.

“Which doesn’t prove anything. There’s physical evidence-”

“Okay,” she agreed. She knew about the evidence. “But most arsonists want their work admired. Isn’t that correct?”

“Yes, but-”

“But Blake maintained his innocence. Tommy told me that much.”

“Yes,” Aidan agreed, his expression reflecting his worry for her, whether he wanted it to or not.

Which she didn’t want to face. She meant to do two things when it came to Aidan, especially after last night. First: keep her distance. And second: leave him pining for her.

It was going to be nearly impossible to handle the second while doing the first but she would give it her best shot. “So can’t you concede that it’s possible that you’re wrong about Blake?”

“I’m not the one accusing him of anything.”

She looked at him, really looked at him, and understood something she’d missed before. He didn’t want to believe the worst of Blake any more than she did, and that was so much more than she expected from him, from anyone, that it was like a balm to all her fear and grief.

He wasn’t against her or Blake. She wasn’t completely alone, at least not in that moment, and she found herself closing the gap between them to wrap her arms around his broad shoulders, hugging him hard, so damn relieved to have him there with her.

With a rough sound, his arms came around her, too, and he pulled her in, letting her lean on him. “Kenzie,” he whispered, bowing his head over hers. “It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”

Yeah. Keeping her distance from him was going to be damned tough.

So would be breaking his heart, but she was still going to do it. It was that, or see hers crushed again, and that was simply not going to happen.

Aidan had never been a hugging sort of guy. He loved physical contact, especially the naked kind, with the fairer sex, but touching just out of sheer affection and nothing else? That hadn’t really been a part of his life. Having been the sort of child who’d made it difficult for others to like him, much less love him, he hadn’t inspired a lot of affection growing up. And working with mostly guys all the time…well, they tended to shove and wrestle rather than hug.

So this, with Kenzie, should have felt awkward. Alien. At the very least it was an intrusion of his personal space that he would have thought would make him squirm to be free.

But it didn’t. Even though a piece of her hair was poking him in the eye and she was stepping on his toe, and her nose-pressed against his throat-was icy enough to make him wince, he didn’t move.

In fact, he tightened his arms on her, pressing his face into her hair, inhaling her as if he didn’t want to let go.

Because he really didn’t.

She was warm and soft and sweet, and when her fingers slid into his hair he nearly purred. His hand skimmed down her spine, pressing low on her back, urging her even closer as he just continued to breathe her in.

Just down the dock, two seagulls argued over some found treasure. Water slapped at the wood pylons. Beyond that, the devastation of the fire sat right before their eyes. Aidan didn’t want her looking at it. “You need to get out of here.”

“Yeah.” She stepped back. “I know. I’m going.”

He caught her hand, and when she looked at him questioningly, he saw the truth in her eyes. Wherever she was headed, it was to make trouble.

“I’m a big girl now.”

Yes. She was a woman who could more than take care of herself. Which in no way eradicated the need within him to protect her. “Have you eaten?”

She stared at him, then let out a low breath. “I tell you I can take care of myself and you want to feed me? Even after I also told you that I only wanted to be with you in order to break your heart?”

“Yeah, see, about that…” He stroked a loose strand of hair off her face, letting his finger trace the rim of her ear, absorbing her little shiver. “I don’t really believe you.”

“Oh, it’s true,” she said with utter conviction. “I’m going to break your heart.”

“That wasn’t the only reason you stayed with me last night. Slept with me.”

“Okay, true. You saved my life. I owed you.”

He shook his head. “That wasn’t it, either.”

“What was it then, smart guy?”

“You like being with me.”

A helpless laugh escaped her at that.

“I like being with you, too, Kenz.”

She shook her head. “You’re off your rocker.”

“Already established. So. Food?”

She stared at him, then caved. “I guess I could eat.”

She followed him in her car to Sunrise Café. Aidan had no idea why he took her there, other than that taking her back to his place, where they’d be alone, seemed like a really bad idea.

Sheila was thrilled to see him and gave him a huge hug, smiling with some speculation at Kenzie. Even though it was afternoon by then, Aidan ordered a large breakfast. When Kenzie tried to get just coffee, he merely doubled his order, and then took her up to the roof.

There was a long bench against the far wall, where they sat to watch the surf. It was rough, which didn’t stop the surfers from enjoying it.

Kenzie stared out at the waves. “It’s nice up here. A good place to think. You come here a lot?”

“I do.”

“Sheila’s fond of you.”

“Very,” he agreed.

She smiled at him, and just like that, melted his heart. “You’ve made some good ties,” she said softly.

He got a little lost in her eyes, and leaned in with some half-baked idea of kissing her, and-

“Come and get it!” Sheila yelled up from the bottom of the stairwell.

Sighing-what else could he do-Aidan led the way down to the crowded dining room. Sheila seated them, then brought them their plates, winking at Aidan before leaving.

Kenzie looked down at her loaded plate. “I’m not that hungry.”

“Uh-huh.” He nudged her fork closer to her fingers. “That’s what you always used to say. You’d tell me you weren’t hungry and then you’d eat everything off my plate, remember?”

Humor lit her eyes. “What I remember is that you were my boyfriend. You were supposed to share.”

“So, what are you saying? That you wouldn’t, say, eat off Chad’s plate?”

“Chase. And he’s vegan and doesn’t eat anything that isn’t completely raw, so, no, I wouldn’t.”

Aidan leaned over and stroked another stray strand of hair off her cheek. He had no idea why he kept finding excuses to touch her, other than she looked sad and just a little lost. She wore no makeup, and all those gorgeous blond waves had rioted around her face, a few long strands curling around her jaw. It was just Kenzie. No smoke and mirrors, no pomp or celebrity. Just the woman who’d once touched his heart.

And, apparently, still did.

So he did what he’d wanted to do on the roof-he leaned over their food and kissed her, just once, softly on the lips. When he pulled back, she gave a baffled little smile and touched her fingers to her mouth. “What was that for?”

Before he could answer, Zach walked up to their table. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Aidan said in surprise. “Kenzie, this is Zach. Zach, Kenzie is-”

“Blake’s sister.” Zach’s eyes softened as he looked at her. “I miss your brother.”

“Thank you,” she murmured. “Me, too.”

Zach turned to Aidan and handed him a file.

“What’s this?”

“I wanted you to have it while I was gone. In case you need it for anything.”

Aidan opened the file and instantly knew what he held. All the evidence Zach had gathered over the past few months on the mysterious arsons. Zach had been the first one to suspect something was going on and the first to go to Tommy for answers. Closing the file he met Zach’s steady gaze. “Thanks. Want to join us?”

“Can’t. Brooke’s waiting for me. I just talked to Eddie and Sam. Did you know there was another explosion last night? The hardware store on Sixth.”

“Injuries?”

“Several, and one death. Tracy Gibson.”

Aidan’s stomach dropped. The woman Blake had had a crush on for months before his death.

Kenzie divided her gaze between them. “Who’s Tracy?”

“She was an employee at the hardware store,” Zach told her. “Same setup as Blake’s Girl,” he said to Aidan, tapping the file with meaning. “So keep this.”

Aidan understood. Zach thought he might need the info in the file when he was gone.

“Nice meeting you,” Zach said to Kenzie. With a squeeze to Aidan’s shoulder, he left.

“So what does that mean?” Kenzie asked. “If there was a similar explosion, maybe Blake’s boat wasn’t an accident.”

“Maybe.”

“A new serial arsonist?” she scoffed. “What are the chances of that in a small town like this?”

“I don’t know.”

“I know,” she said. “Next to nil.”

She was watching him with sadness still in her eyes, along with a sense of sharp intelligence that said she wasn’t going to let this go. The brash tilt of her chin alluded to a strength of will, of passion, he knew firsthand, and suddenly he was afraid for her.

For her, of her, and of the feelings she invoked inside him. Damn, not again…Not falling for her again, he told himself. But it didn’t matter that he was seated across from her in a crowded café, surrounded by people.

She was all he saw.

He watched her push her food around the plate for a few minutes, then wrapped his fingers around her wrist, guiding her fork to a large bite of eggs and bringing it to her mouth.

She took it into her mouth, chewed and swallowed, all with her gaze never leaving his. “You keep looking at me like you care.”

“I do.”

“You shouldn’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m not going to care about you back.” At that, she broke eye contract and stared down at the food. “At least not like I did before.”

“So you’ve mentioned.”

“I mean it.”

“I believe you.” He also believed that she just might get her big wish, because looking at her sitting there, knowing she’d be walking away from him this time, caused a strange sensation deep inside him. He’d have sworn it was his heart rolling over and exposing its underbelly.

Kenzie took another bite of food as his cell phone buzzed. It was Dispatch. “Sorry,” he said, standing. “I have to take this.”

“No problem.” She was suddenly engrossed in her food, not even looking up when he went outside to get good enough reception to hear that two firefighters had come down with the flu. They needed replacements for the next shift. So much for a day off-he was going back on duty, starting now.

He turned to go back inside the café and nearly bumped into Kenzie. “Sorry,” she said, flashing a smile that didn’t quite meet her eyes. “I’ve got to go.”

Huh. That had been his line.

“I paid the bill-”

He reached for his wallet. “Let me-”

But she put her hand over his and shook her head. “It’s on me. Consider it a very small down payment.”

“For what?”

“For what I owe you for saving my life.”

“Kenzie-”

“Thank you,” she said softly, looking into his eyes, making his head spin. “I’m not sure I said that enough. I am extremely grateful.”

Wait. That sounded like a good-bye. “Okay, hold on a second. Are you-”

Going up on tiptoes, she put a hand to his chest, leaned in and kissed him on the jaw. She added a smile to the mix, one that went all the way to her eyes this time as she touched her fingers to her lips and then blew him another kiss.

Then she turned and walked away.

As he’d once done to her. “Kenzie.”

But she’d already gotten into her car. Where the hell was she going? She revved the engine and was gone, out of the lot, perhaps out of his world. He stood there a moment, absorbing a barrage of emotions, starting with regret and ending with a surprising hurt, and then he shrugged it off and walked inside to say good-bye to Sheila. That’s when his head stopped spinning and it hit him.

Kenzie had stolen his file.