See You at Sunset (26 page)

“Micah?” Holly broke free from Cain and swung around. “What are you doing?”

“Yeah, what the hell
are
you doing, Deputy?” Cain said in close to a snarl.

Holly shot a startled glance at Cain.

“I’m cutting in,” Micah said, taking a step forward. Which forced the guy to take a step back. “That’s what I’m doing.”

“You are?” Holly was peering at him like he was out of his mind.

“Nah, you can wait your turn,” Cain said. “Though the lady did say that she wasn’t sticking around for long, so you just might be out of luck.”

“Then you should hurry up and leave us alone,” Micah suggested.

“Get out of my face, dude,” Cain shot back. “Like, now.”

Holly sighed. Crossing her arms over her chest, she took a step back.

A few feet away, Ryan shot Micah a lift of the eyebrows that was clearly an offer—an offer to take care of Cain so Micah didn’t have to risk his career by brawling at a public event. But Micah gave him a hand sign to signify he had things under control. He had no intention of touching Cain unless the guy did something truly stupid.

“See, Cain, all that crap does is show what a sad-sack outsider you are,” Micah said in a pleasant voice. “You’d like to stick around Seashell Bay? Well, no guy on this island ever refuses a request to cut in on a dance. So learn that lesson and run along now.” He paused for effect. “Or should I call your live-in girlfriend and bring her up to speed on what’s been happening here?”

Holly stared, her mouth open. “Cain?” she blurted. Blanching, she turned to him. “Please leave now. I’m going to dance with my friend who, by the way, is a total gentleman, unlike you.”

Cain stared at her for a long moment, and Micah saw something very dark behind his smug look. “Jesus, there’s no accounting for taste, is there? Well, it’s your loss, babe. You don’t know what you’re missing.”

His fists still clenched, Micah didn’t take his eyes off the man as Cain strode away, pushing through the dancers. Only after the asshole sat down beside Crystal Murphy did Micah turn back to Holly.

Crystal Murphy?

Micah made a mental note to follow up on that, but for now, he told himself to relax and focus on Holly. He smiled as he pulled her into his arms. She came willingly, slipping like silk into his embrace. Too bad she was still frowning.

“Cain’s the guy you told me about,” she said in a quiet voice as he settled her close against him. “The one you think had something to do with Fitz’s robbery.”

“Yeah, him and his buddy Horton. Too bad I don’t have a damn bit of evidence to back it up. But when I saw him starting to grope you…”

“I’m really glad you cut in. I thought he was okay at first, but then he wasn’t.”

“It was my pleasure.” Heat was spreading through Micah’s chest, not to mention other parts of his body. “I thought I might lose it completely when I saw you dancing with him.”

Or saw anybody but me touching you like that.

Holly gave his back a couple of comforting pats. “I’m sorry about that, but I can handle jerks like him.”

Clearly, she thought he was upset because Cain was potentially a criminal, not to mention a dick. That was a big part of it, but there was way more to it than that. He didn’t want
anyone
touching her with that kind of sexual intent.

She tipped her head back to look at him, finally smiling. “I didn’t think you were coming tonight.”

“Well, I always come late, if at all.” He usually dropped in near closing time so he could tell anybody who was drunk not to drive home. In fact, he’d played chauffeur to plenty of locals over the years after the festival dance.

Tonight though, he’d been trying to stay away from Holly. For once, he was happy he had no self-control when it came to her.

“Oh, I thought you’d had some kind of premonition that a damsel might need rescuing,” she joked.

He laughed. “Could be.”

The music ended way too soon for his liking, and the dancers applauded the band.

Micah glanced over at Cain. The guy was back on his feet, looking like he might be getting set to leave. That was a good thing, since Micah was still tempted to throw him out on his sorry ass. “It looks like Cain’s leaving,” he said as the guy started toward the door. “Unless he’s just heading out for a smoke.”

“Maybe he should go home and spend time with his girlfriend,” Holly said. “Can we sit down, Micah? I’m feeling a little… tired.”

“Is that code for tipsy?”

“No getting anything past you, Deputy.” Her tone was dry, but she still smiled at him. And it warmed him from the inside out.

He took her hand. “Why don’t we grab a little air first? I bet you could use some.”

“Okay.”

Still holding her hand, Micah led her through the crowd and out the door. They stayed silent as they passed the parking lot on their way toward the VFW’s dock. Micah made a quick scan of the lot to check for Cain but couldn’t see either the man or his rusted-out Ford Explorer. Relieved, Micah led Holly down a flight of rickety wooden stairs to the VFW’s small dock.

“Holly, you need to understand why I had to butt in like that back there on the dance floor.”

She shot him a sharp glance before gazing out over Sunset Beach at the brightly lit ferry dock on the other side of the cove. “I think I get it.”

“Sure, but there are a few details I’d like you to know, for your own sake.”

With her profile to him, he took a few seconds to gaze at her. The breeze was ruffling her hair, and she looked so beautiful it damn near stopped his heart. The last time he’d been with her on a dock, she’d been wet and warm and as hungry for him as he was for her. He’d never forget that night if he lived to be a hundred.

“I’m not sure I want to know more,” she said. She lowered herself onto the rough planks, the fabric of her soft skirt belling out around her legs. She dangled her feet over the water that gently lapped at the pilings several feet below. “I pity his girlfriend.”

Micah sat down beside her. “Don’t, because she’s a real piece of work too. Brandy Keele’s her name, and she’s as rough and barnacled a keel as you’d ever want to run a scraper over.”

Holly laughed. “God, that’s a heck of a description. I take it you’ve met her.”

“Met her? I came close to arresting her last night.”

She twisted sideways to look at him. “Seriously?”

“At the Pot. The crazy woman had started screaming at Tessa Nevin in the restroom, accusing her of making eyes at Cain. Not that she used language that tame—the actual terminology was gross. Anyway, when I got there, Tessa told me she tried to get away from Keele, but the woman kept threatening to beat her up if she so much as looked at her boyfriend again. It was such an ugly scene that Laura called me, and fortunately I was close by.”

Holly looked horrified. “Poor Tessa. That must have been awful for her. She’s such a quiet, gentle person.”

“Keele denied everything other than the fact that she and Tessa exchanged a few heated words in the restroom. And Cain pretended to be oblivious to it all, just drinking his beer.”

The guy was such a douche that Micah had desperately wanted any excuse to haul his ass in. “Tessa said Cain had been coming on to her before Keele got there,” he went on, “even though she hadn’t given him the slightest encouragement. Sound familiar?”

She grimaced. “For sure, I’m sorry to say. But did Laura actually hear Keele make those threats?”

“She completely backed up Tessa’s story.”

“So you could charge her, right? Isn’t threatening someone with bodily harm a crime?”

“It is. But prosecutors don’t want police clogging up the system with that kind of charge unless things really were likely to end in physical violence. In most situations, especially arguments in bars, it’s usually just a case of idiots blowing off steam. So I let her go with a warning but told her she wouldn’t get a second chance.”

“Okay, I’m glad you told me after all. I’ll definitely give those two a wide berth,” Holly said. “What a screwed-up pair.”

“Maybe you’ve seen Keele in the store already. Short black hair, about five seven, big rose tattoo on her neck. Around twenty-six or -seven years old.” She was pretty enough, but the woman had a mouth like a sewer and a personality to match.

Holly nodded. “Yes, I think she’s been in once or twice. I guess I’m lucky she didn’t show up tonight at an awkward moment.”

His gut clenched at the idea of any harm coming to Holly. “I’ll be watching her. If either she or Cain steps out of line, trust me, I’ll be all over them.”

Then he gave in to impulse and slid a hand under her jaw, nudging her to turn her face toward him. When she looked up at him, her eyes wide and vulnerable, it took a mighty effort of willpower not to cover her lush mouth in hot kisses.

“And you call me if you ever have any worries about them, hear me?” he said.

“I will,” she said in a breathless voice.

They stared at each other, caught in the moment. For a heart-stopping second, Micah thought Holly was going to stretch up and kiss him.

But then she sighed and edged away. “I think I’d better head on home soon. I’m pretty beat.”

Or afraid, he suspected—afraid of giving in to her feelings and seizing the chance at what could happen between them if they took that next step.

Micah suppressed his disappointment as he got up to help her to her feet. Since she was clearly not ready to acknowledge what was still going on between them, he forced himself to back off.

“Are you planning to drive in that condition?” he asked in a mock hard-ass voice.

“Morgan and Ryan gave me a lift here. One of them will be happy to run me home now.”

“Let me take you instead. No need to bother them.”

Holly studied him for several seconds, then finally nodded. “Okay, but we need to go back inside for at least a few minutes. I have to get my bag and tell Morgan I’m going to be going home with you. And you can bet that everybody is going to want to hear about what happened on the dance floor with Cain.”

“Yeah, you know it.” Micah had no idea what would happen when they got to her aunts’ empty house. Probably she’d just say good night and hurry inside, and he would end up feeling empty and frustrated again. Still, she hadn’t said no to being alone with him, so that was something.

Chapter 21

T
aking a deep breath, Holly unbuckled her seat belt and glanced at Micah. “Cup of coffee?”

She had to be crazy for asking him to come in, but for whatever reason, she was going to do it anyway. Maybe it was the creepy little incident with Logan Cain that had spooked her. Or maybe she was still feeling too much on edge about her aunts and the store. But she wanted to be with somebody, and she wanted it to be Micah. Not Lily, Morgan, not anybody other than him.

Micah gave her a slow nod. “Sure, a quick one,” he said, as if to reassure her that he wouldn’t press her for anything more than a hit of caffeine. Trouble was, she was beginning to think that she wanted him to do a lot more than just drink coffee.

He followed her up onto the porch, big and silent behind her. Her hands slightly shaking, Holly retrieved her keys from her purse and unlocked the new dead bolt.

“I’m glad you finally convinced Florence to get better locks,” he said.

“It was a titanic struggle, but Beatrice and I finally prevailed.” Holly pushed the door open. “I’m sure Florence gave in just to shut us up. She still thinks it’s stupid to be afraid because of a couple of minor incidents, as she put it.”

“The island isn’t under some special cone of protection,” he said. “It’s probably as safe a place as there is, but it’s still smart to be careful.”

Holly led him to the kitchen. “No argument from me, Deputy.”

Micah frowned as he headed over to the patio doors. “You didn’t use the charley bar on the sliding doors tonight?”

“Uh, no.” Actually, Holly hadn’t used that security bar at all. She never thought about it, since neither she nor her aunts had bothered to lock any doors until after Fitz’s break-in. And after the new hardware was installed on the exterior doors, she’d thought the house was secure—or at least more secure than just about every other dwelling in Seashell Bay.

When Micah slid the glass panel open, her stomach dropped. She knew she’d locked that door.

He walked across the screened porch and grasped the knob of the door that led outside. When that one opened too, Holly sucked in a harsh breath. “Micah, I’m sure I locked both those doors.”

She spun and swept a frantic gaze around the kitchen. Nothing there seemed disturbed.

Micah came back inside. “Do your aunts keep their prescriptions in the kitchen?”

“No, in their bedrooms. And the over-the-counter stuff is in the bathroom.”

“Let’s go upstairs,” he said, sweeping past her.

Holly hurried behind him, glancing into the living room as she passed. Nothing seemed out of place there either.

This can’t be happening to me again. And not here—not in Seashell Bay.

Then she realized how stupid that was. Of course it could happen in Seashell Bay. There had already been two break-ins, and everyone was aware that her aunts were cooped up at Maine Medical. As for her, half the town knew she was at the social tonight, and the other half would likely have guessed as much. Breaking in through the porch would go unnoticed even in daylight. In the dark, a burglar could take his sweet time picking the locks.

“I know Beatrice grabbed most of their prescriptions before she got into the ambulance,” Holly called out to Micah’s quickly retreating back. He was running up the steps two at a time. “And she didn’t ask me to bring anything else later.”

“If he was after drugs, then I guess he picked the wrong house,” Micah said over his shoulder.

“Not exactly. Beatrice had some she didn’t take with her.”

Grimacing, he headed into Beatrice’s room while Holly hurried to Florence’s. She flipped the light switch and slammed into a mental wall.

The room had been ransacked. The antique armoire had been emptied, as had the drawers from the matching walnut dresser and bedside table. The contents now littered the hardwood floor. The closet door had been yanked open, and her aunt’s dresses, sweaters, and some coats were piled in a heap in front of it.