Deception (9 page)

“That would be great.”

They walked away from Alec’s apartment building and Mia said, “You can follow me back to Main Street, if you’re going back to the station. I’m popping in to see Linda Davis about the house.”

“I am going back to the station, so don’t think I’m following you around town.”

Mia laughed, but the presence of Dylan’s squad car behind her cast a comforting glow around her heart. What would it be like to have him to lean on always?

Dylan pulled his car into the small lot of the police station, and Mia cruised to the curb in front of Linda’s Realty office. She waited next to her car until Dylan sauntered from the parking lot.

Mia hung the toes of her sandals off the edge of the curb. “Dinner later? Maybe?”

“Sure, if you don’t feel like I’m smothering you.”

A warm flush heated her cheeks more than the summer sun beating down her. “I don’t feel smothered.”

“I can’t help feeling protective about you, Mimi.”

“I know. You can’t get past thinking of me as that dumb little girl.”

“Oh, I think I’m past that.”

The smolder in his blue eyes convinced her he
was
past thinking of her as a little girl.

Her feet moved toward him, his presence drawing her like a magnet. Someone burst out of the police station, and Mia jumped back.

Peter, his face red with purple blotches, stormed toward her, his fist shaking. “You bitch. You think you can toy with me? I’m going to kill you.”

Chapter Seven

Mia staggered back as Dylan got between her and Peter’s fist. Peter had always been snide but cool. She’d never seen this level of violence from him before.

He must’ve heard from the IRS.

“Whoa.” Dylan slammed a hand into Peter’s chest to halt his forward motion. “You need to back off.”

Peter puffed out his chest in a belligerent stance. “Maybe
you’d
better back off. You don’t know what you’re dealing with. She’s a black widow.”

Yep, definitely the IRS.

Mia’s gaze darted up and down the street. Like in any small town, people had come out of their shops or stopped on the sidewalk to watch the scene. Linda Davis hovered by her door, motioning to Mia to get inside her office.

“Sir, you need to go about your business. Whatever your issue with Mia, this isn’t the time or the place.”

“Do you want to know what she did? Or maybe she already told you.” He snorted. “Oh, no, she’d want to keep that side of herself from you.”

“Give it up, Peter. You’re never going to get your hands on Columbella House.”

“The witch snitched me off to the IRS.” Peter ran an expensive sleeve across his sweating brow. “Don’t even deny it.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Mia smoothed her cotton skirt over her thighs.

“It’s not going to work, Mia. My attorney’s working on getting that house turned over to me…something about fraud.”

She flicked her fingers in the air. “Knock yourself out, Peter, but if you ever threaten to kill me again, or leave a voodoo doll for me or throw a rock at me, I’m going to take out a restraining order against you.”

“This isn’t over.” He whipped around and marched down the street, with people scattering out of his way.

Mia dropped her shoulders, which had been hunched throughout Peter’s tirade.

The tension must’ve been vibrating off her in waves because Dylan placed two hands on her shoulders and kneaded his thumbs into her tight muscle. “Are you going to try to tell me that guy isn’t violent?”

Closing her eyes, she rolled her head back, wishing she was stretched out on a bed instead of standing in the middle of Main Street with a dissipating crowd throwing suspicious looks her way.

“I guess the IRS can turn the mildest of men into lions.”

“Don’t mess with me, Mia. Did you report him to the IRS?”

“Just doing my civic duty, Chief.”

Linda Davis cleared her throat. “Come on in here and have a seat, Mia. I’ll get you some water.”

Dylan gave her shoulder a final squeeze. “Try to be careful. You have a way of driving men crazy.”

“Really?” She batted her eyelashes. She’d done what she had to do to get Peter off her back. And she didn’t regret it for one minute. It wasn’t like she had to make up any stories. Peter had been cheating on his taxes, bragged about it, even. What did he expect?

“Go to your meeting. I’ll call you later for dinner, or meet you at Alec’s.”

As Dylan walked away, Linda enfolded her in a perfumed hug. “Was that horrible man your ex-husband?”

Mia sighed and slumped into a chair across from Linda’s desk. “Yeah. He’s trying to get his hands on Columbella after he signed a prenup, fair and square.”

“Mia, my dear, you have one complicated life.”

Mia’s gaze wandered to the window, where Dylan had stopped to talk to a couple of teenagers. He laughed and shoved his hair back from his face, and Mia’s insides did a triple flip.

“Linda, you have no idea.”

* * *

“N
O,
I
’M NOT DRIVING
while holding my cell phone.” Mia punched the button for Speaker and dropped her cell in her lap. “I’m on my way to Alec’s place right now.”

“Alec recovered your hard drive?”

“Yeah. He’s good.”

“I’m off duty, so I’ll meet you over there.”

Mia glanced in her rearview mirror for the hundredth time. “I don’t have to worry about Peter. Despite his words, he’s not a violent man.”

Dylan snorted. “News flash. His actions and words in the street were violent. That makes him a violent man.”

“Well, hopefully he’ll be back in New York soon addressing his tax problems.”

“You’re playing with fire, Mia.”

“I gotta go. I’m pulling into a drive-thru to get something to drink for the ride back.”

“Drive carefully, and I’ll see you at Alec’s place.”

Mia ordered a soda in the drive-thru and headed back up the coast to Coral Cove. When Alec had called her earlier to tell her that he’d been able to recover her hard drive, she’d wanted to kiss him through the phone.

So much of her future depended on the information on her computer, one piece of information in particular. Maybe that hard drive could even offer her some redemption.

Twenty minutes later, she pulled up to Alec’s apartment building. She reached in the backseat and grabbed the new laptop. She’d let Alec set it up for her before he transferred the info.

Placing the computer on her lap, she sucked down the rest of her drink and waited for Dylan. She’d be happier if she knew that his attentiveness sprang from a desire to be with her rather than the conviction that he had to watch out for his sister’s ditzy friend.

She didn’t have to wait long. His squad car rolled up behind her, and he flashed his lights once.

She scrambled from her car, tucking the laptop under one arm. Gesturing at his uniform and car, she said, “I thought you were off duty.”

“I am, but I came right from the station. Don’t worry. I’ll go home and change before we have dinner.”

Worry? The uniform added a whole other layer of sex appeal to Dylan Reese—not that he needed any more layers of sex appeal.

Dylan took the laptop from her, and they climbed the stairs together. Alec showed no surprise at seeing Dylan this time, and invited them in.

He patted the computer. “I’m going to get this set up and start the transfer. Do you guys want something to drink?”

They both declined, and Alec got to work. Mia hung over his shoulder while Dylan wandered around Alec’s living room, tilting his head to read book and DVD titles.

Once Alec set up the new laptop, he hooked it up to one of his own computers. “This shouldn’t take long.”

Mia squinted at the green status bar, holding her breath as she tried to zero in on the file names flashing on the screen. She’d memorized the email she’d saved from Kylie Grant, but the phone number from that other email, the email from Kayla Rutherford, she needed that. Now more than ever.

“How’s it going?” Dylan came up behind her and she jumped, which drew a puzzled glance from him.

Alec tapped a few more keys. “Almost done.”

Dylan murmured in her ear, his warm breath brushing her lobe. “No more trouble from Peter today?”

“No. With any luck, he’s heading back to New York to consult with a tax attorney.”

“That’s it.” Alec unplugged the cable from her laptop, and moved the cursor to shut down the computer. “Do you want to check it out first?”

“Yes.” She crowded him out of the way and opened her email. Alec had saved it—the email from Kayla almost glowed on the screen. She still had an opportunity to make everything right.

Mia threw her arms around a startled Alec. “You’re my new best friend. How much do I owe you?”

His face reddened. “That’s okay. I did it as a favor to the chief. He got me out of a jam with my bike a few weeks ago.”

“I can’t accept gratuities, Alec.” Dylan crossed his arms and winked at Mia. “Go ahead and charge her.”

“Umm, well, okay. How about fifty dollars?”

“Fifty dollars for saving my life?” Mia dug her checkbook out of her bag and wrote him a check for considerably more.

Alec’s eyes grew even larger behind his glasses when Mia handed him the check. “This is totally unnecessary.”

“Keep it. Really, you have no idea how important those emails are to me.”

He grinned and slipped the check into his pocket. “Okay, then. Glad I could help.”

Mia packed up her new laptop, and Dylan insisted on carrying it out to her car for her, like she didn’t have enough strength to hoist five pounds.

After he loaded it in her trunk, he leaned on her car door, blocking her from getting into the car. “Are you going to tell me why those emails are so important?”

Not yet.
She didn’t want to tell Dylan about Kayla, not until she’d had a chance to fix things. “Just work. Nothing to do with what’s going on here, nothing to do with Peter.”

His jaw visibly relaxed. “Promise me, no more funny business with Peter. Don’t try to be the tough girl and deal with him on your own. He’s dangerous, Mia. He threatened to kill you.”

“I’ve never seen him like that before.” She held up two fingers. “You have my word. If I see him lurking around anywhere, I’ll call the police and get a restraining order.”

He grabbed her fingers and pressed the tips to his lips. “I know you can handle yourself, but sometimes you don’t take situations seriously enough.”

“You know, sometimes you have to laugh just so you won’t break down and cry.” She slipped her hand from his and butted him off her car with her hip. “I’ll buy you dinner in town tonight. Burgers and Brews?”

“It’s a date.”

“I’ll meet you there, since we’re coming from opposite directions.”

He let her go without a protest. Of course, Mia could drive from the Sea View Motel into town on her own. He had to give her some space or she’d bolt back to New York faster than that husband of hers.

And he didn’t want her bolting anywhere until they had some time to explore this chemistry between them. They’d never given themselves that chance before—or maybe he was just fooling himself, and she’d never felt anything special for him except brotherly affection.

He watched her car peel away from the curb, barely slowing down at the stop sign. She seemed to be in a big hurry to read over those recovered emails by herself. He didn’t believe for one minute they were related to business. He could spot someone lying a mile away.

And Mia St. Regis was lying.

* * *

A
FEW HOURS LATER
, in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt instead of a uniform, Dylan shoved his hands in his pockets as he propped up the outside wall of Burgers and Brews. He’d already checked inside, but no Mia.

He couldn’t help the way his palms had broken into a mild sweat and his blood had thumped a little harder through his veins when he didn’t see her inside the restaurant.

Rocco Vick, the biker who’d accosted Mia, was on his way back to prison, but Rocco didn’t leave that doll. Dylan hadn’t gotten verification from anyone that Peter Casellas had left Coral Cove. Dylan had firsthand knowledge of too many murders committed by jealous lovers or duped business partners. When emotions ran high, people committed unspeakable acts.

People did crazy things. Look at Mia. She’d figured tempting her sister with another man while Marissa was already engaged to marry Tyler Davis amounted to fun and games. Now she hadn’t seen her sister since that practical joke.

Dylan hadn’t realized until Mia came back to town that Marissa had disappeared off the face of the earth, except for a few postcards.

Did Mia still have the postcards?

“You could’ve grabbed a table inside.” Mia strode down the sidewalk with a bounce to her step. “Sorry I’m late.”

“Ten minutes. That doesn’t count.” He pushed open the door for her, and the waves of noise washed over them, sucking them into the lights and action.

As the hostess led them to their table, several people waved to him and called out a greeting, their eyes shifting to Mia. She waved back, oblivious to the fact that their hospitality didn’t include her, or knowing full well it didn’t and enjoying the joke on them.

Dylan yanked out Mia’s chair, and the hostess dropped two plastic menus on their table before scurrying away to seat more people jammed at the entrance.

Mia’s gaze swept the dining room. “It’s that last desperate two weeks of summer before the kids go back to school, people come back from vacations and the routine kicks in again.”

Dylan toyed with the menu, running his thumb along the edge, as he studied the variety of beers and microbrews. “I would’ve thought you’d want to make your return once everyone got back to their routine.”

She shook out her menu and tapped it on the table. “Oh, I don’t know. There’s something special about this time of year in Coral Cove.”

“Admit it.” He nudged her. “You missed the place.”

“Like you must’ve missed it to come back—as chief, no less.”

“I had my reasons.” Reasons he preferred not to divulge right now…or ever.

“Me, too.” She slid a sly look his way over the top of her menu. “I had my reasons.”