Jill Shalvis - Flashback

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.

U NFORTUNATELY FOR K ENZIE, the doggie convention was still in town. She tried a couple of B and Bs and got excited when a cute front desk clerk recognized her and said he’d stir up a room. But then he picked up his phone and yelled, “Ma! Get out of the room, I’ve got a girl!”