Carol Ericson - Intuition

“Someone was able to get into your hotel room, so don’t take that lightly.” He smudged the lipstick with the tip of his finger. “Is this your lipstick? And if so, where’s the tube?”

“That’s definitely my lipstick.” She sidled up next to him in front of the mirror, bumping him with her hip, and grabbed a small leopard-print bag from the glass shelf above the toilet. She unzipped the bag and pawed through the contents. “And someone stole it after they used it for a marker.”

“The mayor was in the hotel, and he didn’t seem too happy about your investigation into Bree’s disappearance.”

She shook her head and her long hair brushed his arm. “I can’t picture Tyler Davis slinking around hotel rooms.”

He shrugged. “You never know. You need to report this to the hotel, anyway. Someone broke into your room.”

“And stole a lipstick.”

“And wrote a threatening, if illiterate, note on your mirror.”

Kylie’s forehead creased and Matt bit the inside of his cheek. He didn’t want to worry her—it probably was that joke of a mayor trying to scare her off.

She gasped and covered her mouth. “He rifled through my bags, too.”

She squeezed past him out of the bathroom and he followed her. She pointed to a couple of suitcases on the floor, the contents jumbled. “Anything missing from the bags?”

“I don’t know.” She crouched down and sifted through her tossed clothing. “It doesn’t look like it.”

“Maybe just another scare tactic.” He snapped his fingers. “Hey, maybe the hotel has a camera on this hallway and we can expose the mayor and throw a wrench into his reelection plans.”

The lines stayed in place between her eyebrows, but the corners of her pretty mouth lifted. “That alone would be worth the shock I had when I walked in here.”

He met her eyes and lifted his brows. “You mean you didn’t sense beforehand that there was a message waiting for you?”

“It doesn’t…” She wedged her hands on her hips and blew out a breath, and then noticed his grin. She punched him in the arm. “Idiot.”

He laughed. “Do you want me to go down to hotel security with you to report this?”

“Sure. Maybe I won’t seem like a hysterical female then.”

He would’ve expected more hysteria from any woman after knowing someone had been in her hotel room, leaving a creepy message on the mirror and rifling through her bags. He liked Kylie’s measured response—not at all what he’d expect from a medium.

Maybe he could partner up with her after all. It might be easier if they didn’t have this sexual tension between them because that had screwed things up for him before. But nobody had ever accused him of being a fast learner.

They traipsed down to the empty lobby and reported the break-in to the front desk clerk. He summoned the hotel security guard, who shot down any hopes they had of a camera recording the dirty deed. Then the clerk exchanged Kylie’s card key for a new one and promised to ask the hotel maid on duty earlier if she’d noticed anyone suspicious on the third floor. The whole process took less than fifteen minutes.

They paused in front of Kylie’s door, and Matt slipped the new card in the slot. The green lights flashed. Pinching the card between two fingers, he held it out to her. “Are you going to be okay?”

She glanced over her shoulder into the room. “Sure.”

“I can sleep on…the floor.”

She folded her arms, a gesture that had no written all over it. “That’s okay. I’m good.”

His gaze traced the curves of her body, landing on her blue polished toenails peeking out of her glittery sandals. Kylie was a lot more than good. By the time he returned to her face, her lips were pursed into a line of disapproval.

He had to get a grip on this insane attraction he felt for her. He didn’t need the distraction, and she wasn’t exactly swooning at his motorcycle boots. He coughed and pointed to the door in her room that connected to the room next to hers.

“Do you want me to see if I can move into the next room?” Protection not seduction. “It’ll save you from running down the hall next time.”

Pushing her hair from her face, she quirked an eyebrow. “Next time? Who says there’s going to be a next time?”

“I don’t think there will be, but just in case.”

She lifted her shoulders and he trained his eyes away from the way her rounded breasts strained against the cotton of her T-shirt. “Suit yourself.”

“In the meantime—” he smacked the doorjamb “—lock your dead bolt and put the chain on the door. Don’t order any room service and don’t open the door for anyone…except me.”

“Now you sound more like a cop than a P.I. Are we still on for the breakfast meeting tomorrow at nine?”

“We can make it later if you want.”

“No. I feel like I’ve wasted enough time. I need…we need to get back on Bree’s case.”

“Nine o’clock it is then.” Sensing her dismissal, he stepped back into the hallway.

“Good night, and thanks for helping out…again.”

“My pleasure, Madam Medium.”

Shaking her head, she shut the door on him. He stood with his head cocked until he heard both the dead bolt and the chain. So he sounded more like a cop than a P.I.? He’d have to change that because he’d never be a cop…never again.

* * *

T HE NEXT MORNING Kylie adjusted the showerhead so the hot water hit between her shoulder blades. Dropping her head, she braced her palms against the tile. That little swing from the third floor of Columbella had done a number on her muscles.

How much worse it would’ve been if Matt hadn’t rescued her.

And what a rescue. Landing on top of his strong, muscled body had almost been worth the ride.

She sighed and cranked off the faucet. If her adult self could go back and tell her teenage self that Matt Conner was making suggestive comments to her and sleeping down the hall, her teenage self would faint dead away.

Or who knows? Maybe her teenage self would have more sense than to fall for a bad boy in black motorcycle boots. She’d always thought Matt was totally hot, but if he had crooked his little finger her way like he’d done to so many other girls, she probably would’ve shot him down. Then. Now?

Now she had a job to do—two jobs if she ever hoped to find peace over Mom’s suicide. And now that Matt was involved with her other job, she’d have to find a way to work with him while keeping her thoughts above his waist. Unfortunately for her, he had plenty going on upstairs, too.

She stepped out of the shower and rubbed the steam from the mirror with her fist. She’d scrubbed the threatening words from the mirror last night before she went to bed. The hotel security guard wasn’t interested in seeing them, and Kylie had no intention of calling the police. She’d been around police departments long enough to know what the cops found serious enough to investigate. Even a small-town department like Coral Cove wouldn’t be interested in a few words scrawled on a hotel bathroom mirror.

Would Mayor Davis be petty enough to try to drive her away with lipstick? Probably.

As she put the finishing touches on her makeup, a loud knock on the door made her smear her pink lipstick onto her face. She’d have to try a different brand. This one obviously had a curse on it.

She squinted through the peephole at Matt, wearing cargo shorts and flip-flops today, lounging in front of her door. Annoyingly, her heart lifted at the sight of him.

She yanked open the door. “I thought we were just meeting at the restaurant. I don’t need an escort.”

His brows shot up. “Wow, wake up on the wrong side of the Ouija board this morning?”