Kilty Pleasure (7 page)

“Now where’s the fun in that?” She tilted her head and gave him a saccharine smile. “Have a good night, Colin. Or, you know, don’t.”

“Hmm.” He started to close the door, calling out, “I’ll be keeping an eye on you.”

I’d rather you didn’t
, she thought, and hit the gas the moment he’d stepped away from the car.

“Seriously? Don’t you take a day off?”

Hailey gave a wry smile to Jen, the nursing supervisor on duty, as she passed her in the hall.

“Hey, I was gone this morning. And I’ll be gone again shortly. I just wanted to drop by and see little Randy. How’s he doing?”

Jen scrubbed a hand down her face and sighed. “He’s good. A little more talkative. His mom came to visit today and kept promising him he’d get to go home soon.”

The sudden nausea in her stomach had Hailey freezing. “Seriously? They can’t send him home. No one’s buying that story about him getting ahold of a hot iron. I mean, isn’t there already a history of abuse allegations?”

“Social Services is investigating. But, Hailey. Sweetie.” Jen approached her and caught her hand, giving it a small squeeze. “Look, you sure do help heal some of these kids while they’re here, but you gotta mentally let it go when they leave. There’s just no way you can save them all.”

“I know,” she whispered. But, oh God, she wished she could.

“For now, go visit him. I assume that’s why you’re here?”

“Yeah.”

“He’s been asking where you were.”

“I knew he would be. It’s why I came.”

“You’re a good person.” Jen returned to her seat. “Half the nurses here would be three beers into their day off by now.”

Maybe. But she wasn’t the only one who got a little too emotionally involved with her job.

She made her way to Randy’s room and tried to keep her expression upbeat, despite the bad news about his mom.

Coming here tonight had always been her plan. Dropping by at some point for at least a half-hour visit. When she’d shot down Colin’s invite back to his place, this was half the reason.

The other half was she did have a tiny bit of common sense left. Sleeping with a guy who clearly hated you—no matter how hot the chemistry was—could only lead to trouble.

She stepped into Randy’s room a second later and watched as his gaze—at first nervous—lit up with happiness.

“Hi, Hailey! You came to see me?”

“I sure did.” She grinned and approached his bed. “How are you feeling?”

“Okay. I hurt sometimes.”

“I know you do. But they give you good medicine that helps, right?”

“Yeah. Then it doesn’t hurt.” He paused, staring at her from beneath the bandages. “They said you weren’t working today.”

“I’m not, but it doesn’t mean I can’t drop in and say hi for a bit.” Seeing the genuine happiness in those wide blue eyes confirmed she’d made the right choice.

Her original plans for the evening had been for Thai takeout and a movie on cable, followed by that overdue bubble bath. But those simple pleasures could easily wait another hour.

She pulled up a chair and sat down next to his bed. “Now, Randy, I want you to tell me your favorite show that you’ve gotten to watch on TV while you’ve been here…”

Thursday morning came far too early.

Colin yawned as he poured his travel mug full of coffee and then stirred in the cream.

His sleep last night had been for shite. He’d been restless and all too awake, unable to stop thinking about the doe-eyed devil of a woman who had his hormones twisted up like Christmas tree lights.

And that bloody hard-on he’d sported all night had just put him in a complete crap mood.

She was a seductive little witch that he had no business getting involved with. What had he been thinking, inviting her back to his house? Or kissing her in the first place?

She’d been provoking him. Making him so bloody angry. And somehow that anger had mutated into a driving need to kiss her. To have her criticism melt into moans of desire. And he’d known he’d hear them if he kissed her.

And he had. Grabbing here and kissing her had been instinctive and primal. And he hadn’t given a damn about the consequences. Neither had he stopped to consider that after one taste he’d be hooked like an addict.

It had turned him into a complete, unapologetic asshole. Just remembering some of the words that had come out of his mouth made him cringe. If his mother could’ve heard him, she would’ve cuffed him upside the head.

He owed Hailey an apology. No matter how bad of a taste last night left in his mouth, how much he wanted to blame her, he wasn’t that big of a wanker. He wasn’t the guy who made girls cry, and, bloody hell, he’d sensed she was near it a couple times.

Well, either near tears or near putting her fist in his face.

Colin yawned again and turned off the coffeepot. After grabbing his travel mug, he headed out the door.

The patrol car that he took home at the end of the day was parked outside. He climbed inside and checked in for work.

“All right, Hailey, let’s see just what kind of trouble you’ve been into.” Whether he needed to apologize to her or not, he still had a promise to keep—to check up on her arse.

After typing her license plate into CAD, he waited for her information to pull up.

The information that popped up on the screen a moment later had his frown deepening.

Clean record. Spotless. Not even a speeding ticket. But what she did have, interestingly enough, was a protective order. He typed in the respondent’s name on the order, his date of birth, and waited for the information to pull up.

When it did, he narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips. Curt MacGregor…the name sounded a little familiar. Maybe their paths had crossed.
 

Well, it seemed Curt had a Mount Vernon address, so he wasn’t an island boy.

He gave a slow whistle. “But look at that record.”

The man certainly got in and out of trouble frequently enough. Thefts. Assault. Three DUIs.

Shutting his laptop, he shook his head and backed the cruiser out of his driveway.

Later he’d look deeper into why Hailey had a protective order against this guy. If he went by what he knew about her, knew about her family, it wasn’t a complete surprise.

First things first though, time to work.

When he arrived at the precinct, he checked emails, reports and other general stuff that he took care of at the start of his shift.

“How’s it going, McLaughlin?”

Colin glanced up from his computer and grinned at the older deputy settling in at the desk next to him.

“Doing great. How are you, Jack? How’s the family?”

“I’m good. Family’s good. Same old, same old. But you…” Jack tilted his head, “…heard you were spotted at the hospital with your niece and some gorgeous woman.”

“I really shouldn’t be surprised how fast word spreads on the island,” he drawled, shaking his head. “She’s no one.”

“Really?” Disappointment flashed across his friend’s face momentarily. “Well shit. Theresa and I were hoping you might’ve found yourself a nice girl.”

Hailey a nice girl? He bit back a bark of laughter.

“She used to be a friend of my sister’s.” He would leave off all the sordid details. “Nothing romantic there in the least.”

Wanting to shag her until the disdain in her eyes was replaced by desire wasn’t romantic, it was just simple lust.

“Too bad. It’s not that we don’t like you coming over to the house for dinner alone; we just want you to be happy. You know, find someone.” Jack glanced back at his computer and typed a few keystrokes. “You deserve someone great after
the bitch
.”

The bitch.
Funny how the woman who’d been his well-liked fiancée was so fondly hated now. But then, leaving a guy at the altar did tend to earn you a negative label.

With the memory of Brenda fresh in his head, he waited for the familiar stab of sadness. Humiliation. It might be there, but it had grown fainter over the past year. Even last month, really.

Letting the subject of Brenda die quick and hard, Colin stood and adjusted his holster.

“I’ll just be heading out.” He glanced over at Jack’s desk. “Are we meeting up for coffee this morning?”

“You know I need my caffeine.” Jack waved his hand in the air without looking up. “I’ll call you.”

By the time his shift was over, Colin was a little moody, and he couldn’t really explain why.

He drove home to drop off his cruiser, and debated calling it an early night, but then there was always the option of going to the family pub. Though neither really appealed.

He was restless. Irritable. His thoughts jumped back to the person who’d gotten so deeply under his skin in the last couple days.

Didn’t she say something about it being her day off?

Before he realized what he was doing, he’d climbed into his truck and was on the road heading toward Deception Pass and the bridge that led him off the north end of the island.

Aye, maybe he’d drop by and offer that apology.

“Finally.” Hailey turned off the faucet and swept her hand into the bathtub filled with bubbles.

The temperature was almost too hot—which meant it was perfect for her.

A couple days overdue, maybe, but it was never too late for the indulgent bubble bath she’d been trying to make happen. Especially when it was already her Sunday and she had to return to work tomorrow.

She slipped off her fluffy purple bathrobe and hung it on the hook on the door, then moved to climb into the tub.

The hot water and scented bubbles sluiced over her as she leaned back with a sigh.

Wonderful.

She must’ve been in there fifteen minutes at least when, over the Mumford and Sons album blaring on her iPod, she realized someone was knocking on her door.

She sat up in the tub, water splashing over the rim as she hit the Pause button on her music.

Another hard knock sounded, making her frown. Who the hell could that be? The realization kicked in before she’d even finished that thought.

Tanesha. Hailey had left her sweater in the car the other night and Tanesha had mentioned she would probably swing by to drop it off tonight or tomorrow.

Stumbling out of the tub, she grabbed the bathrobe and slipped into it.

Maybe it was tacky to answer the door half-soaked, wearing a robe, but this was her coworker who’d seen her coated in various body fluids after some crazy days at the hospital.

“Coming.” She rushed down the hall and reached the front door, twisting the knob to open it. “Hey— Oh fuck.”

Chapter Six

“Hey, baby girl.” Curt MacGregor stepped past her into the house. “I’m surprised you answered, with that bogus court order and all.”

Panic ripped through her and Hailey tightened the knot on the belt of her robe.

“It’s not bogus, it’s a real fucking order. Curt, you need to leave.”

He spread big, beefy hands in front of him and gave a slow smile. “Well you opened the door.”

“I didn’t realize it was you.” And never, ever again would she assume it was someone else and just throw open the door without checking the peephole.

Clearly, Curt was in no hurry to leave now, as he walked past her and glanced around the house as if checking if someone else was here.

Crap, she wished she weren’t alone. Her only phone—her cell—was on the counter in the kitchen, charging. Maybe if she could get past him and grab it she could call the police.

Her stomach sank as if the weight of a bowling ball were in it. If she called the police one or two patrols would show up outside her house, and all her new neighbors would know. Would talk. They’d assume what people always did. That she was trouble. That she was trash. That she ran in bad circles.

The gossip would start all over again. She just wanted things to be normal for the short time she had in this quiet neighborhood.

“Nobody with you, baby girl?”

“You can’t
be
here.” She refused to confirm his suspicion. The heaviness in her stomach grew and the fear humming through her veins was betrayed by the shaking in her hands.

His grin widened as he obviously concluded she was here alone.

“You didn’t replace me yet, huh?”

What had she ever seen in him? Forget the fact that he was kind of scary looking—stocky, shaved head, intimidating scowl—he was a complete asshole.

Unfortunately for her, he’d just hid it so well at first. He’d duped her and damn well. She’d been quick to defend him, to tell people to see beyond the intimidating appearance and to find the sweet and supportive guy she’d thought she was dating. She’d told herself not to by a hypocrite and judge a book by its cover, but fuck she should’ve. Because this cover clearly screamed “run the hell away”.