car—purse, money, credit cards, room key.”
“Well, that’s not a problem, dear.” Gladys pulled open a drawer and fished out a key with a white tag on it. “You can have this one.”
Mia jiggled the key in her palm. “Thanks, Gladys, and don’t worry about the money. I’m good for it.”
Gladys’s plump cheeks turned pink. “I know you are, dear, and isn’t it nice to have another Chief Reese at the helm? He’s not back one month and he’s performing rescues.”
The skin on the back of Dylan’s neck prickled with heat. He knew taking Dad’s place in Coral Cove would come with its challenges, but he didn’t figure being treated like some kind of returning hero was one of them…especially since he was far from that.
Mia clenched the key in her fist and banged the counter. “Yep, I’m glad his tenure coincided with my visit.”
“Well, I’m going to get back to my show.” Gladys made a half turn toward the door that led to her living quarters. “If you need anything else, just let me know.”
Reaching for a small refrigerated case, Dylan said, “How about a couple of sodas?”
“You can have those on the house, Chief.” Gladys winked.
“Not allowed to take a bribe, Gladys.” Dylan shoved his hand in his pocket, drew out three crumpled bills and dropped them onto the counter. “That about do it?”
“That’s fine.” Gladys swept the money into her hand and shuffled back toward the closed door. “Have a nice evening.”
“Since you’re not hungry, how about a drink?” Dylan held out one of the bottles to Mia.
“That’ll do. Thanks.”
He gestured around the motel office. “I can’t believe every other hotel in town was booked up, what with the tourist season coming to an end.”
Mia shrugged and twisted the cap off her soda. “Almost every other hotel in town is a chain. Gladys worked for my grandparents once, and she’s trying to stay in business.”
He choked on his soda and it fizzed in his nose. Mia St. Regis had a few compassionate bones left in her body? She’d been that way as a girl, although her imperious attitude sometimes overruled her compassion. The last time he’d briefly seen her in Coral Cove, the summer her boyfriend ran off with her twin, she’d seemed…brittle. And that was even before Marissa absconded with the boyfriend.
She quirked an eyebrow at him. “Don’t believe everything you read about me. I thought you knew me better than that.”
He held open the door for her and inhaled her expensive perfume as she brushed past him. “I used to know you.”
“I’m the same old Mia.”
He followed the sway of her hips and the swirl of her skirt around her thighs as she strolled outside. She perched on the seawall and crossed her legs, swinging one slim stem back and forth in a hypnotic rhythm.
He straddled the wall and took another swig of soda. The sea breeze tossed Mia’s dark hair and carried a hint of jasmine from the untidy bushes that scrambled along the base of the seawall. For the first time in a long time, knots unraveled in his shoulders and his jaw didn’t ache from tension.
She pointed the neck of her bottle at the ocean, a deep, inky-blue relieved by lines of whitecaps on the horizon. “This is another reason why I wanted to stay here. Can’t beat this view, and you don’t have to share it with a patio full of drunks like you do at the ritzy places down the coast.”
“Are you going to turn Columbella House into another hotel with patios for drunks?”
“I’m not sure what I’m going to do yet.”
“Holt shouldn’t have written that article in the Herald about you. It got some people riled up.”
She took a sip of soda, and he tried not to fixate on the way her lips wrapped around the bottle.
“So what is it the good residents of Coral Cove want me to do with Columbella House?”
He lifted a shoulder. “Depends on who you ask. Some of the younger people and new business owners would like to see you turn the property into a resort. A lot of the older folks want to see the house restored to its former glory and the land untouched.”
“I guess nobody’s in favor of me just pushing the whole damned thing into the sea, huh?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” He stretched his legs in front of him. “I could name a few people who’d like to see the place disappear.”
“And you?” She tapped his boot with her toe. “Do you have a preference?”
“It has been a magnet for crime lately, but whatever you decide is fine with me. It’s your place.”
“Not yet it isn’t.”
The loud, male voice cut through the night air. Mia scrambled to her feet, gasping.
Instinct had Dylan’s hand hovering over his holster.
The owner of the voice, an angular man of medium height, stepped into the splash of light Gladys had rigged above the path to the seawall, and Mia stiffened beside Dylan, every fiber of her body vibrating like an electric power line.
“What the hell are you doing here? Following me across the country isn’t going to change my mind.”
“Just want to make sure I get a piece of what’s rightfully mine.”
“You already got that.”
Everything in Mia’s stance and voice screamed anxiety…fear. Dylan faced the intruder, crossing his arms over his chest. “Who is this man, Mia?”
The man turned his sneering face toward Dylan. “Oh, is this the lawman you were always pining for?”
A muscle ticked in Dylan’s jaw, and he took a step forward. “Mia?”
“Th-this is my husband.”
Chapter Three
Her admission had Dylan expanding his muscles even more until she thought his shirt would rip off his back Incredible Hulk style.
“Ex-husband.”
Peter flashed his white teeth in a smile that looked more like a snarl. “Not yet, cupcake. I haven’t signed those papers.”
She squared off against him, digging her toes into the dirt, wishing she had on her high heels. “You’d better get to it then, Peter, or else you’ll wind up with nothing.”
“We’ll see about that. My attorney’s working on a big surprise for you.”
Dylan stepped in front of her, blocking her view of Peter. She’d rather stare at Dylan’s broad back than Peter’s weasel face, any day.
