Chapter 1 #2
While break-ins were rare, it did happen on occasion, which meant he needed to approach this as if it were a viable situation, just in case.
“She’s on her way there now.”
Matt’s heart kicked into overdrive, his hands tightening on the steering wheel. “What do you mean she’s on her way?”
“I told her I’d send you over, but she said it’s her shop and if someone had the… the um… balls to break into her shop, she was going to make them sorry.”
The girl might only stand at an inch or two over five feet, but she packed a lot of punch in that tiny, tight body of hers. He’d almost feel bad for the intruder if she got there before he did.
Wait. What if it was an intruder? A trained criminal who would take no prisoners, and she’s storming in there like Joan of Arc ready to fight a war? A rush of panic shot through him, causing his hands to tighten on the steering wheel.
“Son of a bitch,” Matt mumbled under his breath as he slammed his foot on the gas and headed toward Sweet Dreams Bakery.
In Red Maple Falls time, Main Street was only five minutes away, but in real time it was a good twelve minutes from where he was. Shay lived roughly ten minutes away and already had a head start.
Matt flipped his lights on and flew down the road, kicking up dirt and rocks in his wake. It was a quarter to ten and most businesses on Main closed at seven. If Shay got to the bakery before him, there’d be no one to help her if she needed it.
Violating too many traffic laws, he made it to the bakery in nine minutes. The street was empty except for Shay’s bright red Mini Cooper, and he pulled his cruiser right beside it.
He flung his door open and, with his hand on his gun ready to hurt anyone if they hurt Shay, he ran to the front entrance. The door was unlocked so he let himself in, immediately wishing he wore sunglasses for the sensory overload caused by the pink and white everything.
Unable to focus, he squinted against the brightness, taking in the flipped chair to his right.
He retrieved his gun and moved quietly toward the register.
The shelves were covered in flour, chocolate chips scattered across the counter, and pans knocked from their perch lay haphazardly across the floor.
A slight sniffle caught his attention, and he rounded the counter to the kitchen to find Shay sitting in a mess of flour and a path of destroyed cupcakes, her head hanging in defeat.
“Shay, are you okay?” he asked, squatting down to her level, but on alert in case the culprit was still lurking. “You aren’t hurt, are you?” He rested his hand on her, but she stayed quiet. “Dammit, Shay, answer me.”
She blinked up, tears glistening in those beautiful hazel eyes, and suddenly, all those years between them didn’t exist. God, he wanted to take her in his arms and protect her, find a way to make the tears his own so he could bear the pain for her.
Her hands fell limply to her sides as she let out a loud puff of peppermint breath.
“It’s ruined.”
A tear escaped her lid and slid down her cheek. This time he couldn’t help himself. He reached out, swiping a finger across the wet streak. “Don’t cry.”
She inhaled deeply and straightened her shoulders. “I’m good,” she said, getting to her feet as if she’d flipped a switch. She wiped her hands against her thighs, leaving white streaks of flour across black leggings. The material was practically molded to her skin, highlighting every perfect curve.
He shook his head, reminding himself he had a job to do, and that job was not checking out Shay Michaels.
“Did you see the person who did this?” he asked.
She shook her head, then glanced around to the disaster that was her kitchen. “No. I checked the register. They didn’t take any money.”
Did they take anything?”
“No.”
“They just destroyed the place and left?”
“Appears that way.”
“Do you have surveillance cameras?”
She cocked her eyebrow and her hip. “What do you think?”
His eyes lingered on the soft curves of her lips long after she stopped speaking.
He had a lot of thoughts running through his head, like how they were the softest lips he’d ever kissed.
How she was the single most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
How he still couldn’t believe after all those years of not seeing her, of not knowing where she was in the world, she was right there in front of him that very second.
All the animosity he felt toward what they once had vanished as he looked into her sad eyes. He cleared his throat, bringing him back to reality and warning himself to keep it professional. “I can see if they left any fingerprints on the door.”
“What’s the point? They didn’t steal anything. Just made a mess and ruined all the cupcakes I made for Tommy Kramer’s sixth birthday party tomorrow.”
The point? Nobody destroyed a bakery for no reason, especially if they didn’t steal anything. In his line of work, he’d learned that there was motive behind everything. Somebody broke into Shay’s shop tonight, and the question was, not only who, but why?
Retaliation was at the top of his guesses.
Someone who felt Shay had wronged them and wanted to hurt her in the best way they knew how.
The little bakery on Main was Shay’s life, according to his sister, and if someone wanted to find a way to unnerve her this place was an easy target. “Do you have any enemies?”
Her eyes widened. “I get along with everybody here. Why would you even ask that?”
“If they didn’t steal anything, then it would appear that whoever did this was trying to send a message. Maybe you don’t have any enemies here, but what about in New York?”
End of Excerpt