Page 12 of Steal My Heart

“Of sorts. I don’t know if anything is going to come of it, but we can at least try.” Hilliard was about to turn to leave, but he paused, meeting Brian’s gaze once more, and this time, he let the heat and longing in those eyes pull him closer. Without thinking, he gently cupped Brian’s cheeks and kissed him. He had intended on a gentle, soft kiss, but within seconds the fire between them flamed to life and Hilliard deepened the kiss, unable to stop himself and not wanting to.

Brian was delectable, and Hilliard could feast on those lips for hours, but he was finding out that in addition to being a town of water towers, Mendocino also had its share of gossips, and he wasn’t going to give them fodder, for both his and Brian’s sakes. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” His throat was dry and the words sounded rough, but he got them out and then turned and headed away from the Pacific, closer to the center of town. Hilliard couldn’t help turning back to smile and wave at Brian as the evening marine layer rolled in.

Chapter 6

BRIAN LAYawake, staring at the ceiling, replaying the kiss on an endless loop. He blinked as the door slowly opened and the dogs jumped onto the bed and settled on either side of him. Damn, who would have thought a single kiss could get him so wound up? And yet it was the middle of the night and it was all he could think about.

“You guys like Hilliard,” he said. Both dogs lifted their heads in aWhy are you talking now?kind of look. “I know. You like anyone who is willing to scratch your head and give belly rubs.”

Gigi blinked at him and then put her head down once more. He knew he was being stupid and just needed to settle down. The dogs drew closer as the evening air chilled the room. He liked to sleep with a window open to catch the fresh air and so he could hear the waves as they crashed against the coast.

Footsteps in the hall drew his attention, and he got up to find Gran using her walker to get to the bathroom. “Why are you still up?”

“Can’t sleep,” Brian said.

“I can’t either, but I’m old. What’s your excuse?” she retorted, and Brian rolled his eyes. “Does it have to do with our dinner guest?”

“Gran,” he said softly.

“I saw you two, and I saw the way he kissed you. It was damned steamy, and now you’re up in the middle of the night. It sounds to me as though you have Hilliard on your mind.” She continued on, and Brian went back to his room. The dogs had moved to where he’d been sleeping, taking up the warm spot on the bed. Brian scooted them over and climbed back under thecovers, hoping he might be able to rest. Fortunately, once Gran had returned to her room, he rolled over and sleep finally came to him.

Still, he dreamed of a dark-haired man with intense eyes who kissed him like the world was ending. Those strong arms held him tight, and he wanted more, but the man stayed just far enough away that Brian couldn’t draw him closer, no matter what he did or how much he wanted to. The kisses were intense, but he couldn’t seem to touch him.

The dogs whimpered when he sat straight up in bed, breathing deeply, hard as a rock and wondering what the hell was going on. Both dogs blinked at him and then jumped down from the bed, probably going to sleep with Gran because she didn’t thrash around. Brian needed to rest—he had work to do today—but his subconscious had other ideas. Still, he lay back down, hoping his mind would quiet.

BRIAN YAWNEDas he touched up the trim on Hilliard’s house. He held the brush still as the uncontrollable motion went through him.

“It looks almost done,” Hilliard said from behind him.

Brian didn’t dare turn around. He wanted to, but every time he saw Hilliard, his mind made these flights of erotic fantasy that he needed to keep under control. It had only been a kiss, but his mind was charging ahead full speed. “It is.” He continued with the last of the touch-ups and then climbed down from the ladder. “I got some floor paint for the treads on the new stairs, but I think we need to wait a while for the wood to age before we paint it. I just have the fence repairs to go.” He needed to keep things professional since he was working.

“That’s good. And I have to figure out what I’m going to do with this yard. Everything is overgrown and out of control.” Hilliard had already pulled out a lot of weeds and had most ofthe beds cleared, but now they were empty patches of earth. “I suppose that can wait until we finish up the other work.”

Brian felt Hilliard’s gaze on him as he set down the brush. “The garden center here offers design work. You might want to get them to make up a plan for you, and then all you’d have to do is plant what they suggest. Gardening isn’t one of my areas of expertise, but they’ve helped a number of the inns and other people in town.” He dared a glance at Hilliard and found him smiling at him. Damned if Brian didn’t grin back like an idiot. He stepped toward Hilliard and looked at the house.

“Wow, what a difference. This looks so much better.”

“It does.” Brian lifted his gaze upward as the fog thickened. Just an hour ago, the sky had been clear, but now the haze and clouds obscured the sky, lying low over the land. Fortunately most of the painting was done, with only the touch-ups still wet. The weather was highly unpredictable, and sometimes you just had to go with whatever happened.

“Are we still on for tomorrow?” Hilliard asked. “I thought we could meet here about nine and go south.”

Brian nodded. “That would be good. But I hope I’m not causing you a whole bunch of trouble.”

“Where did that come from?” Hilliard asked. He seemed to be holding his breath.

Brian suddenly felt exposed. He wished he hadn’t said anything, but he had already opened the can of worms. “Sometimes I think I’m the one person who is destined to be a pain in the ass for everyone else. I can’t seem to just go through life unscathed. Gran has had to put up with a lot, and now I’m foisting my problems onto you. I just think that maybe everyone would be better off is I wasn’t around.”

“That’s bullshit. Your grandmother stuck around because she loves you, and I may not be a trained investigator, but I’m going into this with my eyes open. I know what I’m doing, and Iagreed to help you.” Hilliard lightly touched his shoulder. “You don’t need to second-guess yourself all the time.”

“I guess,” Brian whispered. It would be nice to have proof that he hadn’t carried out the burglary. He knew he had been with Gramps at the time, and he had never stolen from anyone. But that didn’t seem to matter to a lot of folks in town. “Guilt or innocence doesn’t seem to make a difference to anyone once you’ve been to jail. As far as most people are concerned, I did it, and they won’t look beyond that.”

“Well, what we have to do is prove that you didn’t. Once we do that, everyone is going to know you were wrongly convicted. So we take a road trip tomorrow and try to find someone who remembers seeing you and your grandfather that day. We’ll also look into who actually did the burglary. They can’t hide forever. Someone knows more than they’re saying. We simply need to get to the bottom of what happened.” He squeezed lightly, and Brian closed his eyes, his entire being concentrating on that one point where Hilliard touched him.

“But what if we do this and no one cares?” That was his true worry. All that everyone would remember was what he was accused of.

Hilliard chuckled. “In a town this size, everyone is going to know what happened. And once they do, things will change.” He squeezed once more, and then his hand fell away. “Just relax, and let’s concentrate on finding the proof we need. From there, we can appeal your conviction on the grounds of new evidence that proves it couldn’t have been you.”

Brian turned to Hilliard. He seemed so confident that Brian wanted badly to believe him. But he had already seen that the justice system didn’t always get it right. And what if they had the proof and no one cared anyway?

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