Page 11 of Crash and Burn

He’d echoed her thoughts. No woman she knew would hang on to that collection or let it get so tangled.

“It’s weird, for sure. And it belongs to someone who used to live here.” Sebastian made the statements calmly, still keeping himself together in a way that Maggie envied.

She was holding on by a thread, but his next words made her breathe easier.

“The idea that it's a serial killer’s trophies is a bit far-fetched. But, given the oddity of the collection, and the fact that it was shoved under a floorboard—probably with the intention that no one find it—makes me think it was stolen.”

Maggie nodded. It was probably a stalker, or something one of the boarders had stolen. Maybe shoplifted things they had nowhere else to hide.

She was just starting to breathe easier when she decided it was time to ask Sebastian a question she probably wouldn’t like the answer to. “Do you think the prowler is related to the jewelry?”

“I don't know,” he answered with a loose-limbed shrug.

Maggie liked that about him. Lots of guys felt they had to have an opinion on everything, but Sebastian was more than willing to admit when he didn't. He was confident enough in who he was that he didn’t have to show off.

But when he spoke again, she realized she was right: shedidn’tlike his answer.

“I think the question is, what else might the prowler have been here for?”

Chapter Eleven

From the look on her face, Maggie did not like what he’d asked. Well, that made two of them.

“Oh, hell.” Maggie shook her head as if everything was crazy. “It could be anything! There was so much crap in here that I already cleared out … and I’m nowhere near finished.”

Sebastian nodded along in an attempt to be reassuring in a shitty situation. “I'm assuming you haven't made an effort to search under the other floorboards?”

“Oh, dear God, no.” Then she suddenly leaned forward, her rich auburn brows pulled in a tight frown. “Do you think there are more?”

“I don’t know.” Another crappy answer, and he just wished he had something better to say.

“If I have to check every squeaky floorboard, it will take years!”

He’d meant it that he would help. It was five shades of stupid, putting himself in such close proximity with a woman he had an active, serious crush on. But he wasn’t going to leave her alone while someone broke into her house … especially with her in it.

He was opening his mouth to re-volunteer his home improvement skills when she reached into her back pocket and pulled out her phone. Maggie announced, “It's past time to call the police.”

Sebastian nodded solemnly and watched as she hit buttons. When he realized she was looking up the non-emergency number, he rattled it off for her. At her surprise, he said, “The PD is right next door to the fire house.” As though that explained everything.

With a smile—finally!—she hit the buttons then paused and looked up at him. “Are you staying?”

His heart stuttered in his chest.

“As long as you need me.” Sebastian fought to say the words calmly, though inside he was reminding himself this was about a prowler and not about desire.

Maggie had already proved she could hold her own the way she’d raced around the house with that bat, ready to take all comers. But no one should be worried about prowlers in the night alone. She’d need time to sleep, and he could help with that.

She offered him one small nod as she hit the button and he listened to her side of the conversation as she explained her middle-of-the-night adventure in a measured voice.

One of the upsides of the small town was that the police arrived right away. Sebastian saw the light bobbing through the backyard as one officer headed around the house to check for prints or other evidence. The other had already knocked at the front.

Maggie opened the heavy wooden door and said, “Hello.”

He heard the voice before he saw the woman. “I'm officer Marina Balero.” She shook Maggie’s hand in a standard introduction, but turned to him and offered only a tight, “Sebastian.”

Well, that was embarrassing.From the micro expression that flitted across Maggie's face, she hadn't missed it.

Marina didn't let any of their history get in her way, though.Typical Marina. “You had a break-in?”

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