Page 9 of Crash and Burn

Chapter Nine

He'd heard the noises inside and wondered what was happening, but Sebastian was not prepared for Maggie to barrel out the front door and right into him.

He lifted his arms to hold her back but even as he started the movement, she wrapped both hands tighter around the bat she was holding and hauled it back.

Yanking his own hands skyward, he jumped backwards—maybe a little too far back. The floorboard at the top of the steps gave a little with his weight and he thought he was going to tumble down the porch stairs.

Thank God he was sure footed, because his sneaker slipped and he thumped down a step but he managed to remain upright. He did this while calling out, “It's me, Maggie.It's me. What's going on?”

De-escalate the situation, his brain was thinking, even though it was also thinking that Maggie had been plastered to him just moments before. And that she was wearing only a pink nightshirt with a Tweety Bird on the front. Tweety did not match her glower. He pressed, “Maggie?”

She held the tip of the bat out almost as though it were a sword or a gun, keeping him at the end. “Someone was just in my house.”

Holy shit, that explained the wild look in her eyes. And here he was on her doorstep, looking awfully suspicious at three 3am. The press of her lips and narrowing of her eyes indicated she thought exactly the same thing. “Why are you here?”

She’d jabbed the bat at him forcefully enough to make him dip backwards just a few inches to avoid getting a punch into the sternum, and damn if he didn’t find the fire attractive. “You're not going to like what I have to say, Maggie.”

Her eyebrows shot up and she jabbed at him again. Luckily, this time he was too far away. “Don’t tell me what I will and won’t think.”

She had a good point. “I will tell you why I’m here, but can we first check the place out? Make sure no one’s still here?”

He watched as she thought through her options then lowered the bat. She looked up and down the street, probably checking for her prowler, before stepping backwards. “Okay.”

Though she didn't exactly invite him in, she didn't slam the door in his face either, and Sebastian slowly walked into the foyer. “Let’s check each of the rooms.”

He watched as her adrenaline turned to laughter. The bat now hanging loosely in one hand, the tip thumped into the hardwood floor. She waved her other hand loosely to indicate the house. “There are so many rooms, it’ll take an hour.”

Though she was exaggerating, she was right. He’d heard the place had six bedrooms for renters. He’d seen for himself that there was a den, two formal living rooms, a dining room and her office. Sebastian was about to find out for himself. “Let's give it a shot.”

Fifteen minutes later, they’d done a cursory sweep of every room. He tried to keep his brain on the task at hand and off her bare legs. He was trying not to notice the way her nightgown occasionally hitched up or that she wasn’t wearing anything underneath it …

Pushing his brain back to the task at hand, he immediately thought of smoke and accelerants, but he'd seen all the corners and all the doors. Aside from the house itself, there were no fire hazards here. He’d seen the large upstairs bedroom with the attached bath that Maggie claimed as her own. The covers of the high antique bed had been thrown back haphazardly and he imagined the plush rug still held the footprints of her delicate bare feet.

Sebastian tried not to think about it. Instead, he walked heavily toward the back door and asked her if the noise matched what she’d heard.

“I think so. I mean, the back door was open and it sounded just like that.”

“But you didn't see anyone?” He was just clarifying, but her eyes darted to the left and her jaw clenched tight as she said “no,” as though she didn't like admitting that it might be nothing.

“It's not nothing,” he told her. But even as he tried to reassure her, she turned a glare his direction. She was still seemingly unaware that she was only in a thin night shirt and that Tweety Bird was grinning at him.

“Whyareyou here at three in the morning Sebastian?”

He’d known this was coming, and there was no really good answer but the truth. “I saw the lights flipping on all over the house … so I got out of my car and ran toward your door.”

She only needed a sharp rise of one eyebrow to get him to confess the rest.

“I was watching your house.” He sighed, “after what you said—”and what he’d found, but he didn’t say the last part out loud, not yet.

Her look of sheer surprise didn't surprise him. Watching over her was probably the dumbest thing to do. Then again, she'd had a problem and he was glad he was here now.

Her expression turned worried. “Why were you really watching my house at three a.m. Sebastian?”

Okay, she wasn’t going to let it go.

He wanted to remind her that her prowler had gone out the back door and he'd been knocking out front, but she would figure that out on her own fast, if she hadn’t already.

“Because I didn't like what I saw,” it was a stupid answer, but he wasn’t quite ready to tell her what he’d found online.

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