Kilty Pleasure

by Shelli Stevens

  “So I’m hoping for good news,” Colin spoke into his cell as he sat down at his desk. “Tell me someone arrested MacGregor?”

  His friend from Skagit County PD heaved a sigh. “No sign of him over here. He’s off the radar. You keeping your girl safe?”

  “Aye. At night, at least. I can’t be with her while at work, clearly.”

  “But she’s with someone?”

  “My soon-to-be sister-in-law.”

  “Hmm. Might want to have them keep a low profile. Sounds like this guy was on drugs, alcohol and is pretty much a loose cannon waiting to go off.”

  Shite. Maybe he should’ve thought of that before he’d left, because they were probably out in Penn Cove kayaking right about now.

  Then again, they were out on the water in kayaks. That surely made them a little more isolated and safe.

  Or just more isolated.

  “Thanks for the update. I’ll give you a call later.”

  Ending the call, he immediately dialed Hailey to check up on her. It rang several times and then went to voice mail.

  Dammit. But, then, they were in a kayak, so would she have taken her cell out on the water with her? The risk of getting it wet was huge, so maybe she’d left it back at Sarah’s house.

  He dialed Sarah and got the same response.

  “You look stressed.” His coworker Jack cast him a glance. “What’s going on?”

  “If you were going kayaking, would you take your phone?”

  “Hmm. Probably not. Unless I had one of those cool waterproof cases. I don’t wanna risk getting it wet—and in one of those suckers, everything usually gets wet.”

  “Right.” Which meant most likely the two women had left behind their cell phones.

  Sarah only lived minutes from the wharf. They probably figured they’d only be gone for a couple hours and could leave them home.

  By habit, he grabbed the report of calls from yesterday. All were pretty normal. Neighbors calling in to report a dog on the loose. Noise complaints. Mail theft.

  One in particular gave him pause. The owner of a bar in Coupeville had reported an intoxicated, violent customer late last night. It sounded like it could’ve been MacGregor, but the guy was gone by the time the responding officer arrived, and the clearance code was marked Unable to Locate.

  Colin stared at the call description. It could’ve been anyone, and wasn’t completely out of the norm. And yet, intuition had the hairs on the back of his neck lifting.

  He picked up the phone at his desk and dialed the bar, asking the person who answered a few questions. Fortunately the guy had been there last night and was able to give a description of the customer.

  The description of the man sounded entirely too close to Curt MacGregor for Colin’s comfort.

  After hanging up, he muttered a quiet, “Shite.”

  That meant MacGregor had been in Coupeville last night, and maybe still was this morning.

  Fuck. He texted Ian and sent him a warning. No point in texting the women because they wouldn’t get it.

  On a whim, Colin checked the calls that had come in this morning.

  Right away his attention was drawn to one that had come in literally minutes ago.

  Man reported, likely intoxicated, wandering and urinating on the beach in Coupeville. Was overheard muttering incoherently to himself and cursing anyone he passed.

  It could’ve easily been explained as a mental health issue, but Colin didn’t believe in coincidences.

  “I need to run down to the wharf,” he muttered to Jack. “I’m going to follow up on a call that just came in.”

  Jack nodded. “Good luck. Love going after those assholes out pissing on things.”

  Climbing into his cruiser a few minutes later, Colin’s jaw started to throb from being clenched so tightly.

  His heart thumped fiercely in his chest as his intuition was ringing alarms like mad. Something was happening.

  Sure enough, he watched as a call came into CAD. A report of some kind of fight or possible attack on kayakers out on the water.

  “Son of a bitch.” He floored the accelerator and turned on the lights and sirens.

  He refused to let the fear of what could happen grip him. Refused to think about the possibility of harm coming to Sarah, his niece and the woman he loved.

  If Curt MacGregor lived past the afternoon, he’d be a lucky man indeed.

  “No!” Hailey jabbed her paddle at Curt as he tried to climb onto her kayak. “Stop it, Curt. There’s a child with me.”

  The plastic boat began rocking wildly and Emily shrieked.

  “Emily!” Sarah’s panicked cry filled the air too as she tried to maneuver her kayak closer.

  Fear clogged Hailey’s throat. Not for herself, but for Emily. She knew Curt was going to flip the boat any minute.

  “Emily, can you swim?” she asked, smashing the plastic paddle against the side of Curt’s head again. Holding him off for as long as she could.

  But he was like a drugged-out bull, totally incoherent and superhuman in strength.

  “Y-yes.”

  “I need you to jump out of here and swim to shore. We’re really close,” Hailey promised. “You’ll only be over your head for a few seconds and you’re wearing a life jacket. Can you do it? Your mom will meet you there.”

  Each second that passed, though, Curt was pushing them farther out into the cove and deeper water, rocking the boat harder as he tried to scramble onto the back of it.

  “I can do it.” Emily hesitated just a second. With a whimper of fear, she managed to stand up and jump awkwardly from the kayak.

  A big splash was followed by her screams of fear. Hailey held her breath, hoping that Curt wouldn’t go after the child.

  For a moment his gaze followed her, before he snarled and tried again to climb into the kayak.

  Hailey kept one eye on Emily as the girl made her way to shore—injured arm and all.

  Sarah was following her daughter to shore, and a moment later hopped out of the kayak and grabbed Emily, catching her hand and rushing her out of the water.

  When they made it to the rocky beach, Hailey’s focus went completely back to Curt.

  He was like a man possessed—or a man drugged out of his mind. His eyes were bloodshot with pupils dilated. His gaze wild and unfocused.

  She swung her paddle at him again, but this time he caught it and used it to leverage himself farther into the boat.

  The kayak tipped dangerously to the side he was on and began to take on water.

  Hailey screamed and smashed her fist against his head, trying to get him to let go.

  But it just enraged him more and he somehow managed to climb half onto the kayak.

  The move flipped the boat. She only had a moment to realize what was going to happen, so she used it to suck in a huge breath of air.

  She hit the water hard, momentarily stunned by the frigid temperature and salty sting that went up her nose and mouth. Hands pulled at her as she tried to surface, but her head smashed into plastic.

  She was still trapped under the boat. She kicked her legs free from the kayak and struggled to swim out from under, but he kept pulling her back.

  Managing a small kick against him, she knew she’d hit something good when he momentarily let her go. It gave her enough time to get out from under the kayak and break the surface.

  She gasped in a lungful of air, welcoming the relief to her lungs.

  Vaguely she heard screams from Emily on the beach as she kicked out to swim to shore.

  Ironlike fingers grabbed her ankle and dragged her backward.

  “No.” She drew in another quick breath before she was pulled back under the water.

  Blackness surrounded her as his arms wrapped around her. It was like being attacked by a sea monster. She couldn’t see him in the dark, murky water and couldn’t pry herself from his unrelenting grip.

  She was going to die. They both would. Realization came with certainty. Never could she have pr
edicted she’d go out by drowning, though.

  Colin. His image flashed through her mind. The sweet and sexy smile he’d give her when she was in his arms and he stared down at her.

  Why had she been so afraid to admit to herself and to him that she loved him?

  Whether she’d admitted it or not, he had slipped into her heart. And all the time they’d spent together, the tenderness he’d showed her in and out of bed, those would be the images she kept in her head in her last minutes. Her small amount of comfort.

  Curt’s arm locked around her throat, and they both sank deeper into the water.

  Seaweed tangled around her feet as she tried to kick him, trapping her further. Her head grew lighter and her lungs burned for oxygen.

  I love you, Colin. I’m so sorry.

  Darkness took over.

  Colin raced down the beach, gun drawn and throat so tight with fear he could barely breathe.

  “Uncle Colin, you’ve gotta help her!” Emily shrieked. “Please!”

  “I will.” He met Sarah’s terrified gaze. “Get her out of here now. I don’t want her to see whatever happens next.”

  Tears flooded Sarah’s eyes, but she gave a swift nod and rushed her daughter away despite Emily’s wails of protest.

  “Save her, Colin! Save her.”

  Emily’s hysterical pleas faded in the distance as he waded out into the water where he’d seen the struggling pair go under just seconds ago. They hadn’t surfaced and that put the fear of God in him.

  Clearly they were far past the drop-off, and bubbles rose to the surface where they’d disappeared. It gave him minimal relief to know they were breathing. Or one of them was.

  The water around him stirred and then a figure burst from the surface, dragging in a lungful of air.

  His stomach dropped and bile rose in his throat as he recognized MacGregor, not Hailey. He leveled his gun.

  “Stay where you are!” he ordered.

  MacGregor’s mouth curled into a furious sneer. “Fuck you, Ian!”

  Obviously mistaking him for his twin, Curt lunged forward in the water.

  Colin didn’t hesitate, and pulled the trigger three times. Screams sounded from the handful of spectators on the beach.

  MacGregor fell back into the water, his wild eyes going round as red began to spread along the surface of the water around them.

  Holstering his gun, Colin waded deeper out and scanned the water. There was no time to give MacGregor another thought.

  Where was Hailey? Why wasn’t she surfacing?

  Fear pounded in his head and heart so loudly it drowned out every other noise.

  A single bubble rose a few feet away, and he lurched toward it. Before the water got deeper than his head, he dove beneath it and began swimming down toward the bottom.

  His reached out into the darkness with his hands to find her, but came up with nothing but seaweed.

  He surfaced and drew a breath. It almost seemed hopeless. A needle in a haystack.

  But no way in fuckin’ hell would he give up until he found her.

  He slipped beneath the surface again. Some slippery fish brushed his palm, but he ignored it and kept searching with arms outstretched.

  Visibility was zero. He was going on touch alone.

  He felt it then. Something long and soft, but not seaweed. Human hair.

  Grabbing a handful, he pulled himself toward it until he felt the unmistakable figure of a human body.

  He wrapped his arms around Hailey’s waist and kicked toward the surface. When he broke free, he dragged in a breath and began swimming toward shore.

  There were already people on the beach wading out to meet them. Someone helped pull her onto the beach and checked for a pulse.

  Her lips held a blue tint and Colin grabbed her wrist to check her pulse. Faint, but thank God, still there.

  Colin turned her onto the side, hoping to help any water escape from her lungs that might still be there. She coughed and some spilled out.

  The roar of sirens approached before an ambulance pulled to a stop at the end of the wharf. When they arrived on the beach, Colin reluctantly released her hand and stepped away so they could step in and do what they needed to do.

  A moment later they placed her on a stretcher and began rushing her back to the ambulance.

  “Are you taking her to Whidbey General?” he asked one of the paramedics.

  “Yes, sir.”

  Colin gave a grim nod. “I’ll meet you there.”

  “You know this woman?”

  “Aye. She’s my girlfriend.” Whether she’d ever bloody admit it or not.

  “No wonder you look so freaked out. I think she’s going to be okay, Deputy.” The male paramedic gave him a sympathetic glance. “See you in a few minutes.”

  “She has no family. Just me.”

  Hailey surfaced from the thick fog in her head, but couldn’t quite open her eyes yet.

  The sound of Colin’s voice was what had finally penetrated. She was in a hospital bed. She knew the sounds of a hospital room well enough to recognize where she was.

  “And who did you say you were, sir?”

  “Colin McLaughlin. Her fiancé.”

  Her fiancé? What the hell? Oh wait, must’ve gotten hit with the family only bit when he tried to see her.

  A hand touched her forehead lightly. She knew that touch immediately.

  Her lashes fluttered up to find green eyes loaded with concern staring down at her.

  “How are you, sweetheart?”

  Trying for a slight smile, she murmured, “Oh you know. Feel like I drank a gallon of saltwater, but otherwise not bad.”

  He didn’t smile back. “For a moment I thought you weren’t going to make it.”

  “For a moment I thought I wouldn’t either. What happened to Curt?”

  “He’s the one who didn’t make it.”

  Relief seared through her and she momentarily closed her eyes. Should she feel guilty for being glad he was dead? No. The son of a bitch had come after her when Emily was with her.

  She didn’t even want to ask how he’d died. Not yet. She just thanked God he was gone. And right now she only wanted to focus on Colin.

  “When I thought I was going to die, my biggest regret was pushing you away for the last couple weeks,” she admitted huskily. “And that I was too afraid to take a chance on love. Because I do love you, Colin.”

  His eyes closed, but not before she saw the sweep of raw emotion in them. A shudder ran through his body and his fingers clenched tighter around hers.

  “I pushed you—”

  “I needed to be pushed.”

  “I love you so much, Hailey. If you hadn’t survived, I don’t know what I would’ve done,” he said raggedly. “I think I would’ve lost my mind, quite honestly.”

  “But I did survive.” She traced her thumb over his knuckles, and whispered, “And I hear we got engaged while I was unconscious?”

  This time he did laugh and his eyes opened again to search hers.

  “Aye. I figured that was the easiest way to get you to say yes.”

  “You never know until you try.” Had she really just said that?

  Pleasure flickered in his eyes. “I would love to make you my wife, Hailey.” He grimaced. “Though this probably would count as the worst, most unromantic proposal known to man.”

  “I like keeping things simple.”

  “And I like to keep you on your toes. So wait for the real thing.”

  He leaned down and brushed a kiss against her mouth. She sighed as tingles of awareness slid through her.

  “You know you’re going to piss my nurse off if you try and get it on with me in here.”

  “Mmm. Maybe. But I’ll win her over, just as I did with the nurse on the earlier shift.”

  “Charming nurses. Why am I not surprised?”

  “Because being charming is genetically required to be a McLaughlin,” he teased. “I also managed to discover they’re hiring a couple nurs
es here at this hospital if you’re interested.”

  “Are they now?” She liked the sound of that. A lot actually.

  If she worked on the island, she could be all that much closer to Colin. Maybe find an apartment when her lease was up on the house in Mount Vernon.

  “Aye, they are.” He kissed her again. “And it’s not far from my house, you realize. It would be so convenient for you to just move in.”

  Her heart swelled. “You sure you’re ready for that?”

  He slid his fingers over her palm, capturing her ring finger.

  “I thought I made it clear I’m ready for so much more, but we can go at your speed, sweetheart. I’m a patient man.”

  “You’re good at being patient.” She pulled his head down again and brushed her lips against his. “You’re good at lots of things actually.”

  “Mmm, yes, I am.” He nipped at her bottom lip. “Get out of that ugly hospital gown and get your arse discharged, and I’ll be happy to remind you.”

  “Naughty.” Her laugh turned to a sigh as he kissed her again.

  Deeper, slower and yet achingly gentle.

  He pulled away when the sound of a child echoed in the hallway.

  “That’d be Emily and others coming for a visit,” he murmured. “They told me they were dropping by.”

  When the room was flooded by chatting McLaughlins and soon-to-be McLaughlins, she’d never felt so protected and cared for. They were her family now.

  And it was so perfect. Such a gift.

  With a heart full of optimism and love, she looked forward to the future and what lay ahead.

  It was amazing how many people couldn’t hold their alcohol. Amateurs. The whole lot of them.

  Kenzie nursed a beer in her hand and watched with amusement as Sarah climbed back onto the stage and started grinding against the mic stand.

  She was completely pissed, along with the other few girls who would be at the wedding on Sunday. Kenzie had a nice buzz going on, but she could handle her alcohol and would be fine to drive in a couple hours.

  “You like that,” Sarah hollered, grinding against the mic stand. “Oh you know you like that.”