Halley brought him over to the cabinet. "My own vase was broken and a new one put in its place," she said, opening the cabinet and pointing to the glass vase. "Mine was crystal and pretty. This one is," she looked at it and cringed. "It's ugly."
Normally, Mike would have laughed, but this was too serious for amusement. "Anything else?"
Halley bit her lower lip. "I found a piece of glass over by the corner last night. And I know it wasn't there before. I haven't broken anything in this house yet. I've only been living here for eighteen months."
He nodded his head. "And?"
She twisted her lips around, trying to figure out how to explain the next issue.
"Just tell me, Halley," he said with a soothing tone of voice. He moved closer to her, pulling her into his arms and she loved that he wanted to touch her. She needed the connection too even though she might not admit it at another time.
"My house was cleaned," she finally told him. She saw the startled look in his eyes and shrugged. "I know, it sounds silly. But I came home last week and everything was just … cleaner than it was that morning."
She saw the anger clouds forming over his handsome features and knew she should have told him sooner than this. "That was the night you came over to your parent's place, wasn't it?"
"Yeah," she sighed, rubbing her forehead. "I was a little freaked out, but then I saw you and … " she shrugged, not finishing.
Mike sighed as he pulled her into his arms. "And I was scarier than whoever had been in your house." It wasn't a question. He fully understood what she wouldn't tell him.
He hugged her close to him, trying to calm down. He was furious, both with her for not telling him that something was wrong and with whoever was stalking her, breaking into her house. He wanted to wrap his hands around the asshole and … he didn't continue with that thought.
"Honey, why didn't you tell me this the other night?"
She leaned her cheek against his chest, loving the way he felt. "Because I thought I was crazy." She pulled back to look up at him. "Think about it. What would you have said if I'd told you that someone had broken into my house to clean it up?"
He thought for a moment, his hand sliding through her silky hair. After a long moment, he laughed, shaking his head. "I would have done the same thing as last night," he told her and kissed her lips. "I'm going to get one of the guys out here to do fingerprinting. Tell me what you've touched."
She shook her head, her eyes wide as she tried to stop him from this plan. "No, please. I don't want anyone else to know about this," she told him, looking at him with pleading eyes. "Please, Mike. I feel silly enough as it is. If you got one of your guys out here, they would start talking about it around town. By this afternoon, everyone will know that some creep rearranged my underwear drawers."
He rubbed his neck. "Halley, if someone is breaking into your place, I want everyone in town to be looking for strangers to the area. Yeah, they might tease you a bit, but you know that they all have good hearts and will be protecting you, keeping their eyes and ears open."
She was already shaking her head. "No. If you can't do it yourself, then fine, nothing happened." She crossed her arms over her chest, unaware of the way her arms pressed her breasts higher, the neckline of her robe low enough for him to see her cleavage.
Mike knew. He was always aware of everything. His eyes instantly zeroed in on that loose neckline, his body hardening as renewed lust surged through him. "Halley," he groaned.
She looked down, realized what was happening and quickly closed the gap. "Focus," she snapped at him.
A smile slowly emerged. "I am focused," he argued.
The heat in his eyes was making her hot and bothered. "Mike, this is serious business," she told him firmly.
He looked down into her blue eyes and nodded his head. "Right. But I'm not relenting, Halley. I need more eyes than just me on this."
She shook her head. "No. Absolutely not. If you tell anyone, I'll just rub my hands over every surface, eliminating any prints. And then I'll just go stay at my parent's house for a while."
Mike didn't like that idea. Not one bit. "If you're staying somewhere else, you'll be at my place," he told her, stepping closer, towering over her.
She almost laughed at the absurd idea. "Not going to happen," she told him.
He leaned in closer. "Are you going to be stubborn about this?" he demanded.
She poked him in the chest. "I'm going to be just as stubborn as you are!"
He pushed away from her, growling in frustration because he knew how damn stubborn Halley could be when she set her mind to it. He rubbed both of his hands through his short hair as he paced for a moment. Halley just watched, fascinated and more enticed than she wanted to admit. But the idea of spending the night at his house was … no. No, that couldn't happen.