He brushed himself off, located his pizza and stood, offering a hand to the woman he’d run into. She took it and he helped her up.
And then the past was standing right in front of him again in the form of his childhood best friend’s little sister. All grown up.
“Will?” McKenna’s green eyes blinked their disbelief.
“What are you doing here?” The words came out harsher than he meant them to. He knew it as soon as her eyes narrowed and he saw in them a flicker of her Irish temper.
“Is this another one of those places that’s too dangerous for a girl?” she retorted.
“You’re seriously still mad that Luke and I wouldn’t let you tag along when we were kids?”
“No,” she said with a frown that clearly said yes.
“We were young. I didn’t want you to get hurt.” Not to mention the fact that Will had always thought she was kind of cute. Staying away from her as much as possible had always seemed like the best option—it broke about a hundred guy rules to have a crush on your friend’s little sister.
“I could take care of myself just fine back then.” She straightened even taller and lifted her chin, which stretched her height to an unintimidating five foot three. “And I can take care of myself even better now.”
Will nodded slowly and lifted his hands in surrender. “Okay. It was just a question.” He let out a breath slowly, willing his heart rate to return to a normal speed. He could still vaguely remember the day when, as a five-year-old, he’d gone over to see his best friend’s new baby sister. He was the youngest in his family and hadn’t been around babies much, so he’d expected her to be cute and quiet like babies on TV. Instead, her newborn face had been scrunched into a scowl and she’d screamed like she was being pinched.
She’d been a spitfire since day one, and nothing had changed.
“I’m here,” McKenna began, “because I got a...” She stumbled over her words. “I got a promotion.”
“And what is it you’re doing now?” Will couldn’t remember if Luke had said what McKenna was up to last time they’d talked. And though Will had wondered, he never felt comfortable asking.
Her gaze darted around them. “I’m a wildlife trooper,” she said softly.
“Why are we whispering?”
She looked around again. Uneasiness crawled over Will as he felt his muscles tighten. “What’s wrong?”
McKenna licked her lips, swallowed hard and then shrugged with forced casualness. “Don’t worry about it.”
“McKenna, just tell me.”
It had been the wrong thing to say. She glared in his direction and tilted her chin in the air the way she’d always done when she was trying to look taller. “It was nice seeing you, Will. But I’ve got to turn in early tonight, so I’d better be going.”
He wasn’t done talking about whatever was making her act weird. Not even close. But the firm set of her lips made it clear she was finished with that discussion. At least for now.
“I’ll be seeing you around, I guess,” he offered. “Let me know if you want to get together sometime.”
Her half smile was less than convincing. “I’ll do that.”
Without a backward glance she whirled around and strode off, dark red hair bouncing on her shoulders as she walked. He was alone. Again.
Will looked down at the pizza he held and shoved it back into the freezer. He wasn’t so hungry after all.
McKenna’s plan to get home early and get some sleep was a complete failure.
How was she supposed to sleep knowing she was once again living in the same town as Will Harrison? She’d had a crush on her brother’s best friend since elementary school. There’d been a time when she had thought maybe he was interested in her, too—but she’d done nothing but embarrass herself that summer when she let a little of her interest be known. He’d only seen her then as a kid. Almost like his own little sister.
McKenna wished there was a way to douse cold water on the warm feelings seeing him caused to bloom in her heart. Maybe it would be easier if his eyes weren’t the same electric blue of glacier ice and just as mysterious. Or maybe if his black hair didn’t curl around his ears in such a perfect combination of messy and adorable.
Not that his looks mattered to her. She pulled the covers up tighter and rolled over, willing herself to fall asleep. Anything to get him out of her mind.
She tossed and turned for hours, looked at the clock more than once, hoping against hope it was morning. Beside her, her German shepherd, Mollie, raised her head, ears perking as she looked around. Apparently she couldn’t sleep either.
McKenna listened but heard nothing. The entire day, so out of her comfort zone, had her on edge. She must be passing that uneasiness on to the dog.
The red lights on her digital clock blinked 1:02 a.m. McKenna tensed as she heard something that sounded like a door creaking. This time Mollie let out a low growl and McKenna motioned with her hand for the dog to stay put. It was probably nothing, after all. No sense in either one of them getting up.
More creaks followed, these sounding like someone walking on the old, probably rotting, floor. Most likely the intruder was a large man. McKenna knew someone her size wasn’t heavy enough to cause the creaking. She eased herself out of bed, reaching into her nightstand drawer for her duty weapon, just in case. The dingy brown shag carpeting in the trailer that served as her house would muffle her footsteps. If there was someone there, she should be able to sneak out and confront him undetected.
Despite being told to stay, Mollie followed her to the edge of the room and at the next slight sound from the main living area let out a warning bark.
McKenna heard someone mutter something, then a clatter. She hurried down the hallway, but made it to the living room just as the door slammed and whoever had been in the house ran outside, concealed by the darkness that had finally fallen over the Alaskan sky. She watched out the window for a minute, hoping to see a car or something that would help her identify the person later, but she saw nothing. Defeat threatened to overwhelm her. Finally McKenna moved away from the window, making sure the dingy miniblinds were shut tight before she turned on the lights. The last thing she needed was uncovered windows with the lights on, making her shape an easy target.
After taking a few seconds to try to calm herself down, she moved her weapon from a low-ready position pointing at the floor to directly in front of her, and prepared to check the rest of the house. First she glanced into the kitchen, which she could see from her tiny living room. It was clear, she could see that from where she stood, so she didn’t bother to investigate closely yet. It only took a few minutes to clear all the rooms, Mollie at her heels. McKenna appreciated the canine company, but in truth, Mollie was even less qualified for this than McKenna was. At least McKenna’d had the training. Though the dog was a German shepherd, a favorite of police departments everywhere, her dog had no training and was more at home napping on the couch or trying to climb into McKenna’s lap than sniffing out criminals.
Heart still pounding, McKenna walked back to the living room, took a quick glance out of the corner of the blinds. Still nothing there. She tried to relax some of the tightness in her shoulders since the crisis seemed to be over for now, but her body refused to cooperate. It looked as if sleep wasn’t happening tonight. Instead, she walked to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee.
McKenna breathed a quick prayer that