She saw a mirror of the memories in his eyes, glassy and damp as they were. He reached out, his fingers curling around her wrist, his thumb pressed into the jut of bone there. At first she resisted but then gave into his gentle tug, landing against his chest, her arms circling his waist as one big hand pressed against her spine.

Burying his head in her hair, he breathed in. It was a rough inhale, all jagged and shaky, like he was controlling a sob. She barely moved, just rocked, slightly, into his familiar warmth, that same feeling she’d had when she’d first seen the port coming into view. Nostalgia that was burned at the edges.

Home.

Did you kill the reporter? She wanted to ask it, even as he held her, even as his chin dug into the hard plane of her shoulder blade. Did your father kill Monroe?

Mia let it go on for another ten seconds before she stepped back. His arms fell away without protest, and awkwardness bloomed in the space where their bodies had been.

She licked dry lips and shifted even farther away from Cash, shoving her hands in her pockets.

A blush rose on the sharp slopes of his cheekbones, and he shifted back onto his heels. “Sorry,” he said on a cough. “Um. I better get back.”

Nodding seemed wiser than trying to say anything.

“You can, uh, you can come look around again,” Cash said, meek now. It was a dramatic change from when he’d plucked her from the ground by her sweatshirt. “At Dad’s stuff. I don’t care anymore. There’s nothing left to protect.”

Her stomach contracted. “You were protecting something before?”

He lifted one shoulder. “Don’t know. Maybe. I didn’t want to look.”

“Cash, you can’t just . . . That’s hindering an investigation.” She sighed.

“You gonna arrest me?” He actually smirked at that, a little mischievous. He’d flitted through more emotions in the past ten minutes than he’d had the whole time she’d been back. The ground felt unsteady beneath her feet.

Might have to. But she didn’t say it. “I’ll come by in the morning.”

He’d already started down the pier, but paused at that. “Just you?”

“Izzy’s headed back to the mainland,” she said without thinking, lulled into the easy rhythm they’d established.

“Leaving you here? By yourself?” The sharpness of his tone had her looking up, reevaluating what she’d just revealed.

“I’ll be okay,” she said, an echo of her reassurance to Izzy.

The wrinkle didn’t smooth from his forehead as he glanced back to the house, his gaze lingering there before returning to her. “Just. Be careful?”