But I know I have to see for myself what’s happened. Somehow, I manage to disentangle myself from Leo and step away, heading toward the door leading down to the studio.
“Wait. Baby.” Leo tugs me back, and I turn to look at him. “You need shoes.” He points down at my bare feet. “And maybe some clothes so I don’t have to murder my coworkers for seeing you like that.”
A laugh bursts free from me, and I think we’re both grateful for the break in the tension from tonight’s unexpected excitement.
“I’ll just go and get dressed, then.” I move to walk to my bedroom, but Leo won’t let go of my hand. When I glance at him questioningly, his lips quirk up in a wry grin.
“Maybe I should stand watch. In the interest of personal safety, of course.”
I let out a shaky laugh. Because now that the initial panic has worn off, I can appreciate that Leo is in full uniform, in my apartment, for the first time since the night he had to take off because Violet was sick.
“Let’s save this moment for when your coworkers aren’t all downstairs dealing with my vandalized dance studio.”
“Good call.” He shoves his hands in his pockets and leans against the door frame of my bedroom. “But I’ll still keep watch. Just in case.”
I roll my eyes and make quick work of getting dressed, grabbing the first things I find and pulling them on over the giant T-shirt I sleep in. It’s only when I hear a strangled noise come from the doorway that I realize two things.
One, I forgot underwear, so Leo just got a full-on ass shot, and two, the hoodie I grabbed happens to be his from high school.
“I always wondered where that sweatshirt went,” he says in a low voice.
I keep my back to him, unable to look him in the eyes just now. “You’re not getting it back.”
“I don’t want it back. I wantyouback. You happen to come with my favourite hoodie, which is purely a bonus.”
His hands land on my shoulders, and he slowly turns me around.
“Besides, you always did look better in it than me.”
Lifting up on my toes, I kiss the corner of his mouth lightly, but Leo has other plans. With a growl, he wraps his hands in my hair and drags my lips to his for a crushing kiss.
“Hey boss — oh, sorry. Sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt. Umm… ”
We break apart and Leo spins around with a scowl on his face. “Callaghan, what do you need?” he barks out at the younger officer, wrapping his arm around my shoulders.
“We just need Miss Matheson, umm, Serena, to come downstairs and give her statement.”
“Have we found any clues that might help us figure out who did this?”
The poor man’s face turns bright red, and I squeeze Leo’s side to try and get him to dial down the intensity.
“No, sir. No prints yet, and no tire tracks, either. We don’t have traffic cams to review, but I’m guessing whoever it was must have come on foot and left immediately after. Maybe they parked on a side street. We can canvas the houses on nearby streets to see if anyone noticed anything, but it looks a lot like those cases over in Westport, to be honest.”
“We don’t know that, Officer, so let’s not jump to conclusions. This could have gone a lot worse if Serena had been downstairs. I want guys patrolling the neighborhood all night.”
“Leo, calm down,” I murmur. “I’m fine, and it’s just a window.”
“Well, actually, you might want to come and take a look.” Callaghan scratches his head ruefully. “Just make sure you have shoes on.”
Leo arches his brow at me at that last comment and I just roll my eyes in return. Shoes on, we make our way downstairs.
When I finally see the destruction to my studio, I can’t hold back my tears of dismay. The brick went straight through the large picture window that looks right into the dance space. Shattered glass is everywhere, and the beautiful wood floor is destroyed where the brick landed.
“Thank fuck you weren’t down here doing one of your late-night dance sessions.” Leo speaks so quietly I almost don’t hear him.
I jolt at his comment. “I forgot you knew about that.”
A half-hearted chuckle comes out. “Are you kidding? I remember sneaking onto the football field with you the night before exams so you could dance away your nerves. You’ve always used movement to work through anything heavy. And if you’d been down here tonight doing that… ” Leo shudders as his voice trails off.