Everything about her calls to me. Her scent. Blackberries and wild honey. Her peachy skin. Even the way she has a habit of tucking a strand of hair behind her ear when she’s nervous is pretty. She does that a lot whenever the bell over the door rings. Her shoulders tense, and I don’t just see her fear; I feel it.
“Hey!”
My body rocks from the force of Elias’s nudge.
I rip my eyes off Maisie to scowl at him. “What?”
He snorts. “You weren’t blinking.”
My scowl turns into a frown. “I was absolutely blinking. We finish the condo in about a month, then what?”
Hunter tosses his last fry into his mouth, chews, and swallows. “And?”
“Wyatt already told her about the Florida job,” I remind him.
Hunter shrugs. “So we tell her we’re staying.”
He makes it sound easy, but it isn’t.
If we tell Maisie we’re staying, she’ll want to know why. We can’t predict what will happen after we say we want her. Will she feel like we’re putting pressure on her, expecting something more from her than she’s willing to give?
The Florida job isgoodmoney. The best paid job we’ve been offered. It even comes with a fully paid apartment. Management couldn’t have made it any clearer that they’re pulling out all the stops to get us to say yes. We won’t just be rocking up to work onsite; we’ll be practically managing the resort build for the two years it’s expected to take. It’s the sort of job we’d have signed up for without hesitation.
Until Maisie.
And not just Maisie.
The perfect combination of Maisie and a town that, for the first time, none of us are ready to leave. We’ve been traveling from job to job for years. Some places have seemed perfect, but as we near project completion, we’ve looked at each other and known it was time to move on.
That isn’t happening here.
Before Maisie, we’d started talking about setting up a construction company and basing it here. Some places you arrive, and it feels like a homecoming. That was Rios for us.
Then we rolled into the diner one lunchtime, our stomachs growling, ready to order the big sandwiches and tasty fries we’ve all come to love, and Maisie had been hovering at the front counter. All soft and sweet in a pink uniform that brought out the pink in her cheeks.
And the bruises no amount of makeup could cover.
Maisie Lucas.
I hadn’t asked her name at the time, but I’d noticed her name badge on the front of her uniform, and afterward, we’d talked about her. About what we’d seen and about how we’d make it a habit to stop in at the diner a little more than usual, just in case whoever had hurt her paid her a visit.
“What did she say when you told her about Florida?” I ask Wyatt.
He tilts his head. “She looked… disappointed.”
“You think she wants us to stay?” Elias asks hopefully.
Wyatt shrugs. “I don’t know. Iwantto think that, but it’s been a month, and I hoped she’d have opened up to us much more than she has. Maybe I saw something that wasn’t there. Maybe it was wishful thinking.”
I glance at the counter, catching Maisie’s eye. She looks away, and I let out a quiet sigh. “Could be.”
I’m turning back to the table when she glances back at me, her cheeks flushing pink.
Could also not be.
Chapter 6
Maisie
