Her pulse hammered now with something other than surprise. He was the intruder here. He didn’t get to be stunned and speechless. “Trevor, I want to know what’s going on. Right now.”
He took a step back into the corner of the counter. In fact he might be leaning on it. “Maggie gave me a key.”
“When?”
“Um…three years ago?”
No. No way he’d been so involved in Maggie’s life for so long. She’d have mentioned it. “And why would she do that?”
“Told you. So I can help out. Around the house, repairs. Deliveries when she doesn’t feel up to going out.”
With every word, his warm-honey voice trickled into her, brought on a pleasant ache she knew too well. Focus. Stay strong. “You don’t need a key for that.”
“It’s easier when her pain’s bad. I can come and go, and if she can’t get up she doesn’t have to.”
“Well, as you can see, Maggie doesn’t need a delivery person anymore, so I’ll take that key back now.”
“Wh-what?”
“I’ll be here for the duration of her recovery.” She sounded professional and detached. Good. “And I’m quite capable of organizing things and going into town and—and whatever else she needs.”
“Kelsey…”
Her name sounded like a caress, just as it always had when he spoke it. She faced him for the first time in a decade standing in Maggie’s old-fashioned kitchen, a place that had meant safety to both of them back then. But this was now.
He was taller now, caught up to Ezra and Aaron’s six-foot-whatever height. His body had developed a fuller musculature than he’d had at eighteen, back and chest and shoulders impossible to hide even through his shirt. He’d grown into his stubborn chin, into pale scruff that wasn’t fuzzy anymore. And his eyes…curse those bright cornflower eyes. The thing she loved most. The thing that hadn’t changed at all.
“No,” she said. Loudly. Maggie must be awake by now.
“No?”
“You won’t be needed here in the future, and as niece of the homeowner I’ll be sure her key is returned to her.” In a few paces Kelsey crossed the room and snatched up his keys. “Which one is it?”
She glanced back as she spoke, in time to see his bottom lip wobble. Curse. It. All.
“I—I think Maggie still wants me,” he said. “To come, I mean. She said yesterday—”
“I got here yesterday. She didn’t mention you.”
Well, she hadn’t mentioned his coming to the house, but shehadmentioned him in a general sense… Shoot. Kelsey had shut her down before she could finish.
“I want to hear it from her,” Trevor said. “And then if she does want her key back, I’ll—”
He lifted his head to look past her only a second before Maggie’s voice came quietly from the doorway.
“Trevor’s keeping his key.”
Distraction. Worst thing ever.
He hadn’t heard Maggie get up, hadn’t noticed her approach until she was practically in the room. Now that he’d focused on her, Maggie’s unique scent—half sweet, half floral—hit his senses along with the leaden odor of chronic pain and the tang of unwanted conflict. He controlled his expression to hide his surprise. Wolves were supposed to smell everything and everyone for miles, distracted or not.
His heart still pounded. Kelsey. Standing in Maggie’s kitchen. Not wanting him here. Well, of course she didn’t.
She propped her hands on her hips, one still gripping his keys. “Maggie.”
“I’m sorry you startled each other.” Maggie shuffled a few steps toward them. “I meant to tell you both ahead of time, but I chickened out.”
“It’s okay,” Trevor said.
