“No doubt about it,” Nate added, grinning. “Maybe I’ll ask her out.”
Caleb’s jaw flexed before he could stop it. “The two of you are looking for a beat-down next time we get in the gym. Besides, Mia and I barely know each other.”
A collective drawn-out “Ohhhhhh” rose around the table.
Dex grinned. “Right. That’s why you stare at her every time she walks into a room.”
“Fuck you.”
“I’d like …” Dex started.
“Don’t even think it,” Caleb cut in. Annoyance flickered low and sharp. It wasn’t jealousy. Dex chased anything shiny. Mia didn’t deserve to become his next passing interest. Besides, he was planning to ask her out himself. One of these days. Maybe.
“Boys. Boys,” said Liam.
Caleb muttered something that sounded a lot likeidiotinto his beer.
The noise of the bar covered their laughter. Caleb leaned back, trying to shake off the jab fest. Then Dex let out a low whistle. “Just saying, man, a woman like Mia won’t stay single long.”
That landed harder than Caleb liked.
He reached for his beer, but his mind drifted, not to Dex or Nate but to Roy. The guy was around the Whitmore place all the time fixing things. He blended in so well it was easy to forget he was there. Too easy. Men like that didn’t disappear. They waited.
Now he would be there front and center every day helping at the new barn.
Why did that sit so damn wrong with him?
And was he imagining a problem or watching one take shape right in front of him?
CHAPTER 14
Roy climbedthe narrow back stairs to his apartment two at a time, the wood creaking under his boots. Sweat clung to the back of his neck. The scent of old lumber and motor oil drifted up from the hardware store below. It wasn’t the same after Hal sold it. The new owners brought in bright lighting and shiny displays. Nice enough, just wrong.
They left him alone, which he appreciated, but the place didn’t feel like the old shop anymore. They didn’t need him to help in the store, didn’t need his advice on old customers. They didn’t need him at all. And that thought bothered him more than he liked to admit. The silence pressed heavier here than it used to, like the walls had forgotten him too. He spent years proving he was useful. And now? He was just the tenant upstairs.
In the sale, Hal had made one last demand that allowed Roy to keep his one-bedroom apartment. The place wasn’t much, but it was cheap and close to everything. Hal had always looked out for him. He was more of a father figure than his old man.
He unlocked the door and stepped inside. Lights flickered on, revealing the same cramped living room, the faded couch, the chipped coffee table. The room held its usual scent, a mix of oldcarpet and the lemon cleaner he used maybe once a week if he remembered.
It wasn’t fancy, but it was his.
He shrugged off his jacket and froze.
She was already here.
She stood by the window, bathed in the soft glow of the streetlamp outside. She’d slipped in with her spare key, the one she claimed was for emergencies though she used it whenever she wanted. He told himself it was convenient. That it meant she trusted him. And God help him, he liked having her in his apartment. In his life. The air shifted when she was here—warmer, less lonely. Made the place feel less empty.
“Took you long enough.”
Roy’s pulse kicked up. Heat tightened across his chest. “Didn’t know you were coming.”
“I wanted to see you.” She moved slowly toward him, the scent of warm vanilla reaching him before she did. Soft and sweet. A smell that left him defenseless.
He tried to play it cool and leaned back against the doorframe. “Could’ve called.”
“Oh, you know me. I like surprises.” She reached out and brushed her fingers along his jaw. “And you look good tonight.”
People didn’t say things like that to him. Heat curled low in his gut. He wasn’t used to the attention, to someone looking at him like he was a choice instead of an afterthought. When she watched him, really watched him, it made his chest tighten in a way he didn’t know what to do with.
