Chapter 15 #2
He takes my hand. “You are dream girl material. We like Rios, and we all really like you.”
I’d gotten that from what Wyatt said on the front porch when we admitted to having feelings for each other. Yet even after we’ve kissed and Hunter and I have done… other stuff, I’ve been getting the sense they’re keeping something from me. “But?”
“You’re out of a relationship from hell. We don’t want to rush you.” He waves his hand. “Staying with us isn’t just about keeping you safe. You’ll have time to rest and recover.”
I frown. “But I am recovered.” All my bruises from Derek’s Nevada motel room beating have healed. I haven’t needed to reach for concealer for weeks now.
“Emotionally.” He lets out a frustrated sigh. “You need time to heal emotionally, not be dragged into a relationship with four men, Maisie. Wyatt thinks moving too fast will scare you away.”
I don’t have a response, and the longer I think about it, the harder it is to know what to say.
It has been years since someone considered my emotional needs, let alone my physical ones.
I’m used to taking care of myself as best as I can, but when I’m around Hunter, Wyatt, Elias, and Knox, I have to use brute force not to let myself lean on them the way I instinctively want to.
Am I ready to start a new relationship?
Is that why I was so hurt when I thought Hunter had come upstairs to tell me he liked me, but he didn’t like-like me?
I never expected to stay in Rios for as long as I have. A couple of weeks, tops, was what I told myself after Nico gave me a job at his diner and an apartment to stay in while his niece is away at college.
Now that Derek has found me and destroyed my apartment, the smart thing would be to bum a ride to the nearest bus or train station and move on.
“Wyatt was right to worry about scaring you away, wasn’t he?” Hunter says quietly.
I yank my gaze from my knees, where I lowered it, to find him studying me with a tiny frown between his dark-blonde brows.
He looks worried. He’s right to be. When I think of my future, I see a big fat question mark and no clue how to fix an unfixable situation.
I threatened to expose Derek in front of the prison guard, who was feet away, but who had to have heard what I said.
For a man who had his fist primed and ready when I didn’t make his roast the way he liked it, a humiliation like that is practically a killing offence.
He’d have spent all seven months he was in jail stewing over my threat to reveal my bruised body in front of everyone at church.
He’d have had nothing to focus on except the need to get back at me for blackmailing him into divorcing me.
Is a restraining order really going to compel him to keep his distance?
And his parents are loaded. Even if he went to trial for arson and attempted murder, he could afford the best lawyers in the country, barely spend any time in jail, and leave with even more of a festering hate toward me.
Last night, when I had four alphas and a sheriff surrounding me, promising me I would be safe, making me feel safe, it was easy to believe everything would work out.
That I’d live happily ever after with four alphas who have slipped past all my defenses, and a judge would lock Derek up for the rest of his life.
Am I being na?ve? I really think I might be.
Wherever I am, I will always put the people closest to me in danger.
It’s why I haven’t called, written, or seen my sister and her family since I left Oregon.
I’ve lost count of how many tears I’ve shed over missing seeing my niece and nephew grow up, but I can’t be anywhere near them. It just isn’t safe.
“Maisie?” Hunter says softly. “I feel you quietly panicking. Everything will be okay.”
I look at him, and all I see are the ways Derek could hurt him trying to get to me.
A six-foot-tall motel worker wound up in intensive care for three days.
Derek was a star quarterback before the car crash that busted up his knee.
If he wanted to kill someone with his bare hands, he absolutely could.
Hunter drapes his arm around my shoulder, tucking me against his side and dropping a kiss on top of my hair. “Distraction. That’s what you need.”
“What?”
I have feelings for him, but how selfish would it be for me to stay, knowing Hunter could pay for helping me with his life? They all could.
“We’ll hang out in the kitchen. I’ll tell you about why surfing never worked out, and we’ll watch a movie later.”
I’m briefly distracted by his past as a surfer, but I shake my head. “Maybe I should leave. I like you,” I admit, my cheeks burning. “I like you a lot.”
He looks relieved. “But?”
“Derek nearly killed a motel worker because of me. I’d never forgive myself if he hurt one of you protecting me.”
He gives my shoulders a reassuring squeeze. “The condo job won’t be forever, and then we’ll set our own schedule, maybe start our own business. That means we’ll all be around more, at least until we get our business off the ground.”
“And Derek?”
“The sheriff will arrest him.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
With his left hand, he touches my forehead with his thumb and index fingers, pressing down on the many frown lines I feel forming.
“He will. Or your ex will move on when he can’t get to you, and he can’t get to you here with the security system.
The whole town knows someone is looking to hurt you, and no one is going to let that happen. ”
“But—”
He brushes his lips across mine, silencing me with a kiss so sweet I don’t mind swallowing my fears for a bit longer if he’ll kiss me like that again.
“How about we stop worrying about future maybes and focus on short-term practicalities?” he suggests.
I lick my lips, wanting him to kiss me again. “Like?”
His eyes hungrily track the motion, but he leans back as if forcing himself not to kiss me like he wants to. “Come downstairs, and I’ll explain.”
“How about turning the kitchen into a bakery?” Hunter suggests.
My eyes slide to the large farmhouse kitchen with its thick, rustic-style dining table and six chairs that sit smack-dab in the middle of the room.
The clean kitchen. While they were down here talking, and I was upstairs hiding, they were cleaning and eating pie.
Two pies have been decimated, and the dishwasher makes loud sloshing sounds as it does its thing.
“A bakery?”
“Yeah.” Hunter offers me a coffee and pulls a chair out from the table.
I sit down and take the coffee with a grateful smile. One sip confirms something I already suspected. While I was learning how they drink their coffee, Hunter must’ve been learning how I drink mine.
“How did you know how I like my coffee?” I ask, surprised.
“Asked Lina the last time I was at the diner. Figured the information might come in handy one day.”
“And has it?”
He drops into the seat beside mine and leans over to touch his lips to mine. “It put this pretty little smile on your face, so I’d say definitely.” His eyes flick down, and he softly groans. “I have to stop doing that. I’m becoming addicted.”
“To?”
I have to stop letting him kiss me or I will never leave, no matter how dangerous it would be for me to stay.
His eyes linger on my mouth. “The taste of your lips.” Shaking his head as if he needs the action to clear his mind enough to think, he gestures to the kitchen again.
“So, what do you say? You want to help out Nico, but in a less public way. Your pies are incredible, and he’s down a waitress, so if he doesn’t have to do the baking, it means you’re taking a big job off his hands.
Why not bake here? We can drop the pies off at the diner on our way to work in the morning. ”
I sip my coffee as I ponder his suggestion.
It’s a good one. The kitchen is spacious, with plenty of surfaces to work on.
I could keep myself busy instead of biting down the few nails I have left stressing about Derek.
Most importantly, I could earn my keep. I don’t know how much Nico would pay me to take over all his baking, if he agreed to it at all, but some money is better than no money.
I’d have all the time in the world to test out new pie flavors instead of being limited to what’s on the diner menu. It would be fun. And that’s before I consider the possibility that I’d be spending a lot more time with four alphas I’ve been attracted to since the first time I saw them.
“You’re not immediately refusing, so I’m going to assume you like the idea?”
Hunter’s amused tone returns me to the present.
Excited but terrified to hope this will work out, I frown instead. “Nico might say no.”
He fishes his cell phone from his pocket, unlocks it, and offers it to me. “Call him and ask. His number is in my contacts. Search for Nico.”
I hesitate for a bit longer, though I’m secretly dying to ask Nico. Then I put my mug down, take the phone from Hunter, and search through his contacts to find the number I need.
It’s not lunchtime yet, so either Lina or Nico could answer. I luck out on it being Nico. After asking if I can speak to him for a couple of minutes, I wait for him to move into his office for our phone call.
I get halfway through Hunter’s suggestion to turn the farmhouse kitchen into a bakery before Nico isn’t only agreeing, he’s telling me he’ll pay me more money than I made as a waitress, and offering to send baking equipment, ingredients, and as many pie boxes as I want.
Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine the call would go so well.
Hanging up in a daze, I return Hunter’s phone to him. With a shaking hand, I pick up my coffee and then put it down without taking a sip. My adrenaline levels just shot through the roof. The last thing I need right now is to add caffeine to the mix.
Hunter, looking sexy as he reclines in his chair with his own coffee, lifts his brow. “What’d he say?” There’s a teasing note in his voice that makes it clear he knows how well the call just went and is smug about it.
The laugh I let out is shocked, giddy, and not the least bit steady. “We’re turning this kitchen into a bakery. Nico is bringing equipment and ingredients after lunch.”
“Hell-fucking-yeah!” With a grin, he puts his cup down and sits up, sticking his hand out for a high five.
His excitement is so palpable, I can’t help but laugh as our palms slap together.