The pugs screamed back, but in alarm. Dillon cuddled them in close. “Caitlin.”
Sammie kept coming at him.
“The couch is linen,” Dillon said to the little girl.
“It’s okay,” Caitlin told him. “I bought Tide pens at Costco.”
Dillon frowned, but Jace snagged Sammie before she executed her destroy-the-couch mission. “Hey, you. Let’s go wash your hands while your mama sits down and puts her feet up.”
Heather looked at him like he was the god of all men. “You’ve got the best boyfriend on the planet,” she whispered to Maze. Maze thought she managed to hide her grimace, but Heather cocked her head. “What?”
“Nothing.”
Heather nodded, but she still studied Maze for a long beat. Without Michael, Heather was the youngest and the most intuitive. “So. Santa Barbara? How do you like living there versus Wildstone?”
Wildstone had been . . . well, home. But Santa Barbara worked. It was warm, not too small a town, but not too big either, and being sandwiched between the Pacific Ocean and beautiful rolling hills made it feel familiar and deceptively safe. She had a good job and an even better boss. She had friends, both on the job and in the building where she lived. She dated. Sometimes. Okay, so she didn’t tend to date the same guy more than a few times, but she found herself reluctant to form close ties, especially since apparently she had never really learned how to do that successfully.
But she was fine, even happy. Or happy enough, anyway. She spent her free time volunteering at a women’s shelter, mostly just cleaning and doing whatever needed to be done, but it gave her a sense of something she’d never had before—that she was worthy enough to be able to give something back.
She liked that. A lot.
She was also going to school online at night. All of it added up to an almost very full life, and it was . . . nice. Really nice. Definitely a quieter life than she’d ever imagined for herself, but fulfilling.
Well, it had felt like it was fulfilling, until she’d stepped foot in here again.
“Love it,” she said.
“Hmm,” Heather said. “You do realize that I know your trying-to-pull-one-over-on-me smile. I also know you still think of me as the baby here. But trust me, I’ve grown up fast these past few years. Also, I’ve missed you like hell. I’m not going to push you, but I’m here if you ever want to talk.” She paused, eyes on Maze. “Please want to talk. I really did miss you, and frankly, I need my big sister back in my life.”
A gut punch. And a heart punch. “I should’ve—”
Heather shook her head. “I didn’t say that to make you feel guilty. Or maybe I did. Did it work?”
Maze let out a rough laugh, feeling a little bit lucky that the front door opened just then.
Unluckily, it was Walker, and her chest tightened, restricting air. Chin up. You’ve got this. But her heart was tripping all over itself as her eyes soaked up the sight of him. No current bullet holes, at least that she could see, which had relief rolling through her. Nothing but that long, leanly muscled body, the one that still played a starring role in all her secret fantasies. She’d even tried replacing him with Liam Hemsworth, but it hadn’t worked.
Walker looked at Dillon on the couch. “Hey, you’re in the same spot as you were last time I saw you.”
Wait, they knew each other?
“Funny,” Dillon said. “So funny.”
Walker hugged Heather, then pulled back to look at her face. “You’re better,” he said.
“Yep, flu’s all gone, thankfully.”
And he and Heather had seen each other? What’s going on?
Caitlin took her turn at hugging Walker, squeezing so hard he grunted, but he let her hold on for as long as she wanted. “You need another haircut already,” she said, reaching up to ruffle his dark hair, making him laugh and shrug.
Caitlin too? Maze stood there feeling . . . stupid. And a whole bunch of other things that reminded her of being a kid. Once, in a long-ago foster home, she’d been woken up by a nightmare and had gotten out of bed—a big no-no in that house. She’d wandered into the living room to find the entire family watching TV, eating ice cream, and playing games. She’d felt so unimportant, but worse than that, she’d felt invisible, unwanted, like she was someone no one remembered existed.
Shrugging that off, she decided to obsess about other things. Like how it really pissed her off that Walker was even better looking now at almost thirty than he’d ever been. He was six feet plus of solid perfection, smelling deliciously male and rocking a rough five o’clock shadow and finger-tousled hair that gave him an undeniable bad-boy look that had always drawn her in.
Caitlin was still hugging Walker, and honestly? Maze had to fight the urge to do the same. Then she remembered the last time she’d been in his arms, which had been amazing but had also been immediately followed by the harshest heartbreak of her life, and the urge vanished.
Jace came out of the kitchen with Sammie wrapped around him like a monkey, which reminded her that he was her pretend boyfriend for the weekend. Probably not great for the role if she got caught mentally jumping another man’s bones.
Jace set Sammie down and she immediately began to run in circles, apparently enjoying the sound of her voice as she sang gibberish.
Walker hunkered down to Sammie’s level and she stopped on a dime to smile at him.
“Wow, you got big,” he said.
“Big!” she repeated jubilantly, and went back to running in circles.
Walker rose back to his full height and finally looked at Maze. Her first urge was to do the same as all the other females had and fawn over him, dammit. Her second urge was to throw something at him.
He’d made sure to stay a part of everyone’s life but hers.
She tried really hard to not do stupid, immature shit anymore, but she definitely felt a regression coming on and turned to Jace. “Hey, honey,” she said in her best sex-kitten voice. “Need anything?”
Jace stepped closer and smiled down at her face—his mischievous smile, not that anyone but her knew that. “No, baby. I’m good,” he said, and gave her a little pat on the ass.
Her back to the rest of the room, she narrowed her eyes.
He just grinned. “How about you, baby? Can I get you anything?”
A lobotomy would be great. She looked away from him, and her eyes—the traitors—sliced back to Walker.
He was watching her in that quiet, assessing way he had.
Dammit. He’d always had a high bullshit meter, and she didn’t need it going off here. So she took a deep breath, accessed her genuine affection for Jace, and went up on tiptoes to brush a kiss to his jaw.
“How about I get you all drinks while you guys put your stuff away in your rooms?” Caitlin asked. “What does everyone want?”
“My usual,” Dillon said, still on the couch.
Walker sent the guy a look that should’ve had Dillon losing control of his bladder. “Seriously?”
“What?”
“Is there a problem with your legs that keeps you from getting your own damn drink?”
“Actually, yes. Sprained my ankle. Ask me how.”
Walker shifted his expression to his patented don’t make me kick your ass look.