The Forever Girl (Wildstone, #6)(21)

“Oh my God,” Caitlin said as Maze strode out of the water, drenched. “Thank you! Dillon, she saved Poly!”

Dillon took Poly from Maze and, in a move that seemed to shock everyone, hugged Maze tight with his free arm. “Thank you,” he said, and kissed her on top of her head.

Maze, never comfortable with affection, not to mention feelings, didn’t seem to know what to do with herself. Walker might have laughed, except she was now shrugging out of the damp plaid overshirt, leaving her in that equally damp white tank top, which had him feeling things no one should be feeling at a family picnic. Stripping out of his sweatshirt, he tossed it to her and got a few seconds of enjoyment watching her try to decide between her pride and freezing her ass off. In the end, she pulled on his sweatshirt, and damn, she looked good in it.

“Time for food!” Caitlin declared with an overabundance of cheer that had Walker taking a second look at her. “Just give me a few minutes to set up,” she said.

When Caitlin needed a minute, it was usually to give herself a time-out in order to avoid bloodshed. Walker headed over to where she was setting up a rather elaborate picnic. “What’s up?”

Caitlin downed a glass of wine. “Nothing.”

“You’re running around like a chicken without a head trying to please everyone, and you’re day drinking. So try again.”

Even though she didn’t have anywhere near the same life experience he did, Caitlin had always treated him like she was the big sister. She was the warmest, sweetest person he’d ever met and had come into his life during a time when he hadn’t known much warmth or sweetness. He’d never felt anything but gratitude and a brotherly sense of protectiveness for her, and that shit went deep with him. Soul deep. She was his family for life, and he’d do anything for her.

Same for Heather.

He glanced at the third musketeer. Maze was a different story. Not that he wouldn’t throw himself in front of a train for her, because he would. But if she wanted his heart and soul . . . well, they weren’t available. She’d already had them.

And destroyed them.

“Done,” Caitlin said, gesturing to the spread. “Think it’s okay?”

She’d thought of everything, including Dillon’s favorite beer, Heather’s favorite cookies, and a container of dry cereal in which Sammie was already up to her elbows. Pieces of the cereal were stuck to her cheeks and chin.

“Delicious?” Walker asked the kid.

She beamed at him and drooled. Heather laughed and kissed her baby’s face all over, much to Sammie’s utter delight. Caitlin tried to join in the fun and Sammie’s smile faded.

“Honestly,” Caitlin said, and that made Sammie laugh.

Maze and Jace were sitting on an old log sharing a sandwich, looking annoyingly cozy. Walker tried to find something in their body language to prove his gut theory that they weren’t sleeping together, but he got nothing. For the first time ever, his famed instincts failed him.

“Sorry,” Caitlin said to Walker, breaking his attention. “The stuff I packed for you is far more boring. Turkey on wheat with sprouts. But don’t worry, it’ll keep your body pure.”

Maze choked on a bite. “Sorry,” she muttered, carefully not looking at him. Which was how he found his first genuine grin of the day. He sat with Sammie, and though she offered to share her cereal, he passed and ate his sandwich.

A bit later, he saw Maze by herself sitting on the tire swing, staring out at the water.

Because he couldn’t seem to help himself, he followed. When he was at her back, he took a hold of the swing and gave her a gentle nudge.

“That all you got?” she asked, and threw her weight into it so she went higher.

“You do know you don’t always have to go five hundred miles an hour, right?”

She flashed him a look as she swung by him. “And right back at you.”

Touché. “I saw that you won that bartending competition in San Francisco,” he said.

She leaned back, her feet up to the sky as she pumped for more speed. “And you saw that where?” she asked.

He shrugged. “After the five hundredth time that Facebook recommended we be friends, I decided to check it out and see what you were up to.”

“You keeping tabs on me, Walk?”

Actually, he’d kept track of all of them; it was a part of his obsessive need to keep safe the few people who had keys to his heart. Maze had been a challenge, since he’d had to do his protective thing from afar and quietly. Of all of them, not only wouldn’t she thank him for watching out for her, she’d be pissed off. And it bugged the hell out of him that she’d been content to have nothing to do with him at all, when he felt the opposite.

She’d been broken when Michael died. Broken when he’d stupidly married her far before she’d been ready for any such thing. And broken three years ago when she’d walked away from all of them rather than face down her pride and admit she needed anyone. “Yeah,” he said. “I’ve kept tabs on you.”

She held his gaze for a long beat, shocking the hell out of him when she nodded and quietly said, “Thanks. And I’m not just a bartender.”

“I know,” he said. “You’re still in night school for your bachelor’s degree. But even if you weren’t, if there’s anyone who can make being a bartender a hotshot career, it’s you. Because, Maze?”