The Forever Girl (Wildstone, #6)(39)

“And you do realize you know nothing, right?” She stood too. “It was over the next morning, Jace. Remember the part where I said he hurt me? Well, he didn’t want me, not really. So no, I’m not going to tell him a damn thing. I’m going to sign these papers and move on with my damn life!”

His smile had vanished. “Look, I realize I don’t know shit about this—”

“Damn right you don’t.”

“But I do know you. You don’t choose people lightly, Maze. Ever. And from what I can tell about Walker, he’s a stand-up guy with a solid but tough job, and he keeps the people he cares about in his life close. And . . .”

She narrowed her eyes. “And what?”

“You’re one of those people.”

“I’m a pain in his ass.”

“No doubt,” he said. “But it’s more than that and I think you know it.”

And then he was gone, leaving her alone with the thoughts she didn’t want to have. So she grabbed some clothes and headed into the bathroom. It was steamy from a shower . . . and not empty.

“Oh,” she said, an involuntary exclamation at the sight of Walker in nothing but a towel, leaning over the bathroom sink shaving. “Sorry. I was just going to shower . . .”

“No problem.” He gestured to the shower behind him. “Help yourself.”

She might have, but to get past him, she’d have to brush up against him.

He gave her a smile via the mirror.

“What?” she asked a little defensively.

“You’re trying to decide whether you want to touch me or shove me,” he said, still shaving.

She went hands on hips. “Let’s go with shove.”

“Which means you do want to touch, you just don’t want me to know it,” he said smugly.

“You know what? I’ll come back later,” she said, annoyingly breathless for no reason, but definitely not from the sight of him in just a towel, still damp from his shower.

He gave a low laugh, and she narrowed her eyes.

“Look,” he said, “we both have a busy day ahead with wedding errands and chores.”

This was true. There were errands to run, lots of them. And she also had to go check out the wedding venue, which was a property just outside of town in the middle of ranch land and wineries. It had a restaurant and wide-open patio that led to a gorgeous view of rolling green hills dotted with oaks. It was on her list to stop by and familiarize herself with it so that she could run the wedding rehearsal on Friday night just before the rehearsal dinner.

“So I’m sure we can be grown-ups about this. Plus, we’ve both seen it all.”

“Yes, but . . .” She squirmed. “It’s been a while.”

He smiled. “Has anything changed?”

“Maybe.” When his gaze met hers in the mirror, she lifted a shoulder. “I’m not exactly the cute young twenty-one-year-old anymore.”

“No, you’re something even better.”

Her breath caught, and again their gazes met and held in the mirror. “Are you taking your sweet-ass time on purpose?” she asked.

“You think I’ve got a sweet ass?”

She crossed her arms but couldn’t resist giving the body part in question a long look-over in the towel, which made her go damp in places that had no business going damp. “You already know damn well you’ve got the best ass on the West Coast.”

“But not the East Coast?”

“Are you flirting with me?”

“Not if you have a boyfriend,” he said easily.

They stared at each other for a long beat before he rinsed off his razor and went back to shaving. “But to be clear,” he said, “your ass is the sweetest on the planet. In case you were wondering.”

She locked her wobbly knees and let out a shaky breath. “Could you possibly hurry up?”

“And miss the expression on your face when you have to try to squeeze past me to the shower?”

She made a big point of sucking it all in to get past him without touching. Or shoving.

He just laughed and kept on shaving. “It’s okay,” he said. “I’ve got the memories of the last time you touched me on repeat.”

“I’d have thought your legions of women since then would’ve erased the memories of me.”

“I don’t know about legions,” he said, all teasing aside now. “But it could be the entire female race and the memories of you from that night will never fade.”

Then he turned off the sink, wiped his face with a towel, and, when he looked up and found her just staring at him, smiled and left her alone to shower.

So how ridiculous was it when a small—and maybe actually not so small at all—part of her wished he’d stayed?





Chapter 10


Walker’s man of honor to-do list:

—Do not sleep with, marry (again), or kill Caitlin’s maid of honor.

After the surprisingly revealing conversation with Maze, Walker headed downstairs. Since it was early, he doubted anyone else was up, but it was actually late for him. Apparently habits were habits. Getting up early . . . tangling with Maze . . .

He really didn’t want to be pulled into her force field, but hell if that had stopped him. The only thing that helped was the certainty she was feeling it too, because when she thought no one was paying attention, she watched him. And then if he managed to catch her eye, she’d either roll hers or turn away.