Thrill Me (Fool's Gold #18)(36)

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DEL COULDN’T GET Maya’s idea out of his head. He only half listened as she discussed her recent plant homicide with one of the employees at Plants for the Planet. He was too busy thinking about possibilities.

The way she’d talked about the ongoing video series had brought so many of his disparate ideas into clear focus. He liked the concept of a consistent format, using different kids from all over the world. There were universal elements—school, family, sports. Once the kids saw the connection, they could experience what other students were going through. After commonality came the ability to relate. It was easy to hate or fear otherness, but if the person was just like you, there was a bond.

Was there a market for that kind of material? he wondered. He knew school budgets were tight. If he had the right financing, plus his own money, he could offer the program for free. Because what was important to him was the message.

Something to think about, he told himself.

Maya stood by the cash register. He walked over and took the box of plants in front of her. She looked more worried than happy.

“They’re replacing them for me for free,” she said. “It’s their guarantee. I don’t want to take advantage of them. I mean, what if I did something wrong?”

“It’s four plants,” he told her. “Go with it. If these are fine, then it’s the plants. If these die, it’s you, and you can pay them for these, along with some new ones.”

“If these die, I should give up on growing things,” she said, following him out of the store. “I knew I wasn’t very good at relationships, but I would hate to have that concept play out in ongoing plant death.”

“Why would you say you’re not good at relationships?” From what he’d seen, she was friendly and well liked. He enjoyed her company.

“The usual reasons. I’m going to be thirty in a couple of years and I’m not married. I haven’t had a long-term boyfriend in...a while.” She glanced at him, then away. “Zane.”

“Your stepbrother? What does he have to do with anything?”

“You’re not the only one with weird family relationships. Zane and I have been circling each other like wary adversaries for years. I’ve always talked about him having a stick up his ass. I thought he was too hard on his little brother and a grumpy guy who needed to live a little.”

“And?”

“It’s possible I was wrong.”

“You?”

She flashed him a smile. “I like that you’re pretending to be surprised, even though we both know you’re not. Yes, me. Chase has always been a handful. Even though I knew that, I always took his side against Zane. A few months ago, Chase went too far. I won’t get into the details, but the upshot is he needed to learn a lesson and Zane was determined to teach him. There was a fake cattle drive and—”

“Did you say fake cattle drive?”

She laughed. “Yes. Chase took money from tourists after promising them a cattle drive. He was going to pay the deposits back and couldn’t, so Zane decided to create a fake cattle drive and made Chase handle all the crappy jobs. It was a good solution.”

“Except for the guests.”

“They did get to spend several days herding cattle. It was actually a really good time. Except for the flood at the end.”

Del looked at her. “You’re making that up.”

“I’m not. There was an article about it in the local paper. Anyway, my point is, Chase really screwed up. He’s a teenager, so it’s kind of expected, which was what I would have said to Zane. Actually I did say it. But Zane was right. Chase needed to be taught a lesson. It made me think that I might have been too much on Chase’s side and not supportive enough of Zane. That would be an example of me messing up in a relationship.”

“Not a really good one,” he told her as they approached her house. “On the scale of transgressions, it’s not impressive.”

“Why do you get to say?” she asked.

“Because I’m me.”

Maya laughed. The sound was happy, and oddly, it pleased him to hear it.

“How are things with Zane now?” he asked.

“Better. I’m less judgmental and he’s less crabby. Phoebe’s the reason he’s different. They’re crazy in love and getting married in a few weeks.”

Her voice sounded wistful. Del supposed it wasn’t a surprise. Most people wanted a relationship they could count on. Someone to watch their back. He did, too. He just wasn’t sure how to find it.

They set the new plants on the porch.

“You have gardening tools?” he asked.

“Sure.”

“Go get them. I’ll help you swap out dead for alive.”

“Thanks.”

She went into the house. For a second he thought about following. About stopping her in the kitchen or hallway and pulling her close. Holding her would be good. He’d always liked the feel of Maya in his arms. Then he could kiss her. Really kiss her. Not like before, but a kiss that rocked both their worlds and left them breathless. Because Maya breathless had always been one of his favorite sounds.

Only he didn’t, because sex would complicate things. He shook his head. He was the only one here—no reason to lie. Sex would put what they had at risk. Sex would take away the easy and make their relationship awkward. He liked what was going on with Maya. He liked working with her, hanging out with her. He liked having her as his friend again. As much as he would like to get her naked, this was better.