Page 24 of Wanting a Family Man

“Minimum wage, with meals. You can stay on theStorm Ridgeeven on your days off.”

“I—”really want this. Was it too good to be true? She made herself think about how much she would be relying on him.

There was a happy squeal from inside the house.Storm.

Cloe wasn’t likely to get a better offer that would allow her to see her niece on a weekly basis while still kind of supporting herself.

“The tours only run until the end of September. If you don’t have the stomach for it, we’ll have to make other arrangements,” he warned.

“Don’t have the stomach for what?” Sophie asked, coming outside with Biyen’s mushroom patty.

“God, you’re nosy.” Trystan scowled at her. “Has anyone ever told you that?”

“You.” She pulled the paper off the patty and plopped it onto a bare spot on the grill. “So many times. For years, I thought you didn’t know my real name. ‘Hey, Nosy,’” she said in a baritone.

Trystan’s mouth twitched. “Everyone acts like they don’t know where Biyen gets his goofy sense of humor. It’s you. You know that, right? You are the biggest goofball on two legs.”

“Youare avoiding the question. You think I don’t notice.” She poked him in the middle of his chest. “But Ido.”

The familiarity between them was so cute and filled with affection, it made Cloe’s throat burn with wistful envy.

“I can take over.” Reid came outside in a clean T-shirt, hair damp at his hairline. He popped the can of beer he held.

“Reid should be the first to know, since it was his idea.” Trystan passed the spatula to his brother and glanced at Cloe.

Hiring her wasn’t something Trystan wanted, she realized. It was something he was accepting under duress. That dumped a load of jagged ice into her chest.

“About the job?” Reid took a pull off his beer, then used the spatula to shift the steaks so they were in neat rows and columns. “There’s a chance someone in housekeeping at the lodge would do it, but they all passed this spring when we posted for it. They prefer to go home every night.”

“Are you offering her a job on theStorm Ridge?” Sophie said. “I’ll take it.”

“There’s an implicit promise to our guests that they will return home safely, not get fed to bears because our steward was in a snit,” Trystan said.

“Picky, picky.” Sophie rolled her eyes, then nudged Cloe with her elbow. “Say yes. You get a free cruise, and you can always ditch later, if you find yourself wanting to feedhimto the bears.” She nodded at Trystan.

“You’re wasted at the marina. You’d be more valuable in HR,” Reid said.

“Right?” She stuck her tongue out at him.

Cloe coveted how close Sophie was with them. How secure. She wondered if she would ever feel that comfortable with these men, especially when Trystan was watching her so closely. Her skin felt flayed from her cheeks.

“What do you say?” Trystan asked, still very remote, offering no indication he wanted her to accept.

Was she really going to choose pride and the hard way over a chance to spend the rest of the summer seeing her niece?

“I’d like to try it, see if I have the constitution for it,” she said, leaving herself that small exit strategy.

Trystan kept his same unreadable expression. “Welcome aboard, then.”

*

Two hours later,Cloe was in a state between euphoria and apprehension as she walked back to the marina with Trystan.

Dinner had been lively and funny, but also awkward. At one point, Logan had said, “So, Cloe. What exactly happened to keep you in California?”

“She’s not allowed to talk about it,” Trystan had interjected without looking up from playing cards with Biyen. “There are still other people being charged.”

It surprised her that he would forestall her defending herself to his brothers, considering he had asked her himself and she had told him what she could. Also, she was pretty sure he didn’t like her. Not that he hated her or anything but he definitely wasn’t happy with this new arrangement Reid had worked out.

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