Page 14 of Me and Mr. Just Right

“Not to Bennett,” Haydn said quietly.

His brother was definitely in stress-cook mode. He dumped her drink in the sink, then rattled off all their flavors.

“Raspberry sounds wonderful,” she said. “I honestly can’t remember the last time I had hot chocolate.”

“It’s a cabin staple,” Bennett told her.

“So what are our options for this house situation?” she asked as she took a steaming mug from Bennett and sipped it. A small sigh escaped—whether it was for the warmth or the taste, he didn’t know.

What he did know was that he’d never been so mesmerized watching a mug press to someone’s lips. He blinked his gaze away.What’s wrong with you, Forrester?It was like he’d never seen a pretty woman before.

“I’ll take you to Petersburg as soon as the weather calms down, and you can catch a flight home,” Jules declared.

A fire lit behind her bright blue eyes. “I can’t go back yet.”

“Well, you can’t stay,” Jules said.

Bennett, who had taken the seat beside Haydn on the couch, drank his hot chocolate down like it was fresh from the fridge and not steaming hot. Flecks of whipped cream caught in his beard. “She did pay for the week, fair and square. Maybe we should leave.”

“Where would we stay?” Jules demanded. Actual vacation houses were booked this time of year.

“At my apartment?” There wasn’t room for all three of them there. “Or on Rosie’s boat.” He grimaced as he said it. Rosie’s boat was an amalgamation of projects that, like an artist’s version of the Midas curse, seemed to multiply every time they were touched.

“This isn’t a vacation rental,” Jules said through gritted teeth.

“Lia clearly needs a break,” Bennett replied. “Look at her.”

They all did, and her cheeks turned pink. Her eyelids had the puffiness indicative of crying, and there were deep stress lines around her mouth.Stop looking at her mouth, Haydn.

“We’ll pay the change ticket for you to go home early. And refund your money, plus ten percent for the inconvenience,” Jules said, as if the decision were final.

“Money is not the problem,” Lia said. “I need to get away from … things.” Her voice stumbled over that last word, and her gaze shot to the side as if she couldn’t make eye contact. “And this is asawayas I can get.”

What could make a person so desperate to get away that she’d book a house on an island in the middle-of-nowhere Alaska? What—and why—was she hiding?

Rosie thought she was running from something, and the thought of sending her back to whatever it was she wanted to escape didn’t sit right with him. But being trapped in a cabin with her … that didn’t sit right either. Not with the way he keptnoticingher. It was the stress of giving up this job getting to him. That’s all. Still, it wouldn’t be good to spend too much time with Lia.

A sudden increase in rain obscured the view of the beach outside the wall of windows, as if a bucket of water had been dumped on the cabin—and on their plans. They all three looked out the window as the sound of rain pattering against it increased.

Summer storms like this could last days. It was too dangerous to take the boat out right now, even if they could all come to an agreement about who was leaving and who was staying.

Even if staying here all together seemed like a very bad idea.

The lights flickered and went out. Gray sunlight filtered into the room, lighting it just enough to show the dismay on everyone’s face.

“I hate to say this,” Haydn said, barely biting back his own frustrated groan, “but no one’s going anywhere today.”

Chapter 7

Tensenesssettledovertheroom at Haydn’s announcement. Lia hugged her hot chocolate closer to her chest, grateful for the warmth of both it and the blanket to act as a counterpoint to Jules’s icy glare.

“Great,” Jules grumbled. Lia couldn’t agree more.

“It will be great,” Bennett said, a little too cheerfully, as if knowing he needed to convince everyone. Whipped cream dotted his beard like snow on a pine tree. She patted at her lips to make sure she wasn’t sporting a whipped cream mustache.

“It is what it is.” Haydn said, slapping his hands on his thighs before standing up and heading to the fireplace, which still burned brightly. She was having a hard time getting a read on him, and every time their gazes met, he would quickly look away. It surprised her to realize she missed the easy camaraderie they’d had on the plane.

It was for the best that he kept his distance—that they all did. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t appreciate the way Haydn’s shirt tightened across his shoulders and back as he fiddled with the fireplace knob. A knob she suspected didn’t need to be messed with. She knew why she wanted to keep her distance from him—but it seemed he equally wanted to keep his distance from her. That was rare for her, and it definitely sparked her curiosity.

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