Page 28 of Me and Mr. Just Right

She laughed, and it felt more satisfying than having his first feature picked up byAlaska Ridges Magazine. Well, on the same level as that, at least. Especially now that he knew how much stress and sadness was weighing her down.

He rested his hand along the back of the couch, his fingers inches from her shoulder. It wouldn’t take much to cross that small space, and yet he knew he shouldn’t. “You should stay here at the cabin,” he said. “I’ll tell my brothers we have to go tomorrow. They’ll listen to me.”

“No.” The light strumming paused, and her gaze again fell on his chest. It took every single ounce of self-discipline he possessed not to flex his abs again. She followed the line of his stomach, up his chest and then across his outstretched arm, her gaze like a touch on his skin. She looked back at the guitar strings, and he could breathe again. “This is your place, and I’ve overstayed my welcome as it is.”

“That’s not true.”

She leveled him with a look. “You’re right. I wasn’t ever welcome in the first place.”

“That’s because we didn’t know you. We know you now.”

“Not well.”

“Well enough.” Haydn shook his head. “I’m going to be stubborn about this. You need the cabin this week more than we do.”

“We’re at an impasse, it seems.” Her fingers picked up speed over the strings as they flowed on them like water over rocks on the stream by the cabin.

“What song is this?” he asked.

“A new one I’m working on,” she told him. “Does this sound familiar?”

She started to sing, and he recognized the tune from earlier. Sometimes she had words—things about light and dust—but a lot of the time, she just hummed out a melody.

“And this one too,” she said, jumping straight into another song, her voice a little louder and surer as she hummed through a different melody, a variation on the earlier one. It made him feel like he was back on the trail to the cabin, back in that very favorite place on earth to be—with her, in their own world.

Her eyes met his as she came to the end of the song, and a waterfall of emotion flowed over him, stealing his ability to breathe properly. Their gazes held, and he leaned closer, drawn to her by some force he couldn’t understand. She leaned closer too, and her eyes fluttered shut. Her soft hand came to rest on his chest, igniting a fire in him, and this time, he gave in to the urge to flex his pecs.

Their lips were a mere whisper away from touching when one of the bedroom doors slammed against the wall. Lia’s eyes flew open, and she dropped her hand quickly as she pulled away. Haydn slowly blinked, still caught in her spell, until an irritated, robe-clad Jules stalked into the room. Haydn couldn’t see his scowl in the dim light, but he could feel it.

“For the love of all that is good in this world,” he growled. “Would you two please stop talking and singing and playing music? I. Can’t. Sleep.”

Lia sucked in her lips, but before she could respond, Haydn turned fully toward his brother. “Maybe it’s your rock-hard bed that’s the problem.”

“The bed is fine. You probably think you’re talking quietly, Haydn, but you’re not. Your low voice carries, and even if I can’t hear what you’re saying, I can hearyou. Lia, you sound amazing, but please wait to play until morning,” he pleaded, sounding a little less grumpy as he rubbed at his eyes. “If everyone will go to bed right now, we can all stay for the week. Problem solved. No more discussion needed. Good night.” And with that, he turned on his heel and went back into his bedroom with a decisive door click behind him.

“O-kay,” Lia said, carefully placing her guitar into its case.

“You don’t have to listen to him. It’s not just his house,” Haydn spoke extra loud on purpose. “If you want to keep playing, go for it.”

“That’s okay. It’s late. I should go to bed and leave the couch to you.” She bit her bottom lip, and he gave in to the urge to tug it free with his thumb. Heat shot through him as she stared at him, and he yanked his hand away. What was he thinking? She’d just told him of her bad breakup, and it seemed like the right time to make a move? He was usually much better at reading a room than this.

Maybe he’d spent too much time in nature and was losing his touch. Lack of oxygen from climbing high peaks had killed too many brain cells. How else could he explain why he was drawn to her so fully when he had no space in his life for another person? “Yeah, of course.”

“Good night,” she whispered, her words a mere breath of air in the night, and then she disappeared down the hall and into his room.

Haydn lay awake on the couch long after she’d left, knowing that sleep would be eluding him for a while.

Chapter 13

Liapulledthedrawstringof Haydn’s sweatpants as tight as she could around her waist. The pant legs flooded around her ankles, but at least her legs would be protected from any devil’s club for today’s outing.

She walked out of the bedroom to find Haydn standing with his back to her, half leaning into the hallway’s open closet. His shirt stretched tightly over his shoulders, revealing the muscles she got to see up close last night. When he’d walked into the living room without a shirt on. Wearing only low-slung pajama pants. His six-pack and muscled chest had made all coherent thoughts sputter straight out of her mind, like water attempting to shoot out of a kinked-up hose. Thinking about it now made her swallow against the dryness in her throat.

And that almost-kiss? She couldn’t decide if she was relieved or disappointed that Jules had interrupted them.

The muscles in Haydn’s T-shirt clad back tightened as he reached farther into the closet for something, and she barely refrained from sighing like a lovesick teenager. Disappointed.Definitelydisappointed. Which meant it was areallygood thing they’d been interrupted.

Haydn riffled through a bin resting on the floor, then stood, holding up a pair of brown boots that he studied from all angles. He was going to turn around and catch her watching him. She could already feel her cheeks heating up at the prospect, yet she couldn’t give up this moment of observing him without him realizing it.

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