Page 3 of Blue Collar Hotties

“He hates home maintenance.”

My laugh bounces across the lake, and her smile widens in response. She’s shy but pleased. “You’re telling me, angel. He talked me into fixing his truck a bunch of times, too.”

Riley rolls her eyes. “I bet he did. You know, after the first couple times, that’s on you.”

True enough. “Guess he had my number.”

“Guess so.”

I stand there for a while longer, my hand on her arm, stretching out this moment of unexpected peace for as long as it will last.

But I can’t linger here forever. It’s not my cabin, is it? We just settled that. So now I’m the trespasser.

I clear my throat. “I’d better head out while it’s still light. Sorry to have disturbed you, Riley.”

It’s a monumental effort to let go of her arm and step back, cool air washing in where her body heat warmed me a moment ago. There’s a dull ache in my chest, a headache squeezing at my temples, but it’s no use craving this girl’s company. She owes me nothing. Doesn’t matter if this is the most human I’ve felt in months.

“Make sure you lock up at night.” I can’t help frowning at the crumbling front door. “There are other folks in this area. Campgrounds, too. You never know.”

Lord knows that over the last twelve years, I’ve had a front row seat to some of the worst things humanity is capable of. It’s enough to sicken a man, and it’sdefinitelyenough to stir a little paranoia.

“I’m going to leave you my number,” I clip out, gruff but suddenly determined. “You need anything, day or night, you give me a call. You hear? Doesn’t matter how far away I am—I’ll come.”

I mean it, too. My heart’s already thumping faster at the thought of Luis’s little sister in any trouble. Those braids, man. Those fucking braids.

Riley mumbles something under her breath, but she digs her phone out of her shorts pocket. She unlocks it and hands it over without a word.

And I’m surprised enough by that show of trust, but her next words practically kick the legs from under me, delivered in her scratchy voice as I tap at her screen.

“You, um. You could stay the night, if you like.” I glance up, staring at her, but she’s gazing out at the lake, a flush creeping over her cheeks. God, she’s pretty. So pretty she’s hard to look at, and Luis never warned me about that. “On the sofa, I mean.” She throws a wry smile at me, and my stomach flips. “You came all this way, right? The next town is miles away, and it’ll be dark soon. The roads here aren’t good at night. Stay.”

…Seriously?

“You don’t even know me.”

Why the fuck am I arguing? I want to stay near this girl more than anything, more than I ever craved those hallucinated cheeseburgers, even. But I don’t like the thought of her trusting a strange man she just met, making herself vulnerable like that.

“You knew my brother, though.” Riley’s smile turns sad, then fades away. “Luis trusted you, and he left you his cabin. The place we came to every summer together before he signed up. That must mean something.”

Must it?

So what did Luis want from me here?

To fix up his lakehouse? Look out for his little sister?

Both, I decide on the spot, a renewed sense of purpose filling my chest, and it feels like mercy. Like benediction, and like sweet relief. Because it seems like my best friend wanted both those things from me, and fuck, I’m happy to give them. Fixing up his tumbledown cabin for this angel? There’s nothing I’d rather do with all my empty time.

Even now, months after he’s gone, Luis is saving me. Shining a light into the darkness.

“One night,” I agree. I can find somewhere else close by to stay tomorrow, and I’ll pitch my offer to Riley then, too. My help with her cabin, in return for letting me look out for her. “I sure hope the sofa is in better shape than those windows.”

She makes that loud snorting sound again, and I grin. So goddamn cute.

“You see this wreck?” The breeze sways her braids against her shoulders. “Don’t get your hopes up, Cade Armstrong.”

Riley

When my big brother passed away five months ago, a part of me died too. Isn’t that cliched? It’s true, though, because Luis was my only family. Myperson.My safe place. Ever since he failed to come home, the same question has swirled round and round in my head, keeping me from a full night’s sleep.

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