Page 31 of The Stone Family Warrior

“You’re leaving?” She sounded disappointed, and he was glad she was, but …

He picked up a towel and dried off. “It’s late. I’m sure you want to get to sleep, and I should get back to the inn. Plus, I don’t want to even get close to hurting you.”

Their eyes met and held.

She nodded. “Tell me about the numbers you were repeating yesterday in the car.”

He paused, surprised. She leaned back, and he admired everything about her: the towel wrapped around her body, her legs in the water, the steam coming off her, her hair drying and fizzing a bit … The woman looked like a goddess.

“Maybe another time,” he said.

“Sheesh, Trent. I get that you don’t want to hurt me. You are a good guy. I get that there’s chemistry between us, but we’re mature, right? We can handle being friends. Tell me why you were rambling off all those numbers the other day.” She winked at him. “Of course, I overheard your fight with Hunter about your parents and the map and the numbers, but I want you to tell me all the details.”

The truth was, Trent wanted to tell her. He vacillated between his desire to tell her and his desire not to hurt her by starting something between them.

She nodded to the spot next to her. “Sit, babe slayer. Talk. The truth is I haven’t even had real connections in my life since …”

“Except Shane,” he blurted out.

The distaste on her face told him she didn’t want to discuss Shane. “He … is a friend.” She splashed her hand into the water. “A friend who wanted to be more than friends, but I didn’t want that.”

Tentatively, Trent sat next to her, undecided how long he would stay, but he sensed she wanted to talk. “So you friend-zoned him pretty hard before you left and he’s trying to talk you out of it.”

Her fingers traced swirling patterns in the water. She didn’t look at him. “He had a ring, I said no. So, I guess you can call it friend zoning.”

“Ouch.”

She sighed. “I didn’t want him to propose, I feel bad.”

Trent tried to process all of this. “You’ve been vulnerable, give yourself a break.”

She didn’t discount his words.

Trent cleared his throat. “You mentioned via text last night that Tom’s marriage isn’t doing that well, but are you guys close?”

She sighed. “My brother and I haven’t been close since Grandma left the house to me. But yesterday I was hopeful that maybe we’ll be close again.”

“I hope that for you, too.”

She told him more about Tom and his wife, Letty. How they had seemed like the perfect power couple and how her brother had looked so forlorn yesterday.

“Sorry,” she said finally. “I’m rambling.”

“I like to hear you talk. I … need to connect, too.”

“You do?” she asked, seeming surprised by this.

He nodded. “I know people tease me about babe slaying, and maybe I’ve dated a lot of women in the past—”

She laughed. “In the past?”

“I haven’t dated anyone in six months,” he said truthfully. He wasn’t sure if he liked the way she was teasing him.

She flicked her toe to splash him. “Wow, I’m guessing this is a big deal.”

He rolled his eyes. “Fine, maybe I’ve dated a lot. Most of the time I do want something meaningful, but I don’t find it. So I just …”

“Right, you babe slay.” She made a motion like she was using a sword to cut something.

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