Page 55 of Their Broken Legend

“What the fuck! You have a chain?”

Blood rushes from my cheeks.

Was this his past room?

Maybe he knows I’m an easy target?

“Ah.” My nerves are set ablaze.Is he here to rob me, break-in, hurt me? Did he plan a heist?I only have little woodland creatures.“What?”

“I’m here to put a damn chain on this door, but you have one.” He curses, and I sigh, relief riding my breath. “I swear, Peterson is still paying for this. This is,”—he disappears from the gap, his words dwindling in volume as he storms down the veranda towards the motel office— “just like him. If he hired another maintenance man, he could have damn well told me first. I drove all the way from…”

I close the door but hear, “That wasn’t seven days.”

And I beam. It comes unbidden and unapologetic, and is thankfully hidden behind the door.

Forcing a schooled smile, I slide the chain across to the sight of a beautiful, cool-blue gaze that snatches the air from my lungs. Like it owns it. His gaze owns my oxygen.

“Your impatience just cost that lovely man his day’s wage,” I say, shaking off the strange, distracted state.

He grins out the corner of his lips. There is something different in his eyes. Whatever it is, it finds a place inside me, nestling into a secure space that I didn’t even know existed until now. One that might mean we like each other. A lot. Maybe even,more.

“You’re smiling at me, Woman. Did you know that?”

“Shit.” I gasp in mock horror. “I better stop.”

His eyes drink me in, his floppy dark hair hanging in his lashes. “Christ… do that more for me.” He presses his palm to his chest, over his heart. It’s an exaggerated gesture but the words don’t feel teasing—they feel real. “Smile more, Kaya. You make a man ache.”

“That poor man,” is all I can say before turning to allow him to follow me inside. My cheeks pinch, with what my mother calls a ‘boy-smile.’ They can’t be controlled. Those damn ‘boy-smiles’ just run rampant. I palm and rub my cheeks, hoping to release my lips.

Sylvanians!

My eyes land on them. Quickly, I lunge for the mattress and shove them to the floor on the other side of the bed, but it’s too late— I know it is. I can’t look at him.

Fuck.

Slowly, I glance up from the children’s toys scattered across the green carpet, to find him staring, straight at me. And I groan as he walks around the bed and scoops up a critter.

A black shirt wraps around his muscles. And he’s wearing grey sweatpants, the style that throws girls into a kind of mating heat, with the outline of his cock a thick, forearm-sized curve that bounces with obvious weight.

I force my eyes away. Holding a baby deer in his hand, he turns it over a few times. “I know a girl who would like this.”

“You’re not gonna ask questions?”

“That depends.”

“On what?”

“On whether you’ll go out with me.”

My mouth drops open. “What?”

He lowers the toy to his side and looks up, his blue gaze marrying mine. “I want to try again. Withyou.”

Closing my eyes on his sweet utterance and the hopeful spark in his gaze, I will the strength to block the way his words find gravity in my heart. “Stop it, Xander.”

“I’m serious.” He moves over to me with that agile gait, the kind that seems at one with the elements. “Let me take you out. Let me do this right.”

I look at the floor between my feet, at the chipped teal nail polish above the faded green carpet. “I’m moody.”

---