This mask she wears, the tough little act she leads on, but underneath it, I know there’s more. I know there’s a woman who’s been fighting like hell just to be seen.
And for some stupid fucking reason, I want to see all of her, even the messy parts.
I’m lost in thought when I catch her glance at me. The second our eyes almost meet, she drops her gaze back to the window.
Every time she sneaks a look, it stirs something within my heart that I thought was long dead. I haven’t had a woman look at me like that since before my whole life went sideways, since my fiancé left me for greener pastures and I buried myself in work, becoming a recluse.
Catalina looks at me with a spark of curiosity in her eyes, like maybe I’m not so broken after all. Like maybe, just maybe, she sees a man still worth getting to know.
A man still worth something.
I don’t know what the fuck to do with that.
My fingers tap harder against the steering wheel when, all of a sudden, her voice cuts through the silence.
“I think my friends would like your brothers,” she murmurs, “but I could be way off.”
I blink, surprised she’s talking at all.
“Your friends?”
She nods, still staring out the window like she can’t quite look at me yet.
“Amelia and Layla. They’re... different from me. We’re an odd bunch. But God, I love them.”
She fidgets with her fingernails as she speaks again.
“I think they’d love it out here. I think…” she trails off, voice even quieter. “I think I’m kinda starting to like it out here too.”
The words hit harder than they should.
Shelikesit out here? After all the bitching and stomping around like the princess of California?
She’s not being sarcastic or running her motor mouth. She’s beingreal.
Holy fuck, it floors me.
It’s like she cracked open a door she didn’t mean to, and for the first time, she’s letting me see the woman underneath the designer sunglasses and attitude.
Just like that, I’m fucking gone.
She keeps going, her voice gaining a little more life now.
“Amelia’s a tattoo artist in the city,” she says, a smile tugging at her sweet lips. “She’s covered head to toe, total bad bitch energy. But really, she’s the softest person I know. You’d never guess it unless you broke through that shell first.”
I chuckle low under my breath, picturing what my brothers would make of that.
“Maverick would lose his damn mind over her,” I say, smirking.
Catalina snorts—this soft, unexpected sound that punches straight through my chest.
“Mmm. Amelia would eat him alive,” she grins. “Shelikes her men a little more... dangerous. Maverick seems like a giant golden retriever.”
I glance at her out of the corner of my eye, at that bright little smile she’s trying so hard not to let loose.
Fuck, if she doesn’t look beautiful.
“What about Layla?” I ask.
